lore Kings of the Old Realm

[Fimlin 1696]

Kings of the Old Realm

 

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Recorded herein are the transcribed oral traditions and histories of the dwarves that lived under the first sky, uncovered first by my grandfather, Valen Grandaxe, and now completed and issued for public scholarship. While its record likely remains incomplete, it preserves extensive knowledge of the old Aegian kings, the details of which were previously thought lost. May it act as a chronicle to future generations on the tales of our forebears and of the struggles they overcame to carry on the legacy of Urguan’s folk.

 

Through the knowledge of Ogradhad, may we be ever knowing.

 

The Age of Stone

Advancing from early runic and stone working practises of the proto-dwarves, this era marked the beginning of the great masonry projects which ultimately culminated in the construction and development of the subterranean metropolis of Khaz’Urguan, known in the common tongue as the Halls of Urguan.

 

King Urguan Silverbeard - Arising from mysterious origins at the dawn of the mortal races’ great ascendancy, Urguan and his three brothers battled the Archdaemon, Iblees who had first attempted to deceive them in the form of a kind and benevolent old man. For their role in his banishment, Urguan and his followers were cursed with short stature and were issued a warning that their greed would one day be their undoing. After the defeat of Iblees, Urguan and his kin retreated to the deep underground caves of the world where they eventually began carving great stone structures and edifices into the rockface. Through years of rigorous perseverance and zeal towards the task set before them, the Halls of Urguan, known as Khaz’Urguan in the dwarven tongue, were constructed. As the most seasoned and wisest among his kin, Urguan assumed the mantle as their natural ruler and was crowned king of all dwarves, his followers collectively becoming known as ‘Urguan’s Folk.’ For three hundred years, Urguan ruled fairly and justly over a people who largely looked to each other as equals. Together, they delved deep into the depths of the world unknown beneath their feet, uncovering vast knowledge and wealth which in turn facilitated great leaps in their technological and magical prowess. Endeavouring to shield their people from the dangers of the outside world, they harnessed this new understanding to erect great runic behemoths which stood watch at the city’s gates, keeping guard on the valley below. Taking great pride in their accomplishments, they celebrated their act in defiance of the Archdaemon’s words, looking hopefully on towards a bountiful and more prosperous future. Soon, however, Urguan desired to share this world with another and married a she-dwarf by the name of Yudora. Between them, they sired eight sons, each as unique and exceptional as the last. While all of Urguan’s offspring were tutored in the ways of their father’s learned kin, some grew curious of the world that stretched above them, untamed and ripe for exploration. As time passed, Urguan granted these dwarves his blessing to leave the city and many ventured north with their followers, some choosing to settle among the clouds on high mountain peaks, over time becoming known as the mountain dwarves. A small few, meanwhile, found peace in the dense woodland groves of the great forests, and became the forest dwarves. Finally, for those of his kin who had refused to leave Urguan’s side and remained living in the deep underground dwellings of their father, they called themselves cave dwarves. Over time, each of these communities formed families of their own and as they became acclimatised to their new environments, their differences grew starker. For Urguan himself, however, more pressing matters lingered on his mind. Strictly ordering that he not be disturbed and locking himself in his chamber for what seemed like days and nights without end, he toiled in secret on matters that have been left unknown to history. For a time, the dwarves of Khaz’Urguan grew fearful of what had become of their king, yet none wished to defy his will. After a full year had passed, Urguan finally emerged, clad head to toe in cloth and furs, asking only that he be left without question to depart the city’s gates. With his kin adhering to his final command, he left his suit of armour behind, venturing alone into an oncoming snowstorm, never to be seen or heard from again.

