Glacier of the White Worm

The Glacier of the White Worm was a glacier situated high in the Earthspur Mountains in north Faerûn, lying between the Moonsea, Damara, Impiltur, and the Vast.

Geography
The glacier was a great river of ice that weaved between the tallest mountains of the Earthspurs. On the north-west side, it flowed over a high cliff and spilled into the Moonsea. In the east, it flowed into Lake Icemelt, which lay in the mountains between Damara and Impiltur. The ice covered an area of approximately.

As old histories and maps recorded, it was once a part of the Great Glacier, the much larger ice-sheet that lay some to the north. Curiously, the Glacier of the White Worm survived at a much lower latitude than its altitude allowed, suggesting that magic or some other force might be involved.

A little-known, hazardous pass on Mount Aergurl led from near Maskyr's Eye in the Vast to high chilly valleys and ultimately the Glacier of the White Worm.

Notable Locations
The Monastery of the Yellow Rose, also known as the Citadel of the White Worm, lay east of the Glacier of the White Worm. Overlooking the glacier, it was built into the rocky side of a jagged mountain peak, one of the tallest in the Earthspurs, and upon a high plateau.

Barroch's Hold was a citadel located in the Glacier of the White Worm. This was the fabled lair of Barroch, said to be the first great bandit lord of the Inner Sea.

Inhabitants
The glacier was inhabited by a great many polar beasts, thanks to its former connection to the Great Glacier. As well as many lesser creatures, there were said to be enormous—and dangerous—snow spiders.

Most notably, it was home to a variety of pale, albino remorhaz, which was unique to the region. These "white worms" gave the glacier its name. Herds numbering a dozen or more could be seen roaming the ice. The remorhazes were said to be led by a giant-sized "king" worm that laired in the very center of the ice. Adventurers also reported seeing (usually in retreat) unusual remorhazes with heads frilled with long, grasping tentacles.

The monks from the Monastery of the Yellow Rose lived near the glacier.

Some mountain barbarian tribes lived around the area of the glacier, in particularly the White Worm tribe.

Silver dragons laired in the mountains surrounded the glacier, while red dragons were also sighted in the area.

History
Old maps, such as those made in Year of Oaths Forsaken, −626 DR, showed the Glacier of the White Worm had once joined the greater ice-sheet of the Great Glacier.

After they slew Haask, Voice of Hargut, in Ironfang Keep, the assassin, the necromancer, and the warlord were last seen traveling upriver toward the Glacier of the White Worm and lands beyond.

By the Year of the Spreading Spring, 1038 DR, the Great Glacier had retreated from the land of Damara. This led to the separation of the Glacier of the White Worm.

The local dwarves had a legend of how the dwarf hero Aurgus killed a remorhaz single-handedly in the Mount Aergurl pass.

In the late 1280s DR, an explorer from Baldur's Gate, Elbruin Hammertree, led an expedition into the Earthspur Mountains to look for a way around the Glacier of the White Worm. There, they encountered and destroyed a large insectoid creature that walked upright and was armed with a spear, which they identified as an "ice daemon".

Rumors and Legends
Unusually, the Glacier of the White Worm lingered on separately from the Great Glacier, much farther south than its altitude warranted,   There were local legends of the glacier being maintained by fell magic and the hunters of Maskyr's Eye warned of an unnatural cold beyond Mount Aergurl. Sages of the mid-to-late 14 century DR theorized that potent cold-based magic or some other force might be the cause of this. Furthermore, they warned of a sinister power at work on or beneath the ice, and that the very safety of Faerûn could depend on discovering the identity and motive of this agency. This might involve determining the true nature and powers of the so-called white worms that tunneled through the ice.