The hulking mass of the reaches looms over the surrounding countryside with their immense stature and perpetually snow-capped peaks. Beneath the tree line, the range is a wild tangle of stone cliffs and wooded slopes, caves and hidden valleys. Though practically all local communities are aware of nearby geologic features, the surface of the Reaches is largely unexplored.
Subterranean communities abound throughout the range, carved out of the stone or built up in natural caverns. Settlements closer to the surface act as trade hubs between the over- and under-worlds.
The Weeping Reaches has six primary natural springs spread around it’s exterior. Each spring forms a large lake in the heights of the range which drain down the mountain and eventually form the rivers that wind through the forested hill country below. Though countless thousands of other springs are easily found spilling from the whole of the range, none come close to the size and scale of the primary six.
The foothills of the Weeping Reaches consists of millions of square miles of forested hillsides interspersed with rocky outcrops and massive landlocked freshwater seas. The output of the six primary springs ends in four of these mega lakes, two to the north, one to the south, and one to the east. Thousands of miles of winding river connect these lakes to their sources in the mountains.
Though immediately surrounded by a variety of woodland and forest, the Weeping Ranges are flanked to the east by a large stretch of grassland and prairie, and to the south by an endless expanse of swampland.
Resting between the equatorial and temperate regions of the world, the range acts as a natural weather battier between the lands to the north and south. The lands north of the Reaches tends towards cool, dry weather, while the lands to the south has a generally wetter and warmer climate.
Seasonal storms are common. Though potentially fierce, these storms tend to move quickly across the land, minimizing damage that would otherwise be caused by extended strong winds. The northern lands experience these storms in the fall in the form of intense blizzards, while the southern lands experience a late spring and early summer season of tornadoes and cyclones.
Aside from the storm seasons, yearly weather cycles are fairly predictable, with little variation in the usual highs and lows for any given time of year. Summers are slightly cooler north of the Reaches, and winters are slightly warmer south of them.
Within the mountain range itself, vegetation is relatively sparse and monotonous. Conifers dominate what sections of the range are capable of sustaining trees; lower sections of the range are also known to be dotted with stunted versions of lowland shrubs and herbs. Fauna in the higher altitudes are generally adapted to the cold, ranging below the treeline during the spring and summer to rebuild their body mass after the harsh mountain winter. Most notable of the highland fauna would be the breeds of high mountain ibex and winter elk which are believed to be unique to the Weeping Reaches.
The north lands are dominated by millions of square miles of mixed old growth forest. Deciduous and coniferous trees share the hilly expanses with rocky outcrops and the winding rivers that are the runoff of the multiple mountain streams of the Reaches. Occasional small pastures and meadows can be found where nature is in the process of reclaiming the site of a landslide or a forest fire. Woodland fauna abounds with animal populations having thousands of square miles to roam between major settlements. A variety of freshwater fish and crustaceans can be found in the rivers of the north lands, though the freshwater mega-lakes of the region contain drastically larger versions of these river species.
South of the Reaches, the forests leading to the southern swamps are markedly different than their counterpart to the north. Several types of trees grow here which are absent from the forests of the north, most notably the Weeping Willow, a breed of Willow Tree widely known for the variety of culinary and cosmetic products capable of being rendered from specific crafting materials harvested from the Weeping Willows. As the forests descend into the southern swamp lands, proximity to nearby bogs and mires can be noted by a sharp increase in the growth of vines and hanging mosses.
As the firm ground of the great forests give way to the southern swamp, local fauna has adapted to the lack of ground paths. Sloths, monkeys, large amphibians, and swamp insects have all come to thrive in an ecosystem with very little solid ground. The waterways of the southern forests and swamps are home to most of the same breeds of fish and crustacean as those to the north of the Reaches, though the expansive interplay between the swamps and the running rivers are home to numerous water predators not present farther north, such as freshwater crocodiles and giant snakes.
Stone and wood are the two exceedingly dominant resources of the entire Weeping Reaches region. Though there are very few truly unique building materials originating from the region, the sheer abundance of these resources allows multiple disciplines of crafters and artisans to be quite picky with their techniques for producing usable raw materials. Most communities, even smaller hamlet and villages, feature well-made structures built on a common theme that reflect the building resources of the immediate region.
Though the forests and waterways of the north produce more than enough food and comestibles to feed their denizens, only a lesser portion of these foodstuffs and basic materials make their way out of the region as exports. Notable exports of value are winter elk hides and a variety of dried mushrooms used in common healing remedies. To the south, however, as the mountainous forests slowly melt into shallow swampland, an increasing variety of succulent vegetation can be gathered which has developed a consistent demand outside the region. Such plants and vegetation are both harvested in the wild and cultivated in small farmed plots throughout the southern forests with intent to trade.
Under the Reaches, the multitude of subterranean organizations and communities which live there send a steady year-long stream of ores, metals, rare stones and gems, and crafted goods unique to the underworld to the surface. A small number of surface mines, operated by surface dwellers, produce usable basic metals and stones from the foothills of the mountains, but the denizens of the Reaches caverns have proven their clear superiority in the trades of mining and metallurgy. In addition to the quality of their ores, underworld crafters produce a wide berth of specialty goods and materials used in the creation of magical arms and armament, as well as in the creation of alchemical and engineering devices.
Durmont (“Durmont’s Find”), Large City, Population 50,000~
Durmont exists under the northern-most spur of the Weeping Reaches. Entirely subterranean, Durmont is the main hub for moving the materials, goods, and wares produced by the crafters of the underground region to surface markets.
Founded in a series of caverns located near a now-depleted lode of precious metals, Durmont was once a booming mine town, producing it’s own share of the underworld goods highly sought by surface dwellers. It’s prime location was it’s salvation when the nearby lode ran dry, as it’s position made it a sort of crossroads between the labyrinthine passageways connecting the underworld to the surface. As the local mine produced fewer and fewer ingots each season, more trade from deeper under the Weeping Reaches flowed in from the wild caverns, through the city, and to the surface. It now exists as the largest trade hub in the region and as a training ground for crafters of all disciplines. Professional guilds and academic institutions interact with the populous to train and employ skilled craftspeople.