 

King Barradin - Upon Urguan’s sudden disappearance, a succession crisis ensued. It was determined from then that all future Kings of Urguan would be appointed from among the clans of Urguan’s immediate offspring and would adopt the name ‘Silverbeard’ upon their coronation, after which they would forgo all ties to their blood kin. Barradin was the first to be chosen, a proud and long-reigning dwarf who presided over the nation's new social order in the immediate aftermath of Urguan's reign, sharing power across the clans of Urguan's sons. This had the unintended effect of leaving their low-born kin with little say in how they were governed and most were forced to toil day and night in laborious conditions in order to sustain the nation's economic growth. This fact was mostly forgotten, however, as the new threat of Ondnarch's terror from the north became clear. Battling against the fallen aengul's minions at all corners of the realm, Barradin’s host and his runic behemoths were soon routed and for years, the King struggled to preserve the unity of his people locked tightly behind Khaz’Urguan’s great gates. What became known as the 'eternal cold' was left to ravage those who remained outside, while the dwarves within struggled for warmth, their survival becoming dependent on the heat of the city’s great magma core. Barradin's perseverance paid off, however, and he was later able to push back the hordes at his gates and with the help of the Triumvirate of Runelords, used his hammer to banish Ondnarch atop the summit of the highest of the northern peaks, Mount Arvas.

 

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The Age of Gold

Emerging from the brink of extinction during the eternal cold, dwarven society was reformed around trade and the mercantile classes, with the guilds emerging to rival the powers of the nobility. This helped to inspire a new era of exploration and discovery, alongside the development of numerous technological and magical innovations.

 

King Thulgrim - Bearing the responsibility of rebuilding the kingdom after the end of the eternal cold, he set about lifting the dwarven spirit by reforming the social hierarchy of his predecessors. Forest dwarves who now controlled most of the kingdom's outer farmland and crop supply, sought to enshrine better protections for their woodland groves and demanded that higher prices be paid in exchange for their produce. These terms were met by Thulgrim, but not without significant unease from the predominantly cave dwarven nobility of the time. Meanwhile, the common clans who had mostly acted as labourers during the crisis, saw this and issued calls for greater power in government. Thulgrim responded by reforming the city’s industries around the guilds, better reflecting the old social order present under Urguan's reign.

 

King Hrolfgar - Over time, the minerals of Khaz’Urguan’s deep mines ran dry and in order to maintain trade with the outside world, it became necessary for the dwarves of Urguan to seek new veins of ore elsewhere. King Hrolfgar, an ardent adventurer himself, set about leading an expedition west in search of new ore deposits. Travelling by land and water over many perilous months, he soon discovered a low lying region of dense woodland. Within this forest, he found that many of the ilk of Urguan’s brothers had already settled there, choosing to form their own homes amidst its wild flora. After five further days of searching, the dwarves finally discovered that nestled beneath a tear in the landscape, a great subterranean network of caves stretched deep into the ground, its sprawling tunnels inlaid with vast deposits of glistering ore. Heralded first as a gift from the gods, the dwarves soon found their hopes in peril as lingering deep within this subterranean underworld rested a great beast of unspeakable horrors. Hrolfgar and his company descended into its depths, and legend has it told, he personally bested the beast before it let out a final flail of its razored tail, slicing him in two. The colony and its surrounding landscape would later become known as ‘Aurok’Wiker,’ the ‘Golden West’ for the great wealth its minerals would bring to the dwarven realm.

 

King Magnis - Carrying on the economic reforms established during the reigns of his predecessors, his rule at first proved immensely successful and a brief golden age dawned as dwarves from all walks of the city embraced trade and began living better off. By this time, the mines of Aurok’Wiker had grown into a sprawling metropolis, with an ever rising population of newcomers from the capital. Artisans set about producing new and more extravagant wares, attracting traders from all across the mortal realms, while the kingdom’s vaults overflowed with gold and expensive jewelry. However, this prosperity was mostly felt by the kingdom’s inner territories, leaving the mountain holds with a deep sense of neglect. Mountain dwarves became increasingly distant from the kingdom and calls for the independence of their northern holds persisted. While long suspected of corruption by his opponents, Magnis was able to weather these criticisms and served a long and stable reign.

