Mor's End History and Religion
- Thread starter fusangite
- Start date
Having the history from different points of view is kinda cool, but I think it's way more important to have a unified "ground truth" history first. Once we've hammered that out, we can always make variants from the different perspectives, which the PCs can dig up by talking to the right people. But right now we need to be able to condense down what actually happened to a few paragraphs.
Also, I don't think we want this rule of the Derro to spread to "distant lands". It's bad for modularity, and I have a hard time believing they would go conquer distant lands if they can't even overcome the Enorians, "a rustic people, living a simple wholesome life of tending their small gardens and herding their sheep".
(sorry, couldn't resist... that should be "yoke of the Derro" of course
)
(Gah... so much to read... sorry, but I'm going to skip a bit.)
I would prefer specifying the ancient people whose ruins can still be found around Mor's End as little as possible, to make it easier for DM's to insert their own mythology, or link it into other plot hooks involving the ruins and the warren underneath the city. There's just a little too much detail here. Perhaps cast it more like a half-forgotten legend, similar to the Legend of Enoria?fusangite said:
I don't quite follow this. If the raiders came from the Enorian Mountains, the "barbarians of the Enorian Mountains" would surely have been the first to suffer? Geographically speaking, where do you see these raiders originating, and where do you place these resisting "Enorians" compared to the fishing villages on Lake Enoria?
Also, I don't think we want this rule of the Derro to spread to "distant lands". It's bad for modularity, and I have a hard time believing they would go conquer distant lands if they can't even overcome the Enorians, "a rustic people, living a simple wholesome life of tending their small gardens and herding their sheep".
Do we need this new Dyalath figure? It seems like he steals some of Erekh & Mor's thunder in this part of the history. Can't we just replace Dyalath/Erekh with Erekh/Mor?
Eeewww! I didn't know Derro laid eggs!?
(sorry, couldn't resist... that should be "yoke of the Derro" of course
)Implies too grand a scale to my taste. (1) it sounds like the armies involved were much greater than anything Mor's End, Kul Moren and their enemies in the swamp could possibly put up today. I don't really like the founding of Mor's End to overshadow the current city. Besides, I find it hard to believe that all those massive armies got decimated down to the eventual founding population of Mor's End. (2) For modularity, it's best if we don't involve too many "distant lands" in this (see above).
You don't just build a city from scratch though. The current day city walls (even the inner Old Wall) would probably have been built several (human) generations after Mor's death.
This part feels a little weird. I can see that Mor would assign someone else to rule the city. But why would he then appoint himself as an assistant to that person? It's more likely that Castellan is a more recent title anyway.
(Gah... so much to read... sorry, but I'm going to skip a bit.)
I'm not convinced we want to have this huge dwarven kingdom of Irlkjjlaksdfkj next door. Kul Moren itself as a small dwarven keep seems plenty sufficient. I'm still in favor of making Kul Moren itself the focus of the ancient battle. You don't really lose anything (apart for scale of the battle, which I think is too grand in this version anyway), and it makes Mor's End a lot more modular and thus useful.
Since I know the above is going to be way too much for the casual visitor to this thread to read through, let me just summarize my main objections to the most recent history version:
- I don't think the events around the founding of Mor's End should have been so momentous that they probably affected half the surrounding continent (involving distant lands, armies marching for 7 years, great Dwarven and Derro Kingdoms next door, etc.)
- Mor's End should have grown very gradually and organically from a smaller settlement, not built from scratch complete with nigh-impenetrable walls
- ... and I still think the original Lady Kelvin should have been Erekh's grandmother, a powerful sorceress. But I guess I could live without that part.
- I don't think the events around the founding of Mor's End should have been so momentous that they probably affected half the surrounding continent (involving distant lands, armies marching for 7 years, great Dwarven and Derro Kingdoms next door, etc.)
- Mor's End should have grown very gradually and organically from a smaller settlement, not built from scratch complete with nigh-impenetrable walls
- ... and I still think the original Lady Kelvin should have been Erekh's grandmother, a powerful sorceress
. But I guess I could live without that part. Thanks for pointing out the yoke/yolk error Conaill; I had a good laugh.
I'm not going to get back into a point by point debate until I've seen some other responses but it does appear necessary for me to defend generally the way I have written the history.
I do not believe that we should be in the business of developing what "really happened" historically. Doing so would be restrictive and confining for GMs. If someone wants to produce an "objective" history, they can go ahead but I certainly won't produce one nor will I support the inclusion of such a document in whatever is collated here.
What I have striven to do, through the introduction of Kul and Dyalath is to create a set of histories in which the people telling them situate themselves in the centre of events and make themselves pivotally important. This helps both in roleplaying for the players and in giving the GM the wriggle room he needs to put his own unique stamp on the history.
I also want to address the complaint that the events in the myth history are too grandiose. Take a look at medieval myth histories e.g. Bede's Ecclesiastical History of England and Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain. Also look at the Aeneid and other works. The mythic histories of places are by definition grandiose and exaggerate the significance of the people and places they tell about. Monmouth, for instance, has King Arthur conquering the Roman Empire.
In "reality," the dwarf kingdom of which Kul Moren is an outpost is only a community of about 5000 dwarves in my theory and the lands surrounding Enoria have never heard of Mor or his crusade.
My objective here is to write the history that people in the city will know; that is the only history that matters to the running of the campaign. Early Runequest adopted this position and I saw it as the greatest strength of the game.
As for the complaint that by placing the Kelvins at the founding of the city, I have pushed Erekh to the margins, I agree. I would be only too happy to return to my previous system which had Erekh's house ruling the city until 170 and the Kelvins taking over after that. What I will not do is give historical figures last names; the royal line is called Kelvin or Erekh -- not both. Take your pick. In the alternative, I could make Erekh and his tribe Enorian herders and not mountain barbarians (in which case, I would be able to eliminate Dyalath), but I think I'll wait another week for input to come in before I generate another draft.
And as I mentioned before, seven years means "a long time." You'll note that in the dwarves' version, the siege of the Derro lasted less than 300 days.
I'm not going to get back into a point by point debate until I've seen some other responses but it does appear necessary for me to defend generally the way I have written the history.
I do not believe that we should be in the business of developing what "really happened" historically. Doing so would be restrictive and confining for GMs. If someone wants to produce an "objective" history, they can go ahead but I certainly won't produce one nor will I support the inclusion of such a document in whatever is collated here.
What I have striven to do, through the introduction of Kul and Dyalath is to create a set of histories in which the people telling them situate themselves in the centre of events and make themselves pivotally important. This helps both in roleplaying for the players and in giving the GM the wriggle room he needs to put his own unique stamp on the history.
