Orucíl Mountains

The Orucíl Mountains were a mountain range in central Sýsto. They separated the southern and northern sections if the island; Wythtornë, the "Winding Vale," was a pass through the mountains used, originally, by the Nymphs to travel between Awe Orunve and Fearuvia. The mountains were always subject to legends, many of which emerged during the initial Nympheic period of settling, during the mid-to-late First Age. Some of these legends were also told during the human occupation of the island. As a result, the pass and mountains were abandoned and rarely explored through most of the Middle Age.

Origin of Name
The word Orucíl, a Nympheic term meaning Golden City, has two possible origins. It may have emerged in tandem with "Awe Orunve," meaning North Golds, the Nymph's major city on Sýsto. The word "Oru," gold, may be an indication that gold was extant on the island during the First Age; it is also possible, however, that the Nymphs just named the region after the particularly golden sunlight to which the region was subject. There is also a theory suggesting that the Nymphs believed the west, especially Sýsto and Ferían, were the loci of a future golden age, based on some unidentified Nympheic mythological text.

This explanation does not, however, explain the use of the word "cil," city, a suffix of many city names, such as Morncil. Duron Ai-Antë seems theorized on the linguistics of these terms during the Magellan Industrial Age, stating: "Orucil, then, seems more appropriate a city name than Awe Orunve. Why wasn't the city called Orucil and the mountains something else?" He, of course, answered this question. He speculated that perhaps there was a "city" within the mountains, perhaps some culture predating the Nymphs. He suggested such a culture as the origins of the legends surrounding the mountains and thought that any rudimentary technologies within the mountains were appropriated by the Nymphs. He had planned an expedition to the Orucíl Mountains, but was forced to cancel due to the invasion of Toltus Alvedi. (His theory is quite possible in the context of a connection to Ferían. About 50 years after his speculations an entire civilization would be found on that continent living within the mountains, in a city named Thyroxxiar. This civilization had "advanced" technology very unlike any other contemporary inventions and predated the Nymphs).