Name: Lord Gnagmath Grizzlebeard
Race: Dwarf
Description: Gnagmath is the reigning Grizzlebeard lord of the Middlestrath, residing in his court in the heart of the citadel-mountain of Redvein. An aging Dwarf of some 60 winters or so, he keeps the eponymous thick gray beard of his family in tight braids that extend down to the knees. Unlike most Dwarf men, he is not particularly stocky; he does not share the typical dwarven appetite for all things buttery, starchy, and meaty. Even more unusual for a Dwarf is his disinterest in drink. While his appetite is decidely undwarflike, he is extremely avaricious even by dwarf standards. In his spare time, the Grizzlebeard lord may often be found in the vaults of Redvein, jealously counting his innumerable coins and treasures.
Attributes: 1-Charm, 1-Lore, 1(+1)-Might, 4-Skill
Focus: Financial acumen: Gnagmath understands that wealth is power. As one of the wealthiest people or creatures in Paigeturne, Gnagmath devotes nearly every thought to increasing his wealth or employing it as efficiently as possible.
Foible: Madness: Gnagmath hears voices in his head that are not his own. He believes that his own gold speaks to him.
Name: The Middlestrath
Description: Situated in the center of the Dragonfang Mountains that comprise the mountainous Dwarven heartlands, the Middlestrath is comprised of snow-capped, jagged peaks and narrow valleys of thick conifer forest and cold, fast rivers. Man and the other races regard these mountains as inhospitable, and unyielding. But the industrious dwarves of the Middlestrath have earned incredible riches beneath the frigid, icy peaks.
Dwarvenkind has dwelled in the Dragonfang Mountains for as long as any of the scholar can say, long before the Kingdom of Paigeturne was established. Dwarven histories of this land begin some 1,700 years ago, when a dwarven shepherd guiding his flock through a goatpath in the mountains found embedded in a cliff face a ruby the size of a man's fist.
Redvein Mountain, as the dwarves came to know it, became the site of a fabulously lucrative gemstone mine. So many rubies, sapphires, opals, and other gems were harvested from the mines riddling the great mountain that, if they were sold all at once, gemstones would be rendered nigh-worthless due to their sudden abundance in the markets and bazaars of Paigeturne. The dwarves recognized this, and rather than sell their gems at once and fetch a pittance for them, elected to hoard their vast treasure. Instead, the dwarves pawned off their gemstones little by little, thereby preserving the value of their glut of precious stones.
By 1,000 years ago, Sturin Grizzlebeard had wrested control of the numerous mines in the area and became lord of Redvein Mountain. In order to protect his hoard of gold and gemstones from theft, he tasked his stonecutters and masons with converting exhausted mines in the upper reaches of Redvein into a storage vault for his vast wealth. Around these vaults, a truly redoubtable citadel was carved into the jagged facets of the mountain. Giant crenelated ledges were affixed with catapults and ballistae to ward off any foolish enough to try to lay siege. Stone piers out onto the glassy waters of Trout Lake allowed boats to easily offload new treasures at the gates of Redvein.
As the centuries went by, the dwarves of Sturin's Folk found that their gem mines were being exhausted. Prospectors went out across the Middlestrath and elsewhere, hoping to find virgin lodes of gemstones. Other mines were found, some bearing emeralds, silver, or mithril; some more profitable than others. However, none of the new mines could compare with the seemingly-endless wealth of the ancient Redvein mines.
Eddar Grizzlebeard was a crafty dwarf lord, and recognized that there would come a day that the mines would all run empty, and that a new strategy was needed to sate the innate desire of every dwarf to accumulate wealth. Eddar did the unthinkable, and loaned out small shares of his wealth to entrepreneurial Dwarves needing the initial treasure to begin merchant caravans, wilderness mines, and other ventures. Those who mocked Eddar's lending laughed no more when repayments began trickling back to the vaults of Redvein with usurious interest. Those that did not pay back their loans were subjected to mercenaries tasked with finding delinquent borrowers and repossessing the wealth by any means necessary. Even with delinquent borrowers that could not be collected from, lending gold proved far easier and safer than mining it.