I also want to address the complaint that the events in the myth history are too grandiose. Take a look at medieval myth histories e.g. Bede's Ecclesiastical History of England and Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain. Also look at the Aeneid and other works. The mythic histories of places are by definition grandiose and exaggerate the significance of the people and places they tell about. Monmouth, for instance, has King Arthur conquering the Roman Empire.
In "reality," the dwarf kingdom of which Kul Moren is an outpost is only a community of about 5000 dwarves in my theory and the lands surrounding Enoria have never heard of Mor or his crusade.
My objective here is to write the history that people in the city will know; that is the only history that matters to the running of the campaign. Early Runequest adopted this position and I saw it as the greatest strength of the game.
As for the complaint that by placing the Kelvins at the founding of the city, I have pushed Erekh to the margins, I agree. I would be only too happy to return to my previous system which had Erekh's house ruling the city until 170 and the Kelvins taking over after that. What I will not do is give historical figures last names; the royal line is called Kelvin or Erekh -- not both. Take your pick. In the alternative, I could make Erekh and his tribe Enorian herders and not mountain barbarians (in which case, I would be able to eliminate Dyalath), but I think I'll wait another week for input to come in before I generate another draft.
And as I mentioned before, seven years means "a long time." You'll note that in the dwarves' version, the siege of the Derro lasted less than 300 days.
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Lalato
Adventurer
Conaill said:Since I know the above is going to be way too much for the casual visitor to this thread to read through, let me just summarize my main objections to the most recent history version:
- I don't think the events around the founding of Mor's End should have been so momentous that they probably affected half the surrounding continent (involving distant lands, armies marching for 7 years, great Dwarven and Derro Kingdoms next door, etc.)
- Mor's End should have grown very gradually and organically from a smaller settlement, not built from scratch complete with nigh-impenetrable walls
- ... and I still think the original Lady Kelvin should have been Erekh's grandmother, a powerful sorceress
I don't mind the events being grandiose. I think it gives good flavor... and if there is going to be campiness or grandiosity... it should be in the history... not in the present day.
I think perhaps there should be a note to GMs on how to incorporate Mor's End into their campaigns. The note might explain how the rich history of Mor's End could be largely ignored in order to better fit any setting.
I would prefer that Erekh come from the herder clans... in fact... I would like that Erekh be from the Kelvin clan. That would eliminate the need for Dyalath.
If Erekh comes from the herder clans... perhaps then Mor comes from the mountain people.
That's all I have for now...
--sam
jdavis
First Post
The Dwarves can be written off as the Dwarf kingdom fractured and failed in the last 300 years to where only Kul-Moren remained strong, that gives their attachment to the city and lets the kingdom go into legend.
As far as names go thats minor details to be plugged in as we go, name 'em what you want right now.
The Grand scale is a little worrying but I think that with it being a legend and not a factual tale it works good as a embellishment. Any facts will have to be modular to allow for plugging them in to different wolds.
The framework seems very good, perhaps we can do a section called "hints on how to work Mor's End into your setting" and include it with the history to help DM's fit it in. I think the vagueness of it is very well done and stuff like that could be pointed out as to how to help DM's mold it to their world.
As far as names go thats minor details to be plugged in as we go, name 'em what you want right now.
The Grand scale is a little worrying but I think that with it being a legend and not a factual tale it works good as a embellishment. Any facts will have to be modular to allow for plugging them in to different wolds.
The framework seems very good, perhaps we can do a section called "hints on how to work Mor's End into your setting" and include it with the history to help DM's fit it in. I think the vagueness of it is very well done and stuff like that could be pointed out as to how to help DM's mold it to their world.
I agree that we could easily make Erekh part of the Kelvin clan.
As for the subjective histories... I understand your point, and it's probably a matter of taste. But I think most DMs would much prefer to have a straigtforward outline of the facts behind the history of Mor's End (possibly including hints on how the different peoples might have interpreted those facts), rather than three entirely subjective and sometimes contradictory narratives.
Call me crazy, but that's how virtually every d20/D&D setting sourcebook works, and what most DMs will expect to see. Any DM worth his salt will know how to adjust those facts for their own campaign, and how to extract alternative hsitories from different points of view if and when they need them.
If we stick with the three narratives, we need to attach a BIG disclaimer for DMs that these are only subjective accounts from different viewpoints, do not neccesarily reflect what actually happened, and may include exagerration, misinterpretation, and myth.
As for the subjective histories... I understand your point, and it's probably a matter of taste. But I think most DMs would much prefer to have a straigtforward outline of the facts behind the history of Mor's End (possibly including hints on how the different peoples might have interpreted those facts), rather than three entirely subjective and sometimes contradictory narratives.
Call me crazy, but that's how virtually every d20/D&D setting sourcebook works, and what most DMs will expect to see. Any DM worth his salt will know how to adjust those facts for their own campaign, and how to extract alternative hsitories from different points of view if and when they need them.
If we stick with the three narratives, we need to attach a BIG disclaimer for DMs that these are only subjective accounts from different viewpoints, do not neccesarily reflect what actually happened, and may include exagerration, misinterpretation, and myth.
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jdavis
First Post
goofing around with legends
The Legend of Katze Kulpin and the Lake Pirates.
Long ago after the defeat of the Derro and the establishment of Mor’s End there was a powerful leader of men named Katze Kulpin. He was recognized for his bravery during the siege of the Derro Mountain and was given the charge of defending trade on the caravan routes leading to Mor’s End. He gave himself the title Lord of the Lake and set off hunting bandits and brigands in the area. Soon peace was established on the trade routes and the Lord of the Lake grew bored of his post. Searching for adventure he and his men set out on the lake looking for battle and plunder. Soon the Legend of the Lake Pirates was born, no force in Mor’s End could stop them and they ravaged the coast and plundered the caravan routes. For 20 years they ravaged Lake Enoria and then one day they just disappeared. Some say they went East to plunder the riches of the sea and some say the lake swallowed them up and a few even said that they returned to the city in disguise and started new lives, but no proof of their end was ever found. Soon their tale faded into the memories of the inhabitants. Still nearly 300 years since their disappearance the legend is still told by mothers to their children in Mor’s End; “You better watch what you say son, or the Lord of the Lake and his band of Pirates will come and get you.”
The Legend of Katze Kulpin and the Lake Pirates.