 

King Rumli - Known as the 'scholar-king,' he extended the prosperity of his predecessors and channeled it into the pursuit of knowledge, discovering new metal-working technologies and more effective methods of ore extraction. Tales of legendary dwarves such as Urguan and Barradin were not just vocalised but henceforth became memorialised through great feats of stone inscription, carved into the inner walls of their holds and cities. Aurok’Wiker became the new centre for this cultural revolution and it was endowed with a new name by Rumli, one more befitting of its size and status. The glorious new city of ‘Kal’Urguan’ flourished and within its subterranean tunnels, the ancient runic behemoths were used to carve out and erect the body of its main hall. Not wishing to see their powers harnessed by any of his successors, however, it is said that upon Rumli’s death, he ordered that the behemoths would stand dormant, calcifying into the great stone pillars many dwarves would later come to live under. The arts of magic and runecrafting also increased significantly beneath Rumli’s reign and it became less unorthodox for dwarves to practise them in public. In dealing with the mountain clans, he was largely amenable in negotiations and chose to appease their demands for greater influence in the government, while offering the division of some resources into their holds and villages. However, this created mounting opposition from the kingdom’s powerful new class of mercantile elite who believed the mountain dwarves had overplayed their hand.

 

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The Age of Iron

After a period of economic boom, successive dwarven governments looked to further embolden the realm, by strengthening the bonds among dwarven kin. Often, the price of unity was seen to be dealt through force and so this era became marked by the vast production of largely iron weaponry, born from the deep mines of Kal’Urguan. Disorganised clan militias became a thing of the past and the first uniformed armies were created.

 

King Agrund - A veteran commander of the war against Ondnarch and political opponent of Rumli, he was nominated to power on the promise of creating a united dwarven realm, by ordering the return of all mountain dwarves to the halls of their forefather. This, however, had the effect of angering the mountain clans who soon grew embittered by his rule. They opted to make a joint declaration of independence, giving Agrund the excuse he needed to wage a bloody campaign to reclaim the kingdom's lost territory. Taking a strategic decision to operate out of Kal’Urguan for the duration of the war for its abundance in iron, what Agrund foresaw as an easy victory slowly evolved into a protracted and bitter contest. Inspiring fervent nationalist movements on both sides of the conflict, he expanded the dwarves' military might to levels never before seen but by the end of his reign, had exhausted the kingdom's coffers and was later forced out of power by his own council before the war had met its end. During the course of the conflict, Khaz’Urguan had seen its supply lines cut-off as the mountain clans raided its various trade routes through the narrow mountain passes. With a lack of support from the rest of the kingdom, famine quickly took hold and as the war neared its end, much of its populace chose to abandon the city in search of greater fortunes elsewhere.

 

King Barrus - Son of Barradin, he was seen as a unifier, ending the war with the mountain clans through a treaty that enshrined autonomous rights, but set about formally reintegrating mountain dwarves back into Urguanite society, though tensions continued to persist. Barrus looked to further secure the kingdom’s economic prosperity by officially declaring Kal’Urguan its new capital, leaving the Halls of Urguan to be left as a site of pilgrimage to their holy father. In reality, with little reason for dwarves left to venture there, the walls of their ancient capital soon began to crumble and its streets became lifeless and derelict. Meanwhile, amid Kal’Urguan’s new boom in population, Barrus found himself having to find means of accommodating the need for greater food production. Pasturelands and other fertile plains for crop harvesting were settled along the kingdom’s outer borders, where its farmhands increasingly came into conflict with the orcish clans that dwelled in the arid deserts to the south-east. Seeing this incursion as an opportunity to unite his kingdom further and put its new military infrastructure to good use, he grew determined to rally his people around war with this new orcish menace. Though Barrus commanded immense popularity at the time of his reign from commoners and nobles alike, depicted as a semi-legendary figure to those at home, the war grew long and bitter, with any territorial gains being largely offset by losses elsewhere in the orcs' favour. Barrus himself was later slain amidst the heat of battle by a stray arrow from a common goblin archer. With their former king's inglorious demise, and the nation's pride left in tatters, Barrus’s remaining councilors retreated into isolation, barring shut the stone passageway into Kal’Urguan from all outsiders and prohibiting its common citizenry from leaving.

