Empire of Sarphil
–6400 DR
The elves meet the dwarves of Sarphil on the battlefields of the Vast and
forge a tenuous alliance since the elves save the dwarves from death at the
orcs’ hands.
–4400 DR
The Dark Court Slaughter: Drow and duergar attack and destroy the Elven
Court and Sarphil beginning on Midwinter Night. Within days, the Elven
Court is in ruins and Sarphil is occupied by the drow and duergar. The Dark
Court Slaughter claims the lives of many clan leaders of the Elven Court
and the coronals of both Rystall Wood and Jhyrennstar.
— The archer-guard Shevarash, in an anger-tinged prayer to Corellon, vows
to become the Seldarine’s hand against the drow to extract revenge for the
loss of his family. The Black Archer never smiled again, as he sought to kill
Lolth and all her followers.
— Start of the Eighth Rysar of Rystall Wood and the Sixth Rysar of Jhyrennstar
with the ascension of the wizardess Enajharas and the prophet of
Labelas Oacenth respectively. The call to arms against their now-revealed
enemy, the drow, is ordered.
672 DR Year of the Angry Caverns
Many dwarf settlers of Myth Drannor, most of them refugee clans from the
fallen Realm of Glimmering Swords, leave the city and move north to the
southern shore of the Dragon Sea (Moonsea). They reopen the westernmost
mines of Sarphil, known as the Lost Ways, which honeycomb a lengthy
escarpment (known as the Scarp) that looms over the eastern reaches of the
Tailings Bay.
Sarphil
Of old, this realm encompassed the
eastern end of the Moonsea, and the
mountains running north to what is now
Glister. Beset by orcs and elven resistance
to surface expansion, the dwarvres of
Sarphil tunnelled under what is now
Mulmaster, going deep to pass under the
Lis. Their delves, sought by adventurers
in the Mulmaster region, are called The
Lost Ways.
Dwarves of Sarphil developed special
moving-stone pumps to keep the waters
of the Lis at bay, as they extended their
underways westwards to the rocky
heights north of present-day Elventree.
The Scarp sought by the dwarves is today
much reduced in height; the dwarves
quarried it from the top down for its rich
veins of copper. They were perhaps the
purest and largest deposits in the known
North.
The elves of the Elven Court resented
this intrusion, and repeatedly attacked
the dwarves. Before their numbers and
magic, the dwarves were forced back. In
the end they had to abandon all of the
southern shore arm of Sarphil, retreating
east and north into the mountains.
The only trace they left behind is the
name of the city of Hillsfar, after Clan
Hillsafar of Sarphil, principal miners of
the Scarp. Clan Hillsafar can be found today
in the land of Vaasa, on the other side
of the Dragonspine Mountains (see the
chapter Clans).
Sarphil was founded by Nilythra Namarforge,
who became its first Queen. Her
son, Raulauntar, proved to be an able and
astute warrior, and is said to have personally
slain over 20,000 ogres, as he defended
the fledgling realm against attack.
Sarphils fall is a story common to most
of the other Lost Kingdoms; its warriors
were too few to hold what they had
seized, and faced too many enemies. The
last king of Sarphil was Dauringogh the
Doomed. He disappeared in deep caverns
under Mount Throndor, in the Dragonspine
Mountains just south and east of
Glister, as duergar and drow, in a rare alliance
of the depths, harried the Sarphilan
warriors northwards.
Sarphil never had clear borders. Its
hastily-abandoned caverns, the Lost Ways and the all the many linked caves and passages that honeycomb the dragonspine Mountains are said to hold enough wealth to buy at least six kingdoms (or so the minstrels say).
The Sign of the Realms was a crossed (double-ended) pick and hammer, above an anvil. It can be seen to this day cut into the westernmost face of the Scarp, facing Hillsfar across the bay.
Many dwarves, perhaps 16,000 in all, still dwell in the Dragonspines today, hidden away in small, isolated caverns and high holds among the peaks. They have no king nor organization beyond clans and families, and do not trust each other enough to do more than trade.