Long ago after the defeat of the Derro and the establishment of Mor’s End there was a powerful leader of men named Katze Kulpin. He was recognized for his bravery during the siege of the Derro Mountain and was given the charge of defending trade on the caravan routes leading to Mor’s End. He gave himself the title Lord of the Lake and set off hunting bandits and brigands in the area. Soon peace was established on the trade routes and the Lord of the Lake grew bored of his post. Searching for adventure he and his men set out on the lake looking for battle and plunder. Soon the Legend of the Lake Pirates was born, no force in Mor’s End could stop them and they ravaged the coast and plundered the caravan routes. For 20 years they ravaged Lake Enoria and then one day they just disappeared. Some say they went East to plunder the riches of the sea and some say the lake swallowed them up and a few even said that they returned to the city in disguise and started new lives, but no proof of their end was ever found. Soon their tale faded into the memories of the inhabitants. Still nearly 300 years since their disappearance the legend is still told by mothers to their children in Mor’s End; “You better watch what you say son, or the Lord of the Lake and his band of Pirates will come and get you.”
Sounds good.
Any other EN World references we can sneak in surreptitiously? Squirrel Nutkin perhaps? Bulletin boards with the latest gossip spread around the city?
How about this: About a century ago, a puritanical society called the Moderatori gained power and tried to stamp out all vice, indecency and foul language in Mor's End. Discontent citizens started giving public speeches from a small podium just outside Tradegate. Because the new laws didn't extend beyond the city walls, they were free to vent their ire freely. The Moderati have long since passed into history, but the small podium at Tradegate is still in use. Due to the large number of crackpots and nuts expounding their views there on a daily basis, it has come to be known as the "nut-king forum".
Any other EN World references we can sneak in surreptitiously? Squirrel Nutkin perhaps? Bulletin boards with the latest gossip spread around the city?
How about this: About a century ago, a puritanical society called the Moderatori gained power and tried to stamp out all vice, indecency and foul language in Mor's End. Discontent citizens started giving public speeches from a small podium just outside Tradegate. Because the new laws didn't extend beyond the city walls, they were free to vent their ire freely. The Moderati have long since passed into history, but the small podium at Tradegate is still in use. Due to the large number of crackpots and nuts expounding their views there on a daily basis, it has come to be known as the "nut-king forum".
My work is done. Someone else can do further editing. Procrastination season is over for 3 months. I'm off to do more productive things!
The Legend of Enoria
At the beginning of time when the world was covered by the ocean, fishes larger than anyone can imagine lived in shining cities of shells beneath the sea. These realms existed for countless ages until the gods raised up the world from the ocean.
While most of the fishes abandoned their cities and fled to the outer ocean, Enoria the Perch was too proud of her beautiful castle with its grey rock spires. And so she swallowed a thousand thousand gallons of water and when she was raised onto the land, she spat it out and dove into the lake it made.
When Enoria dove into her new home, she was greatly displeased to discover that the thousand thousands gallons of water she had swallowed had contained all manner of creatures: seaweed, silkfish, anemones, barnacles, crabs and even other fishes. Seeking always to make the lake her own dominion, Enoria spends her life far beneath the surface, devouring the interlopers who stole away in her belly.
It is said by some mariners that Enoria still emerges on rare occasions from beneath the surface of the lake to gaze upon the shattered remnants of her castle. It is for this reason that attracts a small number of worshippers who pray to her for bountiful catches of fish from the lake and in exchange protect the secret of her lair beneath the water.
The Cult of Enoria
Domains Water, Animal, Trickery
Alignment Chaotic Neutral
Clerics Swim, Craft - Net, Profession - Fisher available as class skills; also Clerics with sufficient intelligence can gain Aquan as a bonus language if appropriate.
History of the House Kelvin
The Dark Years
More than a thousand years ago, on the island where the Citadel of Mor's End stands today, a dark and twisted race whose name is now lost held the Lands of Enheim in their thrall. Though these ancient oppressors were much hated, their city sat astride a great crossroads and gold flowed into their coffers from far-off lands. Exotic spices from far off lands were traded at bazaars; gold and silver flowed into the city's coffers from tariffs, tolls and trade; dried perch, fine water silk and most importantly, human slaves flowed out of Enheim on the limestone roads built by these ancient creatures.
For many years, the Enorian people lived under the cruel yoke of their overlords, farming the fields of the Milvian Valley, living in fear of the next slave raid, secreting their brightest and most favourite children away from these evil masters. The Enorians were not the only people who nursed a hatred of the cruelty of the forgotten city. Others, more powerful and vengeful than they became angered at the city's overlords for some long-forgotten crime; for one day, the sun did not rise on Enheim and the earth shook and stones hailed from the sky and the next day, the people awoke to a smoke-filled purple sky and nothing but a pulverized blasted ruin where the city had been.
And so the Enorians became a rustic people, living a simple wholesome life of tending their small gardens and herding their sheep across the rolling plain that surrounds the River Milvius. They lived in freedom, harmony and abundance, trading from time to time with the fisherfolk who lived along the shores of Lake Enoria and with the barbarian mountain tribes.
After many years of prosperity and harmony, evil creatures began appearing in the lands in greater numbers, not the orc sheep thieves they had grown accustomed to hunting nor the creatures of the fetid swamp. These orcs and evil humanoids were well-armed and imbued with a purpose and organization. They came to steal not sheep but children whom they took far into the deep places beneath the Enorian Mountains to toil for their new masters, the Derro.
But the Enorians were a hardy people, valiant and brave. They resisted these raids, often overpowering raiding parties, slaughtering the minions of the Derro and keeping their lands free from domination. Because of their fear of the Enorian people, the raiders went farther afield, first attacking the fishing villages on Lake Enoria, then attacking the barbarians of the Enorian Mountains and finally traveling by the ancient and forgotten roads to distant lands where the people had grown fat and complacent.
Thus, Enheim remained a land that was wild and hard yet also free even as other places in the world paid tribute to the slaver mercenaries. And so it came to pass that when the mason Mor raised an army of ex-slaves against the Derro kingdom, he came first to the people of Enheim for they were the most valiant, strongest and proudest of all who resisted. It was in those years that Erekh was the Enorian Duke of War; it is said that Erekh forged a bond of blood with Mor and made a promise to lead the rabble of ex-slaves to war. Though the army of slaves was wretched, Erekh chose to lead the Enorians in the van for he was a man of valour who believed in honourable war.
It is told elsewhere in the Song of Erekh of the great valour of those days and the deeds of the men who defeated the orc armies and smashed the gates of the Derro kingdom, of the combat between the great orc chieftan and Erekh. Though Erekh clove the skull of the chieftan with his war axe and slew countless orcs, he perished in the battle. Still, there were many valiant warriors who did great deeds and lived to tell the tale; the clans Kelvin, Kelkios, Franhaig, Oghn and Vuelth fought proudly in the van of the army and slew many on the battlefield. It is for this reason that they stand at the head of the Enorian people.
