Tin Chalun Mountains
The Tin Chalun Mountains are a vast and towering range that span the center of Ruleska, dividing Near Ruleska on their west from Altaruleska and Riendi on their east. They contain the tallest peaks in the eastern hemisphere of the world, including the great twin pinnacles known as the Pillars of Creation, which according to ancient legend hold up the heavens and serve to separate the earthly and celestial realms. Many of the peaks in this range are eternally snow-capped, and the entire range is thrust upwards to a great height that makes them largely inhospitable to human settlement.
Nevertheless, the Tin Chalun are not entirely abandoned to wilderness. A few very hardy people of Temulen stock live on the great plateaus of the range, while more of their kind dwell in the lower foothills along with Irzali and a scattering of Rusalvi and Xiuren. All of these people, and a number of other brave and enterprising travelers besides, also dare to travel through the deep and winding passes, following narrow valleys and dizzying ledges to bridge the distance between east and west. The peoples most characteristic of the Tin Chalun, however, are the dwarves and their angrosh allies of the Cherchek tribes. For countless millennia the dwarves of the Tin Chalun have lived in great cities and kingdoms carved out of the hearts of the great peaks, with the greatest city of all said to lie beneath the very Pillars of Creation. They have long been the gatekeepers of the greatest of the mountain passes, most particularly the ancient and perilous Darvashah Pass, the Pass of the Dwarven Kings, and the Cherchek have in turned served as guardians of the the dwarven people themselves.
On the southern edge of the mountains is the shorter and somewhat less hazardous Nishkol Pass, linking the present-day Sirdabi Caliphate province of Irzal with the allied city-states of Nishkol, which itself was once part of the old Irzali Empire. While the pass itself is less dangerous, the rest of the journey to Xiuren is not, as a traveler on this route must pass through the often-deadly Basin of Ghosts before regaining the safety of more temperate and civilized lands.
Remote and challenging to human life as they are, the Tin Chalun are home to a great diversity of flora and fauna, some of it unique to that place. Perhaps the most feared creature in the entire range is the nimravh, a saber-toothed beast capable of easily subduing and slashing the throat of an unwary traveler or shepherd. The dreaded stalking bear also lives here, along with dire wolves in the middle reaches of the mountains. More admired and often sought after is the Chaluni gyrfalcon, a huge white falcon prized by kings in the lands below, who consider it second only to the emperor eagle for hawking. Nestled in the craters of the active volcanoes and geothermal springs of the range are fire salamanders, traditionally used as divining tools and ritual components by the Elestaarian fire magi whose faith was also born in these mountains.