Hi, is it possible to have some dates and general information regarding the hostile take over and loss of the Spires from the dwarven people of Brogdenstein. Was the loss sudden or was it gradual? Thanks.

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I will flag down Suney for this, he has the information.

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Davion Telemos - Monk of the Four Winds
Korthan Isharnos - Dragon Shaman of Thunder Spirit Zamasham

Thank you in the meantime.

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At the beginning of the fourteenth century (1300), the dwarven population was dwindling in Faerun due to low pregnancy rates and it looked like an inevitability that the dwarves would end up extinct.

However, in year 1306, Moradin provided the dwarves with the Thunder Blessing, which increased the birth rates of dwarves throughout Faerun by an incredible amount, saving them from their doom.

This blessing was a cause for celebration in all of the dwarven kingdoms, and the dwarven kingdom of Brogendenstein was no exception. They were rather old residents of the land, having chosen the peak of the mountain to begin their mining many years before. Through much mining and work, this eventually led to an entire underkingdom built, ruled by a mighty dwarven king named Thorgard Stonehelm. Being dwarves, their craft with the stone was unparalleled and they had created themselves an ingenious way of entering their kingdom. In order to enter their underkingdom, visitors would have had to enter through the external building on the top of the Brogendenstein peak (the Spire, as it began to be called) and then ascend to the top of the building, where the dwarves would perform a particular ritual in order to open the way downwards to the Underkingdom itself. In the rare case of non-dwarven visitors, they would be blindfolded when this was performed so they did not know the dwarven ways.

Within a couple of years since the gift of the Thunder Blessing (year 1308), the dwarves of the Spire had increased their production tenfold. The promise of new dwarves meant more mouths to feed, meaning more food, meaning more mining was necessary. Thus, they dug deeper and deeper. Until one day of that year, they struck something horrible. They had unwittingly ventured straight into the middle of a duergar kingdom, who didn't take the trespassing of their kinder-hearted brethren peacefully. Though the fighting was fierce, the dwarves had fortified themselves to protect from the surface, not the underground. Within a year, the underkingdom had been claimed by the duergar who had expanded their territory in one fell swoop.

This situation continued all the way until year 1368, in which in a sudden slaughter, an army of fire giants had destroyed the duergar from within. During the fiery, explosive battles, most of the Spire itself was rendered inert, with the upper floors now blocked with fire, debris and rock. Perceptive dwarves may notice the door still present on the first floor of Spire that visitors used to take many years ago, though it's more than likely completely wrecked beyond all recognition beyond that door. The reason for the appearance of the fire giants is not known, as the duergar would not exactly be open to the possibility of sharing, if by some luck any of them even survived. Some state that the duergar repeated the mistake of the dwarves and dug into a place they should not. Some say it was intervention from Surtr himself in a feud against the widespread numbers of frost giants that plague Brogendenstein's wilds. Of course, such stories could always be dismissed as people with overactive imagination.

This takes us to the present day. All of the information here can be assumed to be known IC by a dwarf of Brogendenstein, especially given it was barely a century ago. The ritual itself to access the underkingdom is not common information, on the other hand (hence my vagueness), though a few older PCs are still aware of it. Whether or not it's still possible to perform is another matter entirely.

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"Let's unwrite these pages and replace them with our own words."

Exactly what I was after Sune, thank you and Tormak both. Im sure this information will be helpful to all dwarven players.

Is it safe to say that there would be many surviours of the Peak dwarves residing in Barak Runedar to this day?

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I would not say 'many', as dwarves are not to the type to flee in panic and leave their kin to defeat. The difficulty to enter the underkingdom worked in reverse, too; it was not an easy feat to simply leave with the magical wards they had.

It stands to reason there'd be a few, of course. 70 years is not such a long time for dwarven lifespans so it's not like they've gone and died to old age in the meantime.

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"Let's unwrite these pages and replace them with our own words."

Perfect, just the kind of information I was looking to fill out a backstory for an up and coming character. Thanks again.

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Is it safe to assume that the mine shafts in the orc caves are also dwarven make and part of the old kingdom?

No.

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Davion Telemos - Monk of the Four Winds
Korthan Isharnos - Dragon Shaman of Thunder Spirit Zamasham

They aren't those Orc caves are a completely different kettle with very different fish sirrah.

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I play: Gage le Gris
Socially and recently politically Inept Knight of Xymor