The Zoglasdin Road
Chief Historian Uk'maad, My Lord Kirmani has recently come into the possession of this painting and requests your Order's assessment. As always, in addition to our gratitude for your meticulous dedication to cataloging and validating the relics of the First Age, we have included a generous donation to offset the Order's time and any associated costs.
Regarding the Painting
With its limited color pallet of greyish-blues and blacks, a single, lonely subject in the foreground overlooking a panoramic view of a distant landscape lacking finer details, this painting demonstrates the classical characteristics of mid-First Age haltism. It bears the mark of Suus of House Pervak, an artist who lived circa 542, 1A. Suus was viewed by her contemporaries as highly aloof and eccentric, claiming she only painted what she saw in her dreams; which led some to believe she was, in fact, receiving messages from a celestial.
In this particular piece, which the Order believes is entitled The Zoglasdin Road, Suus allegedly claimed the lines connecting the stars of the night sky, and the tracks across the over-sized moon could be utilized as a map to locate a dwarven mountainhold called Zoglasdin. After an initial study of the constellations as painted, the Order has been unable to ascertain exactly where one would need to be standing for the night sky to be oriented in this way. However, we unanimously agree it would not be in the modern dwarven kingdom of Kungaroun, where the majority of dwarven society is based today.
The specific celestial in question is unclear, and a source of great consternation among conflicting factions of dwarves.
Regarding Zoglasdin
According to records found in the libraries of House Weymont in the Stormbreak Mountains, there is a tale amongst the dwarven peoples dating back to the early First Age of a lost mountainhold - that is, a dwarven city in the mountains - bearing the name Zoglasdin. The mountainhold was said to be named after its founder, the Elder of House Trost at that time.
Elder Zoglasdin was said to be a dynamic and influential dwarf, well respected among his peers. He was known as a vocal political opponent of Imperial rule, arguing the elves had effectively designed a system of government meant to keep themselves in power, riding on the backs of the Myndikin, while providing just enough distracting authority over the enslaved Kynekin to keep all other races under their thumb. As his opposition became more and more heated, his supporters grew. Some accounts believe he amassed enough power to become a legitimate threat to Imperial rule (a fact which elven historians summarily discount).
As the stories go, a major turning point in Elder Zoglasdin's messaging occurred when someone contracted an assassin to remove him from the board. His son heroically threw himself in the path the assassin's poisoned crossbow bolt, ultimately ending his life. Instead of turning to revenge and retaliation, the Elder of House Trost denounced the Empire and took his followers - Myndikin and Kynekin alike - to establish a new home and a new system of government based on fair and equitable treatment for all beings, regardless of their race.
What happened once they left is the subject of much speculation, and is where the story ventures from fact to conjecture. Some claim imperial forces tracked them down as traitors and cut them down to the man. The more optimistic stories claim the Zoglasdin contingent founded a highly defensible and well-resourced mountainhold in secret, where they began life anew.
Modern Evidence of Zoglasdin
Even within different dwarven accounts claiming the mountainhold was successfully established there are conflicting theories responding to the question of why we have no evidence of Zoglasdin in modern times. What is interesting is though they conflict, there seems to be an underlying and somewhat overlapping thread they share. That is, most accounts point to a powerful spell of some kind that was leveraged to cut Zoglasdin off from Gokrenxia rit large. The hypotheses on the specific type of magic tend to swing wildly from one account to the next: Powerful illusions, a magical dome which can neither be seen nor passed through, a great explosive force, even banishment to the place where dreams are born. The other major point of contention in these stories is who exactly was responsible for the spell. Some ascribe it to magic the people of Zoglasdin developed post-exodus, while others blame imperial retribution for anyone who would dare to choose an alternate path. What remains as fact is we have no concrete evidence there has ever been a legitimate settlement by this name.While the artist Suus was formally ascribed to House Pervak through her father, her mother was a daughter of House Trost, whose lineage can be traced back to Elder Zoglasdin.
In closing, the Order is aware of several collectors who may be interested in obtaining this piece, should Lord Kirmani wish to part with it.
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