This lending scheme works well for the dwarven lords, but does little for the lower-born Dwarves seeking treasure of their own. With the old mines running dry, enterprising dwarfs began looking beyond the Middlestrath for wealth. Many started wagon caravans and became traveling merchants that traversed every corner of Paigeturne... and beyond. Some 50 years ago, a traveling Dwarf merchant encountered a coastal village of Morsen on the northern coast of the Middlestrath. He noticed that the amphibious beastmen, in shucking oysters and clams, were simply casting pearls they found onto the ground. The Morsen, being a simple and primitive race, regarded pearls as a worthless byproduct of the shellfish they ate. The dwarf merchant paid next to nothing for a huge sack of pearls. This was the beginning of a lucrative, mutually-beneficial pearl trade between the Dwarves and the Morsen. Pearl hunters even began building boats and sailing across the treacherous waters of the Hoarfrost Sea in search of Morsen settlements that would sell their pearls for even cheaper.
Two Dwarf settlements were established on the icy northern shores of the Hoarfrost Sea to support the booming pearl trade. Five years ago, however, one of those settlements was attacked, and the inhabitants were all savagely butchered. Local Morsen claim it to be the work of the Icemen - a savage, brutish race of cannibals inhabiting the northern wastes north of Paigeturne. The incident has frightened away some Dwarves from the pearl trade, but the more foolhardy and avaricious pearlhunters are not so easily scared off.
Races: Unsurprisingly, the vast majority of the Middlestrath is inhabited by Dwarves. However, the Dwarves of Sturin's Folk are fairly tolerant of other races. Men are quite common in the border towns, and there a handful of remote hamlets and homesteads occupied entirely by men. The Dwarves leave these settlements alone, so long as their taxes are paid.
On the freezing shores of the Hoarfrost Sea, a population of sentient walruses known as the Morsen can be found. Their hind flippers have grown into stocky, cumbersome legs that allow the Morsen to waddle onto the land. They are plodding and slow on land but surprisingly agile in the sea; they are able to outswim a sailboat with favorable winds. While they can hold their breath for nearly an hour underwater, Morsen must sleep on land. Their days are mostly spent foraging under the waves for shellfish, abalones, and urchins and then come onto the land to eat and warm themselves with driftwood fires in crude huts made from whatever flotsam they can find. They are unable to speak in any tongues of men, but Morsen can understand human language and humans - with difficulty - can understand Morsen tongue. Interpreters, both human and Morsen, are indispensable components of the lucrative pearl trade.
Attributes:
Fertility: 1
Industry: 3
Nobility: 1
Prosperity: 2
Realm Traits:
-Hardy Folk: Your Heroes can always survive taking at least 1 more Wound, and its more difficult for them to
-Warriors Born: The Realm's Heroes and its Ruler receive +1 Might. Your Levies receive some basic training with melee weapons.
Description: Situated in the center of the Dragonfang Mountains that comprise the mountainous Dwarven heartlands, the Middlestrath is comprised of snow-capped, jagged peaks and narrow valleys of thick conifer forest and cold, fast rivers. Man and the other races regard these mountains as inhospitable, and unyielding. But the industrious dwarves of the Middlestrath have earned incredible riches beneath the frigid, icy peaks.
Dwarvenkind has dwelled in the Dragonfang Mountains for as long as any of the scholar can say, long before the Kingdom of Paigeturne was established. Dwarven histories of this land begin some 1,700 years ago, when a dwarven shepherd guiding his flock through a goatpath in the mountains found embedded in a cliff face a ruby the size of a man's fist.
Redvein Mountain, as the dwarves came to know it, became the site of a fabulously lucrative gemstone mine. So many rubies, sapphires, opals, and other gems were harvested from the mines riddling the great mountain that, if they were sold all at once, gemstones would be rendered nigh-worthless due to their sudden abundance in the markets and bazaars of Paigeturne. The dwarves recognized this, and rather than sell their gems at once and fetch a pittance for them, elected to hoard their vast treasure. Instead, the dwarves pawned off their gemstones little by little, thereby preserving the value of their glut of precious stones.
By 1,000 years ago, Sturin Grizzlebeard had wrested control of the numerous mines in the area and became lord of Redvein Mountain. In order to protect his hoard of gold and gemstones from theft, he tasked his stonecutters and masons with converting exhausted mines in the upper reaches of Redvein into a storage vault for his vast wealth. Around these vaults, a truly redoubtable citadel was carved into the jagged facets of the mountain. Giant crenelated ledges were affixed with catapults and ballistae to ward off any foolish enough to try to lay siege. Stone piers out onto the glassy waters of Trout Lake allowed boats to easily offload new treasures at the gates of Redvein.
As the centuries went by, the dwarves of Sturin's Folk found that their gem mines were being exhausted. Prospectors went out across the Middlestrath and elsewhere, hoping to find virgin lodes of gemstones. Other mines were found, some bearing emeralds, silver, or mithril; some more profitable than others. However, none of the new mines could compare with the seemingly-endless wealth of the ancient Redvein mines.
