Misery Ascendant - Kingdom of Durdorack

Durdorack

History of the land

The land of Durdorack is a land of surface dwelling dwarves, who specialize in the trading that occurs between the lands of the suns and that of the eternal night. These dwarves have not always lived above the surface, however. They were once very much like the dwarves of most lands, but deceit, lies, and betrayal have led to these dwarves loss of honor and pride.

Realms of the Eternal Night

Long ago, deep within the Headrael Mountains, There lived a kingdom of dwarves who were known for their fine craftsmanship and stonework. They were considered to be the premier craftsmen in all the Lands Under the Suns, and word of their artistry had reached far. The extraordinary crafts made by the dwarves were known by all, even those living in the lands of the suns.

These dwarves were a proud lot, and often had contests of craftmaking that would sometimes lead to infighting and eventually the fractioning of Clan Durdorack.

The legend of the Great Axe of Ghundar was among the most important as far as in-clan strife was concerned.

The King of Durdorack, Ghundar Durdorack, held a major festival in which the greatest craft that could be made would be crowned the best craftsman in all the lands. The dwarves of clan Durdorack were very excited about this grand event that would take place in five years. Three separate dwarves of Clan Durdorack, exceptional in their arts of weapon making, and renowned in their own clans, had lain claim to a weapon that was truly magnificent in nature.

It is thought that when the planet of Cyuk was found by the gods of evil, that Abbathor, the dwarven god of greed, had used his powers to convince the three greatest craftsmen into creating an axe for him. These dwarves poured all of their souls into the creation of this item, which coexisted in all three dwarves presence at one time.

These dwarves knew nothing of each other except for what others had told them, as they were all famous, in their own rights, their names were sometimes even mentioned in the light of the surface.

Abbathor used his influence to corrupt the three greatest craftsmen and rot their minds with greed. They all wanted the honor of being the greatest craftsman in all the realms that they were easily swayed to Abbathor’s will.

The legend goes that a single dwarf, Gardik of Durdorack, had planned an unveiling of his greatest creation (420CR). The axe he held above his head that day was truly marvelous, and its detail was one of the best seen, even in the lands of the finest crafters in all of Cyuk.

However, at the sight of this work of art, another dwarf was in attendance of the aforementioned unveiling, and when the weapon was drawn from the folds of Gardik’s cloth, his eyes lit up in rage. Ferkast bellowed out in anger that the axe shown by Gardik was his and his alone. Ferkast explained how he had been making that axe for years, and it had only been stolen the very night before.

Word of these events grew quickly, and before long yet another dwarf, Kolgaar, came forward. His story was one of theft as well. He claimed that the very weapon in question was stolen from him, but a week ago that day. He reasoned that Ferkast must have stolen the axe from him before the axe had been stolen by Gardik.

These being the finest crafters in the kingdom of Durdorack, and each with many followers and admirers of their work, the clan quickly split into factions that were loyal only to one of the three crafters.

These factions quickly became hostile over the claiming of the axe. Brawls and infighting were not uncommon in Durdorack during these times. It was at this time that the feuds between the dwarves escalated to where it was a major distraction to the kingdom of Durdorack, quickly becoming the War of the Axe(423CR).

King Ghundar Durdorack, third king of Durdorack, demanded that the axe be given over to him, so that he might lock it away for all eternity, in order to ensure the unity of his clan. The dwarves of the three factions of craftsmen grew bitter at the king for his request and apparent inability to maintain justice. For they all felt that theirs was the owner of the axe, and the king was being weak to deny them their creations, and the fact that the king wanted to claim the axe for his own.

This created yet a fourth faction of dwarves, those that were loyal to the king. Ghundar organized his faithful into very strict regimens of law enforcement, in an attempt to keep the other dwarves in line.

Ghundar’s men were trained in the arts of stealth and intrusion, and attempted to steel the Axe from Gardik’s men. The invasion was quick, and many of Gardik’s men never knew what had hit them. The half of Gardik’s men that lay asleep that night went quietly, and without pain.

