Rogaldorn
The Collected Lore of Rogaldorn
Early History
Lore of the Ulgol Clan of Murthorg
"The patrizier of the Ulgols, Draak von Ulgol, a sun dwarf clan of great wealth in Murthorg, took great interest in the adventuring Rogaldorn. Honored to host a genuine thane of Thorogdenia, and eager to gain the aid of a proven dwarven knight to rescue the nine captured members of his family, von Ulgol promised great wealth to the thane, 500 gold pieces, for each family member that was returned to their patriarch. Unmotivated by gold but anxious for righteous combat and the glory of a worthy deed, Rogaldorn condescended to embrace the quest, politely declining the prize." -Chronicles of Dantareth
For 50 or so years Vahaun Oetler, the great gnomish banker, has tried to buy the profitable rights to the Ulgol clan gold mines in the Osholan Forest. The 50 years clan Ulgol has resisted his many and various attempts. In recent years, sabotage and banking schemes have harassed the mines. Most recently the Ondonti orcs, a peaceful nation of orcs living to the south of the great forest, apparently hired lawyers and debated the position of the baronial borders, and thus pressed the royal magistrate to decree that the mines in fact lay within the princedom of Faelin, a decision which would unravel the Ulgol claim. The royal magistrate ruled in favor of the Ulgols.
In response, very shortly after the court ruling, a gang of thieves murdered the Ulgol castle staff at night in the forest, a difficult feat as it was very well secured, and kidnapped nine family members of the Ulgol clan, the elders of whom managed the gold mines directly.
Despite great protest and the support of the bailiff Mathamere Half-Elven (the mentor of Elendas), the royal magistrate sided with Oetler in that any investigation of the forest castle massacre and kidnapping is outside of Mathamere's control given the baronial border dispute. Instead, the royal magistrate's office conducted the investigation and determined the attack was due to the satyrs and their magic, as they have long been angry with the Ulgols, supposedly for being cheated of a portion of the gold that is mined from their woods. Mathamere has personally appealed the matter to the superior royal magistrate at Tharkin in southern Quadrain, who is currently acting on the issue.
Draak von Ulgol has already hired a party of Srord adventurers to investigate the matter of the massacre, and to especially investigate the origins and identity of a halfling body found slain on the castle grounds immediately after the attack, but they were all mysteriously murdered or disappeared at Themarch.
Magridolk, the ancient mystic at Murthorg
The strange and ancient sun dwarf mystic and shop owner in Murthorg. He is very old, and is considered the wisest of the Srord dwarves in the city. Magridolk has golden hands. His shop seems to possess much magic and unusual items for purchase. He is protected by the Ulgol clan. His lore may be very deep and great considering the Srord or sun dwarves of Quadrain and their history.
Rogaldorn's Knowledge of the Gods and History of the Sun Dwarves
The Srord dwarves, as they are called by both dwarves and men, are sun dwarves, that is dwarves who from times primordial lived beneath the living sun.
The Srord have their own specific pantheon of deities, worshiping Urgan or Urgan, the firstborn son of Kel'Bagor, as their high god. Urga is embodied to them as the sun itself, who shines His blessings upon them each day, and which serves as a constant reminder to them of His presence. The lesser deities of their pantheon are the divine progeny of Urga.
Urga sacrificed himself in the Fulgurmachy, the great war with the unstoppable God of Lightning near the beginning of the world. Although reincarnated as the sun, Urga could father no more sons, which saddened him greatly. Undaunted, Urga appealed to Almnik, the dwarven god of gold, for help in crafting him a final and perfect son, befitting the current form of his father. Almnik used all his craft and created for Urga just such a son, made of pure divine gold, and crafted in Urgan's image. Urga breathed into it the breathe of life (some say with the permission of Kel'Bagor), and a new divinity on earth was born, much as Depturn the Silver was 'born' to Ta'kron in even yet more ancient times. He was given the name Arkanar.
For the new demi-god, Arkanar was given to wed Allanna of the Highest Halls, the firstborn daughter of the demi-goddess Forara and Arkenalt, Arkenalt being the firstborn of Urga before he was defeated by the Lightning God. The golden Arakanar, the last and greatest son of Urgan, thus married the daughter of the firstborn of Urgan. In this way, argue the sun dwarves, the highest and most royal blood of the dwarven divinities are perpetuated in the sun dwarven line.
