The northern mountain range lay close to the River Styx. Not a bird flew across its countless peaks, and its brutally harsh environment made it a standard forbidden zone for life. The living were advised to stay away.
The vast mountains stretched endlessly, pitch-black and devoid of even a trace of green. Dark clouds shrouded the peaks, leaving one unable to see their own hand. Lightning occasionally streaked across the sky, followed by unceasing rolls of thunder.
Some of the mountains were riddled with magma-filled cracks, their heat warping the air, while others were swept by bone-piercing winds cold enough to freeze one's marrow.
Hated by both men and gods, they had been claimed as territory by countless monsters.
And that was indeed the case. This mountain range was the domain of Phorcys, the "Father of a Hundred Monsters," a primordial sea god who symbolized "the wrath of the sea."
After Zeus's family rose to power, Poseidon took control of the sea's Divine Authority, and Phorcys was reduced to the furious king of a hundred monsters.
Perhaps because he was a primordial god, although Phorcys was Gaia the Earth Mother Goddess's grandson, he was also Gaia's son...
Uh, that wasn't important.
In short, although Phorcys possessed noble blood, his appearance was truly hard to compliment. Most of his daughters inherited his grotesque genes. They wielded the power of gods, yet were treated as monsters.
Among the more famous ones were the Sirens, the three Gorgon sisters, and the target of their current journey—the three River Styx witches, the Graeae sisters.
Incidentally, the Gorgons were the snake-haired monsters. Medusa was the youngest of the three sisters, and since people always picked on the weak, she had been taken out.
Of course, that also had something to do with her offending Athena.