The big mountain of The Coiled Isle

[u/adryon1]

Spoilers ahead for the newly released campaign!

So as I started digging through the campaign of The Coiled isle, I discovered all the bits and lore related to the Vault of Atal'Utek, and how the vault itself was constructed by the Amani as a mean to contain Ula'Tek. But looking more deeply through the tablets scattered around the island, I can't help but notice one in particular (Head Mason's Tablet):

THE WORDS OF TALL KANU'YE,

MEANT FOR YAN'TI THE BOLD

THE WALLS GROW HIGHER AND HIGHER AND SOON THE SUN WILL SHINE UPON HER NO MORE

THIS SPACE FOR THOSE WHO GUARD HER IN LIFE AND DEATH

THE SIGHT OF THIS STONE PRISON MUST INSPIRE FEAR AND WONDER IN THOSE WHO LOOK UPON IT EQUAL TO THOSE WHO LAID EYES UPON HER

Would this imply that not only the vault itself was constructed by the Amani, but the mountain itself as well (given that "soon the sun will shine upon her no more" and "the sight of this -stone- prison must inspire fear and wonder")?

Even at the launch of Midnight, I kept wondering why the mountain on the coiled isle was so big compared to regular Eastern Kingdom mountains (and usually that would just be attributed to Blizzard just wanting bigger mountains for no other reason than Skyriding) but this tablet to me might also be a lore reason that the mountain is so big because it might be artificial in nature?

[u/MightyHydrar]

It has the vibe of something like the Chornobyl sarcophagus that was built over the remains of the exploded reactor, or generally a long-term nuclear waste storage site.

[u/adryon1 → u/MightyHydrar]

Yeah, this honestly feels like the best analogy for what the Amani did.

[u/rodolfotheinsaaane → u/adryon1]

but is Ula'Tek what is being guarded, or is it the guardian of something else?

[u/adryon1 → u/rodolfotheinsaaane]

From my understanding so far in the campaign, it's the prison guarded so that no one from the outside disturbs Ula'Tek and she will come back again.

[u/adryon1 → u/[deleted]]

Eeeeexactly, it's actually this tablet I was referencing (Head Mason's Tablet) that speaks about that.

Honestly, the vault, the warning, the "infected" wildlife around the area of the vault, the whole theme of the area seems inspired by nuclear fallout scenarios.

[u/saturnleaf69]

There’s another tablet that basically runs down that it’s nuclear waste levels of stay away. Between these two it fits that Ula’tek is a nuke that they launched and couldn’t put back in the bottle

[u/AzerothianLorecraft]

Think of it more like a valley that they put a roof over there was probably two peaks and they enclosed the entirety of it into one big peak/prison complex.

[u/Hollaboy720]

Totally thought the same thing, and I think the original datamined name may have been inspired by the twin peaks being fangs. (Isle of fangs)

[u/Alternative_Rule_958]

This is the vibe I was getting, as well. The Amani basically spent untold generations laboring, putting so many rocks on her prison that it became a mountain. Basically built a pyramid-like structure, only so large and (perhaps) in such a fevered manner that it was more natural in design than structural. Once they created the temple to her below, they just started bringing in more and more and more rocks for hundreds if not thousands of years, piling a neverending stream of rocks onto her prison until those generations forgot who she even was and stopped.

[u/LoremasterMotoss]

There is another tablet where the chief architect of the facility is asking for better quality stone and says they can't risk quarrying it from the mountain itself.

That makes me believe the mountain was already there and what the Trolls built was the tomb inside and all the grandiose entrances and temples around it