The Dwarvenhold Campaign Geography Domain Name: Deep Root This is the region of the underdark in which you live. It includes areas of dwarf, drow and deep gnome control. A domain is the equivalent of an island. City-State: DwarvenHold DwarvenHold is the name of the city-state of the mountain dwarves. It includes mines, giant caverns with conventional buildings, and dwellings built along caverns that dig deep into the surrounding area. Dwarvenhold feeds itself on miles of cavern-corrals, caves used for fungus cultivation. There are also multiple lakes stocked with cave fish. Dwarvenhold is formed in concentric circles. The innermost circle, called the Great Hall, is a giant cavern with conventional buildings. The center of the Great Hall is The Courtyard, a vast cavern where the king holds his audience. A giant stalactite lies in the center of the cavern and reaches nearly to the ceiling, hundreds of feet above. The stalactite has been hollowed out and used as the seat of power for the city-state. Many younger dwarves live in the Courtyard, preferring its new style of dwarven architecture and constant activity. Many of these dwarves live in apartments carved into the cavern walls. The apartments extend nearly a hundred feet up from the surface. Concentric circles of caverns extend out from The Courtyard. Those with wealth and power tend to live in inner circles, while outer circles are used for mining, poorer housing and military outposts. The farther away from The Great Hall, the more dangerous it is. There are well established routes, considered roads within the kingdom, as well as private caverns and routes that are off limits to those who don't belong. A main cavern route leads from the Great Hall to main underdark thoroughfares. Five concentric roads circle Dwarvenhold. These underground roads are public to dwarves, but not outsiders. Rune circles protect Dwarvenhold, with Dwarven Holdfast Rings protecting many intersections. Demographics Name: Dwarvenhold - level 7: 2 - level 1: 24 Type: Large city - level 5: 2 Sorcerer (total: 12) Gold piece limit: 21,225 - level 4: 4 - level 6: 1 gp - level 3: 4 - level 5: 1 Population: 21,465 - level 2: 12 - level 3: 1 Total wealth: - level 1: 31 - level 2: 3 22,773,352 gp Druid (total: 10) - level 1: 6 Constable: Fighter level - level 6: 1 Wizard (total: 30) 15 - level 5: 1 - level 10: 2 Full-time guards: 214 - level 3: 1 - level 6: 1 Conscriptable - level 2: 2 - level 5: 3 individuals: 1,073 - level 1: 5 - level 3: 4 Fighter (total: 125) - level 2: 6 Power Centers - level 13: 1 - level 1: 15 1. lawful good monarchy - level 10: 2 Adept (total: 125) (dwarven defender) - level 6: 2 - level 13: 1 - distrusts lawful good - level 5: 4 - level 10: 2 cleric - level 3: 4 - level 6: 2 - allied with half of clan - level 2: 8 - level 5: 4 council - level 1: 104 - level 3: 4 2. lawful good cleric Monk (total: 6) - level 2: 8 (magical) - level 5: 1 - level 1: 104 - is indifferent toward - level 3: 1 Aristocrat (total: 125) monarchy - level 2: 1 - level 11: 2 - allied with half of clan - level 1: 3 - level 10: 1 council Paladin (total: 45) - level 5: 6 3. true neutral clan - level 12: 1 - level 2: 12 council (conventional) - level 10: 2 - level 1: 104 - factions split on - level 6: 2 Expert (total: 661) supporting monarchy and - level 5: 4 - level 19: 1 clergy - level 3: 4 - level 16: 1 - level 2: 8 - level 15: 1 - level 1: 24 - level 9: 2 Class Breakdown Ranger (total: 22) - level 8: 2 Barbarian (total: 6) - level 10: 1 - level 7: 2 - level 5: 1 - level 6: 1 - level 4: 8 - level 3: 1 - level 5: 1 - level 3: 4 - level 2: 1 - level 3: 3 - level 2: 16 - level 1: 3 - level 2: 5 - level 1: 624 Bard (total: 6) - level 1: 11 Warrior (total: 1,069) - level 5: 1 Rogue (total: 45) - level 16: 1 - level 3: 1 - level 15: 1 - level 15: 1 - level 2: 1 - level 12: 1 - level 14: 1 - level 1: 3 - level 11: 1 - level 8: 2 Cleric (total: 60) - level 7: 2 - level 7: 4 - level 17: 1 - level 6: 2 - level 4: 4 - level 15: 1 - level 5: 2 - level 3: 8 - level 10: 1 - level 3: 8 - level 2: 8 - level 8: 2 - level 2: 4 - level 1: 1,040 History of Dwarvenhold 3524 Years Ago: King Markas, a great preserver of Dwarven society and expert weaponsmith, founded Dwarvenhold. With the city established, King Markas crafted his masterpiece, a forge with the runes of each clan elder carved upon it. This magical forge, dubbed The Forge of Marcus, is said to hold the hope of the dwarves of Dwarvenhold, and many of the weapons that defend the city-state were crafted upon it and were made to be the bane of the kingdoms enemies. 