High in the jagged peaks of the Drachenzahne Mountains lies a ruin shrouded in snow and silence: the Tomb of Barbarossan, once a sanctum of imperial reverence, now a place of myth and dread. Legend holds that Barbarossan was a warlord of ancient Hesan descent, crowned not by lineage but by conquest. He unified the fractured highland clans and forged the first mountain accords, pledging Hesan steel to the imperial cause. Upon his death, he was entombed in a vault carved into the mountain itself, sealed with rites so old they predate the current imperial calendar.
The tomb is said to be unreachable in summer, as the mountain storms guard it jealously. Only in the thinning breath of winter can one ascend the narrow Mountain Approach that lead to its Broken Archway. The entrance is a broken arch of black stone, half-swallowed by ice, with the sigil of Hesan etched above: a sword entwined with a serpent. Inside, the air is still and bitter. The first chamber is a Rotunda of Murals of cracked pillars and faded murals depicting Barbarossan's campaigns—his pact with the sky-priests, his duel atop the burning ridge, his final march into the frost.
Deeper within lies the Hall of Vigil, where stone sentinels stand in eternal watch. It is said that Barbarossan sleeps beneath a slab of red granite in the Sanctum of the Warden, his beard still growing, his sword still warm. Some claim he will rise when Hesan is threatened by a foe no steel can pierce. Others say he stirs already.