Clan Axebite

Clan Axebite was a dwarven underclan loyal to Clan Cloudpeak. Dwelling in the foothills of the Roofbeams in northern Khûm, Clan Axebite was unusual in many ways; surface-dwelling dwarves with little interest in mining who made their living by logging and woodcraft.

History

First Age

Founded in 305 1A by petty dwarves, Clan Axebite had an especially humble beginning. Originally an unauthorized logging camp of petty dwarves, selling lumber to nearby dwarven holds, Clan Cloudpeak arrived in rumble their operation in 302 1A, claiming these dwarves had no right to the timber. When they refused to stop – and when their request to Durzov to use the crownguard to roust them out fell on deaf ears – the Cloudpeaks decided simply to raise them as an underclan. Clan Axebite was born, headed by Tovazi, the unofficial leader of the logging camp. A year later, much to Cloudpeak's dismay, the loggers raised their hold – Timberhall, a wooden longhouse.
For hundreds of years, Clan Axebite went about their business undisturbed, unconcerned for the politics of the larger, more important clans. They provided a vital but thankless service to many surrounding clans; keeping their forges and furnaces warm through long winter months.
In 693 1A, Timberhall burned down for the first time, caught aflame during a particularly festive night of carousing.

Second Age

In 68 2A, the second of Timberhall's tragedies befell Clan Axebite. Zhoraska the Red Matron, angered over the death of a few Kobold, descended from the sky to burn Timberhall to cinders. Much of the clan was caught inside when the hall burned down, including her current thane, Bazadi Axebite. Her daughter Nolqa assumed leadership of the scattered remains of the clan.
Begging entrance to Snowperch, Nolqa and her dwindled people were denied. For weeks, they survived a rough existence in the foothills of the Roofbeams, attacked by kobold guerillas and suffering from black bloat. Only the arrival of Commander Chimera and her Menagerie saved the clan from extinction.

Litany of Thanes

• Tovazi Axebite (founder): 305 – 475 1A
• Yagrok Axebite: 475 – 725 1A
• Bazadi the Battleaxe: 725 1A – 68 2A
• Nolqa Axebite: 68 2A – ?

Materials

Unique to the dwarven clans of the Roofbeams, Clan Axebite had little interest in alabaster, opal or wingrock. Instead, their primary focus, throughout their entire history, was their logging and particularly their woodcarving. While they supplied a good deal of fuel to their neighboring clans, they also prided themselves on their woodworking skills, producing fine furniture, tools and decorations. Human merchants of the Second Age highly valued these goods, even if their dwarven peers did not.

Philosophy

True to their petty dwarf roots, Clan Axebite valued their rugged individualism. They didn't care for dwarven conventions or traditions but instead modeled a type of gruff practicality. They had no love of stone or grand statues in marble or the other things that allegedly made dwarves great; they worked the wood and drank in their great piney hall and couldn't be bothered with kings and councils and churches. When the Mystriarchy came knocking, they were roundly rejected, Clan Axebite willing to suffer the predations of black bloat rather than listen to some know-it-all spout nonsense about the gods.

Relations

• Clan Bracebow: Their nearest neighbor, Clan Axebite and Clan Bracebow were long-time rivals. High atop the lofty Snowperch, the Bracebows – descended from Cloudpeak stock – looked down upon the supposedly lowly Axebites, descended from petty dwarves. When Zhoraska destroyed Timberhall in 68 2A, the Axebites nonetheless sought refugee with their old rivals and were turned away.
• Clan Cloudpeak: As the Elder Clan who elevated Axebite into a proper underclan, Clan Cloudpeak had little regard for their vassals all the same. Whether Bracebow, Quicklime or Axebite, they preferred not to dirty their hands with the doings of those on the ground. Of all the underclans beneath them, they considered Axebite perhaps the lowest.

Seat

Timberhall was a vast longhouse, impressive even by a giant's standards. Enormous pillars held the hold aloft, carved with elaborate reliefs of mountain vistas and forest monsters. The entire clan could gather beneath that one roof, drinking, sleeping and feasting all together in one space.
When Timberhall was first burned to the ground in 693 1A, it was rebuilt within the year, exactly to the original's specifications.

Campaigns

The Menagerie 

• Khûm: When the Menagerie reached the Roofbeams, they met and allied with the dwarven remnant of Clan Axebite. Thane Nolqa and her axeguard have pledged to aid Dûnya Dragonbane and her mercenaries defeat Zhoraska and avenge those dwarves the dragon slew (Chapter 10).

Name: Axebite
Founded: 305 1A
Seat: Timberhall
Region: Northern Khûm
Elder Clan: Clan Cloudpeak
Speciality: Lumber

Notable Axebites

• Nolqa Axebite