The North

The Mountain Ranges

The Mountain Ranges are enormous, sparsely populated, and largely inhospitable.

The most notable settlement is that of Athanishna. The greatest of the monasteries, carved into the mountainside by Dwarves in times long past, in a show of cooperation with the monks in the area.

Within it lies a now shut down entry point into the Dwarven network. It was shut down when the war between Elves and Dwarves broke out, in an attempt to prevent the elven armies from using Athanishna as a staging ground for the invasion. The elven army instead built the outpost of Nirrtaka, and dug its way into the network.

Nirrtaka sits in the forest within the valley, now surrounded by a Ghoran settlement.

Ancient Dwarven Mines

Structure

The great mines of the Dwarves span beneath the mountain ranges of the North, concealing a lost once-mighty realm powered by a deep connection with the Arcane. Now crucial passages are blocked off, making navigation considerably harder, but it used to be the case that the easiest way to traverse the mountains was through the Dwarven network.

Areas

Athanishna

The monastery of Athanishna was dug for the monks by the Dwarves so they could settle the area. The structure still stands, but the link to the broader network has been sealed for centuries. Many monks don’t know of the link or origin of the temple at all, seeing its building as testament of the power of Irori to grant strength to its followers.

Athanishna is the northernmost point of contact between surface societies and the network. The network itself pushes slightly farther north, but upon realising there was nothing to be linked further north, the dwarves turned inwards, making the network go deeper down and more dense.

Cities

Ukhu Sunqu

The greatest of the lost jewels. Many of the massive entrances into the capital have caved in under the stress of the stress of the changing mountain ranges. It’s said that the quality in craftmanship of the crystals adorning its walls was such that they shone light of their own making.

Culture

The Dwarves who made this complex were the most skilled craftsmen to have ever inhabited the Land of Echoes. Their prowess of the domain was in fact so strong as to allow them to create new fundamental materials. They had an unparallel drive towards perfection. Eventually, the managed to make crystals out of the pure love for their craft. These crystals would however literally suck the life out of dwarves that made them. They can be most prominently found within the walls of the capital.

Small settlements remain, but they’re but a shadow of their former glory, having lost the secrets of the crafting of pure crystals.

Factions

Dwarves

Some remnants of the original civilization of dwarves remains, holding out in some of the smaller settlements, closer to the exits. They’ve lost the secrets to the crafting of pure crystals, but remain exceptionally skilled crafters. They lay down traps in the various meandering corridors in order to keep themselves safe from the Elves and aberrations that now haunt the underground.

Not all dwarven settlements are open to outsiders, but some are. They might offer a moment of respite in an otherwise dangerous environment to refugees or adventurers.

Elves

The Elven empire launched a massive invasion of the Dwarven network before it collapsed, sinking a great deal of resources. The lost souls of those soldiers that perished in the failed attempt still haunt the place, wandering it with a lust for destruction of the Dwarven Kingdom. They mostly treat non-dwarven outsiders as either enemies or slaves, thinking them their subordinates in the racial hierarchy. Notably, most of them aren’t alive, nor dead, but shadow (or echoes) of their former selves. Even as the shadows they are, they still are people. They still form memories, and have their own hearts and minds.

When they are vanquished, they reform at their closest fortress in a matter of days. When they reform, all memories of their time before being vanquished are erased, leaving only the lust for destruction that Elathrendiel imbues within them.

Refugees

Recent events led to people seeking refuge in mountain caves, some of which lead eventually into the dwarven network. Other people still fell into opening maws of Earth after earthquakes, and were lucky enough to land inside of the network. These civillians, when they manage to evade the aberrations, either get enslaved by the elves or run into the dwarves.

Aberrations

Aberrations are monsters born of the suffering of which the place reeks and of the hubris of some if its inhabitants. They’re hostile to all who pass, but some may be convinced to stand down or cooperate

Pure Crystals

Pure crystals held the kingdom together. They work as anchor points within the underworld. Where shattered, or stolen, the rock, deprived of the living magic allowing it to adapt, cracks with the movement of the Earth and caves in. This is how the kingdom came to be ruined after the secret to their crafting was lost.

The first great mystery of the Dwarven kindgom is how they attained this skill.

The great loss

The second great mystery of the Dwarven kingdom is how they lost the ability to craft pure crystals.

