Bir Badhur (bir-Bad-Urr)
The Ruins of the Dwarves of Clan Badhur
Deepruins and Labrinth of the Ironroot
Overview:
Ancient History:
Originally built in 385AB, the kingdom of Bir badhur was a human and dwarven settlement that claimed the stretch of rocky hills and pine-covered hillsides that resides in a 300 mile Northwest to South east stretch outside of modern Gothmyr's western Border. The land was not very hospitable, and the hard scrabble existence the humans and dwarves eked out made their alliance all the more fortified. The land gave little without a fight, and the Bir Badhurans were more than willing to fight. Soon they built a massive city state capped with a many-walled and fortified granite fortress. This building housed over twelve hundred men and dwarves, along with a few hundred ambassadors and dignitaries. The further surrouding city walls bulged to the point of expansion outside them, which gave the industrious people of Bir Badhur more reason to expand their walls.
In 403AB, A fully armed and armored Battalion of Mountain and Hill dwarves marched into Bir Badhur. Once inside the army swiftly overtook the city by force, without giving the badlands city time to muster any defense. THe Dwarven king of the battalion, Warking Denhk Ironbeard Gave the people of Bir Badhur an ultimatum. All human will be forced to leave the city withwhat they can pull, carry or cart out. Any dwarves wishing to stay, would be allowed to stay, once they bent knee to the Ironbeard army. Any human found in the city proper after two days time would be considered volunteers for servitude to the dwarves of Bir Badhur. Refugee humans and dwarves alike left in droves, moving out of the badlands and moving North toward the North Forks region. Moving west was not possible, due to the Elves of the Deepwood in what is now the Shadowed Veil.
A pure hatred of all Bir badhur dwarves and the human towns of the Northforks was formed that day, and has existed up to today. The dwarves of Bir Badhur closed the walls and began restructuring the city as their own, remaking the architecture and facades in their image and to their liking. Humans who were dumb enough tostya became little more than slaves, wearing a collar, marking them property of Bir Badhur, and serving as servants, grooms and messengers.
AC:
In the 11th month of 4650, The elves and humans from the neighboring town of Alyerinn rushed to the gates of Bir Badhur. Pounding on the door, begging to be let into the city. The dwarves of Bir Badhur glared down at the refugees and shouted at them to turn away. Once their shouts were ignored, the dwarves actually began firing down upon the begging humans and elves, driving them away with flaming arrows. This event began a centuries-long animosity between the humans and elves of the surrounding Shadowveil Forest. Many times the dwarves have sent out raiding parties to scavenge farms and wood camps, taking food, grains and wood for Bir badhur.
AD:
When the skies opened up and the elder dragons of Edus bgan taking over the lands, the dwarves of Bir badhur were not prepared to handle such an onslought from the air. The dwarves delved deep, into the Deepdark and began to attempt to summon creatures to aid in their defense. The surrounding tears in the plane that seeped into the Shadowfell, allowing creature banished to the Shadow plane to creep into the Prime Material plane. The elves and humans within the Shadwed veil began trying to summon and control the shadow creatures to attack Bir Badhur. The shadow creatures took the opportunity to attack both the city-state of Bir badhur as well as the elves and humans within the Forest. the slaughter was swift, and the dwarves took the worst of the war. Bir Badhur was overwhelmed with the Shadow creatures and the halls of the Dwarven city-state sat quiet for centuries. Goblin and orc tribes often try to take the surface buildings of Bir badhur, but none stay longer than a season. mosrt times the bodies disappear and the entire tribes just vanish.
Leadership:
At it's founding, Bir Badhur was ruled by a council of five elders, which flipped from two human, three dwarf, to two humans, three dwarf each spring.
After the invasion of Ironbeard, the city-nation was ruled by The Ironbeard bloodline for seventeen generations. Currently there is no humaoid being ruling the city-state of Bir Badhur. Rumors of a 'Shade King' stalks the underhalls of Bir Badhur but has not been confirmed.
Cateclysm:
During the was with the elves and their summoned shadow allies, the dwarves used their vast vaults of artifacts and magical items to summon aid to help defend their crumbling defenses. No response from the Dwarven pantheon left their clerics without aid from higher, so they turned their back on the dwarven gods. Using profane and items that tempted power with risk were used to raise their power level. Some dwarves openly curse the Dwarven pantheon for letting their great empire be destroyed by 'stinking elves and weak humans'. It isn't confirmed which caused the cateclysm; cursing the gods, or using the proane items in their magical vaults, or maybe a mix of the two. The underhalls exploded with magical retribution as creatures of shadow and smoke poured into the lower catacombs. Death and corruption swiftly followed. The halls were made silent as all living things were killed or corrupted into shadow.
Current History:
Bir badhur is used by many journeyman adventuring parties. It is a gothmyri western 'tradition' to try to delve into the ancient city-state and pull out something worth some gold from the ancient underhalls. There is a large tribe of black orcs that have holed up in the back half of the upper buildings but have been at war with any other group or tribe of creatures that enter the main gates. Adventurers who cut their teeth with the orcs rarely delve into the Upper Halls or lower, but those that do, often do not return.
Dangers:
The Upper buildings:
The above-ground buildings of the original humanand elven city-state have long been abandoned. That being said, from time to time, any of the hundred or so still-standing bulding could be occupied by goblins, orc, gnoll or any other number of creatures looking for shelter from the northern storms.
The Upper Halls:
The first layer of undergound rooms and buildings are controlled by various undead. These undead are unlike other undead as the close connection to the Shadowfell has turned even the slowest zombie into a running ferosiouc flesh-eater. Bolstered by the Negative plane energy, the undead often ignore clerics attempts to turn them, needing a more powerful cleric for even a skeleton. The layer seems to be controlled by a powerful undead in the center of the Upper Hall layer.
The Middle Halls:
The deeper Middle halls are darker and more dank with moisture and heat. This the the common layer of the dwarven workers and a few of the lesser vaults of Dwarven magical items. This layer is controlled by twisted dwarven creatures, once mountain dwarves, but now more beastial and more corrupted bby the negative energy from the Shadowfell rift below. The Lower Catacomobs:
This is the final layer of Bir Badhur. This is the layer that not only holds the newest tunnels of mining, but also arcane enchantment forges as well as the vaults of the Ancient magical items created by the dwarves of Bir Badhur. On this level is where the rift to the Shadowfell opened, Most of the horrors from the Shadowfell stalk these lower catacombs, killing and fighting with each other, and anything that finds their way down to this level. This layer has no known leadership, but all seem to answer to someone or something within the rift.
Treasure:
There is no true listing of what treasures were left in Bir Badhur, but the suspicions are the amount of items of magical nature is beyond vast. the Dwarves of Bir badhur fortifed the central Lower catacombs area and used it as a vault, holding hundreds of thosuands of gold, silver and gems. This, along with the magic items left by the elves, as well as dwarven made items, make this treasure trove enticing to adventurers.
Rumors:
Areas of Interest:
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