Akanapeaks

The Akanapeaks were a mountain range in Chessenta, forming its historical western border. The south-western part of the Akanapeaks was claimed by the Blade Kingdoms.

Description
The range ran south by the western side of the Akanamere. The range was home to the tallest mountains in Chessenta, second only to Mount Thulbane. The Gap of Reth was the only known pass through the mountains. Through it ran a trail linking Reth and Airspur.

The south-western part of the Akanapeaks housed the city-states of Kirenzia, Sumbria, and Zutria that were nestled between the Akanamere and the Akanapeaks. The Hills of Apion laid in the middle at the base of Akanapeaks with the city-state of Zutria florishin in its rolling green hills, among Chessentan ruins, restored aqueducts, vineyards, and olive presses. The city-state of Colletro stood within the south-western part of the Akanapeaks, in the rich Valley of Umbricci, with a single mountain pass that led to the Trevi River and joined the rest of the Blade Kingdoms on the lake's shores.

Trade
Iron was mined in the safer parts of the Akanapeaks, and this supplied the nearby city of Reth and other parts of Chessenta in mid–14 century DR. Precious metals and gems were mined by the inhabitants of Akanûl.

Another notable trade good from Akanapeaks was delph, a spice with an extremely long shelf-life. The spice was created from a species of yellow wildflowers, foun in Chessenta, Mulhorand, Threskel, Unther, as well as the Akanapeaks.

History
The year of –9845 DR saw the erection of the Sharksbane Wall that stretched between the northernmost edge of Akanapeaks in Chessenta to the southwesternmost Altumbel. The wall was constructed as protection against sahuagin incursions by the clergies of Deep Sashelas, Trishina, and Eadro.

In the Rotting War, in the, the army of Reth crept through the foothills of the Akanapeaks behind the Nunwood to attack the armies of Arrabar and Hlath. The impatience of the rules of the cities entangled in the conflict led to the use of deadly Netherese magics. A wave of necromantic energy swepts throught the armies causing a gread plague that spread like wildfire across the region, carried by the war's survivors.

Circa, several mercenary companies, under the moniker of the Grand Company of Sumbria, elected to leave Chondath in a mass-exodus. The mercenaries, along with their families, machinery, and other resources claimed lands on the north-western shores of the Akanamere and the south-western part of the Akanapeaks. Soon, the tent camps turned into six city-states, forming the Blade Kingdoms.

The orcish tribes of the Akanapeaks had had long history of fighting and trading with the humans of Chessenta. They had launched a number of uprisings against them. To guard against incursions by the Akanapeaks orc tribes, the fort of Rodanar was established by the warlord Tchazzar of the Chessentan Empire (929–1018 DR).

In the summer of the, a "white war", a bloodless competitions of strategic wit, raged between armies of Colletro and neighboring Sumbria. The Valley of Umbricci was the contested territory. Its salt mines, olive presses, and rich cattle farms were a desirable prize. The conflict between the Prince of Sumbria - Cappa Mannicci da Sumbria, and the ruler of Colletro - Prince-elect Ricardo, was resolved with the triumph of Sumbria. In the fall of the same year, another conflict lit the Akanapeaks on fire. The armies of Colletro and Sumbria clashed once again, this time in a bloody and real war. Sumbrian forces were decimated with the use of a grant weapon - the light lathe, that melted snow and stone alike, burying the opposition in the mountain pass betwen the Valley of Umbricci and the Trevi River.

When a bloody civil war erupted between the orc tribes of the Akanapeaks, many refugees of the Flaming Spike tribe went to Airspur. They went into business as traders, intermarried with humans, and soon gave rise to a burgeoning population of half-orcs.

After the Spellplague of 1385 DR, a portion of the world of Abeir was swapped with western Chessenta in 1386 DR, causing utter catastrophe. The city of Airspur was destroyed when a vast crevasse opened beneath it. Many were killed and the survivors fled into the Akanapeaks, back to orcish kin and the safety of the mountains.

Notable Locations

 * The Gap of Reth, a mountain pass that was blocked by a wall to guard the nearby city of Reth from invasion. A gate ran through it to admit traffic, but the pass and gate separated Reth from the rest of Chessenta.
 * Deepspur, a prosperous genasi city, part of Akanûl, was constructed inside the sheer cliffs of a chasm in the Akanapeaks by 1479 DR.

Inhabitants
Once, the range was home to dwarves, who dug mines into the mountains over 1600 years before Dale Reckoning. These are later abandoned.

By the mid–14 century DR, the large Flaming Spike orc tribe, espimated at 50,000, lived on the western slopes of the Akanapeaks and in the old dwarven mines.

Many predators of the Nunwood on the western side in Chondath were once driven eastward into the Akanapeaks before 1370 DR.

A mysterious dragon of incredible size made its lair somewhere in the Akanapeaks in the late 15 century. Of unknown name and species, but theorized to be a gray dragon, observations of it were unreliable but it was known to ferociously attack ambassadors of Akanûl and the Abolethic Sovereignty alike.

Appearances

 * Novels
 * The Council of Blades &bull; The Shadow Stone &bull; The Emerald Scepter &bull; The Spectral Blaze