Excerpt of the report presented to the Phoenix King, as written by the Lothern Sea Guard captain Thelrion
... The dwarven outpost, or "hold" as they bearded ones name their dwellings, has been mercifully free of the footfalls of dwarves since the early days of Bel Shanaar's reign, although its current occupants- goblins and trolls- can hardly be called an improvement.
It was first founded by a group of ambitious dwarves, who craved more influence than their homes could offer them. Among these the Rinkeldraz clan was chief, and it was they who would one day spawn the line of kings which lasted until the fifth century of Bel Shanaar's rule.
The first king of the region which would later become known as Ekrund was king Ordorin, who was named the "Wild King" by his peers. They looked down upon him, this dwarf who spent most of his reign in the badlands between the Word's Edge Mountains and the Dragonback mountains. As if any notion of civilization exists among the dwarves.
Eventually Ordorin's eldest son, Grimbalki, succeeded his father and expanded their strongholds in the northern part of the mountains. At some point, after returning from a hunt for goblins, he found that his brother, Garudak, had seized the capitol Ankor-Drakk for himself, and had barred the gates. Which goes to show just how "honorable" these dwarves truly are.
Grimbalki, in a rare show of restrain for his people, decided not to wage war upon his brother. Instead he travelled to the south part of the mountains and founded a second colony, mount Bloodhorn. "Goat king" they named him, for his people relied greatly on farming these beasts. Truly, the pinnacle of dwarven wit.
At any rate, Garudak eventually went bankrupt when his mines went dry. Meanwhile, Grimbalki's newfound mines- mostly coal- and trade contracts with Karak Eight Peaks helped his holdings spread, much like an untreated infection. Eventually Garudak returned rule of the northern holdings to Grimbalki, unifying the Dragonback mountains as one dwarven hold. They named it Ekrund, after the great winding stairs they had constructed near a massive lode of coal south of mount Bloodhorn.
The kingdom prospered for some time, even though it never truly achieved the status of hold. I surmise that by "status" the dwarves mean "big enough", for even in Karaz-a-Karak I have seen little that indicates any sort of distinguishable craftsmanship.
Regardless, as we all know, at some point the greenskins came and killed most dwarves. Some fled, but enough time has passed that none can reliably trace their bloodline back to the Ekrundfolk. It has remained in the questionable care of goblins ever since, until now.
The Keigh-Mon of Marienburg intend to claim the region for themselves, or so my informant in the city reports. They have enlisted the aid of the Keigh-Mon who live in the ruins of our colonies- Tilea, they call the area. Also, the corsairs of Araby have hired their services out to the Marienburgers, which I suppose will at least keep them from pointlessly harassing our ships for a spell.
Naturally, the dwarves did not take the news well, and "noble" houses from three of their holds- Karak Izor, Karak Hirn and Barak Varr- have banded together in an attempt to repel the Keigh-Mon.
And in the south, the belligerent greenskin tribes have paused their constant infighting long enough to send an impressive- in numbers, at least- army to capture the hold as well.
In short, three lesser races attempt to remove the goblins from the Dragonback mountains and call themselves master of it. Tiresome business as usual among these primitive minds, I suppose. Nonetheless, the rise of a merchant colony in the Dragonback mountains could have far-reaching consequences, which of course no dwarf, keigh-mon or goblin can be bothered to think upon. I shall leave it to your wisdom to decide whether the lesser races of this world require the guiding hand of the Asur once more.
In your service...
What Is this?
This is an online RPing campaign. Players join one of three factions:
(1) The Dwarves, who seek to retake this lost dwarven hold
(2) The Human Merchants, who seek to make the dwarven hold into a trading outpost/a place that they can thoroughly loot for great profit
(3) The orcs and goblins, who seek to have a right good fight, and to keep their claws on the hold that they conquered.
How does this work?
(1) Go to http://www.trueds.nl/wartales/index.php and sign up.
(2) Make your character. There is a contest currently going on for best character story.
(3) The campaign itself...
(3a) Each week is a turn
(3b) Each turn, every player gets to move his army
(3c) Each turn you have resources to spend. You can write letters to NPCs, initiate special projects (which requires story telling), and can submit 'hobby reports' to get bonuses. This includes story telling, painting models, etc.
(3d) At the end of each turn the GM gives a turn summary, so you know how you are doing.
