Novularond

Novularond was a mountainous region towards the center of the Great Glacier in Northern Faerûn.

Geography
The area was a range of large mountains, some of which reached 20,000 ft in height, and measured some 250 miles across at it's widest. The mountains were surprisingly free of ice or permafrost, unlike the surrounding areas- only a fifth of the range had significant ice and snow buildup. There were many tunnels and passages throughout the mountains, which led to scattered veins of gold, gems, and other valuable minerals, including the spark stones so greatly valued across the Great Glacier.

Where exposed, the surface was mostly barren granite, with only a few patches of scant soil supporting evergreens and shrubs. The regional stone had a curious property in that the rocks kept to an ambient temperature of roughly 40 degrees Fahrenheit, regardless of how cold the ambient air was. Among the highest peaks towards the center of the land, it was rumored that the local stones got as hot as a fire. Rocks removed from the area would retain their heat for roughly a day, but exhibited no other properties. The overall range radiated a faint magical aura, but it was too weak to identify or trace to a source.

History
In the year, a group of dwarves were exiled to the Great Glacier from the Tortured Land for refusing to aid in attacking peaceful Border Forest settlements. Marked as traitors, they journeyed for over a year before reaching Novularond; only four survived the trek. These four were the ancestors for a new group of arctic dwarves who became known as the Innugaakalikurit (EE-nu-GA-ka-LEE-ku-rit).

In the year, the Innugaakalikurit discovered a crude catapult on a high peak in Novularond; they disassembled the mechanism and brought the components home. A day later, a furious group of frost giants arrived after following their tracks and demanded that the weapon be returned, but the Innugaakalikurit refused. Enraged, the giants destroyed an entire village of the arctic dwarves.

The elders of Gronne soon arrived to negotiate a settlement, as they hoped to prevent an all out war from breaking out. The elders eventually found the dwarves guilty of theft, and awarded custody of those who participated in the disassembling to the Frost giants. The giants promptly enslaved their new captives, and their descendants have remained enslaved until present times.

Rumors & Legends
According to a legend of Mystryl, a time gate had once been located "...north of Novularond, shining bright upon Misken's Peak at Highsummer." Many explorers had come searching for the gate, but the top of Misken's Peak was sheared off by the Great Glacier ages ago. The portal survived, but ended up buried deep within the glacier, and was slowly carried into parts unknown as the glacier moved.

Among the Ulutiuns of the Great Glacier, there were a number of theories to explain why the rocks of Novularond radiated warmth, including that there was liquid fire under the region, or that fire breathing monsters lurked in the depths of the mountain tunnels. They declined to live in the area, but visited for occasional hunting expeditions. The unnatural warmth actually was a byproduct of the magics surrounding the necklace of Ulutiu: in the lowest depths under Novularond, a passage coursed eastwards until reaching the resting place of Ulutiu's ice barge, deep under the Lugalpgotak Sea. When the avatar of Ulutiu died, this passage became a magical conduit used by the necklace to sustain the Great Glacier by transferring all the excess heat from the lands of the glacier into the mountains of Novularond, where it radiated out from the stone.

Notable Locations
Novularond had three differing regions:

Ipinovularond was the name given to the outer ring of mountains, which consisted of mountain peaks no higher than around 5000 feet, and was roughly 15 miles across. In this area, less than 10% of the mountains had significant ice. The area was noted for having musk oxen, caribou, and wild kupuk, though none appeared in any great numbers.

Esenovularond was an inner ring of mountains that rose to heights of 5,000 to 10,000 feet, and were twice as likely to have ice as in Ipinovularond. The mountains made for deep, rugged valleys and crevasses; rockslides and avalanches were common. This was the largest of the three areas, and was where the Frost giants and the Innugaakalikurit lived for the most part, as did ice toads, yeti, and rare winter wolves.

Akanovularond was the highest and centermost region- it was quite desolate. The mountains here soared to 20,000 feet, and a 30-40% of these mountain sported ice coverings. the highest peaks were known to serve as the lairs of White dragons.

Inhabitants
Besides the Innugaakalikurit and the dragons of the high peaks, the area was home to small clans of Frost giants, usually consisting of 12 to 24 individuals. The clans were highly territorial and despised all other races, especially those they held to be trespassers. Clan territory boundaries shifted constantly, depending upon the whims of their leaders (at times, a clan could claim the whole of Novularond as theirs}, which would lead to fierce conflicts.

When local game was scarce, the giants would journey to Alpuk to hunt for tirichik, which they considered a delicacy. If they had no luck hunting, they would conduct raids on villages in Alpuk and Nakvaligach to steal food and anything else that caught their eye.