The Frozen Lands of Arkayris
  by Dennis Payne

  The following manuscript contains
information on the southern lands of
Arkayris.  Much of the information was
drawn from legends and rumors.  Readers
are warned the notes contained herein
are unconfirmed.


Diauly
  Diauly resemble six-legged horses
with thick fur.  These creatures are
commonly used as beasts of burden and
mounts since horses cannot survive the
cold climate.  Diauly have a natural
immunity to cold.

Freezing, The
  Only elves remember when the land was
not icy cold.  Some 700 years ago the
land began to cool.  As each winter was
worst than the last.  People grew
worried.  The faithful believe the
divine is displeased with them.  Others
tell tales of quaggoth shamans who seek
to purge the humans from the land.
However not even an angry god worries
the inhabitants as much as the
legendary Ice Temple.  If a magician
has found the temple, all of Arkayris
will be encased in an icy tomb.  Only
seven human cities survive near the
northern edge.  The elves abandoned the
land as the cold creep across.  The
dwarves and quaggoths stubbornly refuse
to leave their homeland.  It is not
know if the cooling continues today.

Hollow Earth Wars
  The hatred between the dwarves and
goblinoids has existed since the dawn
of time.  Never in recorded history did
the blood flow as thick as during the
Hollow Earth Wars.  The dwarves had
grown complacent with the attacks.
When the skirmishes decreased the
dwarves decreased their guard.  In
31,026 Dengar Calendar, Ovbek was razed
by goblin invaders.  Over a millennium
had Ovbek stood.  Rumors of someone
amassing a large force of goblinoids
had been ignored until then.
Aurograk's name became know through out
the dwarven nation.  His success caused
hordes of goblinoids to ally themselves
with him.  The war lasted nearly 6
years with little change.
  Several tribes lost confidence in
Aurograk's command and rivalries flared
up.  Dazterna killed her weak father,
Aurograk, and assumed command.
Dazterna charmed the leaders of the
most powerful tribes killing the
leaders of weaker tribes.  As an
example several tribes were castrated.
The goblinoids quickly acknowledged her
superiority.  She however lacked
strategy and relied on blood greed.
Dazterna's forces fought a bloody 4
year war.  Unfortunately Dazterna
survived the war making the victory a
hollow one to the dwarves.

Ice Temple, The
  The Ice Temple is a common tale know
across the land.  The magic within can
supposedly control the weather across
the world.  Many scholars believe it
was created before man inhabited the
world.  Those who have claimed finding
the temple have returned mad.  They
refused to reveal the location.  Only
the strange artifacts they brought back
verified their story.  The writings
found on the artifacts is know as the
Frozen Tongue.  The Frozen Tongue bears
no resemblance to any know language.
Of all the stories only one thing is
clear great evil resides in this place.

Languages
  Many languages are spoken in the
southern lands.  Human dominance over
the land before the Freezing has caused
their tongue to become the language of
trade.  Basic, as the language is know,
is spoken by most of the inhabitants in
the south.  The elven tongue of
Ralhylar has dwindled significantly
along with the noble tongue, Indarwin.
Metaccan is the native tongue of the
Quaggoths.  Dwarves use Thyrin when
taking amongst themselves.  Grak is
spoken by goblinoids.
  Some more unusual tongues are also
used for various dealings.  Thieves
communicate through Cat's Tongue, a
language based on slang and gestures.
S'schkash, a northern lizard man
language, is occasionally used by the
underworld.  Scholars prefer the
writings of old dwarvish, Gallatyn.
Dwarves invented Tunnel Speech, a form
of communication made by clanging on
water pipes.  Some sages know the
Frozen Tongue (see Ice Temple, The) but
their service costs plenty.

Whitewood
  This strange tree grows only in the
arctic lands of Arkayris.  The light
brown bark of this tree is made to
withstand the harsh climate because of
this the tree is near impossible to
cut.  Most of the time the cost is more
than the profit.  The branches of
whitewood create lovely display because
of the white pine needles that grow
upon it's arms.  The only people that
disturb the beauty of the whitewood are
wizards who use the needles of the tree
as the material component for spells.