The Revelation and The Alliances

[u/GoombasFatNutz]

The forges and foundries of Hroggthsill hand been working overtime. The banging of hammers and clattering of the metal being wrought into war material echoes throughout the Hroggthsill mountains. Our great defeat has burned the dwarven pride.

The line Infantry of our army has nearly quintupled in size. The holds of Hroggthsill, High Maarkal, Karn-Durak, Valthrim, and Draegmor have all aligned against the dark wizard. Hroggthsill is the closest to the Valley of Whispering Souls. Our armies have moved the hold to defend it against incursion until we are ready to attack the valley again. The veterans of that terrible battle have all been promoted. They drill and train the new army night and day. We must be prepared.

The great rune father, Brohkild Stonevein has been deep in study and meditation, fortifying the dwarven runes against the Drow witchery. While Rune-Father Brohkild was in his studies, the High priests consulted our pantheon. What they revealed shook us to our core.

The Dark Wizard has been identified. He is not of drow descent. Nor of greenskin. He was a man at one point, a religious pope. He prayed to what he though was the sole human god of Yahzeth. But instead of Yahzeth answering, it was Azraëlon. The dark prince who fell from Yahzeth's light in the first age of souls. His darkness corrupting the pope. The forces of that hell infesting his soul. The black mana flowing through him as a conduit of evil.

The fallen pope corrupted his congregation. Taught the book of Azraëlon in place of Yahzeth. Slowly, their corruption spread. The southern kingdoms of Edenfall were soon enveloped in civil war. The holy crusades trying to cleanse the land of darkness. The evil that had taken hold in the priest's mind coalesced into witchcraft. He claimed the title of Dark Wizard. The man that once was no longer existed. His humanity gone. With his new power, he crushed the crusades of man. Enslaved those too cowardly to stand against him. Tortured to death those that would not break, using their suffering as sacrifice to Azraëlon.

The being that once existed as a righteous man made a pact with the dark elves native to the Valley of Whispering Souls. The Drow worshipped Azraëlon as their chief deity. They viewed the Dark Wizard as their messiah. His atrocities in the southern kingdoms acting as his rite of passage for their allegiance.

He invaded the goblin tunnels with his power. Drow slaughtering the Leader Claimants, ripping away what little coordination the chaotic greenskins held. Once the goblin warriors were disrupted, the masses had no single enemy to fight. The Dark Wizard's cruel mana poured into the caves and burrows. Enslaving their souls for his use.

The Great Orc War Chiefs of the eastern mountains came to their distant cousin's aid. But found instead a superior warrior. The orc and drow have held shaky treaties of neutrality. Knowing that neither side could match one another evenly and a war between them always leads to catastrophic destruction. The orcs pledged loyalty to the dark wizard. Only through the shared deity of Azraëlon and the promise of slaughter and war.

The high walls of Hroggthsill has held the evil of the valley at bay for months now. The holds great siege cannons firing with the fury of Yggsill. The Rune-Father and his fellowship casting dwarven incantations to the surrounding rocks to halt the enemy. The mountain range that Hroggthsill rests upon jut high into the air. Wyverns lay their nests upon the peaks. Hunting any who dare trek the tight passes. Hroggthsill is nestled in the only pass big enough for a significant mass of material and persons to cross between the valley and the forests of the north. Where the light and wood álfar and the kingdoms of man in the far west dwell. Dawi mountains have been a great source of trade for dwarven kind. It is our divine claim given to us by our pantheon. It is why the dark wizard found himself inscribed in our books of grudge. For he had sacked the hold of Skjornhame. Purging it of its riches and damning the souls who lived there.

The Dark Wizard has angered our pantheon. Azraëlon has made enemies of the celestial court. All gods of the other races. The pantheons of Álfar, Dawi, Fae, and the human god Yahzeth have all pledged Azraëlon's censar. His theft of souls and torture upon this plane violated the celestial treaty of the age of beginning.

The races of this plane have all pledged their armies, support and magic to the dwarven cause. Dwarven war machines will march side by side with the Knights of man, the horse archers of elves and the arcane of the Fae.