Kingdom of Crigorhan
Fiahr Icefist Cras’Stebren Gors’Crigorhan valued discipline over all in the soldier that he lead. While Rarsand employed tactics that threw the lives of his soldiers away, Fiahr would conduct his battles with efficiency and prudence. What Fiahr and his soldiers saw as disciplined strategy, Rarsand grew to see as cowardice. When Rarsand died, Fiahr knew that each of the other Ger-Cahars would seize power, and find some way to lead their people into destruction. Rarsand chose to take those who would stand with him into the tallest, coldest peaks of the Crag’scimtar.
Fiahr ordered each of his platoons to establish monasteries to protect and shelter the dwarves who decided to follow them. While each of them would respond to Fiahr’s orders if he bothered to give them, they have managed their own affairs in the absence of any.
Fiahr’s most trusted Lieutenat, Delmar Coldstepper Craghs’Gorlin Gors’Crigorhan knew that Duchar’s dogma was responsible for much of what is wrong with the Darsundim. He did not want to abandon the god that had saved the dwarves from a fiery oblivion… but the blind lust for battle and death was going to deliver them into that same fate. Delmar decided that he needed to return the faithful to a reverence for the earth as a reason to fight. He resigned his commission and established a druidic order that attracted a small but dedicated following.
Government
The Kingdom of Crigorhan is ruled by Fiahr Icefist Cras’Stebren Gors’Crigorhan. The newly declared Ger-Ricar decided that it would be imprudent to simply try to batter the rebel kingdoms into submission. The wiser course would be to allow the others to squander their resources and wear out their forces on each other, while he cultivated a stronger and wiser kingdom that would attract those worthy of building a new diamond legion. His kingdom would be a bastion of safety in a world beset by war and a pillar of sanity in a world beset by madness.
King Fiahr is a contemplative man, known mainly for his patience and cunning. He never makes snap decisions, and he doesn’t let the heat of the moment overcome him. He is a keen judge of character, insightful, and has a knack for asking the questions that get right to the heart of the matter. He makes few laws, and gives each measured and careful consideration. He listens earnestly to his advisors, and will often engage in spirited debates with them. One he has declared his decision, he will simply dismiss objection, stating “we shall not dwell on choices made.”
Fiahr entrusted his five Ger-Cahar with establishing monasteries where the strong could seek wisdom and the wise find strength. These monasteries are the seats of provincial government in kingdom, and as such there are 5 provinces with the kingdom. While he has the authority to do so without question, Fiahr rarely intervenes in the affairs of the provincial governments. He has confidence in those who he has placed in power, and understands that wisdom may be more clearly seen from a different perspective. The provinces of Crigorhan are Laigen, Ddenwig, Aszghik, Karzek and Ghorlin, named for the five strongest Starnhalds of the clans pledged to the Crigorhen. The provinces are named for the Starnhalds, not the clans, so there is nothing to prohibit the Ger-Ricar from choosing a Ger-Cahar from one of the smaller clans. Fiahr himself is from a clan of middling size, the Stebren.
Each of the dwarven clans has at least one school with associated lands, though the larger clans have several such institutions. Those schools ultimately fall under the rule of the provincial monastery. School leadership is a clan affair, and Fiahr leaves it to his Ger-Cahar to ensure that those school leaders are true to their duties. One of his edicts is that among the Ger-Cahars’ advisors must be one representative from each of the clans with land in their province, as well as a representative of the Dar'sinyd, the druidic collective within the Kingdom. Notably absent from this decree is a representative from the Church of Duchar, though each of the Ger-Cahar have such an advisors, as does Fiahr.
Starhlad Crigorhan is not itself part of any province, and directly controls only the small valley just to its north. Instead, the seat of the kingdom is a place for Fiahr and his advisors to meet, apprise him on the state of the kingdom, and occasionally receive petitioners or decide matters of national importance.
Foreign Relations
The Crigorhen are mostly content to isolate themselves from the world around them, patiently waiting for their opportunity to unify whatever remnants of the other four Dwarven Kingdoms are left after they finish squabbling over the Diamond Crown. They view other dwarves as petty, vindictive, and irrational to the point of being self-destructive. The Thrumsul are the worst of the lot, religious fanatics who are more concerned with glorious death than with prosperous life. The Feldcroghten are not much better. They have the same bloodlust, but under a veneer of intellectual superiority rather than religious fervor. Rasmussen’s desire to restore the ways of old strike most Crigorhen as laudable of a bit naive. The world before the Brimstone War is gone, and re-establishling the old older will not bring it back. What is needed is a new order for a new nation. Duroc, despite a superficial similarity to the Feldcroghten, are despised almost as deeply as the Thrumsul or Feldcroghten. The Duroc did not retreat out of a weariness for war, but rather out of an understanding they lacked the power to win. A Kingdom dominated by the Duroc might be the worst possible fate for the Dwarven people. Inkarhans are not exactly embraced or even respected, but they are viewed with less disdain than other dwarves would see them. This is largely because they are not actively participating in the civil war that is ravaging the kingdom. Among the humans, the Karrak are the most esteemed. Crigorhan respect the simple nobility of a people carving out a life in the cold, staving off invasion from a horde of larger, meaner foes. There is an unpretentious valor to the Karrak, which sets them apart from the mass of humanity more concerned with discussing what is right is rather than doing what is right. Unlike most dwarves, Crigorhen tend to get along with Ylvani, specifically the Yelin, who have they see as having a strong and uncompromising sense of justice. The Yelin may be a little too self-congratulatory in their carriage, but unlike most humans, they will not change their minds on right and wrong to suit their sense of self-worth. The Aldarwa are typically less direct in their pursuit of the greater good, but this comes more from a desire to convince others to join in that quest rather than a fear of the dangers that pursuit can entail. The Alwara, much like the Crigorhan, try to lead their people by example, rather than force. The Erume are a different matter. They may share a common ancestry with the Yelin and Aldarwa, but whatever nobility may have existed among them has long since withered. The Erume are a collection of lawless thugs who subsist on taking what others have made, and contributing nothing but death, chaos and misery. Much the same could be said of halflings. The tragedies that befell them do not erase or excuse the cowardice and larceny that defines them today. Like most dwarves, Crigorhen respect but do not quite understand Orcs. Their skill on the battlefield is well known and widely regarded, but they cannot wrap their heads around the idea of a people who fight wars behalf of other people, or people who would shirk the responsibility to take up arms for what they believe in (or at least what they claim to believe in).Geography
Wooden Coast
- Government: Kingdom. Fiahr Icefist Cras’Stebren Gors’Crigorhan is the reigning Ger-Ricar, through most governance is handled at the provincial level by his five chosen Ger-Cahar.
- Terrain: High peaks, cold mountains.
- Area: ????
- Capital: Starnhald Crigorhan (??,???)
- Other major settlements: Starnhald Aszghik (??,???)
- Religion: Duchar
- Imports: [Text Pending]
- Exports: [Text Pending]
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