An adventuring brotherhood, the Axe by Night, provides messenger and monster-killing services, and peddles tools, needles, cheese, sausage, beer, and other goods desired by the dwarves. They buy what each hold has to offer and sell it to other holds. They travel up and down the mountain range, but they operate mainly in summer, and take care not to lead Zhentarim or orc patrols to the hidden holds.
Dareth
This vanished realm of the dwarves lay
north of Rashemen, in the mountains that
divide the Great Glacier from the Great
Ice Sea. Settled by dwarves who first
came to the Bloodstone Lands from the
south (from worked-out, individual clan
holds in the mountains south and west of
Unther and Mulhorand), and reinforced
by later arrivals who fled from eastern
Delzoun, Dareth was a briefly prosperous
land.
Dareth was founded almost 4,000 summers
ago as a realm of linked caverns under
the rule of its first King, Orloebar
Snowbeard, who renounced his clan
membership to found the ruling house of
Dareth. The mountains held few gems,
but rich veins of metal-bearing ores, and
the forges of the dwarves worked tirelessly.
Men came to what is now Hoarbridge to
trade with the dwarves of Dareth, The
Ice Kingdom. The dwarves tunnelled
ever further into the mountains, and even
cut into the depths of the Great Glacier,
following rich ore-veins.
One spring, no dwarves came to trade
with the menwithout word or explanation.
The Stout Folk simply came no
more. Their work, mainly armor and
weaponry, was still avidly bought and
sold around the lawless, fledgling human
settlements in the area, and word of their
sudden silence was slow to get around.
When Delzoun began to crumble,
dwarves who lived and mined the easternmost
reaches found themselves cut
off from their brethren by the fall of
Felbarr. Some fled south down the De
sertsedge, but others made a titanic trek
across frozen Anauroch to the Moonsea
North, and thence through the Bloodstone
Lands to reach the Mountains of
Dareth.
They soon learned why little had recently
been heard of the dwarves from
the Inner Sea South whod first founded
the kingdom. A realm of white dragons
(and bestial servant creatures) was located
at the northern end of the mountains.
Once the dwarves had broken
through into their caverns, brutal war
had begun. In the end, the dwarves of
Dareth had been driven into a few deep
caverns.
The Mountains of Dareth had become
the Peaks of Cold Death to human traders,
who sought the besieged dwarves in
vain, but found white dragons on the
wing all too often.
The dwarves from Delzoun rescued the
surviving folk of Dareth with a vicious attack
upon the dragons besieging servant
creatures. The dwarves fled to a lone
mountain that stood apart from the rest,
which they named Mount Sundabar in
honor of a city in the Northkingdom that
theyd left behind. There they founded a
new citadel, electing as King one Embryn
Shattered-shield, who left his clan to take
the name of Dareth.
The white dragons soon attacked
Mount Sundabar, employing magical
items of great force and unknown, elder
origin. In the end, the Mountain was shattered,
the dwarven hold laid waste. The
dwarves fought on, however, slaying
dragons whenever they could reach
them. They became skulking attackers
who swarmed all over the Mountains of
Dareth, until no dragon was safe in its lair,
and the bones of both dwarves and dragons
littered the mountain range.
In the end, the dwarves and dragons destroyed
each other, in a final confrontation
on the broad mountaintop now
known as Heroes Height. This opened the
way for humans to hunt and cut lumber
in the rich lands that became Armridge
and Sossal. The caverns of Dareth were
explored and plundered of all valuables
left by the dwarves, but recurring monster
attacks made the mines too dangerous
to work. And so they remain today,
home to dangerous creatures who feed
on the occasional humans or dwarves
desperate or reckless enough to try mining
the riches of lost Dareth again.
Dareths borders lay within the mountain
range named for it, plus Mount Sundabar,
Heroes Height, and the high
valleys between.
