Rak'nar, the Mountain Fortress-city

Overview

  Rak’nar is a once-magnificent fortress-city carved into the towering heart of a lone mountain in the southern reaches of Aranath. Formerly the ancestral home of the Mountain Dwarves , Rak’nar stood as a paragon of dwarven civilization, artistry, and martial pride for millennia. Revered for its grand architecture, deep-rooted traditions, and mastery of stone and steel, it was a shining emblem of dwarven resilience, until it fell to the dark elves and their twisted creations after a grueling conflict known as the Fifty Year War .   Though a century has passed since its fall, Rak’nar remains a site of myth and longing among the dwarven diaspora. Sealed behind shadowed gates and guarded by elven monstrosities, it is both tomb and temple, a place of desecrated glory where echoing halls remember the thunder of dwarven boots and whispered oaths still linger in the stone.  

Geography & Location

  Rak’nar is nestled within a snowcapped mountain near the southeastern edge of a ring-shaped mountain chain that encloses a vast glacial lake. The mountain itself rises like a solemn sentinel above the forested foothills that surround it, crowned in permanent snow and veiled often in low mist. Its steep slopes are riddled with cliffs and crags, but the mountain’s true majesty lies within.   The mountain range enclosing the lake is broken only by a few narrow passes, making access difficult for large forces. These natural barriers once served as the first layer of Rak’nar’s defenses. At the base of Rak’nar, thick pine forests blanket the land in dense green, while frigid underground rivers fed from the lake run deep beneath the mountain, supplying the city with pristine, crystal-clear water.   The mountain’s interior is as complex as it is vast. The fortress-city extends both vertically and horizontally, with chambers bored into the rock across numerous levels. Towering halls and expansive vaults rise upward into the mountain’s crown, while the deeper reaches spiral down into tangled mines and ancient caverns, some still untouched, some corrupted.  

History

  Origins and Golden Age   Rak’nar was founded in antiquity by the Mountain Dwarves of Aranath, its stone halls hewn from the mountain’s core long before human empires or elven dominions arose. For centuries, the city prospered as a beacon of dwarven civilization, renowned for its architecture, craftsmanship, and unwavering traditions. Ruled by a royal bloodline tracing back to the mountain’s first settlers, Rak’nar became a symbol of unity and pride among the dwarves. Its vaults brimmed with heirlooms, its records chronicled every family line, and its forges rang with the hammers of generations.   The city’s isolationist stance was rooted in deep cultural identity. While outsiders were allowed to trade and marvel at the outer halls, few ever glimpsed the inner sanctums. Within, dwarves lived by ancient laws, revered their gods, and forged not only blades and axes but a way of life built upon honor, family, and ancestral memory.   The Fifty Year War   Roughly 150 years ago, dark elves began to emerge from the deeper caverns beneath the mountain, claiming the mountain's deepest reaches as their own. What began as skirmishes and ignored warnings escalated into a brutal, drawn-out conflict known as the Fifty Year War.   For five decades, the dwarves fought a desperate war of attrition through tunnels, halls, and narrow passes. The dark elves, cunning and cruel, unleashed unspeakable monstrosities, twisted experiments of flesh and shadow, including malformed elves, monstrous spiders, and unnatural hybrids. In the war’s final decades, the dark elves reached the sacred necropolis of the dwarves and used forbidden magic to raise the fallen. Undead dwarves, bound by dark sorcery, now served their ancient enemies.   A final counterattack by the dwarves failed. With no hope of reclaiming the city, the remaining royal court sealed the King’s Vault and fled. Some relics were taken, but many, too large, sacred, or entrenched, were left behind. Rak’nar was lost.   After the Fall   For a century, the city has remained under dark elven control. The once-proud halls have been twisted, statues defaced, dwarven runes scratched out or repurposed, and ancestral tombs disturbed. Yet not all parts of the city have been defiled. Some wings remain untouched, either protected by ancient traps, holy wards, or simply forgotten.   No dwarves remain in Rak’nar. But many of their descendants, now scattered across Aranath, bear the weight of lost glory and whisper oaths of return. Some make secret pilgrimages through forgotten tunnels known only to noble bloodlines, seeking heirlooms, relics, or even redemption.    