The sons, thanes, retainers and followers of Arkenalt were commanded to follow their new lord, Arkanar, or so the sun dwarves claim. They walked with him unafraid of the dark clouds of the Lightning God, under the shining sun, and with the blessing of Urga became the sun dwarves. They traveled far to the southwest, where they settled in warm lands near the see, ever loyal under their kings.
The first children of Arkanar Goldenhammer and Allanna were Astakon and Ekeneed, the Twins. Mele the Most Beautiful was also born of them. They were born immortal, and were born under the sun as Urga commanded. Their last child was born hiding from a great cloud beneath the earth, and was thus named Norkenok, or Hidden Gold. Eventually cast out, it is Norkenok who became the progenitor of the Gold Dwarves, who live near the very surface of the earth, and are very rare.
The goddess Forara, as the adopted daughter of Ta’kron, appealed to her adopted father to grant magic to her grand-daughter Mele. Upset by the increasingly disturbing Dreken dwarves (a primordial mystical dwarven race, now lost or hidden to the world), Ta’kron only did this in a limited fashion, allowing Mele and her scions to craft magic as artificers, and only then by making their hands golden (golden hands).
After his many talks with Arkal, owner of the dwarven market at the Bailiwick of the Blessed Tharvane, Rogaldorn has concluded that the sun dwarves are a proud race, and although certainly distinct, are not radically different from the dwarves of Thorogdenia. They call themselves the Sons of Arkanar. Having had their sub-race's heartland in the very core of the budding Mandadorian empire, and being fiercely religious and loyal to their gods, they were crushed by the crusades of early Mandadoria and nearly wiped out. Even under-dwarves have heard stories of the beautiful towers of the Srord dwarves before the Mandadorian scourge leveled nearly every one of them, and it is told that they were once capable of magical carvings and creations beyond the ken of any current living dwarf, of any sub-race.
Rogaldorn learned that the last great city of the Srord, and their capital, was Shel'Mather. It seems the party of Nimrel the invincible paladin and his crusader army destroyed the city in some cataclysmic battle. The story was told vaguely and with much sadness to Rogaldorn. But the last lord of Shel'Mather, the son of the High King, High Prince Maktar, is rumored to have lived on, after a fashion. Cursed with undeath, he is called the Coward King by men, as they claim he fled the field before the awesome might of Nimrel. Sun dwarves blame a member of Nimrel's party, a sun dwarf named Dergardol, for the victory of the Mandadorians that day. Dergardol was a Mandadorian himself, who apparently showed Nimrel and his Companions secret ways into the mountains surrounding Shel'Mather, as well as secret ways into the high royal palace. Most importantly Dergardol gave great insight into the mind of the high prince and his counselors.
Rogaldorn learned from Arkal that the Coward King possesses a dormant undead empire at Shel'Mather, now completely abandoned, and that the highly religious armies and knights of Quadrain have several times attempted to cleanse Shel'Mather of its evil. The entire area is a functioning forbidden zone, and although currently dormant, Rogaldorn has already met a few knights of men who have fought the great evils that have risen there. Yet it remains the classic seat of Srordian power, but not held by them for many centuries.
Modern sun dwarves likely appear to Rogaldorn as largely dispersed and leaderless. Rogaldorn would have noticed that even the proud Arkal has largely replaced Urgan with Mandador, so complete has been the Mandadorian victory. Rogaldorn would have even taken the not so subtle hint that many sun dwarves seem to interpret the fall of their civilization with the understanding that Mandador is in fact Urgan himself, an omnipotent high god who has returned to the world to show all beings, and not just dwarves, that He is the One True and Mightiest God. This may be a murky subject for Rogaldorn, but without having yet been direct on the subject with any sun dwarf, it is an understanding that Rogaldorn has come away with.
As for the name Srord, this seems to be due to a powerful sun dwarf royal dynasty from ancient times which was strong enough to give their imperial name to their people.
SUN DWARVES: sun dwarves have no infravision. They still receive the normal benefits of dwarven constitution, but do not receive the +1 bonus to their constitution scores. They do however receive a +1 bonus to their intelligence. Their other sub-race benefits, limitations and errata remain closed to players unless one chooses a sun dwarf as a PC. They are otherwise just as normal dwarves as outlined in the CPHB.
