The Altus Mountains form the highest mountain range in Bharatva, a wall of jagged stone and eternal ice that stretches across the northern horizon like the very spine of the world. Revered as a sacred threshold between mortal life and the divine, the mountains are seen not merely as stone and snow but as a conduit — a ladder reaching toward heaven. For centuries, pilgrims, adventurers, and madmen alike have made the attempt to climb its sacred slopes, each with their own reason: to test their strength, to chase glory, or to seek the enlightenment whispered to lie at its summit.
Legends say that the gods themselves shaped the mountains as a bridge between realms. Priests of old wrote that to set foot upon the highest peak is to walk on the very border of creation. For most, the climb ends long before the summit. Frostbite, avalanches, thin air, and unseen spirits claim far more lives than the climb rewards. Yet the stories endure: that at the top lies not only a view of all Bharatva, but a revelation that shatters the self and rebuilds it in light.