Gardik was awakened by the siege of the king’s men. He wielded the axe with great might, and slew more than his fair share of Ghundar’s men before being overtaken and cut into ribbons by Ghundar’s assassins.

This would be a lesson to the other dwarves, for Ghundar’s kingdom was not going to be one with anarchy and warring amongst themselves, but of law and order.

What remained of Gardik’s men grew very angry with the assassination of their leader, and planned an assault on the King’s quarters.

Shortly after this occurrence, Ferkast’s warriors had been in a minor battle with the dwarves of Kolgaar, each of whom believed that the other had lain claim to Gardik’s Axe. The dwarves were decimating their own numbers to the point of endangerment.

It was not long after this that the hordes brewing underneath the fortress of Cyryllynese had started to raid the surface lands. The Siege of Shadows also found the dwarves of Durdorack(465CR). With their severely limited numbers, and the lack of unity amongst them, the dwarves had little chance of surviving the Siege.

The dwarves of Durdorack fought valiantly, but they had already decimated their numbers by almost half in recent history in the War of the Axe.

King Ghundar wielded the Axe personally, and had been fighting as well as any dwarf could. He personally led a small victory against the Siege in the area of his chambers of the Stronghold. He and a score of dwarves fought and held the horde at bay for a short time, at least. Almost three-fourths of the king's elite warriors fell to the horde in this battle.

While the king and his survivors were tending their wounds, they were attacked by masked dwarven warriors, led by Kolgaar. These warriors ambushed the king of dwarves and quickly dispatched his elite. The king of dwarves died horror stricken, that his own people had come to destroy him in the clan's greatest time of need(469CR).

Kolgaar took the Great Axe and fled, where he and his men were ambushed by the orcs of the Siege of Shadows. Kolgaar fell first in the battle, and his masked assassins fled in fear that their leader, while wielding the Great Axe, had fallen so easily to the orcs, and added to that was the sight of one of the fiercest orcs wield their Axe. The dwarves had become a cowardly lot, and honor was a word that many of these dwarves could not understand.

The Great Axe of Ghundar has been lost to this day.

Realizing the dwarves eminent defeat, the dwarves fled from the mountains to the surface(472CR), led by Ferkast, the last of the great dwarven craftsmen. They were hopeful that surely the Siege would not follow them to the lands of light. All of the dwarven warriors that still had any honor left in their souls had remained to fight for their homeland. The Siege indeed did not follow them, as they were busy routing out the rest of the dwarves who had not been able to escape, along with looting the remains of the stronghold.

Life in the Light

The life in the light has not been an easy one for the dwarves of Durdorack. Upon reaching the surface, the dwarves remained in their factions, despite there only being one leader left among them. Ferkast could not keep the dwarves united, as all of his will was bent on convincing the dwarves that his ownership of the Axe was the true one.

The dwarves remained on the surface, a completely foreign surrounding for these rock dwelling dwarves. Everything they knew was under the mountains, and on the surface they were lost as a whole. They did not have the knowledge necessary for survival in the Broken Plains.

As a result of the dwarves continued lack of unity, many of the dwarves perished. They were not accustomed to the changes in the weather, and did not have the slightest inklings on how to feed themselves on the surface.

It was late in the year 484CR when the Plague of Decay swept through the lands of the Broken Plains. This plague took with it Ferkast, last of the great craftsmen, and with him all of the crafting ability that the dwarves held so dear.

The dwarves of Durdorack eventually learned the ways of the Broken Plains, and began to grow accustomed to life in the light. They began to settle in different regions of the plains, in the surrounding areas of their ancient homeland.

Once the dwarves regained some composure, they began to make contacts in their home world, and farther into the Underdark, in order to find the location of the lost Axe. If the Axe were to be found, it is believed, it would unite the dwarves, and the dwarves would regain their heritage and attempt to reclaim their homeland from the darkness below.