Capital: Keldoram
Borders: Hills
Dwarf County covers the Hemdorkas Hills, and the towns are populated almost entirely by Hill Dwarves. The hills have lots of hobgoblins in the west and Orcs in the east.
In the Hemdorkas Valley is rather fey. There are no elves, but the trees are known to move and creatures are more alert and inteligence that you would expect of regular creatures.
Rulers
Each clan is ruled by a Thanes. The Towns are ruled by a Great Thane. The leader of the County is considered a Count by the Humans of Eridon.
Founding
In ancient times, one Dwarf Clan founded Keldoram in the West, another clan founded Mil Faldur in the East. Since then the Dwarves of the Hemdorkas Hills have been split by these two. Tharnham was founded by those from Keldoram. Hillsborough in Wake County was founded by Mil Faldur. The East/West clans don't intermingle much.
History
Dwarves have lived in these hill since before the gods split the world into pieces (broke apart Arcadia). However all of the above ground structures collapsed when everything split apart, and a great many people died. So cities had to be rediscovered or resettled. Tharnham was a small know-nothing town a couple thousand years ago, that somehow became a prominent town 1200-1300 years ago. And Blacksteel Keep came a few hundred years after that.
But the hobgoblins have been in these hills probably just as long as the Dwarves. Back when the Dwarves were primarily underground, the hobgoblins controlled the surface, the dwarves controlled the underground, and it was fine. But as the Dwaves came to the surface to find better access to materials, to move over land easier, there became more clashes Hobgoblins and Dwarves. Over the last 800 years or so, the Dwarves really solidified their presence on the surface world and pushed the Hobgoblins into a smaller territory and deprived them of some of their original resources.
Things have been good for the Dwarves for a long time now, but the Hobgoblin threat has never ever faded. They are always attacking something, finding lost underground tunnels and popping up in Dwarven bases in the middle of no where, sacking thing and fleeing again.
Eridon Annexation
The Human nation of Eridon, at one stage in history, annexed the Hemdorkas Hills into their territories as a County. Unlike Gadia, the Hill Dwarves were allowed to keep their old title structures. During this process Keldoram became the County seat, and it's leader is technically a Count. It is currently unknown what his Dwarven Title is. (High Thane is the current theory).
Hemdorkas Incursion
In early 1508, Grell appeared in the Hemdorkas Hills in huge numbers. Queen Kiara of Eridon, at age 19 in the first year of her reign, called her banners and sent General Mofkers to quell the Grell. The incursion lasted 9 months, and badly bled the kingdom.
The Grell proved to be more troublesome than expected. Their abilities of levitation surprised the Eridonian forces, and huge numbers of men died when swarms of Grell descended from the sky at night onto unsuspecting troops camped below. This would prove to be a favorite tactic of the Grell, one that gave them their best victories, and one that eventually would be their downfall.
The turning point was the "Battle of Highland Camp". The ambush comprised of Eridonian forces building a fake camp for the army, while hiding bowmen and wizards on the back edge of camp. When the trap was sprung, it resulted in the deaths of many Eridonian soldiers by friendly fire, as well as the Grell swarming them. The surviving Grell fled back into the hills and vanished. The source of the Grell was never found,
The Demon Invasion
In early 1510, a Demon Invasion struck the cities and towns of Shirebrook, Thornwood, Rainwood, Peatsburg, Anvil, Plainsview, Tassel, Misty Rapids, Newfort, Cauldron, Heatstroke, Limestone, causing them to fall. Eventually the Demons withdrew to Heatstroke, but the Kingdom of Eridon had taken a massive losses.
It is currently unknown how greatly the Demons hit Dwarf County during this time. The Dicing with Death character Zweihard Blacksteel may explore this time period in the future.
Count Vicious
In early 1511, Count Vicious and his thousand strong army ttacked Tharnham. We have no context about this, or know if it is linked to the Grell or not.
Town Names
- Keldoram
- Pop 4600
- Villages: 53
- Local Income: 297,336
- Primarily Dwarves
- Elevation: Sea level
- Mining Town
- Tharnham
- Pop 5400
- Villages: 47
- Local Income: 106,496
- Primarily Dwarves
- Mining Town
- Mil Faldur
- Pop 3300
- Villages: 43
- Local Income: 149,968
- Overwhelmingly Dwarven
- Elevation: Sea level