My recent trip to Alaska brought to mind this old post from 2011...
Gerard Mercator based his maps and his descriptions (in a letter to John Dee in 1577) off older works. He describes a landmass divided into four lands by channels through which water rushed into the whirlpool surrounding the Pole, and "descends into the earth just as if one were pouring it through a filter funnel.” This unusual geography supposedly led to the deaths of 4,000 men from the expedition King Arthur sent to the island, according to Mercator's report. The ultimate source of this version of pole is believed to be the account in the Inventio Fortunata, a 14th Century work which is unfortunately lost.
At the pole itself, in the center of the maelstrom, was a giant, black mountain, Rupes Nigra--the Black Rock or Black Precipice. Mercator writes: “Its circumference is almost 33 French miles, and it is all of magnetic stone. And is as high as the clouds...” Its magnetism was said draw ships made with iron nails to their doom.
A really interesting adventuring site, I think.
You're going to want to leave all your steel and iron gear home for that expedition, methinks. The Black Rock itself must be half-covered in lost swords, plowshares, the nails that had been holding ships together, the remains of poor saps who were so fond of their hauberks or anachronistic plate armor, etc. No need for that to stop you, of course. Back to the Bronze Age equipment instead, and maybe there's magical enchantments that let steel ignore magnetism.
ReplyDeleteI wonder, is adamantite ferrous? Mithril? Maybe you want a good (un)naturalist/crafter to carve up your monster kills to make something better than bronze?
There's probably some potential for abusing giant magnets too. If you've ever read Marble Gate Dungeon you probably recall how magnetic traps can backfire against a clever foe.
IIRC there's a lodestone mountain in the Sindbad stories as well, although it was nowhere near either pole. You'd think the trope would show up more often, honestly.