Post by DM Leverage on Jun 8, 2013 6:46:31 GMT -5
The Great Rift
Capital: Underhome
Population: 1,308,960 (gold dwarves 90%, shield dwarves 6%, gnomes 2%, halflings 1%)
Government: Monarchy
Religions: Clangeddin Silverbeard, Dugmaren, Brightmantle, Haela Brightaxe, Moradin
Imports: Fruit, grain, livestock, produce
Exports: Gems, gold, jewelry, magic items, silver
Alignments: LN, LG, N
The center of the Eastern Shaar is cut open as if by a gigantic sword in a curving, southeast-to-northwest canyon, the Great Rift. It plunges to a thousand feet below the level of the surrounding plains at its deepest point, although its floor is still well above sea level. Including the lands around it patrolled by dwarves, the Rift just outstrips the realm of Sembia in size. Quarried by dwarves for centuries, enlarged from an impressive natural canyon to its present awesome size in the process, the Rift is the most powerful kingdom held by Faerûnian dwarves today.
The Great Rift is the ancestral home the gold dwarves. Unlike the shield dwarves of the north, the gold dwarves have flourished in one homeland for uncounted generations. The gold dwarves suffered their own ancient wars, but they turned the aftermath of the ways to their advantage. The Great Rift, a wound in the earth engineered (according to one theory) by their drow enemies thousands of years ago, is now the forbidding stronghold of the very race the drow hoped to destroy.
The gold dwarves control the Rift’s floor, the tunnels and caves honeycombing its walls, the surface for a day’s pony ride in all directions on the surface, and portions of the Underdark within range of dwarven patrols.
Life and Society
Compared to the patriarchal shield dwarf kingdoms of the north, the gold dwarves have a long history of favoring female rulers. Males and females are equal in gold dwarven society, but females have a reputation for wise leadership. The gold dwarves’ own explanation for this is that their men folk think most of gold, power, and glory, whereas the women also remember to think of future generations. It’s certain that respect for the land and for the magical ways that preserve the land are more prevalent in gold dwarven society than in the societies of the shield dwarves to the north.
Magic of all types is more common in gold dwarven society than among the dwarves of the north. Gold dwarven wizards, sorcerers, and stonesingers (their term for bards) join runecasters and clerics as valued and honored members of the Great Rift’s society, working together to forge potent magic items.
Major Geographical Features
The Great Rift is a world unto itself, an ecosystem distinct from the land above it with its own weather (wetter), animals (more plentiful, and herded or controlled by the dwarves) and plants (thriving). In some places the Rift is so wide that a person can stand on the valley floor and not even see the mighty cliffs marking the edges.
The Deepwild: The dwarves use this name to refer to the Underdark areas beneath the Shaar and south of the Shaar that they do not control. The Deepwild regions include such varied terrain as the drow city of Llurth Dreier beneath the Shaar, the Wyrmcaves (a dangerous series of dragon lairs linked by tunnels beneath the Shaar), and the Deepfall (a huge underground waterfall).
The Deep Realm: Distinct from the Deepwild, the Deep Realm is the area controlled and inhabited by the gold dwarves of the Great Rift.
The Riftlake: The lake at the bottom of the Great Rift is clear, cold, and fresh. The floor of the rift drains to this lake, which is also fed by great, deep springs rumored to hold portals to the Elemental Plane of Water. The Riftlake is the birthplace of the mighty River Shaar, which flows a short distance across the floor of the canyon only to disappear underground in a spray-filled gorge at the north end of the Great Rift. The gold dwarves pride themselves on keeping the waste products of their forges from contaminating the land and water.
Important Sites
Most of the gold dwarves’ largest settlements are in Underdark caverns surrounding the Great Rift, but the Rift gives all of them a link to the outside world that many other dwarven communities lack.
Eartheart (Metropolis, 44,008): If Underhome is the political center of the Great Rift, Eartheart is the religious center. The realm’s great temples lie along Eartheart’s pilgrimage roads.
