Mad Rock area history.
Mystic and Ancient: ( 700 and more game years ago. The game year count started at Age 10, Year 500)
Khalia, Asto Khen, and Ticto’s Forest were all one huge forest of oak, cedar, and elm trees. Treants supposedly lived here with wood elves. The rest of the area was uninhabited except for orcs living in the vicinity of Sky Mountain and Mad Rock. Their main group was at Mad Rock.
Distant Past ( 500-600 game years ago) Humans, half-elves, and dwarves came into this area from the southwest. In a cooperative effort, all 4 races killed and ran off the orcs. The orcs cache of copper and silver was located, but their gold and jewels were not found. An attempt was made to search Mad Rock. This search ceased because of strange happenings on and around Mad Rock. It was later discovered that several searchers had disappeared. They were never found.
The humans and half-elves formed Ghentar and the dwarves formed the country of Altono. The dwarf seaport, Dira, and the human seaport, The Twins, have been in friendly rivaly ever since. Talek Forest became a group of thriving halfling communities. It is believed that a group of evil wood elves moved to the west end of Silver Ridge.
Recent Past ( 300-400 game years ago) Many communities sprang up on the Green River. A trade route from the river wen south, through Twilight Pass, across Silver Ridge. This route was abandoned because of its proximity to Mad Rock. An alternate trade route was started further south. At this time, expeditions started staging out of Gester for the mountains to the east. A large orc hold is believed to be there. Vestia, on Green River, started charging tolls for boats to go past it. Everyone started calling it Tollgo. Small groups of adventurers start going to Mad Rock. Some return empty-handed, others don’t return at all.
Recent ( 100 game years ago to now)
A group of orcs was found on Silver Ridge. The resultant fight gave Mount Blood its name. This fired up interest again and the area on and around Mount Blood was searched by as many as 5000 people. Less than 100 gold pieces were found. There were no signs that the orcs located the money. Gester became the final step for groups heading for Mad Rock. Individuals and small groups ( 3 to 5) on quests, go to Mad Rock and Sky Mountain. Some of them never returned. The others usually return empty-handed or with only a small amount of silver and copper coins.