The Sign of the Realm, almost unknown
today, was a row of three peaks with a
stone hammer, head to the right, horizontal
above them.
Earthfast: Once a thriving community
of 100,000 dwarves, this dwarven city
now holds only a tenth of its former
61
strength. Located in a high mountain valley
in the midst of the Earthfast Mountains
of Impiltur, Earthfast seems a grim,
doomed city.
Few women and children live there today.
The bustling trade that once went on
is now limited to a few brave peddlers
from other cities who slip through the
goblin-kin patrols to reach the city, bringing
seeds and fruit, cheeses and textiles to
trade for the famous war-goods of Earthfast.
The dwarves that remain in the city
mine and fight valiantly, beset by orcs and
goblins who have recently gathered together
in attacks aimed at eradicating the
remaining dwarves. The city is a gloomy,
silent place, but for the noises of smithywork
and war. The dwarves of Earthfast
fight silently, too, though they do utter an
eerie low, rumbling roar of victory when
a battle is won.
Earthfast is ruled by a single hereditary
leader, the ironlord. The current lord,
Torg mac Cei, commands the army and
keeps law and order in the shrinking city.
A black-bearded, foul-tempered dwarf,
he is prone to bombast and overstatement,
and has recently trained his troops
in the use of polearms to augment their
traditional crossbows, axes, and swords.
Torg has taken a liking to the canaries
used by dwarven miners in the north. In
warmer caverns of the south, glowing
fungi betrays bad air by a change in hue,
but it dies in the chill air of northerly
delves, so they have turned to these
winged companions. He can often be seen
carrying a beautifully-wrought birdcage
with him about the city, even in the midst
of battles. The ironlord lost both wife and
son to orcs some time ago.
Very few creatures of any race earn the
trust of the dwarves of Earthfast. This is
true even of most other dwarves. There
are notable exceptions, including King
Azoun of Cormyr, who has a longstanding
treaty of alliance with Earthfast.
King Azoun is said to have helped the
dwarves in the past.
Recently, a mysterious human female
warrior of great fighting-skills has been
seen fighting alongside the dwarves.
Some say that she is a renegade witch of
Rashemen, and others that it is one of the
Knights of the North, cast out of the Citadel
of the Raven by the Zhentarim. Other
traders who have seen her say that it is a
woman of fierce temper and a regal manner,
possibly a petty ruler or courtesan of
a more southerly land. The pirate queen
Shandagara recently vanished from the
waters of the Vilhon Reach, leaving her
abandoned ship wallowing in the waves
still laden with treasurespirited away
by magic, obviously. Perhaps she came to
Earthfast. Pressed on this point, Elminster
merely smiled enigmatically and said
that some things were best revealed in
good timeand revealed they would be,
though the time might not be good.
The dwarves of Earthfast are skilled
weaponsmiths, and their axes are especially
valued. A full suit of Earthfast plate
can fetch a staggering price, for it is said
to be the equal of Ironstar-work: the
equivalent of full plate +2 (conferring an
Armor Class of -1), without being magical.
Armor from Earthfast is extremely
rare, however, and under no circumstances
can the citys dwarves be commissioned
to make new armor for outsiders
(they are far too busy fighting and repairing
their own armor for the ongoing
fray). Most of the Earthfast armor in existence
fits only dwarves; the few suits that
are larger tend to be close-guarded family
treasures, in Sembia, Amn, Waterdeep,
and other wealthy places (such as the Palace
of King Azoun, in Suzail).
The dwarves of Earthfast have been
fighters beset by enemies for so long that
they all consider their forebears to be heroes.
Thus, every dwarf bears the name
of his father: mac means son of so a
typical dwarf of Earthfast will be a silent,
moody, usually grim miner named Lleu
mat Gwydython, or Pryderi mac Immath.
This city is described here because
much of it is abandoned already, and because
the rest of it seems doomed to fall
from the hands of the dwarves sooner or
later. It will then be one more dwarven casualty
in the long wars with the orcs.