One example “solution” of this mystery is that the fall of the elven empire destabilised the supernatural weave. In doing so, the mighty God of craft was weakened, its connection to the Dwarves irreparably ruined.

Deities

A forgotten, now fallen God of dedication and crafting dominated the golden age of the empire. Yapay Kamachiq Apu.

The strongest dominion, that of crafting, is weakened greatly, but still influential.

Cults

The cult of sacrifice has a certain hold within what remains of dwarven society. Partly influenced by the closeby temples, partly in search of comfort from their fall from grace.

Encounters

I made random encounter and prompt tables for the region.

Random Encounter Table

Random encounter tables can be very good. They just have to go beyond “monster show up and hit”. Roll 1d100. Each “encounter” is but a story hook that will continue when it’s rolled again or pursued. Each encounter must have a satisfying conclusion and a continuation hook until it reaches its natural end. This is the table I use.

Random Prompt Table

If these weren’t enough, consider prompt tables: a few tables to restrict your options in order to spur your creativity in creating an encounter. Roll your d100 for each column that you wish to use.

For example, were you to want to want a 2 faction encounter, but have already a vibe in mind (e.g. “dread”), you’d only have to roll the 2 factions. Say you get “elf deserters” and “dwarf villagers”, now I bet you already have a lot of ideas coming to mind. For example elf deserters seek refuge in a razed village, making for an emotionally rich role play encounter.

I’d add that for factions that can manifest as shadows or as normal creatures (like dwarves, merchants, refugees), you may want to roll a 50/50 event (coinflip, even-odds dice, …) to decide whether they are shadows or not. Others should probably appear in their lore-established form.

Elathrendiel

Elathrendiel is the current leader of the undying elven armies known as the eternal army. He’s a powerful elven cleric of Pharasma of the immortal lineage, who intervened in the war at the cost of renouncing his claim to the throne when news reached the imperial core of the poor trends in the campaign. Upon arriving, he wrestled Pharasma for the control over the domain of the circle of life, making himself an unmovable anchor for his army into the mortal realms, not allowing them to pass on.

Pharasma

Elathrendiel was a high priest of Pharasma and recused her in order to keep his soldiers going after their deaths and defeats at the hand of the dwarves. Pharasma attempted to defeat him, but he was the one of the last and the strongest of her followers, many of whom where under his church. He controlled the mortal side of the domain. Realising she couldn’t kill him if not at the cost of her life, she put her life ahead of her domain in an act of fear. Who could know what would be of the domain if they both passed? She thought. What of the passing seasons? Of birth, death and the cycle of life? She let him separate from her and lost all power and influence over him. He is de facto an equal deity to her, now. In the night of her defeat, she sought a mind she could latch onto to get her due. Should whomever she reached enter the mines, Elathrendiel will sense them, and begin his efforts to sever Pharasma from her domain, take it as his own, thus removing Pharasma from existence, and transcending into a form unknown. Part tapestry, part material. Beyond the power of anyone to realistically stop.

Yapay

Yapay Kamachiq Apu is the sole reason why she survived at all. Seeing Elathrendiel begin to erode at the domain of the cycle of life, feeling his dwarves lose their best secrets and his time coming to an end, he threw one last wrench into the Elven lieuthtenant’s cogs. A powerful curse born of a clever play on hiw hubris. His soldiers would be the key to his undoing. In his diying breath as his domain shrank, Cathlyna, the key weakness of Elathrendiel and his army, was born. A flower of metallic stems, a light 4-pointed star spurting form its center and a thin membrane filling an ovoidal shape between the star’s points. An immortal flower born of the vanquishment of an immortal army. A tool for whomever could learn to vanquish the Elves to defeat them once and for all. (the flowers can be extracted to destroy the armies permanently. Destroying the army makes Elathrendiel weaker)

Anhaern

Sister of Elathrendiel, founder of the Finder Society, last and lost heiress to the Elven Empire’s throne, and architect of the rebellion that led to its fall. She rots in a prison cell in one of Elathrendiel’s keep, alongside Ilmadia, her companion. She’s a powerful sorceress, who Elathrendiel has been trying to break for a long time in order to have her reclaim the throne she has forsaken, and reforge the Elven Empire.