 

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King Aldrek - Presiding over a kingdom engaged in a strict policy of enforced self-isolation, he set to work on ensuring the city could suffice its own needs. Following demands from the wealthy mercantile classes, the kingdom’s mines, which had formerly required only a small city tax to enter were placed beneath the direct supervision of the guilds, who reserved exclusive mining rights for their own members. These guilds which consisted of both aristocrats and aspiring commoners, would frequently come under the dominance of wealthy trade magnates. Farms previously owned and harvested by forest dwarves were seized by the King’s hearthguard and handed off to their cave-dwelling brethren who in turn, established farming guilds to manage and benefit from their output. Most forest dwarves were made to continue working the land for only a fraction of their previous income, though a minority chose to reject this affront to their ancient way of life and fled south, hoping to find better lives among the deep forests of Malin’s children. With less experienced farmhands brought in to replace them, harvest yields began to slump. Although Aldrek still attracted great support from many of the well-to-do in his kingdom, others vehemently criticised the disaffection he’d presided over, the city’s political climate becoming more embittered and divided with each moon that passed. In the city’s poorer districts, low-born clans resorted to organising smuggling rings to deliver food, trade wares and other illicit goods from the outside world. The King quickly attempted to stamp these out by demanding that the Brathmordic clergy condemn any such action to undermine Urguan’s regime, which after some under the table inducement, they soon obliged, distributing pamphlets throughout the city bearing foreboding warnings of the sins of gluttony and excess avarice. Meanwhile, paying off informants to reveal the identities of their ring-leaders, Aldrek ordered his hearthguard to conduct numerous raids into the poor district’s cavernous dwellings. When they arrived, however, they found themselves pelted with rocks and mining tools from homes and shop windows, and in a direct affront to the King’s authority, they were soon forced to withdraw. Seeking means to lay down his rule and reassure his supporters that he remained firmly in control, Aldrek organised a grand procession to be held through the streets of the city’s great hall. It was here that a lone assailant is said to have drawn a crossbow from underneath his cloak, letting loose a bolt which flew directly towards Aldrek’s throat, leaving the usually stoic and unperturbed dwarf gasping in a pool of his own blood. The perpetrator swiftly had a spear driven through his gut, but with no disclosed motive, Aldrek’s death was used largely for propaganda purposes by political actors seeking to point fingers at their rivals.

 

King Glorvin - Glorvin spent the majority of his reign battling political elements within his own government as he struggled to arbitrate the disputes brought before him. Overpopulation in the city proved a persistent issue and guilds took to hoarding precious minerals and crop yields, leaving little for the rest of dwarven society to benefit from. Perceiving that this inequity had led their affluent paymasters to prosper while they struggled to put food on the table, the common clans laid down their tools, making a final demand that their king act to curb the guilds’ rising influence. Although seeking an honest solution to the crisis, Glorvin was impeded by his council, from whom he commanded neither the respect, nor political support he needed. Meanwhile, corruption had grown wildly during the reigns of previous kings and many of these council dwarves now found themselves on the guild masters’ payrolls. Strikes quickly turned into riots, and then to violent brawls, cementing tensions from noble to commoner, soldier to civilian, and cave to mountain and forest dwarf. In a last desperate bid to resolve the crisis, Glorvin ordered his hearthguard to reopen the city’s main passageway against the will of his council, allowing trade to flow in from the outside world. It was too late, however - Many dwarves, already having lost faith in the nation, decided to take their chances and leave the city, while those who remained soon found themselves engulfed in a whirlwind of political disorder. Having defied his council’s will and hearing whispers of a plot to oust him from the throne, Glorvin embarked on a secret pilgrimage to the ancient capital of Khaz’Urguan where he sought to beg spiritual guidance from the kings of ancient times. There, it was revealed that his location had been betrayed by one of his own and rival dissidents soon surrounded him in the city’s inner chamber. His last remaining allies were cut down in the ensuing fray, desecrating the halls of their ancient city with their kinsmen’s blood. Led back to the capital in chains, Glorvin was greeted by his treacherous councilors, who forced him to relinquish the throne at sword point.

