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.