Unlike surface temples, which build upward, the gold dwarves’ temples to Moradin and the other dwarven deities seem to be simple shrines on the surface but build downward, spiraling through levels accessible to lay worshipers toward the Mysteries visited only by the priests in the roots of the earth. Eartheart is home to a standing army of fourteen thousand dwarves, the Steel Shields, and ruled by a Lord Scepter elected annually by the Deep Lords of the Deep Realm.
Hammer and Anvil (Small City, 7,899): The gold dwarves prefer that nondwarves come no closer to the Rift than Hammer and Anvil, a trading-moot of tents, moveable huts, and watchful dwarven guards. It stands against the west wall of the soaring, spy-and-tunnel-filled dwarven fortress-city of Eartheart.
Here dwarves trade their metal goods, weaponry, and labor (especially armor-fitting and refitting, and on-the-spot gem cutting and setting) for fruit, vegetables, cheeses, fine textiles, paper, lamp oils, livestock, and other goods the dwarves need or prize. At any given time, fully half the population of this settlement is composed of nondwarves visiting for trade.
Riftedge Towers: The Stout Folk rule the Rift and the rolling plains all around for a day’s pony-ride, enforcing this claim from sixty massive stone guard-towers along the canyon edges. These Riftedge Towers are entered by tunnels from beneath, and house all manner of catapults and ballistae. Over sixty dwarven warriors guard each garrison.
Dwarven sentries and lookouts patrolling the Rift floor or the lands nearby carry horns to swiftly summon “peacehammer” forces from the Riftedge Towers--a score of hippogriff-riding dwarven skyriders who throw axes with deadly skill and carry lances for close-in work. Some skyriders use magic lances that fire flame or magic missiles on command.
Underhome (Metropolis, 49,650): Underhome is the center of gold dwarven society. Its rulers are the Deep Lords, noble dwarves who lead great clans of warriors and artisans. The Deep Lords in turn owe allegiance to Queen Karrivva of the Simmerforge clan. More than any of the other cities, Underhome centers upon the Great Rift itself, maintaining responsibility for its defense and for the herds that graze around the Riftlake at the bottom.
The defense of Underhome, as well as its civic life, focuses on the community’s central passage between the open air of the Rift and the city’s main halls in the Underdark. Known as the Gates, the mighty seventy-foot-tall doors into Underhome’s guard cavern were built to overawe visitors as much as for security. Magical wards and runes woven into the solid gold doors make them stronger and more functional than they appear. The Gates once withstood the unthinkable impact of a great wyrm hurling itself upon them with all its might, and proved stronger than the dragon.
Regional History
Unlike the shield dwarves who spent themselves in fights against giants and orcs, the gold dwarves won their battles against Underdark foes relatively quickly. In the last dozen or so centuries, the gold dwarves have opted to remain separate from their northern cousins, who seemed to them to be laboring under a curse. The Thunder Blessing in 1306 DR and its consequences have helped to change the gold dwarves’ minds.
Since the gold dwarves shared in the Thunder Blessing and were already doing well, their population has swelled to the point that some part of their people went out to settle in new lands. Some of the gold dwarves who opted against expanding the Deep Realm around the Great Rift have moved north to create colonies in the mountains of northern Faerûn. Gold dwarves outposts have been founded in the Smoking Mountains of Unther, in the Giant’s Run Mountains west of Turmish, and in the North Wall of Halruaa.
- Source: Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting
Other Dwarven Regions:
Players on FR:FW may use "The Great Rift" to represent other "dwarven" regions as well.
The Galena Mountains: Flanked by Impiltur, Damara, and the Vast, the Galena Mountains (and the nearby Earthspur Mountains) are home to numerous shield dwarf delvings.
The Smoking Mountains: The gold dwarves of the Great Rift have established strongholds, foundries, and smelters near the volcanic fires of the Smoking Mountains and the Black Ash Plain of Unther.
The Spine of the World: Home to some of the most famous shield dwarf kingdoms of the North, this region includes strongholds such as Citadel Adbar, Citadel Felbarr, and Mithral Hall.