The Years of the City
After the battle, the Enorians returned to their pastoral life in Enheim and to express their thanks to the other peoples who had fought alongside them against the Derro and their mercenaries, they allowed Mor, Erekh's deputy, to found a city on the Blasted Isle of the Milvius River in the heart of Clan Kelvin's lands.
In the three hundred years since the founding of Mor's End, many of the younger sons of the Enorians have settled in the city to pursue the arts and professions. By the generosity of the lords and ladies of the Kelvin clan, these younger sons have received benefices, charters and places of prominence in the city. The city, for its part, holds an annual muster and maintains a standing force to aid the Enorian herders in the event that war returns to Enheim.
The Cult of Erekh
Domains Strength, Animal, Protection
Alignment Chaotic Good
Clerics Wilderness Lore, Handle Animal available as class skills.
History of Mor's End
Legend of the Founding
The Year of Mor 1-70
For as long as anyone can remember, the dwarves of Irkulngoravrom have been at war with the Derro of Dvoriathroglim, each vying to dominate the endless caverns beneath the Enorian Mountains. Fortunately for those who live in the light of day, much of this war has taken place in the deep places of the earth where their two realms converge.
Nevertheless, the people of Enheim have, for many years, lived in fear of the Derro's slave raiders: orcs, bugbears, gnolls and most often savage human tribes of the Enorian Mountains. Yet despite the raids, a tiny scattered human population has eked out an existence in the narrow realm of Enheim. For many centuries, the people of Enheim lived a marginal life, scratching out an existence either as pastoralists along the Milvius River valley, herding various animals or, more often, as fisherfolk along the shores of Lake Enoria.
One day, many hundreds of years ago, a boy named Mor was born in a small fishing village in the foothills of the Enorian Mountains. It is said that Mor's mother died in child birth and his father was a cruel man who sold his son to Derro slavers.
Raised as a glorified draft animal under the capricious and cruel yoke of the Derro, Mor nonetheless realized he had a great destiny. As one of the mining slaves, he quickly learned many of the Derro secrets of mining, smithing and masonry and came to be respected by his fellow slaves who included men, giants, gnomes, goblinoids and dwarves from Dvoriathroglim.
In particular, Mor befriended Erekh, a barbarian of the pastoralists of the Milvian Valley; where Mor was prized by the Derro for his stone cunning and artisanal skill, Erekh was prized for his extraordinary strength and endurance which rivaled that of the hill giants who served as expensive and slothful occasional workers when feats of great strength were required.
One day, while working in the mines, there was a great cave-in in which Mor was believed to have been killed, under thousands of tons of stone. But somehow, by luck, great strength or magic art, Mor and Erekh escaped and travelled through long-forgotten passages to the surface.
Mor and Erekh thanked the gods for their great fortune in allowing them to escape and set off home. But when Mor arrived in Enheim, he found the whole land laid waste by the Derro's mercenaries and his own village reduced to ash. Mor was filled with grief and inconsolable; nevertheless, Erekh would not abandon him and instead brought him to a secret place where his tribe, the Kelvins, hid in times of peril.
After grieving for seven weeks, Mor was visited in his sleep by a vision of Erekh leading a great army to smash the Derro kingdom. When he awoke he told his dream to the wise man of the village who told Mor that he had himself been visited by the very same dream that night; so it was with everyone in the tribe. And so it was decreed that Erekh would lead the tribe to war. Over the next seven years, he traveled to all the divers lands from which his fellow slaves had been taken and raised a great army of many races and lands including many dwarves from the kingdom of Irkulngoravrom who were eager to strike a decisive blow against their ancient enemies.
After seven years of marching, the army arrived at the gates of Dvoriathroglim and fought a great field against cunning and bloodthirsty mercenaries of the Derro. But after a seven year siege, the army smashed through the stone gates of the kingdom and met the evil dwarf kin in battle. But even as he surrendered, the Derro king pierced Erekh with a poisoned dagger and the great warrior died even as victory had been won. But the general's sacrifice was not in vain. Kin long sundered were reunited and Mor took from Derro a great horde they had collected through tribute as well as the treasures from their mines.
Even as he mourned for his longtime companion the night after the final battle, Mor was again visited by a prophetic dream -- a dream that he would build a great city wherever three eagles alighted on a cypress tree. While most of the slaves and the army returned to their homes, many like Mor had no home to which to return. It is said that following his dream, Mor and his followers marched for seven long years until they came to an island in the Milvius River across from the tiny fishing village of Vollita. On this island stood a single cypress; as Mor looked out upon the isle, three eagles alighted on the tree before his eyes.
It is on the precise site that Mor and his followers built their city (of course the cypress tree still remains at the centre of the city in the courtyard of Mor's citadel), aided by gnomes, giants and dwarves whose knowledge and strength allowed the construction of the many wondrous structures in the city and, of course, its nigh-impenetrable walls. But when the city was completed, despite the great numbers and strength of his army, instead of setting himself on its new bronze throne, Mor supported the accession of the head of the Clan Kelvin, the clan of Erekh's people on whose lands the city was built. For Mor felt that even in death, he owed a great debt to Erekh and his people who had fought so valiantly.
The first Lord Kelvin, Erekh's nephew, was honoured by this and agreed that Mor should sit at his right hand as castellan. After his death, Mor was granted a place amongst the gods from whence he advises, on occasion, the city's lords.
The Clay Years
Year of Mor 71-169
Shortly after Mor's End was built, the dwarvish masons who had served Mor discovered that the soil west of the city was made of the richest, finest clays ranging in colour from a deep ochre to a strange violet clay whose like they had never before seen. The claybed rich, pure and spanned a great area. And so the dwarves traveled north with merchants and court officials to Irkulngoravrom with samples of the clay. After a time, Mor's End concluded a rich trade agreement with the dwarves of the Enorian Mountains who even added a trading post to Kul Moren (the human contraction of a much longer dwarven name), their mine located closest to human lands.
The combination of the clay trade, the new city's impressive guard and the defeat of the Derro led to a period of great prosperity and growth for Enheim and Mor's End. Forests were cleared, swamps were drained and the fishermen and herders were joined by farmers, many of whom were fleeing men called the Sand Barbarians far to the south.
But after a time, the scattered and defeated orcs and other evil creatures also returned to Enheim. Lacking the resources and direction of their former masters they nonetheless made fearsome raiders who again and again harried the fledgling town and surrounding countryside. They burned crops and smashed fishing boats; three times, the city had to pay them a ransom to be spared. Often, also, the city paid tribute to the dwarves of Kul Moren or the barbarian mountain tribes to defend it against the ravages of orcs and their allies.