Eddar Grizzlebeard was a crafty dwarf lord, and recognized that there would come a day that the mines would all run empty, and that a new strategy was needed to sate the innate desire of every dwarf to accumulate wealth. Eddar did the unthinkable, and loaned out small shares of his wealth to entrepreneurial Dwarves needing the initial treasure to begin merchant caravans, wilderness mines, and other ventures. Those who mocked Eddar's lending laughed no more when repayments began trickling back to the vaults of Redvein with usurious interest. Those that did not pay back their loans were subjected to mercenaries tasked with finding delinquent borrowers and repossessing the wealth by any means necessary. Even with delinquent borrowers that could not be collected from, lending gold proved far easier and safer than mining it.
This lending scheme works well for the dwarven lords, but does little for the lower-born Dwarves seeking treasure of their own. With the old mines running dry, enterprising dwarfs began looking beyond the Middlestrath for wealth. Many started wagon caravans and became traveling merchants that traversed every corner of Paigeturne... and beyond. Some 50 years ago, a traveling Dwarf merchant encountered a coastal village of Morsen on the northern coast of the Middlestrath. He noticed that the amphibious beastmen, in shucking oysters and clams, were simply casting pearls they found onto the ground. The Morsen, being a simple and primitive race, regarded pearls as a worthless byproduct of the shellfish they ate. The dwarf merchant paid next to nothing for a huge sack of pearls. This was the beginning of a lucrative, mutually-beneficial pearl trade between the Dwarves and the Morsen. Pearl hunters even began building boats and sailing across the treacherous waters of the Hoarfrost Sea in search of Morsen settlements that would sell their pearls for even cheaper.
Two Dwarf settlements were established on the icy northern shores of the Hoarfrost Sea to support the booming pearl trade. Five years ago, however, one of those settlements was attacked, and the inhabitants were all savagely butchered. Local Morsen claim it to be the work of the Icemen - a savage, brutish race of cannibals inhabiting the northern wastes north of Paigeturne. The incident has frightened away some Dwarves from the pearl trade, but the more foolhardy and avaricious pearlhunters are not so easily scared off.
Races: Unsurprisingly, the vast majority of the Middlestrath is inhabited by Dwarves. However, the Dwarves of Sturin's Folk are fairly tolerant of other races. Men are quite common in the border towns, and there a handful of remote hamlets and homesteads occupied entirely by men. The Dwarves leave these settlements alone, so long as their taxes are paid.
On the freezing shores of the Hoarfrost Sea, a population of sentient walruses known as the Morsen can be found. Their hind flippers have grown into stocky, cumbersome legs that allow the Morsen to waddle onto the land. They are plodding and slow on land but surprisingly agile in the sea; they are able to outswim a sailboat with favorable winds. While they can hold their breath for nearly an hour underwater, Morsen must sleep on land. Their days are mostly spent foraging under the waves for shellfish, abalones, and urchins and then come onto the land to eat and warm themselves with driftwood fires in crude huts made from whatever flotsam they can find. They are unable to speak in any tongues of men, but Morsen can understand human language and humans - with difficulty - can understand Morsen tongue. Interpreters, both human and Morsen, are indispensable components of the lucrative pearl trade.
Attributes:
Fertility: 1
Industry: 3
Nobility: 1
Prosperity: 2
Realm Traits:
-Hardy Folk: Your Heroes can always survive taking at least 1 more Wound, and its more difficult for them to
-Warriors Born: The Realm's Heroes and its Ruler receive +1 Might. Your Levies receive some basic training with melee weapons.
Cedrik Mosscairn
Class: Scoundrel
While most of Lord Grizzlebeard's debtors pay their dues in a timely fashion, there are always a handful that need some 'persuasion'. Gnagmath has several repossessors in his employ, but none as brutish as Cedrik. Gnagmath dispatches Cedrik to deal with the most troublesome debtors, and collect by any means necessary.
Bezdan Brittletooth
Class: Magician
Bezdan is an ancient dwarf that has served as the court warlock for the past three Grizzlebeard lords. A polymath with a variety of interests ranging from alchemy, foreign languages and naturalism. Bezdan is called upon to advise in all matters scientific, arcane, or supernatural.
Horf
Class: Hunter
Dwarves going north of the Hoarfrost Sea need native guides. The Morsen are at home in the unforgiving, icy wasteland. In addition to understanding the environment and the hazards of the northern wastes, Horf can also speak in the tongue of men.
