Khaldun Forgehold

Start-class article · First seen: pre-campaign brief · Last seen: s19
Khaldun Forgehold
the Forgehold · the Heart of Hammer and Flame · Khaldun the Forgehold · Khaldun
Khaldun Forgehold, Dwarven forge-city, volcanic Emberpeak Mountains portrait
Location
StatusActive
First seenpre-campaign brief
Last seens19
TypeDwarven forge-city, volcanic
RulerThane Durak Embermantle
RegionEmberpeak Mountains
FactionEmbermantle Clan, Great Guilds of Khaldun, Flameguard
Notable forEverflame forges, Rune of Khaldun, Runeworks, Emberdeep

Khaldun Forgehold, the Heart of Hammer and Flame, is the dwarven forge-city carved into the volcanic rock of the Emberpeak Mountains (world brief). It is ruled by the Embermantle Clan under Thane Durak Embermantle, with the Great Guilds of Khaldun running daily life, and its Everflame Forges turn out gear stamped with the Rune of Khaldun that sells for triple the price in any city above (world brief). The party has never visited. The city has entered play only through Vasquez and Althea, whom the DM called “from Khaldun” [5], and through passing talk of routes and dangers.

Khaldun Forgehold
Khaldun Forgehold

Overview

Khaldun Forgehold, the Heart of Hammer and Flame, lies deep within the Emberpeak Mountains, carved into volcanic rock veined with molten emberite that glows like captured dawn (world brief). The world brief ranks it among the regional powers of Eldurae: a dwarven city of stone, fire and rune-craft whose gear commands triple the price in any city above (world brief).

The party has never been there. Everything above comes from the world brief. In play the city appears only at one remove: through Vasquez’s adoptive dwarf family and the DM’s remark that Vasquez and Althea are “from Khaldun” [5], and through passing talk of routes and dangers in sessions 17 and 19.

Geography and appearance

Massive stone columns rise into darkness, etched with glowing runes of warding and craft. The air is thick with heat and soot and the ceaseless rhythm of hammers on steel (world brief). The guild halls tower like fortresses in the city’s cavernous streets, and the main halls are lined with the Everflame Forges (world brief). Beneath the lower mines lies the Emberdeep.

Inhabitants

Dwarves, chiefly, of the Embermantle Clan and the three guilds. The brief names one person: Thane Durak Embermantle (world brief). In play, Vasquez was raised by an adoptive dwarf father [2] and Althea once wanted to be a runesmith [11]; the DM says both are from Khaldun [5].

Government / control

  • The Thane. The Embermantle Clan rules under Thane Durak, whose authority is absolute yet rarely wielded with cruelty (world brief).
  • The Great Guilds. The Smiths, the Miners and the Rune-Smiths run trade, resource allocation and the strict apprenticeship paths every Khaldun child must follow (world brief).
  • The Flameguard. Elite warriors in obsidian-steel plate inscribed with runes of heat warding and flame manipulation. Magic is tolerated only in service of the forge or the city’s defence; rogue casters are silenced (world brief).
  • Visitors. Welcome if they come with gold, contracts and respect (world brief).

Notable features

  • The Everflame Forges. Fed by channels of molten emberite drawn from the Flame Below, a primordial force said to dream in the earth’s molten veins (world brief).
  • The Rune of Khaldun. The maker’s mark on the city’s weapons and armour, worth triple the price in any city above (world brief).
  • The Runeworks. Where runesmiths whisper binding and warding into hot steel before quenching it in blessed oil (world brief).
  • The Emberdeep. Rumour says voices in the deep tunnels warn of something vast stirring in the molten dark, and the dwarves ignore them (world brief). The wiki tracks it as an open thread (Open Threads).

History in the campaign

Session 9: The Death of Harvo

Main article: Session 9

In the Black Vein Quarry, the succubus drew each of the party into a vision of their worst failure. Vasquez’s was a knife he had tried to forge to impress his adopted father. The mould failed and the blade came out warped like scrap, which made him feel “less of a dwarf and more of an elf” [2]. The succubus taunted him with the dwarf his father had wanted him to be [12], and he passed the Wisdom save [13]. The scene names no city; the wiki links it to Khaldun through the DM’s later remark [5].

