Bones of the Earth Mother

Three thousand years ago, a violent earthquake shook the Stonetalon Mountains. Mountains sank under the ground and new mountains sprang up like jagged teeth. When the shaking stopped, a dozen enormous columns of white rock sprouted up from the valley floor. Tauren shaman spent many nights interpreting this sign; after thirty days they declared that the rock columns symbolized the Earth Mother's bones. Though the land may shift and change, she would remain strong and immobile. The site has been sacred to the tauren ever since.

The Bones of the Earth Mother are enormous bone-white columns of rock which jut out from the earth. The columns stretch into the air and curve like giant ribs. All around the columns stretches a hundred feet of black soil that looks rich and loamy, though no plants grow in the area. The bones of the Earth Mother occupy a circular area with a 100-foot radius. The twelve stone columns range from 30 to 50 feet high and from 10 to 20 feet in diameter.

The tauren claim that the Earth Mother's bones will never sink or vanish again unless the destruction of the entire world is nigh. Tauren shaman believe that undergoing a vision quest among the Earth Mother's bones can lead to incredible self-knowledge and power, but those who do so and fail run the risk of madness or death.