Clan Holderhek
Public Agenda
Clan Holderhek is a shield dwarf clan active in the North and Sword Coast, from Daggerford to Waterdeep on the coast, and to Silverymoon and Sundabar in the east. Their wealth and interests are largely mercantile. In the past, the clan was also known as a minor crafter in gold, silver, and mithral, but the loss of their clan hold placed those resources out of reach. They so far hold the only trade agreement with Firehammer Hold. Some clan members are providing their skills mentoring the growing silver mining community of Silverfort.
Assets
Clan Holderhek's major trade houses are in Silverymoon, Waterdeep, and Sundabar. The clan members are spread across those locations.
The clan's ancestral home is Holder's Peak, south of Sundabar at the east edge of the Rauvin Mountains. Their clan hold is still forbidden to them by Dumathoin, and so they have taken to subtle stewardship of the nearby hamlet of Jalanthar as a proxy.
History
The Shame of Clan Holderhek
Ages ago, the elders of Clan Holderhek committed sins of hubris and greed. They disrespected the rites of Dumathoin in their pursuit of wealth and cheated their human allies out of their just rewards. As punishment, Dumathoin forbade any dwarf from entering the clan's hold within Holder’s Peak, north of the human village of Jalanthar at the east end of the Rauvin Vale, setting azers to drive away or kill any who attempt it.
Over the years, other beings have occasionally inhabited various parts of the hold, plundering it of many of its riches and leaving behind their own secrets and valuables.
Restoration
In 1492 DR, a cleric of Dumathoin called Nuraval approached Gardain Holderhek, the current leader of the clan. Nuraval informed Gardain that Dumathoin was permitting an act of contrition. Gardain had to recover his family's coat of arms from the sepulchre where his ancestors were buried and make recompense to the family of the humans they cheated. The name of the family, however, had been lost to time. The human patriarch had been buried in a place of honor in the Holderhek sepulchre by an ancestor of Gardain's in an early attempt to atone, the family name written on a parchment placed in the body's mouth in accordance with the rites of the human god Jergal. The attempt was rejected by Dumathoin, since it was at heart a selfish act only concerned with the clan's salvation.
Notably, Dumathoin did not lift his prohibition on dwarves entering the clanhold. Gardain would have to swallow his pride and petition non-dwarves to carry his clan's honor in order to complete these acts of contrition.
In the summer of 1492 DR, Gardain found a group of adventurers in the town of Jalanthar and hired them to enter the clanhold and recover his coat of arms and the name of the human family. The adventurers faced several dangers before successfully recovering the coat of arms and the name, allowing Gardain to fulfil the clan's penance to Dumathoin and restore the clan's honor. Each of the adventurers was gifted a mithral token bearing the Holderhek coat of arms and declaring them allies of the clan henceforth.
Since their restoration, Clan Holderhek has been reestablishing its influence by helping to finance the restoration of Firehammer Hold and creating a trade route through the Rauvin Vale connecting Sundabar to Everlund. It's also been providing skilled instructors to the town of Silverfort.
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