 

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The Age of Blood 

A period marked by violent and sudden upheavals in dwarven society, resulting in the ascendancy of the Ironborn dynasty and the formation of the Khorvadic Empire. Now viewed by modern dwarves as an era of depravity and sin, society faced sweeping and radical changes which ultimately buried the old system of government and wiped out all but a few of the generation of dwarven lawmakers who had come before.

 

King (later Emperor) Velkan Ironborn - With Glorvin's ousting, Velkan took advantage of the disarray that followed and before a new king could be officially appointed, he led his followers in attempting to seize the throne through force, in what effectively amounted to a popular uprising. He bore the promise that he would re-unite the dwarven realm and vanquish those who sought to do the kingdom ill by ridding it of its corrupt council and decadent priesthood. This he certainly achieved and in the early years of his reign, many affluent aristocrats, clerics and guild masters were put behind bars or otherwise dispensed of. He readily set about reducing the rights of non-cave dwarves, with many of the mountain clans fleeing to their northern holds for refuge, while the forest dwarves were largely persecuted and shunned, most being forced into hard labour. Seeing the situation seemingly deteriorating and seeking to break away from this newfound state of affairs, the mountain clans once again declared their independence. For dwarves living in the capital, however, not all lost out from Velkan’s rise; many would make their own fortunes amidst this changing order and in place of the old, a new social elite began to form. Velkan would later make radical changes to the dwarven faith, outlawing worship of the Brathmordakin in favour of a monotheistic devotion to Khorvad, formerly the Brathmordic god of ambition. With popular support, he went on to greatly expand the kingdom's borders, subjecting many minor realms to his bloody conquests and declaring the formation of the first Khorvadic Empire. In his old age, he was eventually driven to madness, raving of his god’s might and the coming of the great apocalypse of the mortal races, words which soon led many nobles and clerics of the new Khorvadic temple-establishment to begin viewing him as a hindrance. He was likely put to silence by these groups before he met his natural end.

 

Emperor Khrallax Ironborn - Regarded as a lazy and an ineffective ruler, whose power was mostly competed over by his brothers, clergy and councilmen, he continued the persecutions committed under Velkan's reign though largely held back on territorial pursuits. He was known for being overly gregarious, hosting lavish banquets for his favoured courtiers and while generally seen as indolent, many preferred this state of affairs to the secretive nature of his father’s reign. This was not to last, however, as he and his sons were later assassinated by his younger brother and High Imperator, Thorgarn.

 

Emperor Thorgarn Ironborn - Seizing the throne by force and cementing power even further into Ironborn hands, he sought to reimagine dwarven society around his own image, erasing all knowledge of the time before his father's reign by burning ancient texts and conducting blood sacrifices of old clergy dwarves and scholars in an event that became known as the ‘Great Collapse.’ Runelords who had previously guarded the dwarven realm from threats of an arcane nature were forced to smuggle themselves into the city’s outer wilderness. Even Urguan's name was put to the periphery as a venerated forefather but not one who had much implication on the present state of the nation. Those dwarves who had fled his father's reign looked on in horror, while forest dwarves, by this time in a state of enslavement, suffered a massive reduction in population due to exhaustion and disease, driving them to the brink of extinction. A personal witness to many of the atrocities committed at the hands of the Ironborn rulers, a dwarf of low-birth by the name of Simppa fled the capital following the brutal execution of Dwain Irongut, seeking refuge among the halls of his kin. He found them in a deep state of mourning at the loss of their clan father, vowing to do all he could to avenge his death and restore justice to the halls of Urguan’s sons. From there, he reached out to the clans of the old mountainous north, the Grandaxes and Frostbeards. At the summit of Mount Arvas, they reached an agreement with the clans of Irongut and Treebeard - Thorgarn must fall. Clans of all creeds descended from the north, all bound in opposition to Ironborn rule and united beneath the banner of the Remnant of Urguan. Seeing their chances of success growing as they closed in on the capital, other clans flocked to their cause and following a series of bloody clashes along the King’s Road, they succeeded in overthrowing the Ironborn dynasty and putting an end to their years of infernal rule. The shrines to Khorvad were quickly torn down, his name branded synonymous to the Archdaemon, Iblees, and his worship outlawed on pain of death. Any and all of Thorgarn’s surviving kin who could be found cowering in the city were brutally put to the axe.

