761BCE: Lord Bjorn of Dalleer died of old age. Bjorn’s son did not succeed him. Instead, Ballath, a wise, human friend of Bjorn’s, assumed the lordship. Bjorn’s family was outraged. Ballath took Bjorn’s name as a title in a failed attempt to keep the peace, but he refused to surrender control.
759BCE: Bjorn’s children moved to Jord. Most of Dalleer’s Dwarven population followed.
737BCE: Bjorn Ballath of Dalleer died of old age. Like his successor before him, Ballath overlooked his children in favor of an experienced friend, Skizofren.
736BCE: Bjorn Skizofren began to drink heavily after Ballath’s death. He started drafting insanely foolish laws while drunk and he was always drunk. Ballath’s heirs attempted to correct Skizofren’s decisions, but the Bjorn seemed unnaturally skilled at political manuevering.
735BCE: Bjorn Skizofren insulted Ballath’s family. Frustrated with the Bjorn, the children of Ballath left Dalleer. They traveled downriver and founded Bradel Fields near the mouth of the Black River.
Dalleer Shaelin left Dalleer in the hands of his trusted friend, Bjorn, when he left to reclaim Fangaroot. Bjorn guided the city through the Dragon War and through the Dwarven Civil War. They emerged as a city-state that nominally owed their fealty to King Yentbern in Jord. Bjorn ruled through a golden age for Dalleer as the metropolis grew and welcomed people of all races. Eventually Bjorn died as one of the most loved rulers in all Cimmeria. The lordship did not pass to his son. Instead , Bjorn willed his position to a wise human friend of his, Ballath. Ballath took the position gladly. Outraged, Bjorn’s living family moved to Jord. Many Dwarves followed suit, not wishing to live under the rulership of a human. Ballath wished to keep a hold on the city’s past, so he took the name of Bjorn as a title in a failed attempt to keep the peace. He lead the city well, but it was not what it once was. Continue reading →
Jipangu While the races of the defunct Conclave were distracted by the Dragon War, the Hobgoblins of Eastern Cimmeria were preparing for war. In 876BCE the leader of the Hobgoblins, Kruk-Sho-Kar, invaded, laying waste to all of the small settlements around the Aral Sea. Toffoun had been trying to stop the Dwarven Civil War. He realized that his efforts were getting him nothing and that his talents could be better used defending his old home in Eastern Cimmeria. Toffoun went with his old friends, Amalgami and Jovy, to stop the Hobgoblins. Together they organized the Eastern Cimmerians into an army. Continue reading →
1091BCE: Hephaestus presented Karnafaust with a gift, the Fierce Axe of Dwavish Lords. With the Axe came a promise, that the Dwarves were Hephaestus’s favorite people, even beyond death. King Karnafaust adopted the Axe as a symbol of his right to rule.
1045BCE: With Karnafaust’s death the Fierce Axe of Dwarvish Lords passed to Cogard. The Dwarven Regency Council held the Axe to Cogard came of age, just as they held his governmental powers.
996BCE: King Cogard turned 50 and came of age. He was coronated, but the Dwarven Regency Council did not relinquish governmental control to their designated sovereign. Cogard received the Fierce Axe of Dwarvish Lords at his coronation. Continue reading →
The Fierce Axe of Dwavish Lords is the symbol of supreme Dwarven leadership. It was gifted to Karnafaust after his resurrection by Hephaestus. With the Axe came a promise, that the Dwarves were Hephaestus’s favorite people, even beyond death.
Karnafaust held the Fierce Axe until his death in 1046BCE. The Axe passed to his swaddling nephew, Cogard. As the boy had just been born, the Axe was entrusted to the Dwarven Council. The Axe was wielded by the head of the council, not as a weapon, but as a symbol of the infant king’s authority. When Cogard was coronated he took the Fierce Axe as his birthright. The Axe’s presence provided a boost to Cogard’s popularity as he toured the Dwarven lands before returning to peacefully oust the Dwarven Council from power.
King Cogard used the Axe during the Dragon War, slaying many of the lesser dragons with it. Cogard also had a tendency to execute traitors of the other Conclave races using the Fierce Axe. Treasonous Dwarves were killed by Cogard’s executioner instead.
The Fierce Axe was lost during the Dwarven Civil War. The Dwarves claim that the Axe abandoned the people as it could only be used by a united Dwarven race. Others say it was simply hidden by a group who didn’t want it used as a bargaining piece in the conflict between Cogard’s sons.
