The Embermantle Clan

Stub-class article · First seen: pre-campaign brief · Last seen: pre-campaign brief

The Embermantle Clan is the ruling dwarven clan of Khaldun Forgehold, the volcanic forge-city in the Emberpeak Mountains, led by Thane Durak Embermantle, whose authority is absolute yet rarely wielded with cruelty. Beneath the Thane the Great Guilds of Khaldun run daily life and the Flameguard keep order. It is world-brief canon only: the party has not visited Khaldun and the clan has not been named at the table, though the DM said in session 15 that Vasquez and Althea are “from Khaldun” [5].

Overview

The Embermantle Clan is the government of Khaldun Forgehold, the dwarven forge-city deep in the Emberpeak Mountains, and Thane Durak Embermantle is its head. The brief calls his authority “absolute, yet rarely wielded with cruelty”: a Thane in the old register, whose word is final and whose restraint the city reads as virtue.

The clan has not appeared in play, and the party has not visited Khaldun. The one link is indirect: Vasquez was raised by an adopted dwarf father, and the DM has said that he and Althea are “from Khaldun”. Whether Vasquez’s family belongs to the clan is not established.

Known traits

  • Beneath the Thane. The Great Guilds of Khaldun, the Smiths, the Miners and the Rune-Smiths, whose fortress-halls shape trade, resource allocation and the strict apprenticeship paths every Khaldun child must follow (world brief).
  • Order. The Flameguard enforce the city’s rule that magic is tolerated only in service of the forge or the city’s defence (world brief).
  • Industry. The Everflame Forges, powered by emberite drawn from the Flame Below, and the Runeworks. Gear bearing the Rune of Khaldun maker’s mark commands triple the price in any city above (world brief).
  • Visitors. Welcome if they come with gold, contracts and respect (world brief).
  • The Emberdeep. The dwarves of Khaldun ignore the voices warning of something vast stirring in the Emberdeep, confident that while their oaths hold, the Everflame will never die (world brief).
  • Not stated. The brief names no clan member besides the Thane, and gives the clan no heraldry or alliances.

Relationships

  • Khaldun Forgehold. The city the clan governs.
  • Thane Durak Embermantle. The clan’s head and its only named member.
  • Great Guilds of Khaldun and Flameguard. The Guilds run daily life beneath the Thane; the Flameguard enforce his standing order on magic.
  • Vasquez and Althea. In session 9 Vasquez described his greatest failure as a knife mould that shattered when he tried to forge it to impress his adopted father, and felt “less of a dwarf and more of an elf” [2]. In session 10 he had the Aurelian plate’s crest changed to “your family crest” [3], his adopted family’s [4]. In session 15 the DM said that he and Althea alone knew an Aurelian signal “because they’re from Khaldun” [5]. None of these names the clan or a guild. Both characters left the story in session 17.

Notable named figures

History in the campaign

Not yet seen in play.

Status

As of session 23. Presumed governing Khaldun, off-screen. No clan member has appeared, and the party has not been to the Emberpeaks. The Khaldun thread is dormant now that Vasquez and Althea have gone.

See also

References

  1. ^ : DM world brief only; not yet appeared in any recap.
  2. ^ Session 9, line 1104: Inline citation.
  3. ^ Session 10, line 1841: Inline citation.
  4. ^ Session 10, line 1722: Inline citation.
  5. ^ Session 15, line 211: Inline citation.
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