The Mithransari
"...The steepled crags were broken by bands of light. A rainbow bridge descended from an eye in the summit, and upon it I and my clan-folk scaled from frozen earth to windswept sky where the crown of the mountain blazed with invisible fires. Through the gatehouse of the gods we strode, and entered a heaven of metal, and frosted stars. The Mithransari nursed us with tonics and ambrosia that doubled our strength for years to come. They imparted unto us knowledge wiser, and more beautiful than the poems of the Valkyr, as well as gifts of metalwork greater than all the master craftmanship of the Dwarves... "Very little is known of the Mithransari. The only accounts of them come from the mysterious 'Lost Sagas' of Aardwulf which detail the journey of a Goliath hero known as Jordkheim who traveled into the lands of Ancorran in the year 750AR (only a few centuries before what was once known as the Rime Realm, vanished without a trace). The Lost Sagas are a group of epic poems that detail his adventure, and his account of the strange creatures and mysteries of those frozen wastes. They were originally passed down through an oral tradition, and were only placed into writing in the year 2200AR, over a thousand years after the expedition supposedly took place. Many scholars, and historians who have attempted to study the sagas attest that they are at best exaggerations, and at worst outright lies, but the skalds of Aardwulf observe them to be unquestionable facts of Jordkheim's voyage into the Outer Night. The most noteable chapters of the sagas detail Jordkheim's encounters with a group of beings that called themselves the Mithransari, and which the denizens of Ancorran referred to simply as 'The Ancients' in their native tongues. There are many myths of ancient beings that once dwelt in the world of Orr, and there are ruins throughout the continents, and the seas which no nation, nor culture can claim as their own. The artistry, and engineering present in these unknown places surpasses even the inventions of the modern age, and there have been discovered many curios, and objects of arcane artifice that scholars, and historians cannot identify. Some speculate that Rizion's spelltowers many in fact be relics of similar 'ancient' cultures of Orr that predated the cataclysm. The descriptions of the Mithransari in the Lost Sagas refer to them as beings of 'multiple forms' bound in chitin armor said to be 'harder than steel, and lighter than leather.' They 'wore the stars' as bracelets, and could 'mold metal with their words'. They were said to 'speak directly to the heart' and could 'divine the past and the future' through their dreams.
The Warforged
While the tales of the Mithransari contained within Jordkheim's Lost Sagas have always been considered a beautiful, but innacurate account of the Rime Realm, they did spark the interest of King Drin and after building the fortress of Bhara'Dur at the edge of the lost kingdom of Ancorran he spent centuries collecting relics of the Outerr Night. Thus began a surge of invention in the northern lands. Artifice unlike any dreamed of was born from his personal workshops. Steam engines, the great Vahlstones, the Rune Matrix and...
The Warforged.
A race of beings with an alchemical heart battery, and a filigree steel skeleton given life and animation through runic magic. The Warforged are the first artificial beings of the world, and while they are incredibly rare, and few in number they could not have existed without the inspiration of Ancorran's forgotten Ancients.
"Displayed here is the Uru-arm of Jordkheim, a treasure that has been held in the vaults of 'Vahl Thundra for many thousands of years. Jordkheim was said to be as strong as ten men, and this arm was one of the many gifts bestowed to him by the Ancients of Ancorran.
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