The Charduni

The Charduni were once known as the Crownseat Clan, the first clan of dwarves to be completed upon Moradin's forge in Mithril Hall. They ruled over the other six clans with a fair and noble hand, battling threats to the race as a whole such as the invasion of the Enkidu, and the First Goblin King. But as all good things must end, they were caught in the crossfire of Kuthian's corruption before the Divine War, and over time, they proved to be one of his most enduring victories.

Crownseat Clan
The Charduni, or the Crownseat Clan as they were known in the Elder Days, were the greatest of Moradin's children, the first to take the tenative steps off their altars, and into the sunlight. They were the most numerous, and also the most noble and mighty of the Seven Clans, and as such, they ruled over the other six as kings, forming the Highroost Empire, a kingdom looked back upon by the Dwarves of today as the shining pinnacle of Dwarven society. The secret to its might lay in its use of each clan's strengths- the mighty warriors of the Rubyhammer clan, the expert miners of the Deepdelver Clan, the brave farmers of the Greenshield Clan, the crafty traders of the Firetusk Clan, the smiths and enchanters of the Boneforge Klan, and the noble priests of the Highroost Clan- all to the advantage of the Empire as a whole. The supremacy of each clan in it's chosen field was aknowleged by the Emperor, and that clan administered it's own lands, in additions to their holdings outside of their territories. For example, while the Heavencrown Empire held territory in the West of the Iron Mountains, it also controlled and administered the Temples of Moradin in every Dwarven community, while Clan Boneforge controlled its smithies, Deepdelver its mines, etc. All clans paid fealty to the King of the Crownseat, however, as the Crownseat Clan was like the glue which stuck these disparate clans together. The fledgling empire was to be tested, however, with the coming of a horror from the Southern Desert- a child of the snake goddess Mormo, the Serpentmother, and one of her Aasathi children. The result was a half-godling named only Enkidu, which means the lion, or the bloodthirst in the Aasathi tounge. For many years, Enkidu ruled over the Aasathi in the place of Mormo, his mother, while she tended to her other children. Unfortunantly, Enkidu was slowly being driven mad by the godly half of his being, an energy which his mortal form simply could not withstand. He began to think first that all of the Aasathi around him were trying to kill him and take his place, when in reality, they could be no more loyal. Aasatha became a terrible and dark land, ruled by a godly tyrant whose eye none could escape. Eventually, Enkidu eventually decided that the conspiracies he saw were part of a greater plot by mortals to kill all the gods, one by one, and put a mortal on the throne of Pelor. He attacked his Aasathi subjects, thinking, in his madness, that he was ensuring the future of the god's rule over mortalkind. He slaughtered thousands of Aasathi, ripping warriors asunder, clawing down women and children as they fled, and crushing whole villages under his wrath, until the River Ankh ran red with the blood of the innocent. Mighty and cunning warriors as the Aasathi were, they could not stand up to the power of a half-god such as Enkidu. At last, as Enkidu worked his way northwards, he hit the Iron Mountains. Seeing the citadels of the dwarves, he fell upon them as he had the Aasathi, beleiving that all mortals were equal in their blame. However, he found the dwarves to be more of a challenge than he expected. While he could crush the Aasathi in their desert cities, and then butcher the survivors as they crossed the desert with no cover, the dwarves fled into the tunnels beneath the roots of the peaks, where he was forced to dig them out like rats. While this was frustrating to Enkidu, who saw that his campaign of slaugther was slowing, the dwarves saw only a great lion-lizard beast scream out of the Southern Desert, ruin their citadels, and then chase them into the tunnels, his roars echoing off the walls like those of a demon, before they felt the final bite of a half-god's claws, and heard the last screams of their family in the dark. While the butchery was not as great as in the Southern Desert, thousands still died. However, the refugees fled to Krakadom, where they told the Crownseat Emperor their tale of woe. On the Steel Throne at the time was the Emperor Faux-Xa, an Emperor who was unwilling to see his people slaughtered, and his empire that had lasted for a thousand years crumble. He gathered his councilors, and they plotted for several days while Enkidu rampaged, ever closer to Krakadom. At last it was decided that in order to defeat Enkidu, sacrifices would have to be made. The army of the Crownseat Klan, bolstered by the armies of the other six, rode out to war against Enkidu, with heavy hearts, for they knew that they would not come out of this battle unharmed. In secret, a cave had been prepared, a cave filled to the brim with magical seals and locks, the perfect prison, a cell capable of containing Enkidu. But he would not enter it of his own accord. When at last the Dwarven army met Enkidu at the Battle of Unnumbered Tears, the dwarven legions were ripped to shreds. Unfortunantly, this is what was expected. Enkidu tore through the dwarven lines, ripping straight through proud Dwarven warriors,  leaving their dismembered corpses like sawdust in a carpenter's hut. The powerful rune magic of the Boneforge Clan, the pride of the Dwarven Empire, was broken by the dread Eldritch Blasts of Enkidu. At last, King Fuax-Xa put his plan into action, and feinged retreat from the battlefield. Enkidu, whipped into a rage at seeing one of the "Conspirator Lords" escape, ripped his way throuh the troops between he and the king, and gave pursuit. At long last, the trap was laid, and King Fuax-Xa of the Dwarven Empire retreated straight into the cave, prepared to trap Enkidu in agony, forever. Once Enkidu howled into the cave after them, the High Preists of Moradin sealed the entrance after them, knowing that Enkidu would be trapped forever within, but that their king would be as well. To this very day, it is said that Enkidu's howls of torment can be heard from within the Pass of Unnumbered Tears, on rainy nights when the land remember's the dwarves' sacrifice. For even today, twelve thousand years later, the magics prepared by Moradin's priests (with their god's assistance) prevent anything within from dying. You cannot escape, not even through death. Somewhere, deep within the caves, King Fuax-Ha and his men are trapped with Enkidu in eternal torment, their mortal forms eternally being ripped apart at his hands, only to be pieced back together again by the magics to which they willing bound themselves. As if the Dwarves had not suffered enough, the Goblins of the Mountains, seeing that the dwarves were weak, banded together under a single king, and attacked Mithril Hall. While many brave Crownseat Warriors died attempting to defend the birthplace of their race, Mithril Hall eventually fell under the onslaught. What the goblins did not have in strength, they made of for in sheer numbers and cunning. King Fuax-Xa's son, Prince Xochtel, a mere boy of 16, rallied the Dwarven armies, still shattered after Enkidu's assualt, and led them in assualt to retake Mithril Hall. Under the leadership of the young Prince, who turned out to be a capable tactican and leader, despite his young age, the armies of the Goblins were routed, and Mithril Hall was retaken for the Dwarves. It can be seen from these the sacrifices that the Charduni. or Crownseat Clan, were not always of evil intent, nor of ignoble bearing. While that may have been so once, however, it would soon be seen that it was ot be no more.

The Charduni
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