 

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The Age of Fire

In the shadow of the Ironborn, the burgeoning Kingdom of Urguan was forced to begin afresh, accommodating the vast spread of new freedoms and ideas. Various projects were created to accommodate the city’s rising population and the heralding of a new and more prosperous era. Just as they reached the pinnacle of their achievements, however, the dwarves faced their greatest challenge yet in the face of oblivion from the nether realm.

 

King Simppa - Worshipper of the Archaengul, Aerial, and Urguanite exile, Simppa led his people in overthrowing the Ironborn dynasty and was placed at the forefront of forging a new future for his people. Emulating the scraps of knowledge he had of Urguan’s original kingdom, he greatly improved the living conditions within inner Kal’Urguan, and set about accommodating numerous professions to take to selling their wares in the city’s newly rebuilt districts for commerce. He reopened the city’s mines to the common clans and enacted justice on lawbreakers through the authority placed in his council and advisors. In seeking to better organise the dwarven military for future conflicts, Simppa issued decrees for the formation of the first dwarven Legion, which he placed under the marshalship of Hiebe Irongut. Its first task came swiftly as along the King’s Road, word soon reached the King that caravans of dwarven traders had been ambushed by orcish clans, sparking a conflict which became known as the ‘Caravan War.’ Simppa’s legacy was never fully realised, however, as he soon grew ill beneath the grip of a mysterious sickness and was forced to relinquish the throne in favour of his chief advisor and overseer, Charles Grimlie.

 

King Charles Grimlie - A divisive ruler, his reign was marked by the rapid expansion of dwarven territory and the settlement of new holds including Kal’Alras, Kal’Bryst, and Kal’Himmilen. Just as the dwarves looked close to reforming a de facto empire over their lands, portals from the nether realm opened in the northern reaches, spewing vast hordes of hideous demonic creatures from their gates. Pulling at their strings and shrouded under black robes of darkness loomed the undead, corrupt and twisted beings from the nether who at their coming, would envelope the land in night, summoning great bolts of electricity down from the sky. Viewing this as Khorvad’s retribution for their toppling of the former Ironborn empire, free dwarves from across the realm pledged their axes and marched north to defend the kingdom from invasion. The dwarven hold of Kal’Bryst was the first to succumb to these attacks after a valiant last stand by its inhabitants. Later in his reign, views of Charles’s autocratic style of rule became increasingly polarised from within his own kingdom, seen as a tyrant in the same vein as Emperor Velkan by some and a conquering hero by others. Tensions came to the fore when a lone human thief broke into the King’s private vault, casting the dwarven king into a furious fit of rage, leading him to lay siege to the Orenian capital of Al’Khazar. The Goldhands, who now resided in the hold of Kal’Alras chose to declare their independence from the kingdom while the Grandaxe clan splintered into two halves, the Braveaxes choosing to remain serving in the dwarven Legion while their Blackaxe kin ventured north as mercenaries, constructing the great citadel of Kal’Domhain in the northern peaks of their forebears.

 

King Belin Irongut - Seeking a change in their ruler’s style of leadership, the high council opted for a more compromising dwarf by the name of Belin Irongut. In contrast to his predecessor, he ruled largely through his council, negotiating trade agreements with other realms and granting the guilds some of the powers they had once possessed. He led a largely peaceful and stable reign, with focus scaled back towards ensuring the continued prosperity of the kingdom’s home territories. Nearing the end of his rule, he would order the construction of outer Kal’Urguan, erecting great walls around its farmland in preparation for the rising threat of invasion by the undead.