It was many centuries before the Fierce Axe of Dwarvish Lords resurfaced. Atreides was a Dwarf aiding Princess Tarigananata’s claim to the throne in the First Alliance War. He had a vision that led him to the Fierce Axe’s hiding place. He slew a giant guarding the weapon and claimed it for the Dwarven race. Before returning the Axe to his king, Atreides took it into battle with the Xorian Rage, Grave. Amalgami took the Axe and gave it to the Xorians when he negotiated his personal surrender. The Axe would linger in the Xorian Museum of Power for two more decades.
When the Dragovinians rose to power, Jevaninada II had to renew alliances with the vassals within the Xorian Empire. He used the Fierce Axe to bribe the new Amazon Queen Ashabodai. She wielded the Axe for the initial push into Eastern Cimmeria.
The Hill Dwarves came to the assistance of the Alliance at the Battle of Phoenix. When the Dragovinians assaulted the city, Torin came face to face with Ashabodai. Athena possessed Torin and with the help of his goddess and his friends, they defeated Ashabodai and reclaimed the Fierce Axe for the Dwavish people.
Torin gave the Fierce Axe of Dwarvish Lords to King Dainlin of the Hill Dwarves. Dainlin used the Fierce Axe to call for a meeting of the four Dwarven Kings. The meeting would decide which of the four would take his place as High King over all the Dwarves. Dainlin supported Torngar on the condition that Torngar join the Second Alliance. Sandil supported Torngar as well. Deekgaon refused to provide his support until Torngar named him general of all Dwarven armies.
With decision finalized, Torngar became High King of the Dwarves. He wields the Fierce Axe of Dwarvish Lords and rules over a united Dwarvish nation once again.
There was no isolated incident that instigated the Dragon War. Toffoun and Amalgami killed Blackheart. Tentineh revealed his army in Greshendale. Lord Shaelin killed Kenderax. Gorwinua’s army was earliest of all, waging a guerrilla war against Bavastatner for six years before the Dragon War officially began. The combination of these events led to the meeting of the ten heroes of the Dragon War.
While the ten heroes of the Dragon War were united in their efforts, the same could not be said for all the leaders of Cimmeria. The heroes asked for help from the mortal leaders of Cimmeria and most came to their aid. King Cogard of the Dwarves wished to remain out of the war, but Shaelin’s attack on Fangaroot made neutrality impossible. He joined the fight against the dragons. The Elves of Valor and Hardtop fought for the mortal armies. Tracy brought Crafterton and Nomingburg into the fight. The human settlements of Nox and Phoenix joined the mortals as well. Continue reading →
982BCE: King Cogard elected to build a new capital for his kingdom at a site he had seen while traveling. He and most of the Dwarves of Dalleer left, heading north by northwest. Lord Shaelin of the Dwarven Regency Council was left behind to rule Dalleer.
974BCE: To preserve his new capital, King Cogard surrendered to the Dragons. Lord Shaelin had sworn an oath to resist the dragons, but he gritted his teeth and followed his king’s orders. The surrender proved fruitful and the bulk of construction on Jord was completed. Cogard invited Dwarves from all across Cimmeria to come to a ceremony declaring the new capital as the center of his kingdom.
971BCE: Queen Pristanon gave birth to quadruplets, all sons, named Coldruin, Steffern, Yentbern, and Albirnon.
961BCE: King Cogard sent his four sons to be raised by different Dwarven lords. Coldruin to the Terror Mountains, Steffern to the Underdark, and Yentbern to Dalleer. Albirnon went to the Dominarie Mountains to be raised in Queen Shortrastor’s court. In exchange, Queen Shortrastor sent her daughter, Alfeita, to be raised by King Cogard.
905BCE: Lord Shaelin completed his long guardianship over Prince Yentbern. During the prince’s time in Dalleer the city had grown into an industrious multi-racial city. Shaelin’s teachings gave Yentbern a healthy respect for hardwork and the other races of Cimmeria.
Lord Shaelin sent a request with Prince Yentbern to King Cogard. With the guardianship concluded, Lord Shaelin wished to be released from his oath of fealty to King Cogard. Cogard granted the request and allowed Shaelin to name his successor. Shaelin passed over his own son and gave the leadership of Dalleer to Bjorn, a respectable and qualified friend of Shaelin’s.
904BCE: With his vow to King Cogard fulfilled, Shaelin was free to fulfill his oath to oppose the Dragons of Cimmeria. He sent out a clandestine call for all like-minded people to join him in Dalleer for an attack on the Dragons in two years time.
