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.

Sarphil’s 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 men—without 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 who’d 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

they’d 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.

Dareth’s 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 treasure—spirited 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 time—and 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 city’s 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.