Dwarves 2
From Atlantic Roleplay Wiki
Title: Dwarves Part II
Author: Isilmea
Wispbeard and Windaxe were last, and refused to return to the halls of stone in the eastern mountains, their ways changed. They had become more similar to the elves; shamans and druids, in touch with animal, tree and stone, and dwelt in the wind-filled peaks and caverns of the Serpentspine Mountains.
"The Wind Clans" they were called, wild and savage, yet noble in their dealing with the earth, and they were troubled no more by the messengers of Kazathrim, who sought not to cause another great war between their race.
Of Oathtaker, Shieldbreaker and Flamebeard, no word was heard. Swept away in the currents of Mondain's insidious reign, they were lost. Rockwatcher and Deep-Eye, also, were thought to be destroyed.
Despite that, the once again united Clans rejoiced, and many left their homes to be joined together in Kazathrim. The dwarven empire was rebuilt, stone by stone, pillar by pillar. In their hunts for the remaining Clans, the dwarves had come across the newly built city of Trinsic, in which many drow dwelt.
These drow were not like the drow imprinted on their memory, however; they had abandoned their ties to Lolth and journeyed out of the Underdark. They were a wild bunch; ruled not by a High Thane or one true king, as the dwarves were, but by territorial warlords. Two of these were Lord Roderick and Ilyana the Grey, of whom the dwarves though highly of, and vice versa. Peace was reached between the dark elves and the dwarves of Kazathrim.
From Clan Ironhill, a High Thane was chosen: Thorak, who in dwarven tomes and armour, runes of mourning still weep for. Thus ended the second recorded age of dwarvenkind, and the uniting of the Clans.
Many in Kazathrim now felt to rebuild the glory of their empire, and conquer all the mountains and caves in Britannia as their own. High Thane Thorak Ironhill of whom supported this. Leading an army of Ironhill's finest warriors, in shining suits of iron and weapons carved with runes by the runesmiths in Kazathrim, they marched west, to the base of the Serpentspine Mountains, neat the edge of the Compassion Desert. But the humans now also were united under a banner, and old Sosaria was no more; Lord British was their king, and all the surface was his, even the lands of the dark elves. Receiving word of a hostile army of dwarves near his Shrine of Compassion, a large force of paladins and soliders marched from Britain, the capital, and laid siege to Ironhill's surface fortress. Destroyed and dismayed, many fled and were lost; and Thorak Ironhill was struck down. Clan Ironhill decayed shortly thereafter, and many left Kazathrim to dwell in Britain with the humans.
The Wind Clans had heard also of the dwarves war to claim the mountains through the trees and the eagles, and would ensure that no surfacer would ever find a friend in the stonelords again. A dwarf of Clan Windaxe went to Lord Roderick, and told him of the great dragon, Crassus, who would attempt to free Lolth from her confines of the Abyss.
Roderick, bound by honour to keep the drow goddess imprisoned, set out to slay the dragon. But a trap was laid, and he fell to Crassus in combat. Ilyana, Roderick's lover, heard of this, and believed the dwarves traitors -- and led an army to Ironhill's now abandoned stronghold to finish what the Dalrhun began. Her mind was lost, however, and she struck out against beings that were not present, and madness overcame her; and she believed she committed genocide and found acquired the blood needed to appease the soul of Roderick, though she took none.
Kazathrim was devestated by the loss of the High Thane; and they grieved long, and a page of the Book of Grudges will forever bear the memory of what the humans did. A new thane, Grimmak the Iron was chosen from Clan Crownsgarde; who remains on the throne in the present. He took as an advisor the only duergar in Kazathrim, Revka Rockwatcher; believed to be the last of Clan Rockwatcher. He then instated a military campaign called the "Dummaz," or Grudge, in which five waves would be sent to the surface to make war upon Britannia, in one hundred years' time.
Thus ended the third recorded age of dwarvenkind, and the death of Thorak Ironhill.
One hundred years passed, and much preparation was made. Clan Starbreaker was sent first, under Balrik Gotrex; who claimed the city Cove and made it his fortress. The orcs sieged, but allied with the elves under King Gunther, the Avengers of his Throne came, and together the orcs were driven off. Nearly in his hands was the ability to siege Britain, when Darklock, called the reincarnation of Mondain and the second Dalrhun, corrupted Gotrex until he abandoned his cause and sold his soul to the Athric Circle. Clan Starbreaker was disbanded by order of High Rhunlord Revka Rockwatcher; many were taken prisoner and deemed heretics to Dumathoin, the rest dwelt on the surface Clan Longbeard was sent next, though Grimmak was dismayed to see Starbreaker's fall, and wept.
Clan Longbeard claimed Cove again, as Gotrex had done, and called it Kaladrym. Again, they had nearly prepared for the final assault against Britain, when the unexpected occurred -- orcs invaded, in many numbers. They held them off at equal numbers for a time, until a second enemy appeared; savages, their skin tatooed and painted, twisted spears in their hands. Clan Longbeard quickly fled back underneath the mountains of Cove, into Kazathrim. Through divine revelation, Revka Rockwatcher renames the city to "Bryn Baraz" -- "The Glittering Promise," in common. Longbeard long dwelt in shame in the caverns of Bryn Baraz, and would never return to the surface.
Clan Tidehammer and Bluebeard, joined under one banner after a long period of division. Clan Stormguard it was called, and upon their ships of silver, they went next. They were quickly defeated, however, as they had wished to build a fortress on Fire Island; but demons overcame them, and they were destroyed.
Grimmak the Iron was now powerless. As planned by Revka Rockwatcher, the armies of Bryn Baraz were destroyed, and he declared himself High Thane of all dwarves beneath and above the earth. The High Thane, under his spell, quietly passed the crown onto him, and Clan Ironforge under Feldgarde Grimbrow staunchly supported the High Thane Revka. A period of darkness fell over the dwarven empire as the duergar took control, which still remains.
It was then that Gotrex broke free him the Dalrhun's spell, and fled to the north, to Dagger Isle, the land of perpetual storm and snow. There, he gathered his supporters, and quickly heard word of the corruption in Bryn Baraz, and was determined to fight against it. Clan Sunderforge was founded, to reclaim the honour and crown of the dwarves from the head of the duergar Revka Rockwatcher, and return the dwarves to a golden age before the first Dalrhun came. They await the coming of the White Dwarf, the savior of their kind in times of great peril, sent from Dumathoin, who would deliver them... Thus endedings uponlords.