Oriab

Oriab (or Isle of Oriab) is a fictional location in H. P. Lovecraft's Dreamlands. It is a large island in the Southern Sea and is lush and fertile. Its most prominent landmark is the tall, snow-capped mountain Ngranek. It is home to the magah birds that nest in its resin trees.

Locations

Baharna

Baharna is a major seaport on the northern coast of Oriab. It has "wharves of... porphyry, and the city rises in great stone terraces behind them, having streets of steps that are frequently arched over by buildings, and bridges between buildings." (The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, Lovecraft.) A pair of lighthouses named Thon and Thal guide ships to its harbor.

Baharna is known for both its pottery and for the curious figurines that its artists carve from the lava of Ngranek. The people of Baharna ride zebras in place of horses.

Ngranek

Ngranek (or Mount Ngranek) is a towering extinct volcano, and is two-days ride by zebra from Baharna. Lava gatherers frequent its slopes, but none climb too high for fear of the dreaded Nightgaunts.

Caves in Ngranek connect with tunnels that stretch to the lower reaches of the Dreamlands. Nightgaunts regularly use these passageways to travel to and from the underworld.

The gods of earth, the Great Ones, once dwelt on the pinnacle of Ngranek, but now reside at Kadath. The gods have marked their prior residence here, with a gigantic likeness of their image carved into the far side of the mountain. That part of Ngranek is hard to reach because it faces sheer, jagged cliffs and a lava-filled ravine. Rumors hint that men who once lived there angered the gods, but what fate befell them after that is unknown.

Lake of Yath

Yath is a large inland lake that lies just to the south of Baharna. Beside the lake are rolling hills and small villages, whose residents dwell in modest stone houses, and tend groves of fragrant resin trees. A road leading to Ngranek lies along Yath. An underground canal, with granite gates, connects Yath with Baharna and passes under the entire city.

The ruins of an ancient city, whose name and history long forgotten, lie on the shores of Yath opposite from Baharna. These ruins are shunned, most likely because of the nocturnal bloodsucking creatures, known as wamps, that dwell there.

References

• Lovecraft, Howard P. (1985) [1926]. "The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath". In S.T. Joshi (ed.). At the Mountains of Madness and Other Novels (7th corrected printing ed.). Sauk City, WI: Arkham House. ISBN 0-87054-038-6. Definitive version from original manuscripts.