The Elder Giants, before they passed from this world, are said to have left a guard on the fertile valley beneath the Iron Mountains. They designed the Agdu, gave inspiration for the Himminin, built the Henges – and then they were gone. They built the Agdu-Stein, the fortress of the Stone Giants, above the pass to the east to guard the lands of the goliaths from outsiders. But they built no fortress on the Iron Pass to the south: they did not need to, for the Iron Henge was there. 

There are no settlements near the Iron Henge. The road built by the Ssthessic passes near it, but few stop there on the road, and there are warnings carved into stone for unwary wanderers straying where they should not. The Iron Henge is the largest of its brethren: three concentric circles of semi-magnetic rock, perched on the break between two chasms. In more recent days, the Kings in Endon have had the watchtowers built, East and West, to keep an eye on the Henge, but they too now stand abandoned. 

A Dark Gateway

The Iron Henge, like all of the Henges, is a passageway to somewhere else. The Greenmarsh and Callidan Henges are parts of a passage through time, the Fae Henge leads to the Feywild, the Giant’s Henge to the Himminin, but while the others all allow for movement between two places, the Iron Henge – and the Limestone Henge – only open a static portal: nothing in, nothing out. 

This is almost certainly for the best. The portal in the centre of the Iron Henge opens only during a solar eclipse, and few would dare stay in the vicinity during that time. In any case, the noises from the other side of the portal, screaming and agonising screeches, can be heard clearly from Nuxvor, some forty miles west. The measurement of the solar calendar is an important duty in that part of the world, for obvious reasons. 

Protection of the Stones

Unlike the other Henges, the Iron has three concentric circles of stones, each serving a particular function. The tallest, black pillars that form the middle circle open the portal, the smallest circle, of waist-high rounded stones stabilise it, and the outer ring – it is theorised – keeps the window that opens from becoming a door. 

That is the theory, and one which has lead to some factions, cultists and zealots, to try to remove that outer binding in the past. Luckily for those fanatics, and for us all, they were cut down by the King’s Army before they managed it, in 841AS: for it is said that the residents of Agdu-Ild are the vigil that keeps the Iron Henge safe, and that the measures they will take to ensure that it does not open would lay waste to the lands around… 

Watchtowers East and West

After the movement of the cultists to open the portal in 841AS, the King in Endon tried to post a more permanent guard on the Iron Henge, to ensure that such an event did not happen again. Two towers were built, east and west, and the bridges were rigged to collapse if the guard detected another attempt. 

However, while the guard on the tower was on a six-month rotation, the duty was abandoned less than six years later: for the portal will open whether or not the guard wanted it to, and it is an ordeal too taxing for the mortal mind to bear too much. It sent several rotations mad, and now the towers sit empty.

The Cult of the Iron Henge

The chapter of the cult at the Iron Henge is the most dangerous of all of the sects, simply for the damage they could do if they succeeded in opening  the portal. They almost managed it, in 841AS, but they bide their time, waiting for the opportunity to achieve their goals.