Structure & Architecture

  Chambers of Rak’nar   The city of Rak’nar was divided into vast and interconnected “Chambers,” each carved directly into the mountain and serving distinct purposes. The higher and more central a chamber, the more sacred and grand its design. The deeper levels blended into caverns and mines, where natural formations were reshaped in dwarven style, or left wild and perilous.  

• The Grand Chamber: The heart of the city, featuring the Great Hall, with its endless pillars and vaulted ceilings, the Royal Vault, sealed before the fall, the King’s Abode, and the Tribunal, where disputes were judged by the king or his chosen lords.
• The Military Chamber: Home to garrisons, armories, training arenas, and a subterranean prison. It also held war rooms and honored halls where famous generals were interred before the necropolis was expanded.
• The Merchant & Craftsmens' Chamber: Lively and industrious, this section housed forges, smithies, marketplaces, and artisan guild halls. Masterwork items and enchanted gear were often crafted here.
• The Living Chambers: Divided between high-status nobles and common kinfolk, these chambers were adorned with murals, shrines, and hearth-lit halls. Noble quarters often incorporated imported white stone, while common areas used local dark stone.
• The Scholars’ Chamber: A bastion of knowledge and magic, this district held the Grand Library, arcane laboratories, lecture halls, and a school of runesmithing. Magical study was considered sacred and always closely tied to the gods.
• The Chamber of the Dead (Necropolis): A vast, solemn district carved into the depths, where tombs, catacombs, and ancestral shrines preserved the dead. Runes chronicled lifelines, and great statues stood vigil, until defiled by necromancers.
• The Chamber of Mines & Caverns: The industrial underbelly, where veins of precious ore, deep minerals, and exotic stones were quarried. It was through these tunnels that the dark elves first emerged.
• The Divine Chamber: The spiritual heart of Rak’nar. Temples dedicated to the dwarven pantheon, including the mighty warrior-god Rak’danar, once drew pilgrims from across Aranath. These temples now lie desecrated, their altars shattered or perverted.

  Materials & Craftsmanship   Rak’nar’s architecture is defined by blocky forms, geometric precision, and rich embellishments. Gold and silver lines traced designs across doorways, vaults, and murals. The most revered buildings, such as the Great Hall, temples, and noble halls, were constructed using imported white stone and a rare, luminous blue stone mined from the mountain’s core.   Specialist stones unique to Rak’nar served both aesthetic and functional roles:  

• Sunstone: A reflective stone that amplified torchlight and captured daylight from narrow slits, allowing crops to grow within interior gardens.
• Dryrock: A porous stone that absorbed moisture, used in storage halls and armories to prevent mold and rust.

  Even the most utilitarian walls were inscribed with runes, both artistic and functional. Signs, warnings, names, and blessings were etched into the stone in ancient dwarven script, shared with their hill cousins. The runes still persist in some darkened corridors, glowing faintly when touched.    

Current State

  Dark Elven Rule   Rak’nar has remained under dark elven dominion for over a century, governed by a sovereign known only as @Dark. He has ruled since the final days of the Fifty Year War and now presides over the ruined throne halls with cold authority. The city’s cultural core has been systematically defaced, statues of dwarven kings decapitated, their heads replaced with grotesque forms such as spider-like monstrosities or warped elven visages. Where once stood noble effigies of warriors and scholars now loom strange, alien silhouettes wrought in black stone and twisted metal.   Though they dwell in a conquered home, the dark elves have claimed Rak’nar as their own. Many reside not only in the dwarven chambers but also in the ancient, deep caverns they originally surfaced from. They rarely venture beyond the mountain’s shadow, choosing isolation within the bastion they bled to win. Few outsiders have glimpsed what Rak’nar has become, but those who have report unsettling beauty: a symmetry marred by shadow, grace wrapped in menace.   Beasts and Monstrosities   The dark elves have transformed the city into more than a fortress. It is a laboratory, a menagerie, and a mausoleum. During the war and in the years since, they created or summoned horrors now roaming the halls:  

• Grotesque Elfkin: Abominations formed from captured elves, both dark and wood elves, twisted into hulking shapes, muscles bulging, eyes blind, yet filled with rage.
• Spidermorphs: Hybrid creatures born of dark elves fused with spiders. Some crawl with chittering limbs, others hang silently from ceilings, watching. The air thickens with silk in their territories.
• Aberrations and Hybrids: Dark elves have blended creatures, lizards with wolves, serpents with crows, even elves with beasts, producing creations that defy natural form.
• The Restless Dead: In the war’s final years, dark elves reached the necropolis and reanimated dwarven corpses. These undead dwarves now serve in chains or silently toil in the shadows, laborers, guards, or husks forgotten in darkened alcoves.

