Ngorrhal is the western alpine continent of stratospheric peaks and megafault ranges. During the Early Dominion, the Geban Empire intervened in a brutal civil war between the Western and Northern Passes and the Thazvaar-aligned Northeastern Passes. War Chief Tharyn'Bregun allied with Prince Vaer'gidon to defeat and permanently remove the Northeastern line, ending generations of conflict. In exchange for survival, the Ngorrhali people fully assimilated into the Empire, and they became the second most populous group in the Geban capital. Northern Pass children were raised in the capital as the Emperor's royal bodyguards, an unprecedented honor never extended to any other non-imperial people. Their greatest warriors were officially named Frost Sentinels during the Era of Imperial Conquest, erasing their ancestral names forever.
The Alliance
When Vaer'gidon and Tharyn'Bregun died together fighting Ukhaal Walkers during their bonding trials in Ukhaalstaag less than a decade after Emperor Vaer'karesh's death, their shared sacrifice transformed an already solid alliance into something eternally unbreakable. The Ngorrhali were granted their own district in the capital with unrestricted freedom of movement, and their youth could pursue politics or engineering, though warrior paths remained culturally favored. Empress Vaer'yinda commissioned a statue of Gidon and Bregun shaking hands at the entrance of the Sentinel district. Tharyn's Rest, the sea on Ngorrhal's western coast, carries Bregun's name. Their physiology later became the genetic foundation for the first Engineered.
The Continent Today
Most of the Ngorrhali population migrated to the Geba continent over the millennia following assimilation. Approximately 150 million remain, with males slightly outnumbering females, one of only three continents on the planet where this is the case. Despite the sparse population, Ngorrhal's massive mountains host the planet's largest and oldest operable surviving relay infrastructure, older even than Geba's, drawing engineers to test experimental arrays. Bregun had advocated for relay adoption early, and the result was relays built higher and larger here than anywhere else on the planet.
The Rite
The Ngorrhali return for their ancient rite of passage: once a local hunt of the Greater Smilohound, it now demands crossing oceans to Ngorrhal, surviving an unfamiliar land, killing the hyper-lethal apex predator with bare hands, and hauling its entire 4 tonne carcass back across the sea. Alpine to subpolar climate with ice storms and stellar winds preserves ancient surfaces. Izhara's light reaches the lower passes during its transit but the highest peaks remain in permanent shadow, illuminated only by Zhaerys's orange-red glow during its slower orbit. Ngorrhal remains a proving ground for endurance and imperial loyalty.