Yet despite all the city's efforts, a great orc chieftan Zomb, who had united many of the tribes, breached the walls one summer and his host poured into the city. Many citizens fled downstream in fishing boats and makeshift rafts while others fled across the plain; still others were taken away in chains by the raiders while many dwarves secreted themselves in the underground dwellings they had been carving out beneath the city. But most of the city's population were put to the sword. It is in this battle that Lord Olvom Kelvin died without a male heir.
It was in this flight that a party of gnomes was rescued by a fleet of perch fishers. Their fear of orcish spears overwhelmed their historic fear of water. During their three weeks on Lake Enoria, they first saw the water silk and conceived of its value.
The Silk Years
The Year of Mor 170-322
Fortunately, whatever unity Zomb instilled in the disparate humanoids who fought under his red skull banner quickly evaporated as they sacked the city, burning, raping and murdering. And when winter came, many returned to their homelands in the mountains while others set upon eachother in petty squabbles over loot.
Thus, when the Castellan Bruch who had escaped the sack returned with many of the scattered inhabitants and a disciplined force of dwarves from Kul Moren, the invaders were soon driven away.
Bruch then oversaw the reconstruction of the city, a long labour of repairing the breached walls and building new ones; most of the wooden buildings had been destroyed by the invaders and the stone structures damaged. But the work was made easier by the discovery of the dwarves who had discovered a store of ancient quarried stone in the natural caverns they had found beneath the city. The stone was of a kind not found in the Enorian Mountains and proved sturdy enough to fashion new walls. Word also quickly spread of the discovery of the gnomish water silk and soon, new merchants appeared in the city, eager to buy a place in the city's hierarchy by aiding in the reconstruction.
The Silk Years were a prosperous time. No longer did the merchants of Mor's End have to travel to Kul Moren to sell their wares (though many still did); now, merchants came from far off lands to buy water silk and violet clay and carried them off in their caravans. Still other merchants with only a passing interest in the clay and silk set up a brisk transit trade now that Enheim was safe enough for their caravans. These new merchants came not only from the North but from the East and West as well, making Mor's End a favoured crossing of the River Milvius. Some loremasters claim that in fact the isle on which the cypress tree stands had in ages past been a great crossroads of ancient caravan routes in the days before Enheim became a wilderness shunned by civilized men.
It is in these years that the south walls of the city were built and the fishing village of Vollita incorporated. Although not built with the great craft of Mor's original walls or the extraordinary stone discovered beneath the city, the southern walls were nonetheless very strong and more beautiful and ornate than the original walls.
At the outset of the Silk Years, the nobles of the clan Kelvin were almost wholly destroyed. For many years, Bruch ruled in the name of the one surviving heir, a young girl named Almah. After she came of age, though continuing to honour Bruch with a high place in her household, she ruled boldly and with great wisdom. So prosperous was the city that it again grew beyond its walls and a southeastern section was added. Its great wealth also allowed the lady to pay tribute levied by the various mountain tribes and ransoms to hostile armies; so proficient was the castellan at manipulating the tribes that after a time, the castellans began paying tribes to attack one another and thus prevent any of them accumulating sufficient strength to assail the city.
When Almah lay on her deathbed, the city was at its zenith; so well had she ruled that instead of allowing the lands of the Kelvins to pass to her eldest son, she decreed that her youngest daughter should succeed her. Since that time, the custom has been established that the reigning lord or lady should choose their heir; to the surprise of the other herders of Enheim, these heirs were often female.
It was in these early years of the Kelvins that the dwarves abandoned their subterranean dwellings beneath the city and instead built a dwarvish quarter of heavy windowless stone houses. They gave no explanation of their abandonment of their former homes and those gnomes and impoverished humans who sought to take up residence in their abandoned dwellings found that the entrances to the undercity had been sealed.
But the lord and castellan were too cunning for one year, an especially ambitious and cunning barbarian leader spent his tribute on hiring a team of assassins to kill the castellan, the lord and their heirs.
In what is called the Night of Invisible Blades, a group of magic-wielding assassins stole into the palace one night and killed all those inside, save for one person, the grandmother (and former regent) of the lord; she is the tenth ruling Lady Kelvin since the beginning of the Silk Years.
The Present Day
The Year of Mor 323-
The Cult of Mor
Domains Earth, War, Travel
Alignment Neutral Good
Clerics Knowledge - Architecture & Engineering, Craft - Stonemasonry, Profession - Miner are available as class skills; also Clerics with sufficient intelligence can gain Dwarvish as a bonus language if appropriate.
The Story of Kul Moren
Three thousand years ago, the Kingdom of Irkulngoravrom was rent in twain by civil war. A powerful sorceror sought to usurp the line of kings and set up state paying homage to the evil powers of the underdark. For many years the civil war continued until Kul, the king challenged the great sorceror Riath to a single combat. Using all the wiles and treachery he could, Riath slew Kul but even as he lay dying the king threw his great axe at the wounded and retreating sorceror and cut off his head.
So it was that the single combat resolved little and instead began the years of the Cold War; the followers of Riath took as their realm the deepest places of the kingdom and made it their own realm called Dvoriathroglim while most stayed in Irkulngoravrom. In the deep places of the earth, the followers of Riath became degenerate and stunted, allowing their blood to mingle with that of goblins, orcs and other unspeakable creatures. They became the Derro.
Though there was the appearance of peace, the next two thousand years were years of fear and great vigilance as both kingdoms amassed arms, trained their troops and awaited the inevitable day that war would return.
And just as the dwarves of Irkulngoravrom feared, the Derro came upon them in open war a thousand years ago and the place beneath what the surface dwellers call the Enorian Mountains resounded with the echoes of iron on iron and was illumined by fire and lightning. And so the war continued for many hundreds of years; and after a time, the Derro gained advantage for they used the rich ores beneath the mountains to purchase slaves and hire orc mercenaries to fight in their armies. But this stratagem was to be their undoing for an escaped slave named Mor assembled a great host of the surface peoples who had suffered under the depredations of the Derro and their mercenaries.
Having learned the dwarvish tongue and the crafting of stone, Mor came to the gates Irkulngoravrom and asked the aid of the dwarvish kingdom for while his host were valiant, they had few weapons and little armour. And so it was that not only did King Kul XXXI give Mor the arms and armour he asked, he sent out a great host of his own the aid Mor and guides to help him find the secret entrances to the Derro realm deep in the Enorian Mountains.