- Source: Player's Guide to Faerûn
Capital: Underhome
Population: 1,308,960 (gold dwarves 90%, shield dwarves 6%, gnomes 2%, halflings 1%)
Government: Monarchy
Religions: Clangeddin Silverbeard, Dugmaren, Brightmantle, Haela Brightaxe, Moradin
Imports: Fruit, grain, livestock, produce
Exports: Gems, gold, jewelry, magic items, silver
Alignments: LN, LG, N
The center of the Eastern Shaar is cut open as if by a gigantic sword in a curving, southeast-to-northwest canyon, the Great Rift. It plunges to a thousand feet below the level of the surrounding plains at its deepest point, although its floor is still well above sea level. Including the lands around it patrolled by dwarves, the Rift just outstrips the realm of Sembia in size. Quarried by dwarves for centuries, enlarged from an impressive natural canyon to its present awesome size in the process, the Rift is the most powerful kingdom held by Faerûnian dwarves today.
The Great Rift is the ancestral home the gold dwarves. Unlike the shield dwarves of the north, the gold dwarves have flourished in one homeland for uncounted generations. The gold dwarves suffered their own ancient wars, but they turned the aftermath of the ways to their advantage. The Great Rift, a wound in the earth engineered (according to one theory) by their drow enemies thousands of years ago, is now the forbidding stronghold of the very race the drow hoped to destroy.
The gold dwarves control the Rift’s floor, the tunnels and caves honeycombing its walls, the surface for a day’s pony ride in all directions on the surface, and portions of the Underdark within range of dwarven patrols.
Life and Society
Compared to the patriarchal shield dwarf kingdoms of the north, the gold dwarves have a long history of favoring female rulers. Males and females are equal in gold dwarven society, but females have a reputation for wise leadership. The gold dwarves’ own explanation for this is that their men folk think most of gold, power, and glory, whereas the women also remember to think of future generations. It’s certain that respect for the land and for the magical ways that preserve the land are more prevalent in gold dwarven society than in the societies of the shield dwarves to the north.
Magic of all types is more common in gold dwarven society than among the dwarves of the north. Gold dwarven wizards, sorcerers, and stonesingers (their term for bards) join runecasters and clerics as valued and honored members of the Great Rift’s society, working together to forge potent magic items.
Major Geographical Features
The Great Rift is a world unto itself, an ecosystem distinct from the land above it with its own weather (wetter), animals (more plentiful, and herded or controlled by the dwarves) and plants (thriving). In some places the Rift is so wide that a person can stand on the valley floor and not even see the mighty cliffs marking the edges.
The Deepwild: The dwarves use this name to refer to the Underdark areas beneath the Shaar and south of the Shaar that they do not control. The Deepwild regions include such varied terrain as the drow city of Llurth Dreier beneath the Shaar, the Wyrmcaves (a dangerous series of dragon lairs linked by tunnels beneath the Shaar), and the Deepfall (a huge underground waterfall).
The Deep Realm: Distinct from the Deepwild, the Deep Realm is the area controlled and inhabited by the gold dwarves of the Great Rift.
The Riftlake: The lake at the bottom of the Great Rift is clear, cold, and fresh. The floor of the rift drains to this lake, which is also fed by great, deep springs rumored to hold portals to the Elemental Plane of Water. The Riftlake is the birthplace of the mighty River Shaar, which flows a short distance across the floor of the canyon only to disappear underground in a spray-filled gorge at the north end of the Great Rift. The gold dwarves pride themselves on keeping the waste products of their forges from contaminating the land and water.
Important Sites
Most of the gold dwarves’ largest settlements are in Underdark caverns surrounding the Great Rift, but the Rift gives all of them a link to the outside world that many other dwarven communities lack.
Eartheart (Metropolis, 44,008): If Underhome is the political center of the Great Rift, Eartheart is the religious center. The realm’s great temples lie along Eartheart’s pilgrimage roads.
