Ramiel

Location from acotar-wings-and-ruin by

The sacred mountain of the Illyrian people, where warriors have bled and died for millennia in the brutal rite of the Blood Rite.

Ramiel is more than a mountain; it is the proving ground and sacred heart of Illyrian culture, a place where the strong survive and the weak are culled by the mountain itself. To climb it is to face not only the elements and the terrain, but every other warrior fool enough to attempt the ascent during the Blood Rite, when the mountain becomes a killing field where only the victors descend. It is a monument to the brutal, unforgiving ethos that has shaped the Illyrian legions for centuries.

Appearance

Ramiel rises from the heart of the Steppes like a black fang against the sky, its peak eternally capped in snow that glitters like crushed diamonds under the sun. Its slopes are scarred by ancient avalanches and the tread of countless war-bands, a jagged silhouette that dominates the horizon for leagues in every direction. At its base, the rock is the color of dried blood, and the wind that howls down its crevasses carries the chill of a thousand winters.

Also known as: The Great Mountain, Illyria's Heart, The Blood Peak, The Ascendant's Trial

What They Know

• The Blood Rite is held every five years, and only those who survive the week-long ascent and descent are considered true Illyrian warriors, earning the right to wear the seven-pointed star of the war-camps.
• The mountain is said to be sacred to the Mother and the Cauldron, and its caves hold ancient carvings that predate the Illyrian tribes themselves, whispering of older gods and darker bargains.
• No weapons are permitted during the Blood Rite except what a warrior can fashion from the mountain itself—stone, bone, and ice are the only tools of survival.
• The peak of Ramiel is known as the 'Crown of the Steppes,' and to stand upon it is to see the entirety of Illyrian territory spread below like a map of blood and snow.
• Legends say that the first Illyrian war-lord, a beast of shadow and iron, died on Ramiel's slopes and that his spirit still haunts the mountain, testing the worthy and devouring the weak.
• The mountain's name is spoken with a reverence that borders on fear among the Illyrians; it is not a place for the faint of heart or the unblooded.

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