Map
http://www.trueds.nl/wartales/map.php?cid=12
When does it start?
April 2nd
Feel free to ask any questions.
This campaign is pretty small. But the GM running it is a veteran. Years back we used to have campaigns that involved 4-6 GMs and over 100 players. The sheer amount of RPing and story telling was staggering. This is a build up to potentially restart that. I'm just putting this out here for anyone who is interested in joining us.
Hmm. Interesting concept.
Yeah, it's an interesting idea. And since each week is a turn, there's not a lot of pressure to get things done in a hurry. This... looks really promising to me.
I'll think about making a character. I like the idea of making a would-be Border Prince that wants to help the dwarves in return for exclusive trade deals or permission to settle near them, probably some sort of former mercenary captain that's found himself in charge of a motley assortment of actual mercenaries and desperate "peasants" from the lands of the Border Princes.
Aye, the week long terms do mean no pressure. I like the background idea too, as that is fluff wise what the dwarves originally offered.
Turn 1 has just started and will last a week. The dwarves are outnumbered by the orcs and could use reinforcements. Will anyone here heed the call?
The campaign just started, and each turn is 1 week. Plenty of time to join. As for the teams, as they stand:
Marienburg (Human merchants): 3 players (all human)
Dwarves: 3 players (2 dwarves and 1 non-marienburg human merchant)
Orcs: 4 players (all orcs)
So no, humans aren't hopelessly outnumbered. Joining them will bring them up to 4 as well
Welcome to the campaign Atlas! That makes it:
Humans: 4
Orcs: 4
Dwarves: 3
Anyone care to even the numbers out?
One more bump:
Humans 5:
Orcs: 5
Dwarves: 4
We have one spot open, and the fighting is about to really explode.
The Dawi need firm allies! Border Princes, mercenaries with a heart of- with a heart that yearns for gold, or perhaps more dwarves from distant realms... Come! Lend us your aid!
And save us from ork pirates!
I am intrigued. I'm reading over the forum now, though I have a couple of questions for you.
1) I have an ancient dwarven city that has the good fortune of being at the crossroads of several important trade routes. Would there be any place that could exist in this world? Would you allow me to have my army hail from there?
2) The other route I'm considering is to have a clan of northmen fight alongside the dwarves in exchange for a new home. The issue is that the clan I was thinking of introducing is named after a powerful artifact, a shield called Whitescale. what kind of magic exists in this world? also, is there a land where a bunch of barbarians could hail from?
Ah, you're unfamiliar with Warhammer Fantasy lore? Well...
#2 I can answer pretty easily: first, the land in question would be the land of Norsca, though note that Norsemen / Northmen are pretty well distrusted in most of the Warhammer universe as they're typically worshipers of the Chaos Gods and the like. But some groups are less prone to being Chaos-addled folk, such as the Skaelings and the rest of the southern tribes. This isn't to say that the southern tribes are gentle folk - just that they're prone to trade as well as raiding and aren't all worshiping monstrous deities that want to end civilization. Some worship deities such as Ulric, who is much more palatable to reasonable folk than the Chaos Gods.
I'm not sure on the artifact - that's something you'd want to ask Grumbaki or the person in charge of the game (Demon Slayer on the forums).
As for #1, you'd probably want to be from one of the established cities in the world. Note that I specifically chose to be a Border Prince when I joined partly because the Borderlands aren't terribly well developed, giving me a lot of room to think of what sort of little princedom my character runs and why he's willing to throw his lot in with the dwarves. Dwarves, though, have very few holds left in the world. But again, I'd ask Grumbaki or Demon Slayer.
Also note that mechanically your faction would probably be the same as everyone else's. The distinctions arise in roleplay, special projects you construct, and in events / NPC negotiations.
(For instance, as a human I can negotiate with greenskins, but the dwarves I'm aligned with HATE greenskins and so can't.)
I know enough of WH40K's to be truly afraid of going FTL or outside of a heavily fortified bunker there, but nada about Warhammer fantasy, other than it came first and is as grimdark as WH40K.
Okay, so both of those are probably out as is. The Whitescales would definitely not fit in with those northmen, but perhaps I can think of something else. I had another idea on the backburner in case I needed it about following your example and playing a merchant prince/princess.
I'll do some looking and see.