 

King Algrim Irongut - His reign was marked largely by the descent of the undead hordes into the lowlands of the south, where Kal’Urguan quickly became a prime target for attack. After completing construction on the city’s outer defences, he ordered the Legion to begin working alongside the other descendent races to hold back the tide from his kingdom’s borders. Meanwhile, having become increasingly isolated in the north and looking to restore their honour in the kingdom’s eyes, it was during this time that many Blackaxes returned to Kal’Urguan to aid in the defence of the city. With the help of allies from the descendent races, Kal’Urguan was able to withstand numerous attacks on its walls and the dwarves were successful in driving the undead from their lands for a time. However, following an assault on the Khorvadic fortress known as Wrath’s Clutch, bitter tensions were fermented between the Legion and the elven Wardens of Malinor, both taking credit for their successful defence of the south. The Lord Marshal, Thorik, subsequently ordered his elite legionary units known as the longbeards to begin hunting down Wrath and his remaining followers. Paranoia quickly spread throughout Kal’Urguan amid fears that worshippers of Khorvad or even the undead themselves could have embedded themselves among the ordinary dwarven populace. Numerous raids were conducted in the city’s inner housing districts, with the Legion uncovering a number of hidden shrines in dedication to their dark god. In a great shock to the nation, however, King Algrim himself was revealed to be among these agents of Khorvad following interception of his communications. At the Lord Mashal’s behest, he was quickly arrested by the dwarven Legion and removed from power.

 

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King Gotrek Firemane - For a time, the undead threat had seemingly subsided and in Algrim’s place, a dwarf by the name of Gotrek Firemane was appointed to succeed him. He was notable in dwarven history for having spent more of his reign outside dwarven lands than within them. An ardent pursuer of knowledge and a popular dwarf in all walks of the city, he immediately took a band of his brethren soon after his coronation, and led them on an expedition westwards into uncharted lands, leaving rule of the city in the hands of his high council. In his absence, many of these council dwarves grew indolent and greedy, much of society being effectively governed by the Lord Marshal, Thorik, and other high ranking legionary dwarves, the longbeards. They decried their king’s absence in the face of a potential threat of invasion by the orcs and their elven allies. A war council was quickly established by the Lord Marshal, initially to prepare the realm for conflict, but its authority soon expanded to encompass other areas of the city. The two councils wrested for control until Thorik and his longbeards took the ultimate decision to lead a military coup against the throne, crowning himself and establishing the first Grand Kingdom of Urguan. Gotrek would later offer Thorik his blessing upon his eventual return to the city.

 

Grand King Thorik Grandaxe - The first of the Grand Kings of Urguan, he radically reformed the kingdom, with the Legion and his closest supporters placed firmly in control of government. When the Great War of the four mortal realms finally came, Thorik used his military cunning and his advisor's political astuteness to not only prevent the dwarven homeland from falling to the conquering armies but he was able to press the warfront into the lands of his enemies in Krugmar and Malinor, whilst gaining a valuable ally in the human Kingdom of Oren. His victories during the war meant he was able to dramatically expand the kingdom's influence in foreign lands and for the first time, the nation of Urguan would play a much greater role in the affairs of the other races, mediating peace in some instances while continuing to combat the re-emerging threat of the undead in the north. Worship of the dwarves' ancient religion of the Brathmordakin was reestablished and became the driving force for change in dwarven society. As the fallen Ironborn emperor had spoken in his madness, however, these good-times were not to last and the lands of Aegis were soon engulfed by the fires of Khorvad, the world-devourer and his demonic horde. In this final advance by the undead, cities across Aegis fell before his wrath, first in the north and then to the south until Kal’Urguan itself was lost to the encroaching inferno. Three champions of the dwarves ventured into the nether in an attempt to halt the invasion and secure the descendents’ retreat, but it was Urir Ireheart who cast the Axe of Krug into the nexus, sacrificing his life to close shut its gates and seal Khorvad’s undead minions within. It was too late for the realm of Aegis, however, and its lands became quickly consumed by what remained of Khorvad’s horde. Thorik led his people in the great exodus from their homeland and on to the new realm of Asulon where the stories of his people would go on.