Talos Cleft

Talos Cleft is a fog-shrouded plateau at the heart of Angvild. During the Creation War, the island of Angvild was dragged into this world by a team of primordials, who pulled it from the Sea of Entropy, the bowels of Chaos, across the Web of Magic, where it came to rest in the towering waves of Morwuld Briin. The island's purpose was to transport a massive army to the front-line world of Bal-Kriav, but it became more akin to a stationary base rather than a mobile platform. Undeterred, Warvild, the primordial mastermind, directed Talos and others to shear the island's central highlands. This arduous task was carried out by hundreds of storm archons, air elementals, storm giants, cloud giants, and thousands of ice mephits. The primordial Geb also provided the powerful rock-boring device known as the Earthspear to aid in the separation. Once the valley and mountains were detached from their base, they left behind a rugged plateau overshadowed by the floating island of Krarkauk, buoyed by the entropic energies of Chaos. Towards the end of the Creation War, Talos was captured and banished from the Mortal Systems, but not before setting Krarkauk adrift on the clouds, leaving the plateau known as Talos Cleft in its wake.

Talos Cleft is almost perpetually shrouded in chilled mist. The fog and the frigid air are the residual energies of the countless ice mephits that perished while separating Krarkauk from Angvild. Thousands of these creatures were compelled to expend all their cold energy against the rock, an act of "sacrifice" overseen by storm archon taskmasters who promised either eternal suffering in Piranoth's Steps or a release back to Chaos where they would be reborn into something greater. After the Creation War, most of the primordials and their minions were captured or driven from the mortal realm, yet some remained. The ice mephits that once lived under the whip of Talos's taskmasters were considered no threat to the world, so the gods and angels left them on Angvild. These ice mephits tend to dwell in the highlands of the island, preferring the chilling temperatures of the plateau. Some have been persuaded to reside in Mechantus, where their cold radiance is utilized for refrigeration.