Barrier Pass

Barrier Pass is a fortress-monastery village in the Whitefang Mountains, five days north of Stonetop by the Highway. It was once an outpost of The Rime Lords and is now home to descendants of their mortal disciples.

The people are stoic, unfriendly, and wary of southerners. The settlement has terraced gardens, goats and sheep, timber, parchment, vellum, ink, guardians, adepts, tulpas, blunt weapons, bronze armor, and exceptional fortifications.

Each Sage is a powerful adept and presides over one of Barrier Pass's three sects.

• Gar Torjeng — Empty Sky sect (preservation and stillness, long meditative stasis)
• Preshi Kav — Unmoved Mountain sect (ascetic discipline, ceaseless self-testing)
• Oparma Div — White Crystal sect (order and devotion; most guardians and layfolk follow this sect)

Barrier Pass is a closed northern neighbor whose trade must be earned. The Three Honored Sages, the sects, the guardians, old Rime Lord teachings, and whatever lies beyond the Wall make it valuable and hard to approach.

Pop. stat +0 · Prosperity +0 · Defenses +2 · Size village · Population ~200

• Taxes from nearby farm valleys
• Farming (terraced gardens, barley)
• Livestock (goats, sheep, milk, fine wool, meat)
• Timber (from the Foothills)
• Parchment, vellum, ink
• Trades (smithing, weaving, tanning, scribing)

• A score of guardians
• A handful of adepts
• A number of tulpas
• Blunt weapons, nets, bolas, bronze shields and mail
• Exceptional fortifications

• Mammoth herders (ivory, wool, meat)
• Other fortress-monasteries (food, livestock, wool)
• Stonetop (timber, ivory, parchment, vellum, ink) — only via the Trade with Barrier Pass improvement
• Travelers moving north or south along the Highway