the badlands [Lore] Tartarus

[Bellosh]

Tartarus - Prison of Dark Evils

 

Deep within the bowls of the Forest of Leota near the northern Badlands lies the entrance to an underworld that has never been visited by ponykind, an underworld only described in old myths and pony tales. This place is no other than Tartarus, purported to be the abode of evil creatures unable to coexist with the inhabitants of the surface. Because nothing at all is known about Tartarus, it is perhaps the most dreaded place of all in the wide world of Equestria.

The only known entrance to the Gates of Tartarus is found inside the Knight’s Peak, a jagged mountain shaped as a pony’s head jutting out from the towering redwood forest below. Getting to the Knight’s Peak however is easier said than done; eddies of aether seeping from the Gates produce occasional electromagical storms that make wingpower and magic extremely dangerous to use without certain injury or loss of control. These same naturally-occurring displays of terrifying yet beautiful magic surges also create strange anomalies with their fury; giant cockatrices and upside-down tress are but a few of the bizarre occurrences witnessed in these woods.

Should aspiring travelers make it through the redwoods and reach the bottom of the Knight’s Peak itself, a harrowing ascent awaits. No clear trail exists to the dark “mouth” housing the Gates, forcing ponies to transverse a vertical slope. Thanks to the electromagical storms, the climb up the Knight’s Peak has never been successfully accomplished by any known individual. But it is also acknowledged that the guardian of the Gates, the enormous three-headed dog Cerberus, makes its home in the “mouth” near the mountaintop. Thanks to the efforts of that creature, no resident of Tartarus has ever been seen in Equestria.

Nopony has a clue as to what lies beyond the mostly-sealed portal leading to Tartarus, or even if its inhabitants came to reside there by force or by choice. Imaginations consequently run wild concerning the true nature of this realm; legends speak of creatures that are simultaneously horrifying beyond imagination and wondrous to behold, of a vast primeval underworld forgotten entirely by time. Yet unless there is a pressing need to enter this untamed world, no one’s in a hurry to rush inside; Tartarus is certainly no place for the timid, after all.....

~Canterlot Research Journal