Session 10: Ruin Joins, the Aurelian Conspiracy, the Plate Armour

Main article: Session 10

Vasquez asked to rework the looted Aurelian plate to look more angular and carry his adopted family’s crest [14]. The DM said a full rework needed a forge and about eight hours, with a chance of ruining the armour [15]. The table talked it down to small changes, since the party was heading for Eldwythe, near Aurelia, and the DM said that changing the crest alone needed nothing [16]. After the long rest the plate still looked “relatively Aurelian” [4], but Vasquez had changed the crest to look like his family crest. The design is not described.

Session 15: The Death of Ruin and Althea Joins

Main article: Session 15

When an Aurelian recruit fired a gun-like device into the air to signal the others, the DM called for Insight checks from Althea and Vasquez and said they were “the only two that knows what this is, because they’re from Khaldun” [17]. Neither placed it. Later, on a short rest in the sewers, Althea set out small candles and spoke an incantation by “ember’s breath and anvil’s ring” [18], and told Caelumn that she had wanted to be a runesmith where she was raised, “but it didn’t work out” [11]. Vasquez added that he had never learned runes either and was “more of a metal worker” [19].

Session 17: New Hands, the Black Mask’s Renegotiation, and the Rimeclaw

Main article: Session 17

Khaldun came up as a joke. A stranded woman, Nessa, whose husband had been taken by the Aurelian road offices, had been making for Eldwythe, and the party told her it was under Aurelian occupation [20][21]. Terry ran through the cities she might try instead and found none safe: Umbrafall would turn her into a spore zombie, Velkris would sell her, and “You could go to Khaldun and burn” [7]. Caelumn answered that she could go to Vhal’Zarim, “the city that welcomes all” [22]. The city itself was not described.

Session 19: A Penitent Priest, an Unmade Leash, and the Pixie in the Dark

Main article: Session 19

Planning the way to Velkris after giving up on Aurelia, Hugo asked for the quickest route. The DM gave it as back through Eldwythe, Umbrafall and Mirestrand, or by skiff or barge [23], and then added that it might be smarter to avoid Aurelia altogether and “go through Khaldun and all the way through Sablemar” [8]. Terry joked that this meant a desert, a volcano and “some dragon worshipping crazy people”, which Caelumn took personally [9]. Terry later offered a world tour of Khaldun and Vhal’Zarim [10], but the party chose the road back towards Eldwythe [24].

Status

As of session 23. Unvisited, and not named since session 19. Khaldun is not on the party’s present road: session 23 ends inside the ridge temple north of Greysmere. Vasquez and Althea, the two characters the DM placed there, have both left the party. If play turns towards the mountains, the city moves from a world-brief entry to a faction in play.

See also

References

  1. ^ : DM world brief for the city, its rulers, industry and the Emberdeep.
  2. ^ Session 9, line 1104: Vasquez's failure-vision of a knife he forged to impress his adopted dwarf father.
  3. ^ Session 10, line 1721-1774: Vasquez asks to put his adopted family's crest on the Aurelian plate.
  4. ^ Session 10, line 1841: DM, "You have changed the crest to look like your family crest".
  5. ^ Session 15, line 211: DM, "They're the only two that knows what this is, because they're from Khaldun" (Vasquez and Althea).
  6. ^ Session 15, line 1465-1484: Althea's incantation and her wish to be a runesmith; Vasquez, "more of a metal worker".
  7. ^ Session 17, line 980-982: Terry lists Khaldun among the places a stranded woman could flee, "and burn".
  8. ^ Session 19, line 345: DM floats a route to Velkris that avoids Aurelia, "through Khaldun and all the way through Sablemar".
  9. ^ Session 19, line 349-354: Terry on the trek through a desert and a volcano past "dragon worshipping crazy people"; Caelumn, "we are just pious".
  10. ^ Session 19, line 389: Terry offers a world tour of Khaldun and Vhal'Zarim.
  11. ^ Session 15, line 1474: Inline citation.
  12. ^ Session 9, line 1105: Inline citation.
  13. ^ Session 9, line 1108-1110: Inline citation.
  14. ^ Session 10, line 1721-1722: Inline citation.
  15. ^ Session 10, line 1728-1740: Inline citation.
  16. ^ Session 10, line 1754-1774: Inline citation.
  17. ^ Session 15, line 207-211: Inline citation.
  18. ^ Session 15, line 1465: Inline citation.
  19. ^ Session 15, line 1482-1484: Inline citation.
  20. ^ Session 17, line 973: Inline citation.
  21. ^ Session 17, line 978-979: Inline citation.
  22. ^ Session 17, line 986-988: Inline citation.
  23. ^ Session 19, line 290: Inline citation.
  24. ^ Session 19, line 390: Inline citation.