Shambhala, as it appears in Uncharted 2: Among Thieves.
Shambhala, also known as Shangri-La by many, is a mythical city hidden in the Himalayas. Despite its location, its climate is different from the world outside; it is much more of a tropical climate instead of the snowy climate of the Himalayas, which is the reason it was considered an earthly paradise. The legendary Cintamani Stone was said to be hidden there. The entrance to Shambhala is hidden inside a remote, abandoned monastery in Tibet, and guarded by its inhabitants who disguise themselves as Yetis.
Marco Polo and his caravan were the first to discover the city on their way back from Kublai Khan's court. He left behind a series of clues that were picked up by Lazarvic, and then by Drake; A map hidden within a Mongolian oil lamp, a Purba and map amongst the survivors of the lost fleet, a three-dimensional stone map inside a temple, and various writings that alluded to the Cintamani Stone. Centuries later, an expedition sent by the Waffen SS would enter Shambhala; those that found their way to the temple were killed by their guide, Karl Schaffer.
Psychopathic war criminal Zoran Lazarevic and his army of merceneries were on a hunt to find the Stone, which he believed would grant him and his army unstoppable power; Nathan Drake raced to find the hidden city before Lazarevic in order to destroy the Stone. Zoran and Nate both found the hidden city at the same time, however, and Nate was left to fight through Lazarevic's soldiers and super-powered Guardians in order to get to the Stone before Zoran.
Nate then discovered that Marco Polo (who had once set out to find the Stone) had gotten it all wrong, and that the Stone was fossilized resin; he also discovered that the real power came from the sap of the Tree of Life. Lazarevic reached the Tree before Drake did, however, and consumed the sap, gaining great and terrible power. However, in a final showdown Nate was able to weaken Lazarevic to the point of near-death; he was then brutally beaten to death by a group of Guardians, as the mystical city of Shambhala came crashing down upon them (due to the fact that Nate practically destroyed the Tree of Life, which was, in essence, the center of the city and the source of the highly volatile blue resin).
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