Rhykotiil (Snow Elf Retreat)

The Snow Elf Retreat (Rhykotiil in their own tongue) is the largest Snow Elf settlement in the Crucible.

Overview
Before even Karus arose, the Snow Elves called the Frostcrag Mountains their homes. It is not known when they arrived, but it must've been some time before the collapse of the Elven Empire. Generations of Snow Elves have lived and died here, and the settlement has changed very little.

Few humans have ever seen Rhykotiil up close, let alone entered it. Outsiders are only allowed to enter the Retreat upon the whim of the Archmage. Those few who have entered tell stories of a vast city beneath a glacier that is nearly abandoned. Only the area of the city nearest to the central spire is inhabited, surrounded by magical barriers.

The city houses around two-hundred Snow Elves, though there are others who live in the region beyond that aren't counted in this number. The majority of them are trained in magic, though the source of that magic doesn't matter. There is no stigma against divine or primal magic.

Vast chains of a strange metal can be found the area, anchored to the ice. Some have been pulled taut, as if they are holding the glacier up from complete collapse. Others say that the chains are magically enchanted to prevent the city from shifting to another dimension, acting as an anchor against demonic activity.

The current Archmage is a mysterious, elderly matron. She wears a blue hood and a mask of white porcelain at any interaction with outsiders, but the Snow Elves describe her as incredibly beautiful, yet sorrowful. They do not speak her name, only referring to her as the Archmage.

The Snow Elves have little interest in anything going on in that lands of men or dwarves.