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== Prideful Mountain ==

'''Three''' ''Gems of Synchronised Action'' &bull;&bull;&bull;

More of a large regular hill than an actual mountain, this village gets its name from the way the hill stands out alone on the low flat plains of [[BeronTheGrey/HundredKingdomsTsingtao|Tsingtao]]. Because of long, unquestioned tradition, the buildings of the village are all built into the side of the hill, rather than being place atop it. The entrance to the manse itself is concealed beneath the irregularly paved floor of the cellar of one of the village buildings. Those who know the secret can cause certain stones in the floor to depress and swivel away, revealing a spiral staircase down.

The staircase leads down, and down, right to the level of the surrounding plain. Here there is a labyrinth (but not one filled with spectres, fortunately), spiraling inwards, and filled with numerous traps and tricks to fool the unwary. Those who know the true path may finally find their way into the centre of the manse; a cavern inside the vast stepped pyramid that forms the core of the hill.

The cavern's ceiling is covered with gleaming starmetal depictions of the constellations, but to one skilled in astrology, the night sky thus depicted will seem subtly wrong. The warped constellations are part of a subtle enchantment built into the manse that hides it from the gaze of heaven, thus rendering the hill and all it contains outside Fate. In the centre of the cavern hangs, unsupported, a vast vertical adamant ring, large enough for a haslanti airship to pass through. The outside of the cavern is lined by a moat, thirty yards wide, at the base of which shines the dull red glow of the manse's essence vents (the hill is a rating 3 Earth Manse built on a rating 5 demesne).

The cavern is square, and aligned to the four directions, and anyone attuned to the manse can cause a bridge to appear across the moat. On the north and south edges of the central island, steps lead up to the adamant ring. On the east and west edges, steps lead down into a central depression underneath the ring. The floor of the depression is paved with an unbreakable mosaic depicting Creation as it was during the height of the First Age. In the centre of the depression, above the sacred mountain on the map, is a waist-high pillar of white jade with a depression on top where the manse's hearthstones form (three Gems of Synchronised Action).

There are four more such pillars, each above one of the elemental poles, and each with a hearthstone socket on top. To the east, green jade; south, red jade; west, black jade; and to the north, blue jade. Behind each of the four pillars is a tattered silk banner (covering the steps down in the case of east and west). The banner to the west is the most badly tattered, and all that can be made out is a repeating motif of leaves. On the banner to the south can be seen a sea of multi-coloured fire, in which float crystal spheres containing entire worlds. Strange ships can be seen sailing on the multi-coloured sea, including a menacing fleet of nautiloids.

The banner to the west shows the depths of a vast ocean; bubbles can be seen floating there, their inner surfaces lined with continents. Finally, the banner to the north shows a vast dark void lit by distant stars. A battle rages there between First Age ships, and others of no recognisable design, vast ugly hulks with no grace or elegance to them. Judging by the tiny warstriders floating alongside, all the ships depicted are vast indeed.