Sensing that many of the dwarven army had abandoned their places on the front lines, the Derro attacked Irkulngoravrom with mighty savagery. But having foreseen this, Kul himself led the van of his depleted army against Derro and held them back in what is remembered in song as the Battle of Three Hundred Days. Many hundreds of dwarves died in that battle but they were, in the end victorious, for by the art of the masons Kul had lent him, Mor smashed the gates of the Derro kingdom and the Kingdom of Dvoriathroglim came to an end.
So began the friendship between the Kingdom of Irkulngoravrom and the City of Mor's End. In the years following the victory, the dwarves made the farthest outpost of their kingdom at a place called Kul Moren (a name in the human language) so that they might always trade and communicate with their human allies. And so it is that a great friendship has grown between the people of the mountains and the people of the river. Just as Kul Moren has a human quarter, so Mor's End has a dwarven quarter so that the bonds between the descendants of Kul and Mor shall never be sundered.
The Cult of Kul
Domains Law, Earth, War
Alignment Lawful Neutral
Clerics Knowledge (Architecture and Engineering) is available as a class skill.
The Legend of Enoria
At the beginning of time when the world was covered by the ocean, fishes larger than anyone can imagine lived in shining cities of shells beneath the sea. These realms existed for countless ages until the gods raised up the world from the ocean.
While most of the fishes abandoned their cities and fled to the outer ocean, Enoria the Perch was too proud of her beautiful castle with its grey rock spires. And so she swallowed a thousand thousand gallons of water and when she was raised onto the land, she spat it out and dove into the lake it made.
When Enoria dove into her new home, she was greatly displeased to discover that the thousand thousands gallons of water she had swallowed had contained all manner of creatures: seaweed, silkfish, anemones, barnacles, crabs and even other fishes. Seeking always to make the lake her own dominion, Enoria spends her life far beneath the surface, devouring the interlopers who stole away in her belly.
It is said by some mariners that Enoria still emerges on rare occasions from beneath the surface of the lake to gaze upon the shattered remnants of her castle. It is for this reason that attracts a small number of worshippers who pray to her for bountiful catches of fish from the lake and in exchange protect the secret of her lair beneath the water.
The Cult of Enoria
Domains Water, Animal, Trickery
Alignment Chaotic Neutral
Clerics Swim, Craft - Net, Profession - Fisher available as class skills; also Clerics with sufficient intelligence can gain Aquan as a bonus language if appropriate.
History of the House Kelvin
The Dark Years
More than a thousand years ago, on the island where the Citadel of Mor's End stands today, a dark and twisted race whose name is now lost held the Lands of Enheim in their thrall. Though these ancient oppressors were much hated, their city sat astride a great crossroads and gold flowed into their coffers from far-off lands. Exotic spices from far off lands were traded at bazaars; gold and silver flowed into the city's coffers from tariffs, tolls and trade; dried perch, fine water silk and most importantly, human slaves flowed out of Enheim on the limestone roads built by these ancient creatures.
For many years, the Enorian people lived under the cruel yoke of their overlords, farming the fields of the Milvian Valley, living in fear of the next slave raid, secreting their brightest and most favourite children away from these evil masters. The Enorians were not the only people who nursed a hatred of the cruelty of the forgotten city. Others, more powerful and vengeful than they became angered at the city's overlords for some long-forgotten crime; for one day, the sun did not rise on Enheim and the earth shook and stones hailed from the sky and the next day, the people awoke to a smoke-filled purple sky and nothing but a pulverized blasted ruin where the city had been.
And so the Enorians became a rustic people, living a simple wholesome life of tending their small gardens and herding their sheep across the rolling plain that surrounds the River Milvius. They lived in freedom, harmony and abundance, trading from time to time with the fisherfolk who lived along the shores of Lake Enoria and with the barbarian mountain tribes.
After many years of prosperity and harmony, evil creatures began appearing in the lands in greater numbers, not the orc sheep thieves they had grown accustomed to hunting nor the creatures of the fetid swamp. These orcs and evil humanoids were well-armed and imbued with a purpose and organization. They came to steal not sheep but children whom they took far into the deep places beneath the Enorian Mountains to toil for their new masters, the Derro.
But the Enorians were a hardy people, valiant and brave. They resisted these raids, often overpowering raiding parties, slaughtering the minions of the Derro and keeping their lands free from domination. Because of their fear of the Enorian people, the raiders went farther afield, first attacking the fishing villages on Lake Enoria, then attacking the barbarians of the Enorian Mountains and finally traveling by the ancient and forgotten roads to distant lands where the people had grown fat and complacent.
Thus, Enheim remained a land that was wild and hard yet also free even as other places in the world paid tribute to the slaver mercenaries. And so it came to pass that when the mason Mor raised an army of ex-slaves against the Derro kingdom, he came first to the people of Enheim for they were the most valiant, strongest and proudest of all who resisted. It was in those years that Erekh was the Enorian Duke of War; it is said that Erekh forged a bond of blood with Mor and made a promise to lead the rabble of ex-slaves to war. Though the army of slaves was wretched, Erekh chose to lead the Enorians in the van for he was a man of valour who believed in honourable war.
It is told elsewhere in the Song of Erekh of the great valour of those days and the deeds of the men who defeated the orc armies and smashed the gates of the Derro kingdom, of the combat between the great orc chieftan and Erekh. Though Erekh clove the skull of the chieftan with his war axe and slew countless orcs, he perished in the battle. Still, there were many valiant warriors who did great deeds and lived to tell the tale; the clans Kelvin, Kelkios, Franhaig, Oghn and Vuelth fought proudly in the van of the army and slew many on the battlefield. It is for this reason that they stand at the head of the Enorian people.
The Years of the City
After the battle, the Enorians returned to their pastoral life in Enheim and to express their thanks to the other peoples who had fought alongside them against the Derro and their mercenaries, they allowed Mor, Erekh's deputy, to found a city on the Blasted Isle of the Milvius River in the heart of Clan Kelvin's lands.
In the three hundred years since the founding of Mor's End, many of the younger sons of the Enorians have settled in the city to pursue the arts and professions. By the generosity of the lords and ladies of the Kelvin clan, these younger sons have received benefices, charters and places of prominence in the city. The city, for its part, holds an annual muster and maintains a standing force to aid the Enorian herders in the event that war returns to Enheim.
The Cult of Erekh
Domains Strength, Animal, Protection
Alignment Chaotic Good
Clerics Wilderness Lore, Handle Animal available as class skills.
