RHUNRIKKI STROLLAR (Warhammer Fantasy Golden Age Dwarf Runelord Quest)

[BungieONI]

SOMEONE FINALLY ASKED!

Im in the middle of fluffying the backbone of lore I made to make runelore workable as a mechanic, and that includes runesmith culture and traditions.

As of right now though, just know that for the purposes of this quest, contemporary runesmith culture in the time after the War of Vengeance and Time of Woes is a distortion/different from the runesmith culture of the Golden Age.

Losing a massive amount of your runesmiths and being disconnected from each other does that.

If someone can accurately guess one difference I'll add +5 to a background roll.

Click to shrink...

Easier, and more fun, for me to parse the entire surface level culture and then dig into that.

As it stood in the fading age after the War of Vengeance and other catastrophes the Guild of Runesmiths is a priesthood of a mystery cult, a religion restricted to initiates and whose secrets are only available to those initiates. They are isolated mountaintop masters who are frantically practicing their craft with three general priorities it seems like: repair what they can of the Karak runeworks, build powerful masterworks that can turn the tide of endless enemies, and recover lost runework. The Masters have to be The Very Best They Can Be, and shoulder the load of many.

Thus the Rule of Pride dovetails neatly from those restrictions. A Master runesmith can't, they *cannot* spend time churming out endless numbers of lesser works when they are the only dwarfs who can maintain the most important and ancient runeworks, build the most powerful masterworks that can turn entire battles, and who might remember where some ancient scrap of lore might potentially be.

They have also suffered crippling, absolutely horrendous loss of life, to the point where many many masters and their knowledge is just gone. Completely. And so you have Holds where there might once have been entire families of runesmiths but now there's one. Maybe two. Maybe none. And so they are dealing with a utter dearth of potential apprentices because the blood is far less prevalent than before, and they have to find worthy apprentices to pass on their knowledge. But many can't, further cementing the issue that each Master has to be The Very Best.

What does this say? They are desperate, while the runesmiths of Snorri's time are not. In the fading age you don't hear about master runelords making toys. Or pretty clothing. They do not make idle work. Snorri, clearly does. That's one huge difference. There are enough of Snorri's contemporaries and things are calm enough that they can perform idle work. The runesmiths like Snorri have time. The runesmiths of the fading age have no time, not even enough to maintain the integrity of the Karaks and make masterworks and recover lost knowledge.

But right now runesmiths can have those one weird drunken ideas that runesmiths of the fading age might discard because they have no time, and fiddle with them till something interesting falls into their lap. Or make several thousand toys. Or weave pretty dresses.

And their pool of apprentice candidates is larger. The golden age runesmiths can afford multiple apprentices, they have a confidence that they can find someone to pass their knowledge to. The runesmiths of the fading age, don't.

---

On lighter topics, how long is Snorri's beard in dwarf body lengths? This is very important

 

[Thanatos757]

~​

Hidden in a shadowed corner of your workshop, you watch your three apprentices work. Dolgi and Fjolla led the exercise, while Snerra determinedly followed along. Runesmiths were, you knew, a generally solitary lot, with the exception of their apprentices. But at times it became necessary to work with one's peers rather than just being assisted by apprentices, hence the nature of the exercise: collaborative crafting. The slightest variations in hammerblow and chant can throw off entire runic arrays, so the beardlings needed practice. It was tradition to encourage them to create their own chants, mimicking the actual chants for real runes.

"Cold. The air and water flowing.
Hard. The land we call our own."

You noted the tiniest variations in swing and chant speeds. Snerra had the most, of course, being the youngest, but not actually that far behind the apprentices decades her senior. She really was amazing.

"Push to keep the Dark from coming.
Feel the weight of what we owe."

Dolgi, too light on the eigth swing, too high a note on every sixth word. Fjolla, heavier on every tenth swing, voice too deep on every third word. Beardling's been getting some practice singing to his beloved, hmm? You smirk underneath your beard. Your gaze turns to Snerra. Too light on every third swing, voice a touch too high on most notes. Again, most impressive for her age.

"This, the song of sons and daughters.
Hide the heart of who we are."

You rather liked the song, though. It sang well of Kraka Drakk and the Dawi.

"Making peace to build our future.
Strong, united, working till we fall."

That one might be your influence, you thought, idly scratching a cheek.

"And we all lift, and we're all adrift, together, together.
Through the cold mist, till we're lifeless together, together."

Now that was a little morbid.

Still, as the song wound down and the exercise neared completion, your hand dug into your pocket. Nowhere is safe, after all.

"POCKET GRAVEL!" you bellow, to the shrieks of your apprentices. "YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE TO DO BETTER THAN THAT, BEARDLINGS! NOW AGAIN, TWICE THE SPEED!"

~
​

Just a little piece.

 

[Thor's Twin]

Transcribed Lectures from the University of Altdorf on Dwarfs and Gift Giving

As this class has progressed through our time together, we have discussed a myriad of ways that Dwarven and Empire cultures diverge, connect, and contrast. The importance of Oaths, Promises, and Grudges being prominent examples of differences while the vital importance of heroes and stories being an area where the cultures connect. This lecture will focus on a unique confluence of these two aspects of Dwarven culture in a way that is impossible to emulate in the Empire. An aspect of Dwarven culture that can be said to be the root of the Empire itself. I speak, of course, of the tradition of gift-giving in the Dwarven Empire.

