Chapter 4: Lands and Waters
Dark Crystal won most fans over through its use of visuals. Things were always moving; some vines were more animal than plant. Unless struck by the blight of the Dark Crystal, the world should feel in constant motion with a surprise around every corner. This chapter provides an overview of the known lands of Thra.
The Dark Wood
Themes: Vast and Untamed; Sylvan Haven
Threat: Becoming A Darkened Wasteland
The Dark Wood expands westward from the banks of the Black River to the Castle of the Crystal. The Dark Wood is more than a forest, it’s topography includes broad-leafed woodlands that change into bogs, marshes, and swamps. It is in the Dark Wood that the Stonewood clan of Gelfling make their home. Their village, Stone-in-the-Wood, is the second largest Gelfling community and is built around a large mound of rocks and boulders, overgrown with greenery. Though they have built a home here, the majority of the Dark Wood remains undomesticated and wild, a home to predatory animals.
Ever since the Crystal cracked and the Skeksis began experimenting with its power, the Dark Wood has become even more dangerous and ominous. The former woods around the Castle of the Crystal have become a blighted wasteland and the area continues to darken and fall as the corruption spreads and turns to rot.
Crystal Sea
Themes: Arid but Colorful; A Solid Sea
Threat: An Endless, Shifting Desert
To the north of the Dark Wood and Castle of the Crystal lies the Crystal Sea. It is not an expanse of water, but a region made of tiny, colorful crystals that shift and flow to the pulse of Thra. Here, the Gelfling Dousan clan travels with their sandships of bone and crystal, using the light of the three suns to navigate the sweeping area. At night, the land appears to be completely black, and only the stars are visible. Sailors of the Crystal Sea would be wise to anchor on large crystal reefs, lest they lose their bearings.
Claw Mountains
Themes: Shadows and Secrets; Hard and Red
Threat: A Jagged Impasse
The red Claw Mountains rise at the northwest most corner of Thra, jutting forth from the land. There is very little life, but what has survived in the shadows of the carmine formations has grown hard and dangerous. No clans make their homes here and any exploration would be considered foolhardy and life-threatening.
High Hills
Themes: Quite a View; Always a Higher Hill
Threat: Bone-Breaking Heights
As the Dark Wood stretches northeast, it begins to traverse upward until no trees remain. The High Hills are a stony, brown region that eventually rise into the Mountains of Grot. It is here that Aughra makes her home; high atop a hill is The Observatory.
Grot
Themes: Life, High and Beneath; A Hidden Trove of Knowledge
Threat: Dark and Twisty Tunnels
The Mountains of Grot occupy the lands east of the Dark Wood. Here, life can be found from the peaks, to the valleys, and within the land itself. Deep within the mountains is the village of Domrak; here the Grottan clan makes their homes in pockets carved in the walls of a cavern surrounding a mirror-like lake. Their tunnel walls are covered in dream-etchings as well as illustrations of history and tales. Deeper still in the Grottan tunnels lies the Tomb of Relics, ancient chambers of book-lined tunnels and artifacts of Gelfling culture. The library is filled with unorganized knowledge – anything could be here, but few would find what they sought.
Spriton Plains
Themes: Fertile Lands; Burrower’s Paradise
Threat: Out in the Open
Here, in the Spriton Plains, the Pod People and Spriton Gelfling make their homes. The plains are a large, open land with tall grasses and streams. Burrowing and digging creatures have no difficulty creating underground passages in the fertile and porous earth. Unfortunately, the openness of the lands are often ill-suited in battle. There is rarely a place to hide or shelter if being sought by an opposing force. The Spriton clan is spread out across the plain, but will gather in their village of Sami Thicket on special occasions.
Swamp of Sog
Themes: Fresh Water, Even In The Mud; A Knot of Climbable Trees
Threat: Tangled Wilderness
At the southern edge of Thra is the Swamp of Sog. This immense bog is filled with massive apeknot trees, trenches of mud, and fresh bogwater. It’s easy to become lost beneath the foliage and even easier to become stuck in the dangerous muck. At the heart of the swamp is the Great Smerth, a tree so large the entire Drenchen clan of Gelfling make their home in the branches and interior of the tree’s living body.
The Wasteland
Themes: A Vast Emptiness
Threat: A Never-ending Nothing
East of the Mountains of Grot is the Wasteland. No life makes its home here. There are no plants or creatures, simply coarse sand and rock. It is rumored that at eastern end of the Wasteland there may be an entrance to the Field of Fire, the inner sun of Thra, but none who have attempted the journey have returned.
Silver Sea
Themes: The Edge of the World; Feasts of Fish
Threat: The Enveloping Cold
The Silver Sea and its coast are a frozen, but thriving landscape. Here, the ice-laden ocean stretches to the end of the world and none have sailed to the end. The Gelfling Vapra clan sails the seas, catching fish and other sea creatures larger than they are. At the highest peak of the sea’s surrounding cliffs is the white city of Ha’rar, the capital of the Gelfling and home of the All-Maudra.
Castle of the Crystal
Themes: Home of the Crystal; Alien Elegance
Threat: A Spreading Darkness
At the western edge of the Dark Wood the urSkeks hollowed out a mountain around the Crystal and crafted a gleaming castle made of lesser crystals. Now the castle is dark and its corrupted shadow continues to grow across Thra. From the castle the Skeksis rule the land, sending their darkened creatures to do their bidding. At the center of the castle, the Dark Crystal is suspended above a shaft to the Lake of Fire. Around the Crystal are 18 arcane symbols, and above is a triangular hatch in the roof that can be opened to observe the movements of the triple suns.
Valley of the Stones
Themes: Enlightenment in Ritual; A Barrier Against Evil
Threat: Stagnation in Passivity
Shortly after the urSkeks split, the Skeksis became the lords of the Castle of the Crystal and the gentle urRu retreated to the Valley of the Stones, making their homes in the caves and tunnels of the valley’s walls. The valley has become so transformed and decorated over the centuries that it’s difficult to determine where natural structures end and sculpture begins. The Mystics have used the standing stones of the region to call forth a powerful barrier around their home, protecting it from any invasion.
The Observatory
Themes: Science and Discovery; The Orrery
Threat: Cryptic Isolation
A gift to Aughra from the urSkek, the Observatory includes a complex orrery of Thra’s three-sun solar system. Here, Aughra isolates herself from the conflict below and calculates the arrival of the next Great Conjunction. Surrounding the orrery are tables and benches filled with alchemical equipment, astrolabes, and other scientific devices. Also in her possession is a box of crystals, some she collected shortly after the Crystal cracked, others brought to her by Gelfling adventurers – all in the hopes that one might be the Shard that can heal the Dark Crystal.
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