Barbandos, land of the Gonnhirrim, The dwarven Stone-Lords

Population: 4 million

The name Aldamar is given by the Eledar (Star elves) to an enormous underground complex below Barbandos. Comprising a vast network of tunnels, chambers, mines and huge halls or 'mansions', that ran under and ultimately through the mountains of Barbandos. There, for many thousands of years, lived the Dwarf clan known as the Longbeards, Sigin-tarâg in their dwarven tongue. They lived there with many other powerful clans as well, eight in all. The city Aldamar and one-time centre of dwarven industry was taken by dark elves and black orcs that came from the underdark. Accompanied by horrors of the deep they sundered the gates of Aldamar and invaded the dwarven realm. For nealry a thousand years of the Second Age it was later widely known as Darmurgia, "Black Chasm" or "Black Pit", from Sindarin (Darmor="black" and Urgiâ="void), abyss, pit". In the beginnig of the third age Durin I found the dwarven weapon of legacy known as "Kurnbaruk Ald Taulmarr Dornitirr", The Waraxe of Volcanic Lords. With the ancestral relic Durnitirr, Durin I (The 1st) and the Longbeards, launched an assault on the lost city of Aldamar. After a campaign that lasted a several weeks they vanquished the darkness and drove out the remaining dark elves and greenskins, reclaimed their ancient capital and ancestral home. Today the forges of Kaglemros burn brightly, and flows of molten rock warms the walls of Aldamar.


Capitol: Aldamar

The celebration of those who fell at the assault to retake Aldamar is held each year and lasts several days. For one day and night the forges and braziers in the Hall of Kings are extinguished to honor in silent darkness. The dwarven clans gather up and drink, eat and sing in the lower levels of Durin`s Hall.







Races: Dwarf, 0,01% Human

Population in capitol: 2,3 Million
Rest is spread out through the different dwarven holds, villages or other colossal fortresses. The only presence of humans are represented by the wealthiest and most successful merchants of the entire eastern Kingdom. Together they manage trade deals, import and export businesses, and the politics revolving around the borderlines.

Lost dwarven cities: Issakaz Taalomar (the frozen forge)











Politics and history

Dwarfs reside mainly in the hills and mountains of Barbandos where they have their strongholds. Their empire once ran as a series of holds throughout the mountain ranges joined by tunnels. Since the "greenskin wars" some strongholds have fallen, and the tunnel-ways lost so the strongholds are more isolated. The loss of the holds has been attributed to Orcs and other Greenskins like goblins and hobgoblins. There is a reputed "lost" hold in The Southlands where the orcs supposedly breed primal dragons. The Dwarves to the north have been isolated for many centuries and become less civilized. The largest hold there is ancient Karak Durak. Some dwarves have settled in the human nations of The New World; particularly The Griffin Empire of Eldorin where the dwarves`s crafting skills are appreciated. Some even serve in the Imperial armies or House Eldorin which revere thei dwarves´s sense of honor and justice.

There are a number of important and named holds in the Dwarven Kingdom. Only one dwarf hold - Nan`Barak Vanarr - is situated on the sea - where the Dwarf sea fleet is based. It is an upside-down tower which is said to go as deep as the underdepths.

The dwarven language is kept secret from outsiders. Only their closest of outsider allies are allowed to learn some words. But their written language, Cirth, are their most guarded national treasure, as it ensures no one can read anything ever written by dwarves in Aldamar or throughout Barbandos, to keep their secrets in the dark.

Outsiders: SKill point: 1 = The listener can understand about 30% of the dwarven spoken tongue, and have a language skill level of [Broken]. Which means they can speak some words but are mostly unable to speak in full sentences. For other languages the skill level progress to [accented] and at an expert level [fluent]. These skills levels for Khuzdûl, except the first [broken] level, is unobtainable for outsiders. The written rune language Cirth is also prohibited. The dwarves´s secret sign language is ONLY taught from parent to child.

   



Animal life:
The landscape of Barbandos are many yards above waterlevel. This makes the area seem like the high Alps in the west. One of the animals found here are the rare chamoix, the marmot  and the fallow deer. Great wyverns nest in these mountains and have served as mounts to the greenskins in centuries. Primal Dragons also inhabit the mountains.

Sea life:
In the north are the giant tortoise with fangs, teeth and feared horns sprouting from their heads. Giant seahorses live quite deep within the marvelous coral reefs. The great white shark live here as well. As dwarves prefer red meat and hunt in the mountains, there is almost endless streams of small fish along the coast.

Landscape:
Mostly pinetrees and birch. High mountaintops and deep valleys with little grass and dirtfields, mostly rock. Barbandos is poorly suited to agriculture.

