Far away...
In the shadowed valleys of the 'Mortal Shadow' Mountains, lay the jagged city of 'Echo Wand". It sprawled like a living mandala carved from obsidian stone and veins of glowing jade.
The name was no idle fancy, the city's echoes carried across the jagged peaks with unnatural clarity, bouncing from cliff to cliff like the dying screams of fallen gods.
Because of this, the Snow Moon Kingdom's command post perched high above on the frost-bitten ridges rather than in the city's bloated heart, forever bathing the range in the ominous title of Mortal's Shadow.
Below, towering red-stoned pagodas spiraled skyward like crimson fingers clawing at the heavens. Their rooftops bore massive rotating prayer wheels that turned with lazy, melodic chimes, not mere decoration, but ancient machinery humming protective wards against the mountain's frequent, bloodthirsty landslides.
