Singing Mountain Clan Stronghold

The Singing Mountain Clan Stronghold was a fortress built on the heights of the Singing Mountain on the Outer Rim world of Dathomir. Along with the village located below, it was the home of the Singing Mountain Clan.

Layout

The Singing Mountain Clan Stronghold was a the primary facility of the Singing Mountain Clan, a major clan of Witches of Dathomir. The fortress was built on the flanks of the Singing Mountain, a volcanic mountain located on the planet Dathomir. The fortress was positioned on a natural rise that strategically overlooked the valley below. Below the fortress, the clan's village extended across the gentler lower slopes and into the valley. The village functioned as the dwelling of the community, while the fortress served as the defensive, ceremonial, and political center. From the village, the fortress could be reached by a long system of stone steps carved directly into the dark basalt of the slope. This approach formed the only easily access as all other faces of the mountain fell away in cliffs, shelves, and jagged crags.^[1] The Singing Mountain Clan Stronghold and the surrounding area were decorated with carved stones, with some of them maintained constantly in levitation by telekinesis.^[3]

The fortress had massive gates that led to a broad plaza inside the enclosure. The buildings were no taller than three stories. A roundhouse was located straight across the plaza that seemed to act as an official greeting center. The roundhouse had a conical, two-story roof that was supported by huge columns carved from native tree trunks and capped with metal-clad ornamentation. Each column was adorned with a medallion of working metal that bore the sigil particular of a neighboring tribal or clan group. The roundhouse had a second-floor balcony that ran the entire circumference of the roundhouse. At the top of the stairs, ran away from each other. One hallway led to a large chamber with walls of reddish stone and a central hearth whose fire burned bright and warm, but consumed no fuel. The chamber had a wide, padded chair hewn from the same native stone as the slab and bricks that made of the walls and the floor.^[1]

Within the mountain, many of the fortress chambers were excavated directly from the rock. The fortress was said to be hammered with everywhere around the patchwork of blast shielding the rock was cracked and pounded. Chunks of red sandstone lay scattered on the walkways outside. The dark chambers of the fortress were honeycombed with halls and stairways. The walls were covered with thick tapestries and lit by sconces.^[1]

A room was carved into the corner of the fortress so that windows opened on two sides. The huge room was nearly triangular in shape, with six openings looking out to the prairie. blaster riffles lay stacked near each window, flak jackets had been tossed in piles on the floor, and a solitary blaster cannon poked out toward the mountains to the east. In the center of the room a cooking pit was filled with bright embers.^[1]

The fortress had a stone table used to prepare corpses that led to a flight of gray steps, past a woven mat that bore the image of a clan sister in yellows and white, holding a war spear. Beyond it was the warriors' hall, a room where commoners, those without the spellcasting ability or mere apprentices were never allowed entrance.^[1]

One of the stairs led up to a large sleeping chamber with an opening that led from the room out to a stone parapet overlooking the valley. The room itself held dozens of straw beds spread out on the floor, covered with heavy blankets. Th fortress had a maze of stone passageways up six flights of stairs. One huge cavelike room was used as a hanger for starships. The cavelike room had no large openings and several huge stones had been cracked on the far side. Teneniel's room was a small chamber that held a single mattress and a trunk. A large mirror made of silver sat on one wall, with a sink beneath it. The War Room had a huge map on the floor, molded of clay and painted.^[1]

History

In 31 BBY, the Jedi Order thwarted a plot of the Nightsisters to used an ancient superweapon against the Galactic Republic. Due to the proximity between the Star Temple containing this weapon and the Singing Mountain Clan Stronghold, the Singing Mountain Clan later became the guardian of the Star Temple. Following the rise of the Galactic Empire, Jedi Knight Jax Pavan visited the Singing Mountain Clan Stronghold in order to obtain the support of Clan Mother Augwynne Djo to access the Star Temple.^[4]

During the time of the Galactic Civil War, the Singing Mountain Clan thrived in the stronghold.^[3] In 1 ABY,^[5] a group of spacer traveled to the fortress and offered their services to the Singing Mountain Clan. At that time, the clan was led by Clan Mother Aujante K'lee.^[6] Around the same time, another spacer infiltrated the fortress where they fought and defeated the witch Gilsaria in order to recover her Shard of Hatred, an artifact allowing to access the Nightsister Chamber of Banishment.^[7]

In 8 ABY, during the campaign against Imperial Warlord Zsinj, the heir of the Hapes Consortium Isolder and the heroes of the New Republic Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, Han Solo and Chewbacca inadvertently arrived on the planet Dathomir. The offworlders took shelter in the Singing Mountain Clan village and eventually allied with the witches against the evil Nightsisters. The Nightsisters later attacked the fortress to capture the offworlders but they were repelled by the Singing Mountain Clan witches and their new allies. The Singing Mountain Clan and the New Republic eventually defeated both the Nightsisters and Zsinj's Empire.^[1]

Years later, Luke Skywalker returned to the Singing Mountain Clan Stronghold to request support of the clan in searching information about the Nightsisters and the Second Imperium's Shadow Academy.^[8]

Behind the scenes

The Singing Mountain Clan Stronghold first appeared in the 1994 novel The Courtship of Princess Leia, written by Dave Wolverton.^[1] It later appeared as a playable location in the 2003 video game Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided, a massively multiplayer online roleplaying game developed by Sony Online Entertainment and published by LucasArts,^[3] prior to its closure on December 15, 2011.^[9]

Appearances

• The Last Jedi
• Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided (First identified as Singing Mountain Clan Stronghold)
• Star Wars Galaxies (post-NGE)
• The Courtship of Princess Leia (and unabridged audiobook) (First appearance, in book)
• Young Jedi Knights: Shadow Academy

Sources

• Cracken's Threat Dossier
• The Essential Chronology
• Star Wars Galaxies: The Total Experience: Prima Official Game Guide
• The New Essential Chronology
• Star Wars Galaxies: The Complete Guide: Prima Official Game Guide
• Star Wars Galaxies Bonus DVD
• Star Wars Galaxies Trading Card Game — Squadrons Over Corellia Card: Singing Mountain Sentry (backup link)

Notes and references

External link

• Singing Mountain Clan Stronghold on the SWG Wiki