A bare celestivere staff, a great petrified tree-trunk, rises from the ruin of the Tower of Morn, furthest north of all of the Towers. East of the Iron Mountains, under the sight of the Agdu-Ise, it is to this day one of the most-visited of the Towers.
Every year, the Frost Giants making their annual migration to the polar ice make their way to the Tower of Morn before heading off on their trek. As such, few others stay in the Tower for longer than the winter months, as none want to rouse the legendary territorial instincts of the Frost Giants.
The Tower of Morn is similar to most of the Towers, but sports some signs that the Frost Giants altered its design: into the walls of the Tower, the Frost Giants have carved their traditional and favoured method of shelter, the cavernous waystops.
On Approaching the Tower of Morn
"The air becomes steadily more and more chill the further up the hill one travels, and by the time a puff of breath hangs in the air like fog and skin begins to prickle with discomfort, the Tower of Morn looms in the mist like a mountain. Its ramp curls up the sides of the great structure, and here and there, great cracks have appeared over time, opened up by the patient trees that even now spread their branches."
As a nod to their brothers, the Cloud Giants with whom they still occasionally commune, the Tower of Morn also sports a stable for the skye-kyr that may visit. Like many of the Towers, the Tower of Morn has a notable absence: the celestivere from its peak is gone.
March of the Frost Giants
Every year, as the days lengthen and the sun grows warmer, the Frost Giants march from their stronghold at Agdu-Ise into the frozen north. What they do out in the polar ice is unknown -- few other living creatures can survive in those cold wastes.
It is said that, some centuries ago, the territorial city-states to the east of the Iron Mountains tried to discourage the annual Frost Giant migration. They met the landstriders in battle at the Tower of Morn: their catapults ripped a chunk out of the Tower’s walls, which only served to further anger the Frost Giants.
The result of this folly was a forgone conclusion: the city-states have since never again attempted to interfere in the migration, and signs for miles around the Tower of Morn warn travellers against attempting to seek shelter at the Tower past the first months of spring. Such lengths are unnecessary, of course: the Frost Giants can be quite hospitable, if they see a cause.
Lair of the Summer Bandit
In more recent days, a cunning outlaw from the area has made the Tower of Morn his centre of operation: as soon as the blizzards clear in the springtime, he fortifies a base in the waystops at the foot of the Tower, and gathers his band for the following few months. By the turn of the autumn rains, when the first snows start to fall, his disappears again, disbanding the base and lying low until the following spring.
The Summer Bandit has managed to avoid the anger of the Frost Giants – though they view the use of the Tower by ‘travellers’ as fair game, that being the purpose of the Towers in the first place, so long as they clear out by the time the landstriders appear – and the annual cycle has made it difficult for the local authorities to track him down. Where he disappears to during the winter is unknown, but the cycle has continued for nearly ten years.
Ice Tales of the Wanderers
The interior of the Tower contains the traditional carvings: the history of the goliaths and the giants, from the creation of the world to the planting of the Stone Trees. This Tower, however, also contains some more recent carvings by the Frost Giants. In the waystops at the foot of the Tower, when the Frost Giants rest on their way to the northern snows, they have carved the more recent history of the giants – from the history of the Ssthessic-Vrasa to the foundation of the Kingdom of Endon, all from the perspective of the giants.