Unlike surface temples, which build upward, the gold dwarves’ temples to Moradin and the other dwarven deities seem to be simple shrines on the surface but build downward, spiraling through levels accessible to lay worshipers toward the Mysteries visited only by the priests in the roots of the earth. Eartheart is home to a standing army of fourteen thousand dwarves, the Steel Shields, and ruled by a Lord Scepter elected annually by the Deep Lords of the Deep Realm.
Hammer and Anvil (Small City, 7,899): The gold dwarves prefer that nondwarves come no closer to the Rift than Hammer and Anvil, a trading-moot of tents, moveable huts, and watchful dwarven guards. It stands against the west wall of the soaring, spy-and-tunnel-filled dwarven fortress-city of Eartheart.
Here dwarves trade their metal goods, weaponry, and labor (especially armor-fitting and refitting, and on-the-spot gem cutting and setting) for fruit, vegetables, cheeses, fine textiles, paper, lamp oils, livestock, and other goods the dwarves need or prize. At any given time, fully half the population of this settlement is composed of nondwarves visiting for trade.
Riftedge Towers: The Stout Folk rule the Rift and the rolling plains all around for a day’s pony-ride, enforcing this claim from sixty massive stone guard-towers along the canyon edges. These Riftedge Towers are entered by tunnels from beneath, and house all manner of catapults and ballistae. Over sixty dwarven warriors guard each garrison.
Dwarven sentries and lookouts patrolling the Rift floor or the lands nearby carry horns to swiftly summon “peacehammer” forces from the Riftedge Towers--a score of hippogriff-riding dwarven skyriders who throw axes with deadly skill and carry lances for close-in work. Some skyriders use magic lances that fire flame or magic missiles on command.
Underhome (Metropolis, 49,650): Underhome is the center of gold dwarven society. Its rulers are the Deep Lords, noble dwarves who lead great clans of warriors and artisans. The Deep Lords in turn owe allegiance to Queen Karrivva of the Simmerforge clan. More than any of the other cities, Underhome centers upon the Great Rift itself, maintaining responsibility for its defense and for the herds that graze around the Riftlake at the bottom.
The defense of Underhome, as well as its civic life, focuses on the community’s central passage between the open air of the Rift and the city’s main halls in the Underdark. Known as the Gates, the mighty seventy-foot-tall doors into Underhome’s guard cavern were built to overawe visitors as much as for security. Magical wards and runes woven into the solid gold doors make them stronger and more functional than they appear. The Gates once withstood the unthinkable impact of a great wyrm hurling itself upon them with all its might, and proved stronger than the dragon.
Regional History
Unlike the shield dwarves who spent themselves in fights against giants and orcs, the gold dwarves won their battles against Underdark foes relatively quickly. In the last dozen or so centuries, the gold dwarves have opted to remain separate from their northern cousins, who seemed to them to be laboring under a curse. The Thunder Blessing in 1306 DR and its consequences have helped to change the gold dwarves’ minds.
Since the gold dwarves shared in the Thunder Blessing and were already doing well, their population has swelled to the point that some part of their people went out to settle in new lands. Some of the gold dwarves who opted against expanding the Deep Realm around the Great Rift have moved north to create colonies in the mountains of northern Faerûn. Gold dwarves outposts have been founded in the Smoking Mountains of Unther, in the Giant’s Run Mountains west of Turmish, and in the North Wall of Halruaa.
- Source: Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting
Other Dwarven Regions:
Players on FR:FW may use "The Great Rift" to represent other "dwarven" regions as well.
The Galena Mountains: Flanked by Impiltur, Damara, and the Vast, the Galena Mountains (and the nearby Earthspur Mountains) are home to numerous shield dwarf delvings.
The Smoking Mountains: The gold dwarves of the Great Rift have established strongholds, foundries, and smelters near the volcanic fires of the Smoking Mountains and the Black Ash Plain of Unther.
The Spine of the World: Home to some of the most famous shield dwarf kingdoms of the North, this region includes strongholds such as Citadel Adbar, Citadel Felbarr, and Mithral Hall.
- Source: Player's Guide to Faerûn