Economy

The dwarves of Barbandos sustain themselves with food and supplies underground. They buy and import food and goods (such as wood) from neighouring countries as they cant easily get hold of such items themselves. They sell their services and crafts to outsiders and sometimes their indept knowledge about mining and dwarven engineering if offered enough gold to satisfy their greed. Usually they sell completed crafted weapons for the buyers to use, but whithout including the knowledge of how they are made or what makes the creations work (See the Vurgan and Sky mines). Runesmithing is quite popular to outsiders, but expensive. Same with gunsmithing. The dwarves usually trade minerals with Eboracum since they have uniqe minerals only located in their region, such as Orthoclase. From the seafortress Nan`Barak Vanarr they buy Volcanogenic massive sulfide for their underground projects and salpeter from the gnomish alchemists located at the Isle of Fu.

Lastly the dwarves excercise a heavy mercantilistic policy (mercantilism).

Their own crafts:

The great forges at the molten core melt, refine or work minerals and metals:
Granite->platina-nickel->Cobalt
Red crystal->diamond->Topaz->Quartz->several types of gemstones (rare)
Red powder->sulfur->black powder->black sand->charcoal

Smelters:
Bronze->Iron->steel->gold->white gold->silver->Adamantium->Mithril->copper->mercury->hematite->gromril-> Pyrite
blacksmithing->armory/weapons->tools->Exotic Firearms->Bullets->dwarven engineering and designs
                   


Economic status in Aldamar:
The economy is quite strong and independent

Military defensive/offensive force, siege weapons

Capitol:Incredible

Dwarven weapons

Vurgan
The most innovative examples of Dwarven engineering by combining runesmithing, alchemy and dwarven design is the Vurgan (Furgan), the Flame Cannon, a massive flamethrower artillery piece with the capacity to destroy entire units. The Vurgan is brought to life empowered by harnessing the earthen molten core with runesmithing.

Sky mine
Dwarves fill these 20-foot-diameter cloth balloons with a secret and highly flammable gas and then release them into the sky over their enemies. To transform the balloons into decoys, dwarven siege warriors place dummies in cargo baskets beneath the balloons to look like balloonist scouts or snipers. Whoever releases the balloon can attempt to guide the balloon out to a maximum range of 300 feet, a far enough distance for archers to safely shoot the balloon with flaming arrows, causing it to explode in a devastating ball of fire. A detonated sky mine creates a huge burst radius of flame that incinerates anything in the area.

The lands: The few forts located across Barbandos has the same standard as Aldamar, but there are villages spread throughout the mountain and forests without any specific fortifications. The smaller dwarven mines usually look like tightly closed bunkers of stone. Some are populated, but mostly abandoned.

Allies

The only allies they are known to have is the dwarven hold Nan`Barak Vanarr located in the North sea, other than that they easily shut their gates to the underground strongholds to keep unwanted visitors out. The dwarven hold Karak Durak to the North answer to no one but them selves. The dwarves do tend to be friendlier towards residents of the Griffin Empire.

Organized magic

Magic in its usual forms is distrusted, and even loathed by a great many of the Dwarfen population. The general consensus is that magic is too erratic and volatile to fool around with, let alone rely on in battle. However, Dwarves do place considerable emphasis on embedding magic within certain items e.g. axes, hammers, shields, and armour suits through Runesmithing (in the same manner other races create talismans). To harness the strenght of the earth and power of the molten core through runesmithing is the dwarven way. Runesmiths can use gold as material components by their knowledge of drawing out the primal power from the earthen metal. The earthen primal powers run deep within the enchanted item, and takes more effort to dissenchant or destroy.

Item creation effect: Runeforged = Enchanted item lasts 1d4 rounds longer within a anti-magic field. And counts as an extra +2 when it comes to calculate hit points and hardness of the item. (Magic weapons: Hardness and Hit Points: Each +1 of a magic weapon’s enhancement bonus adds +2 to its hardness and +10 to its hit points.) +2000 gp cost.




Kaglemros means "forger of many weapons" in the dwarven tongue. It is located in the deepest parts of Aldamar where the greatest runesmiths reside. There they practice and perfect their art and craftsmanship. To enter the grand forge one must pass the first gate and cross the bridge that leads to the second gate.

It is said to be so hot in the presence of the molten rivers that regular clothing catch on fire. The runesmiths on the other hand seems unbothered by the volcanic heat.












The mausoleum of the noble dead.
Not far away the dwarven catacombs can be found. To the dwarven people the catacombs is known as "The blood of the mountain".