History of Mor's End
Legend of the Founding
The Year of Mor 1-70
For as long as anyone can remember, the dwarves of Irkulngoravrom have been at war with the Derro of Dvoriathroglim, each vying to dominate the endless caverns beneath the Enorian Mountains. Fortunately for those who live in the light of day, much of this war has taken place in the deep places of the earth where their two realms converge.
Nevertheless, the people of Enheim have, for many years, lived in fear of the Derro's slave raiders: orcs, bugbears, gnolls and most often savage human tribes of the Enorian Mountains. Yet despite the raids, a tiny scattered human population has eked out an existence in the narrow realm of Enheim. For many centuries, the people of Enheim lived a marginal life, scratching out an existence either as pastoralists along the Milvius River valley, herding various animals or, more often, as fisherfolk along the shores of Lake Enoria.
One day, many hundreds of years ago, a boy named Mor was born in a small fishing village in the foothills of the Enorian Mountains. It is said that Mor's mother died in child birth and his father was a cruel man who sold his son to Derro slavers.
Raised as a glorified draft animal under the capricious and cruel yoke of the Derro, Mor nonetheless realized he had a great destiny. As one of the mining slaves, he quickly learned many of the Derro secrets of mining, smithing and masonry and came to be respected by his fellow slaves who included men, giants, gnomes, goblinoids and dwarves from Dvoriathroglim.
In particular, Mor befriended Erekh, a barbarian of the pastoralists of the Milvian Valley; where Mor was prized by the Derro for his stone cunning and artisanal skill, Erekh was prized for his extraordinary strength and endurance which rivaled that of the hill giants who served as expensive and slothful occasional workers when feats of great strength were required.
One day, while working in the mines, there was a great cave-in in which Mor was believed to have been killed, under thousands of tons of stone. But somehow, by luck, great strength or magic art, Mor and Erekh escaped and travelled through long-forgotten passages to the surface.
Mor and Erekh thanked the gods for their great fortune in allowing them to escape and set off home. But when Mor arrived in Enheim, he found the whole land laid waste by the Derro's mercenaries and his own village reduced to ash. Mor was filled with grief and inconsolable; nevertheless, Erekh would not abandon him and instead brought him to a secret place where his tribe, the Kelvins, hid in times of peril.
After grieving for seven weeks, Mor was visited in his sleep by a vision of Erekh leading a great army to smash the Derro kingdom. When he awoke he told his dream to the wise man of the village who told Mor that he had himself been visited by the very same dream that night; so it was with everyone in the tribe. And so it was decreed that Erekh would lead the tribe to war. Over the next seven years, he traveled to all the divers lands from which his fellow slaves had been taken and raised a great army of many races and lands including many dwarves from the kingdom of Irkulngoravrom who were eager to strike a decisive blow against their ancient enemies.
After seven years of marching, the army arrived at the gates of Dvoriathroglim and fought a great field against cunning and bloodthirsty mercenaries of the Derro. But after a seven year siege, the army smashed through the stone gates of the kingdom and met the evil dwarf kin in battle. But even as he surrendered, the Derro king pierced Erekh with a poisoned dagger and the great warrior died even as victory had been won. But the general's sacrifice was not in vain. Kin long sundered were reunited and Mor took from Derro a great horde they had collected through tribute as well as the treasures from their mines.
Even as he mourned for his longtime companion the night after the final battle, Mor was again visited by a prophetic dream -- a dream that he would build a great city wherever three eagles alighted on a cypress tree. While most of the slaves and the army returned to their homes, many like Mor had no home to which to return. It is said that following his dream, Mor and his followers marched for seven long years until they came to an island in the Milvius River across from the tiny fishing village of Vollita. On this island stood a single cypress; as Mor looked out upon the isle, three eagles alighted on the tree before his eyes.
It is on the precise site that Mor and his followers built their city (of course the cypress tree still remains at the centre of the city in the courtyard of Mor's citadel), aided by gnomes, giants and dwarves whose knowledge and strength allowed the construction of the many wondrous structures in the city and, of course, its nigh-impenetrable walls. But when the city was completed, despite the great numbers and strength of his army, instead of setting himself on its new bronze throne, Mor supported the accession of the head of the Clan Kelvin, the clan of Erekh's people on whose lands the city was built. For Mor felt that even in death, he owed a great debt to Erekh and his people who had fought so valiantly.
The first Lord Kelvin, Erekh's nephew, was honoured by this and agreed that Mor should sit at his right hand as castellan. After his death, Mor was granted a place amongst the gods from whence he advises, on occasion, the city's lords.
The Clay Years
Year of Mor 71-169
Shortly after Mor's End was built, the dwarvish masons who had served Mor discovered that the soil west of the city was made of the richest, finest clays ranging in colour from a deep ochre to a strange violet clay whose like they had never before seen. The claybed rich, pure and spanned a great area. And so the dwarves traveled north with merchants and court officials to Irkulngoravrom with samples of the clay. After a time, Mor's End concluded a rich trade agreement with the dwarves of the Enorian Mountains who even added a trading post to Kul Moren (the human contraction of a much longer dwarven name), their mine located closest to human lands.
The combination of the clay trade, the new city's impressive guard and the defeat of the Derro led to a period of great prosperity and growth for Enheim and Mor's End. Forests were cleared, swamps were drained and the fishermen and herders were joined by farmers, many of whom were fleeing men called the Sand Barbarians far to the south.
But after a time, the scattered and defeated orcs and other evil creatures also returned to Enheim. Lacking the resources and direction of their former masters they nonetheless made fearsome raiders who again and again harried the fledgling town and surrounding countryside. They burned crops and smashed fishing boats; three times, the city had to pay them a ransom to be spared. Often, also, the city paid tribute to the dwarves of Kul Moren or the barbarian mountain tribes to defend it against the ravages of orcs and their allies.
Yet despite all the city's efforts, a great orc chieftan Zomb, who had united many of the tribes, breached the walls one summer and his host poured into the city. Many citizens fled downstream in fishing boats and makeshift rafts while others fled across the plain; still others were taken away in chains by the raiders while many dwarves secreted themselves in the underground dwellings they had been carving out beneath the city. But most of the city's population were put to the sword. It is in this battle that Lord Olvom Kelvin died without a male heir.
It was in this flight that a party of gnomes was rescued by a fleet of perch fishers. Their fear of orcish spears overwhelmed their historic fear of water. During their three weeks on Lake Enoria, they first saw the water silk and conceived of its value.
The Silk Years
The Year of Mor 170-322
Fortunately, whatever unity Zomb instilled in the disparate humanoids who fought under his red skull banner quickly evaporated as they sacked the city, burning, raping and murdering. And when winter came, many returned to their homelands in the mountains while others set upon eachother in petty squabbles over loot.
