Where the Rivers Meet - A Narrative

 Ogam Oathkeeper, leading his dwarfs to a new home

Times were tough for the folk in the mountains, and so the Thane Ogam Oathkeeper, who had no claims on his ancestral lands, left them and found a new land to build his family name. He settled his people at a fork on the rivers Lumen and Lenweth in a deep wooded valley. The land was full of elves and goblins and beastmen at first, but the hardy dwarfs molded the land in their image, and these creatures were forced out of the dark places, one way or another. On the banks of the river, the dwarfs erected a mighty forge, and their industry could be heard across the valley. They built stout palisade walls of tough old trees to protect their growing and prosperous holdfast, and surrounded their walls with stone towers and readied crossbows.

Barak Thingaz lays in a deep wood secluded by two fast flowing mountain rivers

A dwarf hold on the surface is an odd thing. By nature they are tunnel fighters and dwellers of the dark places, but the folk of Barak Thingaz grew to enjoy the sun and the sky, and their mountain brethren thought them queer for it. While some still donned heavy plate and chain, many more preferred stiffened leathers and forest green cloaks. They became rangers and scouts, and they would rove far and wide through the great woods, carrying trade goods and hunting bandits. Nearby villages of humans began to trade with the dwarfs. Cautiously at first, but when they beheld the great crafts and works of the dwarfs, they traded eagerly.

The folk of Barak Thingaz were beset by all manner of crazed beasts

A bond was struck between man and dwarf, and they guarded the forest vale equally, driving out the goblins and beastmen that still lurked there. But in the old world, such peace and tranquillity never lasts. The dwarfs of Barak Thingaz soon found their roads and meadows overrun by great shod horses carrying armoured knights and bright heraldry. The horsefolk spoke in a funny tongue and so the dwarfs dismissed them, an insult that sparked a great war between the peoples. 

The Dwarfs patrolled the lands and protected the temples of their human neighbours

 
While the dwarfs armed for war, building great pieces of heavy artillery, and the mechanical wonders of gyrocopters, they were stalked by an even more insidious foe. Skulking ratfolk surveyed the dwarfs from stinking bogs and gutters. The dwarfs could smell their stink, but always seemed two steps behind catching them.

Devious elves ambush fair trading dwarfs

The time draws near when the dwarfs, horselords, and skaven are drawn into a dangerous conflict for the control of the once idyllic valley. Isolated and alone on the surface, the dwarfs of Barak Thingaz must navigate their way in this new and treacherous world.