902BCE: Lord Shaelin took his gathered warband and attacked Kenderax in Fangaroot. Shaelin led his army admirably. They penetrated the city and Shaelin himself slew the dragon. Unfortunately, the kobolds were too numerous. They drove the army out and Shaelin’s body was left behind, never to be recovered.
King Cogard of the Dwarves arrived at the temporary capital of Dalleer in 983BCE. In 982BCE, he left to build a new capital for himself. He took most of the Dwarven populace of Dalleer with him. Those left behind were ruled by Lord Shaelin, an honorable Dwarf paladin.
Shaelin vowed to resist the Dragons when they took flight to conquer Cimmeria. Unfortunately, it wasn’t too long before King Cogard ordered him to surrender. Shaelin complied, choosing his oath to his king over the oath to resist the Dragons. Continue reading →
947BCE: Queen Shortrastor used Prince Albirnon’s disappearance as an excuse to conscript soldiers within her kingdom and invade the Underdark. Thousands of Dwarves were organized and sent into the deep in groups of various sizes “looking for the prince.” In reality these groups were raiding and pillaging the other Underdark races and species.
946BCE: The groups of Dominarie Dwarves invading the Underdark discovered evidence of Prince Albirnon’s survival in the deepest reaches of the tunnels. King Cogard arrived in the Dominarie Kingdom to lead the rescue effort personally.
945BCE: A group of Cogard’s scouts found Albirnon. A cabal of Drow witches led by a demon held the prince captive. The Dwarven soldiers killed the prince’s captors and freed Albirnon, but he was not the same young man who had gone to Shortrastor’s court. No hair grew on his head and the glint of demonic possession glowed behind Albirnon’s eyes and soon the same could be said of his rescuers as the possession passed to them. The first of a new race of Dwarves were created, the Duergar. Prince Albirnon stayed in the deep and began turning more and more of Cogard and Shortrastor’s fortune seekers to his will.
944BCE: Rumors of a new band of bald dwarves with red eyes led by a male who resembled Prince Albirnon reached the Dominarie court. Desperate to find his son, King Cogard himself went into the deep. Down in the dark Cogard met his son and recognized the corruption within him. The king and the demon fought for control of the prince. Cogard achieved a half victory. The demon was not cast out of his son, but the contagion could no longer spread. Cogard sealed the hellish presence within Albirnon and all the other afflicted, but the demon would live on in their descendants.
943BCE: Cogard brought Albirnon back to Shortrastor’s court. The Queen was informed of Albirnon’s new passenger. Not wishing to welcome a viper into her home, the Queen commanded King Cogard to remove Prince Albirnon and the other duergar from the Dominarie Mountains. The King did so, moving the duergar people to the wild regions of the western Underdark.
982BCE: King Cogard elected to build a new capital for his kingdom at a site he had seen while traveling. He and most of the Dwarves of Dalleer left, heading north by northwest.
981BCE: The Dwarves reached the new site of their capital, Jord. They began building fantastic structures both above and below the ground in the great hills of Jord.
974BCE: The bulk of construction on Jord was declared completed. Cogard invited Dwarves from all across Cimmeria to come to a ceremony declaring the new capital as the center of his kingdom.
973BCE: A grand party was held in Jord. Dwarves from Zeus’s Canvas, Dalleer, the Terror Mountains, and the Underdark arrived to pay homage to their king. A delegation arrived from the Dominarie Mountains bearing gifts for the new king. The Dominarie delegates clarified that they were only congratulating King Cogard on his achievement and they were not declaring fealty by any means. Cogard responded by announcing his engagement to Pristanon, the daughter of a clan leader in the Terror Mountains. The priest in the Dominarie delegation smiled and said a blessing to grant King Cogard many children.
971BCE: Queen Pristanon gave birth to quadruplets, all sons.
961BCE: King Cogard sent his four sons to different parts of the kingdom. One to the Terror Mountains, one to the Underdark, and one to Dalleer. His final son was sent to the Dominarie Mountains to be raised in Queen Shortrastor’s court. In exchange Queen Shortrastor sent her daughter to be raised by King Cogard.
948BCE: Albirnon, the son of King Cogard sent to the Dominarie Mountains, went missing. Queen Shortrastor apologized profusely. The boy had been rambunctious and constantly wandered into the unsafe tunnels beneath the Queen’s capital city. King Cogard demanded that his son be found. Shortrastor’s daughter became a hostage. The Queen of Dominarie began a kingdom wide search for the missing prince.
