Karak Drotha
The dwarven fortress city of Karak Drotha. An ancient marvel of dwarven engineering predating the days of the empire. It was the pride of every dwarf who was born there, as they sang songs and told tales about the deeds of the kings who lived there, such as Grogni The Dragonslayer and Rathor The Unbroken. The fortress was built inside a mountain and even went down bellow and into the underdark cave network that predates all civilization. It is told that it was this hubris of the dwarves to expand without worrying that their imperial fortress would be under threat, that brought about the fall of the massive Karak. Many stories conflict with one another about how the fort fell, and through your travels you have seen more than one bar fight erupt between dwarves about this topic. Some say it was a massive orc horde, led my an extremely powerful ork warlord that took the fort after a battle which lasted 3 whole weeks. Others say that horrors from the underdark rose into the mines of the fort and consumed all its inhabitants, with the greenskins coming in later on. Many other stories exist, told by people who have, allegedly, been to the fortress.
The Karak had 8 main floors:
- 1st is the engineering bay, which was located above the ground floor inside and around the top of the mountain, there were the engineering guilds located and testing of new machines was done.
- 2nd is the main hall, the feasting hall, as well as the chambers of the royal family and the 2 great dwarven clans which alternated as the Kings did.
- 3rd is the food floor, where the food grown around the mountain was stored, along with some mushroom farms.
- 4th is the main lodging and housing units for all the clans.
- 5th is the main artistry and smithing floor, where all the artifacts were created and stored.
- 6th is the Ancestor Hall, where all the dead are buried.
- 7th and 8th are mining floors with winding mines stretching out for huge distances which fed the ever-growing industry of the fortress-city.
Modern Developments:
On the 10th of January 1421 A.S. the Karak was retaken by the Steelpick Mercenaries. (More details available here: The Reclamation of Karak Drotha ). It was then settled by the Steelpicks, with some additional people coming from Vernoff and Torquini as well as Drotha Thrak. The stories of the Fellfinders and their conquest of the Karak have travelled far and wide, leading to many dwarves, and even some non-dwarves relocating there. Its focus is currently growing its agriculture, and making sure it can sustain and defend itself as of the events of the razing of Vernoff.Pre-Fall Karak
The King ruled over the Karak and lived with his wife and children in the Royal Quarters. When a King died, all the clans competed in a competition of smithing and runic ability, to see who can create the most impressive artifact. Each clan could use any resource it mines or buys, but the smiths must be from the clan itself. At the end, the winner of the challenge is crowned the King, and the clan who he belonged to takes to spot as one of the 2 great clans, replacing the one with the furthest away King.Its defenses were firstly the mountain itself, secondly the war machines that were built from the engineers, thirdly the forces that each individual clan had, which would be put under the King in times of great threat, and lastly the massive doors of the Karak, which would stop any foe from entering, if defense became impossible.
The Karak traded far and wide as it had an incredibly vast production of magical and non magical armors, weapons and trinkets.
Fall
740 A.S.
740 A.S.
Founding Date
1421 A.S.
Type
Citadel
Owner/Ruler
Owning Organization
Characters in Location
