Da Hefthyn Nograk - The Mountain Guardians

After the fall of the Dwarven Empire that marked the end of the first age, there was a marked divide in overall beliefs, as it pertained to the true calling of the dwarves. Thousands upon thousands fled the once-secure confines of their fortress cities and subterranean safe havens, scattering in all directions away from the mountain. Some even went so far as to denounce their natural devotion to the mountain goddess Frira, anguished by the hardship she had brought forth. But for those that stayed behind, determined to protect their sacred ancestral homes, they developed a hatred for those they called deserters and heretics.

For the thousand years that followed the first age, the majority of dwarves in and around Hasdall were located across the north-central and northern parts of the continent. These dwarves constructed small settlements and mining camps, each one further away from the mountain than the previous one. A crippling fear had taken hold among these dwarves; religion during this time was very unorganized and varied. Some dwarves denounced their racial ancestors and the gods entirely, while others held a tenable faith in the beings that the dwarves believed aided in their creation, and in battle. The dwarves utilized their mining prowess and were able to create sustainable settlements that engaged in regional trade, their largest contribution notably was the construction of the modern day trading metropolis of Merciwyne. They picked clean the rich iron and coal veins in the lands surrounding Merciwyne, and had finally found a more stable, permanent place to call home.

The dwarves that stayed behind, though, claimed true ownership of their heritage. Whether bountiful or catastrophic, they accepted and cherished the decisions of the gods. The mountain called to them, and to leave it behind was considered an unforgivable sin. The gods had chosen them to protect the mountain, anyone not of this pure Dwarven lineage should not be permitted passage. All others who had fled, they felt, were not even true dwarves. They began calling themselves the Velukrüum; the purists, and Da Hefthyn Nograk, guardians of the mountain. Certain radical Velukrüum began hunting and persecuting those that had fled the mountain, believing that the gods relished their devotion and mortal sacrifices. They enacted vigilante justice in the name of the gods, and their methodologies were historically brutal. The purist dwarves, however, denounced such radical practices, and severed all connections with the Kivülggr, the dealers of death. The Velukrüum waged war against the Kivülggr for hundreds of years, remaining steadfast in their beliefs, determined to prove that they were not like these radicals. Over time, the Velukrüum began constructing more fortified settlements to isolate themselves from the radical Kivülggr, and these settlements are still seen as a symbol of ancient Dwarven nationalism to this day.

The mountain-based settlements erected by the Velukrüum all held a similar characteristic; they were built in extremely defensible locations in to the mountain. Often times, the walls and arches of a Dwarven fortress would be seen at the top of a tall, flat mountain face; the entrance to such a settlement would be heavily guarded elsewhere and the path to the surface long and winding. Utilizing the elevation to their advantage, the Velukrüum held a highly defensible high ground, and easily fended off intruders coming from afar. The fortress at Argalon was erected in two separate locations, connected by a one hundred mile-long bridge that spanned impassible terrain and treacherous chasms. Fortresses at Tumunzar, Bahldrum, Khündisizid, Keledzir, and Katun utilized similar architectural makeup, the thinking being that it would facilitate travel around the mountain, alleviating the danger of having to navigate the dark and forgotten roads of many years prior, as well as providing an overabundance of surveillance on the lands below.

Presently, the fortress cities around the mountain are still standing, the population of each settlement largely unknown. What is known, is that the dwarves living in these parts are very different than what the rest of the world knows the dwarves to be. The short-tempered-but-friendly small folk that dot the many towns and cities that comprise Hasdall are what most people know a dwarf to be. The remaining folk living in these ancient mountain-based fortress cities would tell you otherwise.