  Despite their dominion, large swaths of Rak’nar remain untouched. Whether out of strategic avoidance, superstition, or inability to disarm the dwarves’ ancient traps, certain wings, especially those far from the Grand Chamber, lie eerily silent.  

Culture, Memory & Legacy

    Memory of Stone   Though no dwarves live in Rak’nar today, the city’s soul persists, etched into stone, guarded by secrets, and honored in distant halls. Dwarves across Aranath speak of Rak’nar in reverent tones, and its name is synonymous with both grief and pride.   Many clans maintain records tracing lineage back to the mountain. Some bear titles granted within its Tribunal. Others guard heirlooms smuggled out during the last days of the war. Every few years, individuals, young warriors, elder scholars, oathbound priests, embark on dangerous pilgrimages to the lost city. Some seek relics. Others simply want to stand in the halls of their ancestors.   No dwarven stronghold has fully replaced Rak’nar. Its grandeur, its divine temples, its endless halls, these remain unmatched. In song, story, and carving, the fortress-city lives on.     Known Relics   Many sacred objects were taken from the Grand Chamber before it was sealed. Others were hidden, forgotten, or simply too immense to move. These relics remain within Rak’nar, some guarded, others buried beneath ruin or shadow.   Major Relics  

• The Throne of Rak’nar: Carved from dark blue mountainstone and adorned with gold-inlaid runes, this immense throne was once the seat of kings. It is believed to remain atop the Great Hall’s dais, desecrated but intact.
• The Forge of the Gods: A holy forge said to have been blessed by the dwarven pantheon, especially Rak’danar. Its fires once crafted weapons of legend. Its fate is unknown, though some believe the dark elves have tried, and failed, to harness it.
• The Vault of Echoes: A museum-like hall of heirlooms, family artifacts, and ancestral weapons. Though its exact contents vary by record, many believe it holds powerful items whose magic is bound to bloodlines, silent, until touched by a rightful heir.

  Lesser but Sacred Relics  

• The Book of Blood: A massive tome chronicling the royal lineage of Rak’nar, inscribed with ancestral names and rites. Its pages are said to be written in blood mixed with ink.
• The Pendant of Rak’danar: A sacred icon of the warrior-god, believed to burn cold when evil is near. It was last seen worn by a high priest who died defending the Divine Chamber.

   

Access & Secrets

    Despite the dark elven occupation, Rak’nar is not fully sealed. All original entrances still exist, though the main gate, set into the southeastern mountain wall, is heavily fortified. Travelers who approach openly are met with violence.   However, several secret entrances remain hidden. These include narrow cliffside tunnels, deep forest burrows, and sealed cave shafts, some only accessible to those of royal or noble blood. Dwarves who still possess these ancestral secrets guard them closely, swearing oaths to reveal them only when the time is right.   Inside, the layout remains largely intact. Gated corridors and sealed doors prevent full access even to the dark elves. Some traps remain active, crushing ceilings, rune-triggered fire, collapsing bridges. There are sections the dark elves have never dared open, and in these places, dwarven dead lie unburied, some still gripping broken blades.    

Atmosphere & Rumors

    To walk in Rak’nar is to feel the weight of silence. Survivors of secret incursions tell of vast chambers echoing with nothing but the sound of their own breath. In some places, voices whisper from the walls, not words, but echoes of sorrow, fury, or warning. In others, the air grows dense, too thick to breathe, as if the very stone mourns.   Where dark magic lingers, the feeling is worse, an unnatural pressure, like standing beneath deep water. Travelers report dizziness, nausea, even madness.   Rumors speak of the Silence that Speaks, a presence said to dwell in forgotten wings, feeding on grief. Some say it is the spirit of Rak’nar itself. Others claim it is a remnant of the dark elven magic gone awry.