Karak Azul
At the edge of the Red Waste lies another barren wasteland, though vastly different in outlook. Instead of windy sands, the ground is rocky, hard and black as night. Through the cracks in the earth, lizards creak and sometimes poisonous gasses suddenly burst up from the earth. This landscape is dominated by one quite impressing feature: a single, rumbling mountain peak that rises high above the plains. The barren landscape is a testament to the power that this volcano holds. This power was recognized by the old, dwarven Kingdom of Mazaar who created a settlement in its warm embrace and named it Karak Azul.
The mines of Karak Azul are renowned for the fine gems found there, formed by the proces that creates and shapes the very earth around it. Far more renowned than the fine gems itselves are the smiths that work tirelessly to form metals in the shapes they wish. They are famous mostly because they have employed the very lava streams that flow through the mountain in the process of smithing. This allows them to bend and form metals at much higher heats and with greater flexibility than most smiths. Even more special, this smithing technique allows them to form magic ore in a way that keeps most of its magical qualities intact.
As much strength and wealth as the volatile insides of the lone peak grant its inhabitants, it costs them just as much pain and grief. The volatile nature of the earth at this place makes mining a dangerous business and cave-ins and sudden shifts in the lavaflows a daily nuisance. The raw power of earth and fire contained at Karak Azul also drew attention from the realms of spirits and demons. During the reign of the old kingdom of Mazaar the dwarves of Karak Azul mined too deep into the mountain and awakened an ancient fire demon that slumbered there. The wrath of the fire demon drove the dwarves from the mountain city even before Gorgorath destroyed the dwarven kingdom altogether.
The mountain was discovered centuries later by Marcus Vardenfell during The First Great Wilderness Expedition. He soon realized the potential of the mountain and promised the exiled dwarven clans of the Kingdom of Gotha the city and a rule of their own kin if they helped him drive the old demon from the belly of the mountain. A joined force of dwarven mercenaries and The Night's Watch's soldiers forced their way into the mountain and in the old forge chambers Marcus Vardenfell did battle with the demon of old, eventually slaying him and reclaiming the city in the process.
Ever since the city has prospered. The influx of most of the dwarves of the Westfork, the reclaimation of the Kingdom of Mazaar and the construction of the Great Eastern Highway has positioned the lone peak as one of the prime economic centres of the Watchlands. Karak Azul has its own (dwarven) chaptermaster, who is an equal to any human of the same rank.
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