Mounthaven

Background

Mounthaven is the nation of the warlike dwarves. Family-oriented and loyal, they are the chroniclers of this world. They remember the past and are well prepared for the present. They live in hanging cities, inside and outside the mountains. Wisely and thoroughly, they have prepared their own destiny. Theirs is a seamless plan, and now the time has come to put down the quills and get the ball rolling.^[1]

Each nation in Lindwurm has its own reserves of orichalcum and few, very few extraction points, and they are attentively guarded. The nation boasting about their access to orichalcum seams is Mounthaven; the dwarves are the ones selling orichalcum to the other nations.^[2]

Even though Orichalcum was abundant in Lindwurm in the past, today is not so common. Each nation has its own reserves and few, attentively guarded extraction points. The nation boasting about their access to orichalcum seams is Mounthaven.^[3]

Zsoka and the dwarves from Mounthaven have been coexisting with the fog that lays underneath the surface of the earth, underground. They are used to it, they have studied it, and they know how to navigate their ways around it.^[4]

 Chroniclers of the past, warriors of the present, and masters of Lindwurm’s destiny.

Mounthaven's Past

This kingdom has stood proud since the dawn of the world, withstanding countless changes and hardships on account of their unity, strength, and determination.

They soon learned that passing their wisdom from generation to generation would facilitate their survival.

We thus face a society firm in its traditions and devoted to its forebears.

Dwarves are honorable, steeped in tradition, family bound, and diligent.

They lead their lives with a single-minded purpose: their craft and venerating their ancestors and home with blind faith.

Everything is written, and everything is recorded. Lineage is that which is most important for them.

All dwarves are tasked with three things: fulfilling their duty, protecting the sacred hearth fire, and honoring their ancestors.

The history of Mounthaven tells the tale of the first dwarven couple, born from the very Rock: the heart of the fallen dragon that constitutes the continent and that was at the center of the Library of the Heart.

That is the origin of the custom to bury their dead in stony tombs. It is believed that when a dwarf dies, their body and soul embark on a journey into the depths of the world to exist in them until Lindwurm is destroyed or the dragon awakes.

While there, the ancestors keep taking care of the living, communicating with their descendants through routes in the earth, as well as through visions and prayers.

That is why they have dug and prepared the so-called Chambers of Silence.

These are wedge-shaped cells so completely devoid of sound that they cause hallucinations.

Dwarves use them as places of retreat to ask their forebears for advice when faced with tasks of great difficulty, as well as to conduct the hardest training for soldiers in the special units.

Oddly enough, those very same chambers they call a gift can also be used as torture tools for strangers and interlopers.

Mounthaven Today

Mounthaven dwarves live in villages, towns, and cities scattered across Lindwurm’s mountain ranges.

From the surface, these may appear as scantly inhabited enclaves, but in truth, they expand underground to form awe-inspiring cities that hang as stalactites within vast caverns.

They are the sole inhabitants of both the lowest chasms and the highest peaks.

The villages, towns, and cities are ruled by an open council of the residents of the local communities. They gather to pass ordinances, regulate the usage of common-use goods, establish rules for local trade, and elect their representatives.

 “First Mounthaven, then the family, last is the individual”

Among their many trades, the most noteworthy is that of mining for precious minerals and crafting magical objects.

The best goldsmiths, blacksmiths, and armorers can be found here.

The most respected metalworkers are the Orichalcum Blacksmiths.

They have the ability to perceive the essence of any object or being and then replicate it on a plate of pure orichalcum.

Things thus created are regarded as great artworks and, if they are meant for battle, as impressive tools of war.

Dwarves trade all across the world, attempting to remain neutral in other people’s disputes in order to profit from them.

This, however, is not always possible. They store their most precious treasure, the orichalcum they extract from the bowels of the earth, with obsessive zeal, for it is the source of their wealth and the key of their massive military might.

While they do not use magic directly (despite being highly resistant to it), their mastery of orichalcum allows them to craft weapons and devices—from manned contraptions to magical grenades—well above of what other nations have ever built.

Enemies at the Gates

The orcs and varanks of the Northern Tribes have descended from the Boreal Lands, invading the dwarven territories of the Chains Island and Gjrotgard.

Mounthaven has been forced into signing a non-aggression pact and a commercial agreement with that occupation army. But neither orcs nor varanks have ever been docile or friendly.

Their primal instincts have always trumped the others and the beasts that come with them can pose a serious problem if they begin to expand throughout the land.

Dwarves know that they have struck a deal with a viper willing to bite them as soon as left unchecked, but they remain convinced they can keep it under control.

Mounthaven's Future

Their desire to set things in writing has allowed them to amass a great deal of knowledge about the Fog and the patterns behind its magic cycles, so they believe themselves ready to master it.

In addition, all those books, documents, and records have served them to calculate all future possibilities.

Everything they do has its motive: the Masterplan. They have had plenty of time to prepare and now they are ready. Yet chroniclers have been witnessing changes in the Fog as of late. Changes they had not foreseen and that are cause for concern.

The emergence of new banks of the accursed mist in different parts of the world has flooded some underground galleries that connected Mounthaven’s mines and towns.

Moreover, foul bloodthirsty creatures marked with dark stains have been coming out of that thick reddish haze.

As the attacks of these unknown creatures increase, dwarven society has been forced to open new communication routes and to occupy underused lands in Feudom or the Hegemony of Embersig.

In some cases, inns, stables, and warehouses have been erected in those territories.

They aim to claim the exterior lands under which they have been digging for centuries.

And what do these nations think of this occupation?

Ever since the foundation of the Kingdom of Feudom and the signing of the Treaty of The Cauldron, relations between the dwarves and the people of Feudom have been seamless.

However, following the invasion by the Northern Tribes, tensions between Feudom and Mounthaven have been on the rise.

Nonetheless, the main enemy remains The Hegemony.

Not content with taking advantage of some of their lands to settle in the surface, the presence of Ghent dwarves—renegades whose families left the kingdom generations ago—among their ranks adds insult to injury.

And to make matters worse, there is the issue of the Sÿenann.

Mounthaven knows what this nation can do if left to its own devices.

These elves can achieve such a degree of power and ferocity that they could shatter the world if they set their minds to it.

Hence the need of keeping an eye on them.

With all these variables to account for, the dwarves can expect no rest.

But as warriors, they are sturdy, experienced, and highly resilient against magic.

Their weapons are the most powerful in all of Lindwurm and they will defend what is theirs, giving up not one inch of land nor of profit margin.

Woe betide anyone who underestimates the might of Mounthaven, for they will be overwhelmed by the best equipped and most determined army in all of Lindwurm.^[5]