Thus, when the Castellan Bruch who had escaped the sack returned with many of the scattered inhabitants and a disciplined force of dwarves from Kul Moren, the invaders were soon driven away.
Bruch then oversaw the reconstruction of the city, a long labour of repairing the breached walls and building new ones; most of the wooden buildings had been destroyed by the invaders and the stone structures damaged. But the work was made easier by the discovery of the dwarves who had discovered a store of ancient quarried stone in the natural caverns they had found beneath the city. The stone was of a kind not found in the Enorian Mountains and proved sturdy enough to fashion new walls. Word also quickly spread of the discovery of the gnomish water silk and soon, new merchants appeared in the city, eager to buy a place in the city's hierarchy by aiding in the reconstruction.
The Silk Years were a prosperous time. No longer did the merchants of Mor's End have to travel to Kul Moren to sell their wares (though many still did); now, merchants came from far off lands to buy water silk and violet clay and carried them off in their caravans. Still other merchants with only a passing interest in the clay and silk set up a brisk transit trade now that Enheim was safe enough for their caravans. These new merchants came not only from the North but from the East and West as well, making Mor's End a favoured crossing of the River Milvius. Some loremasters claim that in fact the isle on which the cypress tree stands had in ages past been a great crossroads of ancient caravan routes in the days before Enheim became a wilderness shunned by civilized men.
It is in these years that the south walls of the city were built and the fishing village of Vollita incorporated. Although not built with the great craft of Mor's original walls or the extraordinary stone discovered beneath the city, the southern walls were nonetheless very strong and more beautiful and ornate than the original walls.
At the outset of the Silk Years, the nobles of the clan Kelvin were almost wholly destroyed. For many years, Bruch ruled in the name of the one surviving heir, a young girl named Almah. After she came of age, though continuing to honour Bruch with a high place in her household, she ruled boldly and with great wisdom. So prosperous was the city that it again grew beyond its walls and a southeastern section was added. Its great wealth also allowed the lady to pay tribute levied by the various mountain tribes and ransoms to hostile armies; so proficient was the castellan at manipulating the tribes that after a time, the castellans began paying tribes to attack one another and thus prevent any of them accumulating sufficient strength to assail the city.
When Almah lay on her deathbed, the city was at its zenith; so well had she ruled that instead of allowing the lands of the Kelvins to pass to her eldest son, she decreed that her youngest daughter should succeed her. Since that time, the custom has been established that the reigning lord or lady should choose their heir; to the surprise of the other herders of Enheim, these heirs were often female.
It was in these early years of the Kelvins that the dwarves abandoned their subterranean dwellings beneath the city and instead built a dwarvish quarter of heavy windowless stone houses. They gave no explanation of their abandonment of their former homes and those gnomes and impoverished humans who sought to take up residence in their abandoned dwellings found that the entrances to the undercity had been sealed.
But the lord and castellan were too cunning for one year, an especially ambitious and cunning barbarian leader spent his tribute on hiring a team of assassins to kill the castellan, the lord and their heirs.
In what is called the Night of Invisible Blades, a group of magic-wielding assassins stole into the palace one night and killed all those inside, save for one person, the grandmother (and former regent) of the lord; she is the tenth ruling Lady Kelvin since the beginning of the Silk Years.
The Present Day
The Year of Mor 323-
The Cult of Mor
Domains Earth, War, Travel
Alignment Neutral Good
Clerics Knowledge - Architecture & Engineering, Craft - Stonemasonry, Profession - Miner are available as class skills; also Clerics with sufficient intelligence can gain Dwarvish as a bonus language if appropriate.
The Story of Kul Moren
Three thousand years ago, the Kingdom of Irkulngoravrom was rent in twain by civil war. A powerful sorceror sought to usurp the line of kings and set up state paying homage to the evil powers of the underdark. For many years the civil war continued until Kul, the king challenged the great sorceror Riath to a single combat. Using all the wiles and treachery he could, Riath slew Kul but even as he lay dying the king threw his great axe at the wounded and retreating sorceror and cut off his head.
So it was that the single combat resolved little and instead began the years of the Cold War; the followers of Riath took as their realm the deepest places of the kingdom and made it their own realm called Dvoriathroglim while most stayed in Irkulngoravrom. In the deep places of the earth, the followers of Riath became degenerate and stunted, allowing their blood to mingle with that of goblins, orcs and other unspeakable creatures. They became the Derro.
Though there was the appearance of peace, the next two thousand years were years of fear and great vigilance as both kingdoms amassed arms, trained their troops and awaited the inevitable day that war would return.
And just as the dwarves of Irkulngoravrom feared, the Derro came upon them in open war a thousand years ago and the place beneath what the surface dwellers call the Enorian Mountains resounded with the echoes of iron on iron and was illumined by fire and lightning. And so the war continued for many hundreds of years; and after a time, the Derro gained advantage for they used the rich ores beneath the mountains to purchase slaves and hire orc mercenaries to fight in their armies. But this stratagem was to be their undoing for an escaped slave named Mor assembled a great host of the surface peoples who had suffered under the depredations of the Derro and their mercenaries.
Having learned the dwarvish tongue and the crafting of stone, Mor came to the gates Irkulngoravrom and asked the aid of the dwarvish kingdom for while his host were valiant, they had few weapons and little armour. And so it was that not only did King Kul XXXI give Mor the arms and armour he asked, he sent out a great host of his own the aid Mor and guides to help him find the secret entrances to the Derro realm deep in the Enorian Mountains.
Sensing that many of the dwarven army had abandoned their places on the front lines, the Derro attacked Irkulngoravrom with mighty savagery. But having foreseen this, Kul himself led the van of his depleted army against Derro and held them back in what is remembered in song as the Battle of Three Hundred Days. Many hundreds of dwarves died in that battle but they were, in the end victorious, for by the art of the masons Kul had lent him, Mor smashed the gates of the Derro kingdom and the Kingdom of Dvoriathroglim came to an end.
So began the friendship between the Kingdom of Irkulngoravrom and the City of Mor's End. In the years following the victory, the dwarves made the farthest outpost of their kingdom at a place called Kul Moren (a name in the human language) so that they might always trade and communicate with their human allies. And so it is that a great friendship has grown between the people of the mountains and the people of the river. Just as Kul Moren has a human quarter, so Mor's End has a dwarven quarter so that the bonds between the descendants of Kul and Mor shall never be sundered.
The Cult of Kul
Domains Law, Earth, War
Alignment Lawful Neutral
Clerics Knowledge (Architecture and Engineering) is available as a class skill.
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