The Khontala Mountains (sometimes Kohntala Mountains) were a towering and extensive mountain range in the northern hemisphere of Kharak. The mountains rose from the flat desert plain known as the Kasaar and were noted for their geographic complexity, including chokepoints that are easy to defend but almost impossible to attack. Along with the rest of the planet, the mountains were devastated during the Kharakian Genocide.
The Khontala Mountains were in territory claimed by Kiith Somtaaw. By 100 KDS the Somtaaw had settled the region and built the walled cities of Hameln and Gydeo, the latter on the slopes of the tallest mountain in the range, Lungma Jun, the "Roof of the World."
In 178 KD, Teigor Somtaaw sponsored Kharakian artists from numerous disciplines in the creation of a series of temples on the slopes of Lungma Jun. There were 33 temples in total, leading from the sands of the Kasaar (at the Oracle of Tala) to the summit of what was, at that time, believed to be the world’s tallest known mountain. The Shimmering Path linked them together. The Seventh Temple became known as the Dome of Heaven, located within the city walls of Gydeo. The highest was the Temple of Mysteries located on the highest slopes of the mountain, which were almost uninhabitable. Located on an altar in the temple were the Star-Metal Scrolls, allegedly written by the hand of Jakuul himself in a language which no living person could read.
In 675 KD, during the Heresy Wars, the rate of pilgrimage to the Temple of Mysteries dropped to almost nothing, eventually forcing the Somtaaw to close the route and all of the temples, bar only Oracle of Tala and Dome of Heaven.
In 789 KD the Somtaaw discovered rich mineral deposits below the Red Creek Valley in the mountains, and began the process of reinventing themselves as a mining and industrial kiithid.