First Sage Mudran Steelborn
First Sage Mudran Steelborn
Mental characteristics
Personal history
Mudran Steelborn was born a few centuries after the death of the last Dragon Lord. This time is known as the 'Age of Shadows" by the Dwarves, for without the controlling grip of their now extinct masters, Dwarven civilization fell to near destruction. Mudran was born in the oldest Dwarven colony, Orr'Olden, to a poor mining family. At a young age, the Dwarf was forced to watch his parents be killed in front of him by a desperate thief, this is considered the moment that would shape his life into what it would become. After being witness to the extreme depravity of the chaos his people had devolved into, Mudran knew there had to be another way, a better way.
Delving deep into the bowls of the colony, Mudran set forth to observe the best and worst behaviors of his people. Amongst the deepest depths he witnessed atrocities so wicked that he refused to report upon what exactly he had seen, but where the shadows seem the darkest, does the fire burn ever brighter. It is said that the philosopher made many friends along his journey to discover the ways of life. A small handful of Dwarven men and women who refused the barbaric ways their people had succumbed to and endeavored to live a more virtuous life. These numbers grew as more people witnessed these new, kinder ways that those who followed Mudran lived by, but his efforts didn't end here.
It wasn't long before Mudran's followers began to become noticed by those in power of the Orr'Olden colony. In their wickeness they despised the efforts of Mudran to improve the Dwarven way of life, so they exiled the philosopher from the colony. Saddened by the darkness that had infiltrated the highest echelons of his own home, Mudran peacefully obeyed the commands of his betters, despite being counseled to lead a revolution, but Mudran wanted to live in a better way. So, along with his most loyal followers, Mudran traveled along the Dragon Ways, the deep labyrinthian cave system runs beneath all of Dremlia. It was in these trying times when the followers of Mudran began to descend into infighting. It is said that this is when the Dwarven philosopher was moved to write the first iteration of the Code of Fire & Stone, to give his followers a point of unity.
Mudran and his loyalists, traveled until they reached the young Dwarven colony of Mon'Tuk. With the newly written Code in hand, they set about to change the colony for the better. Given the then relatively young age of the Mon'Tuk colony, the culture of the Dwarven people was more susceptible to change there than it was in the much older city of Orr'Olden. The people of Mon'Tuk were intrigued by this new way to live, and after only a few decades Mudran was named the First Sage, choosing from his original followers a handful of other sages. The First Sage was given supreme command of the colony and it's people and set about restructuring it from the top down. In no time, the colony of Mon'Tuk became the most successful of all the Darven colonies, a fact that remains true till this day.
After the meteoric rise of the Mon'Tuk colony under the stewardship of Mudran, the First Sage was asked to become the new king of the colony. In a surprising turn, the philosopher turned down the opportunity, saying that there were other Dwarves who need him and that Mon'Tuk must remain strong enough to live on without him. So the First Sage sent his greatest followers both to the colonies of Mus'Bolg in the west and Qoth'Gan in the east, and he himself decided it was time to return to his own home of Orr'Olden. Much time and many sacrfices went into uprooting the wickedness that had taken root deep within the ancient city, and in fact, Mudran himself went to his deathbed never seeing the full conversion of his own home. With his death the First Sage inspired the then numerous followers into demanding the acceptance of the Code, through peaceful protests, the way their late master would have wanted. Mudran's death was the catalyst needed to achieve the change he had spent his entire life working towards.
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