40 Years Ago: A powerful lich unleashed an undead horde against Dwarvenhold. The horde was fought back, mostly through the efforts of many priests of Moradin that destroyed much of the undead. The lich was not destroyed. His lair, said to be a large ziggurat, was rumored to be deep in drow territory, although it was unlikely he was allied with them. Rune circles have since been created within Dwarvenhold to prevent entrance of undead. 19 Years Ago: Drow invade Dwarvenhold. Many dwarves and drow perished in the attack, but ultimately the drow were repelled and an uneasy peace followed. However, the Forge of Marcus disappeared during the attack, and the dwarves have not forgotten this slight. The drow claim not to know of its theft and spells seem to confirm this. 3 Years Ago. After years of incursions, the drow city of Gloomveil and Dwarvenhold agreed on a treaty to prevent further violence. Drow houses Cadryene and Sorathin met with the Dwarvenhold High Council and came up with a plan that requires the dwarves to leave certain areas of the underdark in exchange for mineral rights along a rich area of drow territory. The dwarven elders were happy for the additional rights, but the younger dwarves were angry. Many young settlers were forced to leave their homes, either returning to live with their families, or in the case of a small minority, becoming somewhat rootless adventurers. In the treaty meetings, the identity and location of the lich who launched an attack on Dwarvenhold was revealed. Kelborn Selbri lives within what is now drow territory. To avoid further hostilities, the drow forbid the dwarves from attacking him. Your Life The people of Dwarvenhold live deep within the earth. They used to know the outside world, but war has forced them ever deeper into the earth and now they have no contact with the surface world. At one time the surface was ruled by lizard men. The lizard men used beast men thralls as slaves to build their kingdom. Eventually the beast men rebelled and destroyed the lizard men, forming their own empires. The empires of men were constantly at war, and dwarves were not welcome. First the dwarves stayed in their underground realm. Then the men began digging below the earth, desecrating it for their own sinister purposes. The dwarves dug even deeper until the chaos of the surface was no longer a threat. Now the vile creatures of the surface no longer bother the dwarves. Instead, threats come from below. Deep below the earth is the Underdark, a realm as alive and active as the surface world. In the Underdark the dwarves have new threats. This time the dwarves must fight for survival against the deceitful drow and the twisted svirfneblin (deep gnomes). These are the dwarves’ immediate neighbors, although many other threats exist. Other threats inhabit the depths; horrible abominations, along with far off empires of Duergar (dark dwarves) and Kuo Toa. However, the drow and svirfneblin are the dwarves’ closest neighbors, and although they are not on friendly terms, there is an uneasy truce based on a balance of power. Unlike the world above, where one may walk from one kingdom to another. The Underdark is a series of discrete domains that may or may not connect to each other. A domain is a collection of locales among which underground travel is reasonably easy. Multiple locales in the same domain are connected via tunnel systems. Cities in the same domain are likely to engage in diplomacy, trade and warfare. Your current domain consists of cities of dwarves, drow and svirfneblin. There are also vast complexes of structures built by the lizard men and men who built empires above the dwarven cities. These are easy to access although the practice is frowned upon. Deepwarden Prestige Class While clanwardens guard dwarf cities and clanholds as a last line of defense, deepwardens serve as a living early warning system against threats from both the environment and other creatures. Deepwardens are typically adventurers or retired dwarf militia members who wish to explore the depths of the earth. They travel deep underground and survive on their own, far from civilization. There they search for new resources, threats, or other interesting findings, and send reports back to their city comrades. Deepwardens are considered the first line of defense against invasions or other threats, and as such they must be both physically hardy and able to survive in the wilderness for an extended period. A warden's first duty is to find out the nature of any threats to the community, then stay alive long enough to make sure his city is warned and can prepare.