HERO'S GRAVE - the Face of the Great Mother

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Mystic Tombs of the Hero Kings

Mother’s Face

THE FACE OF THE GREAT MOTHER

A SACRED MOUNTAIN PLACED IN THE BASIN OF AN ANCIENT CRATER

In the center of an ancient crater benath the shadow of the volcanic Firescalds, rises the sacred Face of the Great Mother. It was worshipped by the Order of the Fiery Plateau, a sect of exiled pyromancers and geomancers derisively known as the Gulgurites, who believed it to be the face of Hulmethra, the “Great Mother”, wife of their deity Gulguru. Geologists and natural philosophers conclude that the features of the mount are the result of erosion and only coincidentally appear to resemble that of a face. The Gulgurites, however, claim that Hulmethra, upon the imprisonment of her beloved in the depths of the Smoldermount, rose from her earthly home to free him before being struck down by the dread God of Heaven, Phelbraena. Before their defeat at the hands of Finbriar, it was common to see scores of Fiery Plateau pilgrims chanting and circling the crater floor, leaving offerings and magmastones inscribed with prayers. Tendrils of boiling vapor rise from the many small craters that pockmark this land, and the soil is hot to the touch, leading many travelers to totally avoid the area. In recent times, sightings of the infernal fellknight Tnugdalus climbing its peak have been reported, leaving only the most daring of adventurers to brave its smoldering confines.

Although the legend of Gulguru and Hulmethra are disregarded by today’s historians, some believe that they belonged to a race of primordial giants that existed for ages before the coming of the Gods of Heaven and Hell. The story of their imprisonment in the earth by Phelbraena has been considered to be a retelling of the extinction of this elder race at the hands of the Gods. The implications of an ancient species existing in prehistoric times raises many questions that most paleographers, scientists and theologists would prefer not to entertain.

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{thuh feys uhv thuh greyt MUHTH-er}