Mount Esper

Introduced:

Related Quests:

Description

The largest vulcano in Dereth. It is home to many Fire Elementals and other heat-loving creatures.

In the center lies the Crater Lake:

Deep in the heart of the northern mountains, within the caldera of a dormant volcano, millennia of rainfall have created the placid Crater Lake. On the banks, birds lazily patrol the sky above the cathedral stands of old-growth trees, and ancient monoliths recline carelessly by fields of giant water lily. Year after year, the lake mysteriously keeps the same level, regardless of snow or rainfall. However, the static tranquility belies extreme hazards. Fierce monsters roam the lake shore and maintain eager watch on this portal, hoping to snare hapless adventurers.

Legends surround the lake. It is rumored that the monster-infested caverns nearby link the crater to the outside slopes. What's more, the Sho have taken particular interest in the lake since a priest of the Unicorn related a strange bedtime tale to his Koutei's son. The priest claimed to know sorcerers who once created a glass citadel beneath a mountain lake. On calm, cloudless nights, the clear waters would focus starlight so that distant worlds could be viewed across the ether. Whether this story bears on the mysteries of Crater Lake may never be known, for the priest packed up and disappeared that very night, unexpectedly ending several decades of faithful service to his master. -- The Crater Lake

On the borders of the lake, a few Empyrean Ruins can be found. In some of them, Isparians took up residence, and this small settlement is also known as Crater Lake Village.

"Judging by the ruins found at this location, it was once a sizable Empyrean town. I theorize that the Empyrean refined Pyreal in the fiery core of Mount Esper, but of this I have as yet no evidence. " -- Alatar Locke, The Festival Stones of the Empyreans