Fractured Peaks

The Fractured Peaks

Fractured Peaks is a geographic area in Sanctuary, located south of Scosglen, north of Hawezar, and east from the Dry Steppes.

Lore

The Fractured Peaks on the world map

Teeming with danger, the Fractured Peaks are a frigid wasteland of cold death. The Peaks are home to craggy steppes and snow-laden pathways, creating an unforgiving landscape rife with demons to slay and secrets to discover. Rocky, mountainous surroundings have kept most visitors away from this frozen landscape, which are dotted with crumbling ruins and ancient cathedrals, and a blistering cold saturates the entire region.

The Fractured Peaks at night

However, some call the Peaks home, but they live in a state of constant anxiety; the sense that something is waiting to prey on them when any moment of weakness strikes. When the sun goes down inside the Peaks, the people hunker down in their towns. Any who are caught outside at night are as good as dead, for if they don't fall prey to monsters, the cold will kill them. In the Fractured Peaks, people cling to flickers of light and faith alike.

Good ale can be a rare commodity in the Fractured Peaks, as arable land for grain is at a premium, and the growing season is short. The best ale found in the peaks is usually imported from the lowlands near Kehjistan and Hawezar.

The Peaks are also the home to a group of religious zealots; devout monks seeking refuge in the isolation of the Peaks to find enlightenment. Their fervant belief in their higher powers keeps them feeling warm and safe during the night, but has left them completely ignorant of the dangers that are slowly, slowly encroaching upon them.

Snowmelt from the Peaks feeds the swamps of Hawezar. Numerous waterfalls can be seen in the Peaks' south.

History

"May the Light of Father Inarius shine down upon all weary travelers of this holy land. Turn your face toward his radiance and find your strength renewed."

- Statue inscription^(src)

The history of the Fractured Peaks goes back centuries, if not millennia. At some point, the Peaks was home to a culture (or cultures) that had a faith that Lorath Nahr speculated may have been a northern variant of Skatsim. Places of worship were erected to this religion, which in turn, Lorath speculated, were built on even older ruins of a people long since vanished.

The Cathedral of Light makes its mark on the Peaks

During the Reign of Enmity, the Peaks came under control of the Cathedral of Light, which operated out of Kyovashad. It strove to assert its dominance over the people, to make them more subservient and accountable to the Church. The Peaks' towns paid tithes to the Cathedral, and the Cathedral tore down the old ruins that dotted the Peaks, to erect new structures for their own worship such as the Altars of Illumination. Shrines dedicated to Inarius were also erected all over the Peaks.

Adventurers burn a town in a bid to stop the plague

By 1336, a vampire plague was sweeping through the Peaks. It started small; nameless people that no-one would miss, their throats torn open. The Cathedral ignored the killings, even as fear mounted like the bodies. The desperate and the brave fought back against the vampires, but they were too late, either slain, or turned into thralls.

As winter descended on the Peaks, the Midwinter Blight occurred in the Peaks, disrupting any cheer the Peaks' denizens had managed to scrounge for themselves.

In-game

The Fractured Peaks

The Fractured Peaks are one of the six main geographic areas that can be explored in Diablo IV. It is the starting zone for the game. The region features 25 main quests, along with 25 side quests to complete.

Notable Locations

Main article: List of Fractured Peaks locations

Regions

The Fractured Peaks is divided into the following major regions:

• Desolate Highlands
• Dobrev Taiga
• Frigid Expanse
• Gale Valley
• Sarkova Pass
• Seat of the Heavens
• The Crucible
• The Pallid Glade

Structures

The Fractured Peaks

• Alabaster Cathedral
• Black Asylum
• Defiled Catacomb
• Forbidden City
• Hallowed Ossuary
• Icehowl Ruins
• Kor Dragan (fortress)
• Kor Valar (fortress)
• Light's Watch (fortress)

Towns

• Bear Tribe Enclave
• Camp Trenchfoot
• Kasama (ancient nephalem city)
• Kyovashad
• Margrave
• Menestad
• Nevesk
• Nostrava (abandoned)
• Velkhova (destroyed)
• Yelesna

Other

• Altars of Illumination
• Father's Cross
• Pine Hill (mining settlement/garrison)
• Serac Rapture (glacier)

Trivia

This section contains facts and trivia relevant to this article.

The Fractured Peaks

• The Peaks take inspiration from Victorian Gothic horror, and are based on the Carpathian Mountains.
• It has also been claimed, if not by Blizzard themselves, that the Peaks are Slavic-inspired This can be seen in the accents, location & character names, clothing and architectural styles and the biomes (e.g. taiga is a biome found in northern Eurasia).

References

Locations in the Diablo universe

Astral Realm • Burning Hells • Deluged Plane • Ether • Fractured Plane • High Heavens • Limbo • Mirrored World • Nephalem Rifts • Obliterated Realm • Pandemonium • Realm of the Banished • Realm of Shadow • Realms of Fate • Spirit Realm • Void • Wastelands

Sanctuary — Ancients' Cradle • Aranoch • Bakuli Jungle • Bilefen (Valostre, defunct) • Cold Isles (Pelghain, defunct) • Dreadlands • Dry Steppes • Eastern Steppes • Fractured Peaks • Greyhollow Island • Hawezar • Ivgorod (defunct) • Kehjistan (defunct) • Marshland • Nahantu • Samauren Empire (defunct) • Scosglen • Shassar Sea (Fahiran Empire, defunct) • Shimmering Tropic • Skovos Isles • Stormpoint • Uie • Western Kingdoms (Entsteig • Khanduras • Westmarch) • Wojahn • Xiansai
Related — Towns