Balgon Fivebraids

Balgon Fivebraids is a legendary hero of the Dwarves who lived at the time of the Dawn War. Balgon, like most dwarves of his time, was living in slavery under the yoke of the Giants, forced to labor in service to the Primordials. His wife, Shaydra Hammersteel, was slain by the giants, forcing Balgon to raise his daughter, Cassada without her. Balgon prayed to and began to have visionary dreams sent from The Thanes of the Five Halls. These dreams showed him a way to escape the giants. Balgon slowly gathered support amongst the dwarven slaves, and, at a predetermined sign, they struck. The dwarves attacked the giants, entering into open rebellion. As the giants fell back to regroup, the dwarves fled into tunnels they’d constructed, heading south into a vast cavern chain under the Frozen Sea.

When the giants pursued, Balgon spurred the dwarves on with tales of the lands he had seen in his vision – Kurdenheim, or Dwarvenhome in the dwarves’ tongue - a land of high mountain fortresses and deep cavern mines. A place of forges, where gems, gold, and steel would flow through dwarven hands. The dwarves fled through the caverns, driven on by Balgon, with the giants in pursuit. When it seemed the giants would catch them, Balgon sent the dwarves on under the guidance of his daughter, Cassada Fivebraids. He stopped, waiting for the dwarves to escape and the giants to approach. He climbed a stone column, clinging like a spider. When the giants appeared, Balgon struck a point in the cavern’s ceiling, bringing down the stone and, with it, the weight of the Frozen Sea. Balgon was slain, but his sacrifice cut off the dwarves from the giants, forever preventing the giants from reaching Kurdenheim through the tunnels, and forming the Sunless Sea in the Underdark.

Although Balgon was mourned by the dwarves, he is forever memorialized as one of their greatest heroes. The mighty mountain capital of Kurdenheim, Balgondelve, is, of course, named for him. At the shore of the sea, a massive statue of Balgon, forged from the stone of the sea cliffs, stares out over the Frozen Sea, keeping watch for the giants. If ever the giants were to mount a full attack over the sea, the dwarves believe that the statue would come to life and enter battle with his huge stone hammer.