Now, before we begin our discussion on such an important part of Dwarven culture, we must refresh ourselves as to some characteristics of culture itself. Cultures come from a way of doing things, and in that vein, it is typically produced over long years of thought and tradition typically assumed to be normal by a group of people. To pinpoint a specific person as the reason behind a cultural phenomenon is typically as difficult as it is fruitless, for the progenitor of the tradition is not nearly as important as the reason behind the tradition. The "why" it is done. For Dwarves and their culture of gift-giving, however, that is not the case. For the dwarf who begat the tradition is well known and continues his work in the North; High Runelord Snorri Kluasson, the Gift-Giver, is ascribed to be a 7,000-year-old dwarf who it is said walked alongside the dwarven Ancestor Gods.

While it seems completely implausible that any mortal could live for such a stretch of time, and in my professional opinion it is most likely a series of successive dwarves taking up the mantle of Snorri Kluasson, the impact of such an iconic cultural figure having the name "Gift-Giver" should not be ignored. From the founding of the Dwarven Empire, gift-giving has had a unique niche within the eternal balancing of scales that Dwarves undertake. No grudge is unpaid and no assistance is left uncompensated. So how, then, can one balance the scales of a gift which you can not repay back? This is a conundrum that the Dwarves have answered through ingenious means. If a dwarf is given a gift that they have no means of repaying back, then that dwarf will pass along their good fortune to others less fortunate than themselves. It is in this way that a gift from a Dwarven King to a thane or other noble will send a cascade of gifts down throughout the society of the Karak until, eventually, children are given gifts who are incapable of giving anything to someone lower than them on the hierarchy.

It is here that the second part of the gift-giving tradition is made apparent, the "Recognition of Generosity." For while a child cannot repay the gift he received, an adult with a trade certainly can. As such, when a dwarven child finally comes of age and begins his trade he begins work on a piece that he will present to his clan in recognition of their generosity. All such pieces are collected and then celebrated once a year, if able, by members of the clan in the Karak. This celebration is an acknowledgment that while all work should be fairly compensated, a clan grows stronger through the generosity of their members, of supporting the individuals in the clan to fully realize their gifts and strengths, even if those members are unable to repay the generosity of the clan at the moment. It is in this way that the Dwarves are able to square away their desire to not be indebted to another and their tradition of gift-giving.

How then does this culture of gift-giving become the root of the Empire itself? For the Empire does not have a great culture of gift-giving, especially given the oftentimes fractured Elector Counts of the Empire. The Empire does, however, owe its existence to the gifting of Ghal Maraz to the Great Sigmar by the Dwarven High-King. And if it was only the gifting of Ghal Maraz, then perhaps there would be no Empire today, for as mighty a hammer as Ghal Maraz is, it is not able to pound political alliances or unity out of fractured man. No, the Dwarven High-King seemed to find inspiration from the Gift-Giver in his gifts to Great Sigmar. For with Ghal Maraz came the twelve Runefangs, and with all of these weapons came the implication of rulership. For while Sigmar was certainly equal to Ghal Maraz, were the twelve tribal rulers equal to the Runefangs? Unlikely. But by being gifted these great weapons, the twelve rulers could unite their people and begin to actually rule under Sigmar. Just as legend holds that Snorri Klausson gave a weapon and kingship to the first kings of Karak Drakk, so too did the High-King give weapons and rulerships to Sigmar and his followers.

The High-King of the Dwarves knew, as his culture had engrained into him to know, that such generosity to the leader of men would repay not only the High-King but the entire Karak Anzor. And over the years the High-King's generosity has paid out, for even though the Greenskins threaten the Dwarves from the South and the East, and Chaos threatens from the North, the Dwarves have secured a respite from the West. A bulwark of assuredness that despite how bleak the world may be, they are not alone in facing the threats.

 

[jwolfe_beta]

Because we'll have unleashed on the world... a Runesmith, nay, a Dawi who doesn't Grumble.

Click to shrink...

Oh that gives me an idea.
Hope this is found to be amusing @soulcake

Transcribed Lectures from the University of Altdorf on Dwarf Runesmiths: Scions of the Gift giver

Dwarf historical records and sagas often recount the deeds and creations of runesmiths throughout the ages. An intriguing exception to this occurs when one examines the records of the Norscan Holds, specifically Kraka Drakk and Snorri Klausson. While the deeds of the Gift Giver are many and varied (See the Battle of the Dragon's Maw, Trollslayer, Foundations of the Norscan Ungdrin Ankor....) very often the Runelord's apprentices are included in the histories. As if the dwarfs are not only crediting the Runelord for legendary works and deeds but also giving him credit for training those that would become legends in turn.

Of those taught by Runelord Klausson, three individuals stand out in particular. Dolgi Embermane (often referred to as 'Thane of the Granite Throng') created a vast army of near-indestructible golems that stand as eternal guardians against incursions from the Chaos Wastes into Dwarf lands. Fjolla Stokkisdottir (The Shieldmaiden) also raised defenses against the Ruinous Powers, but against their more insidious influences. Massive obelisks, hewn from the very hearts of the mountains and coated with Gromril-inlaid Runes that create a protective aura cover the entirety of the Norscan peninsula dampening and weakening the energies flowing from the Northern Wastes. Without this protection Imperial scholars agree that the Norscans would have universally fallen to Chaos and forced their dwarf neighbors to exterminate them for their own safety.

The third and most famous would be Snerra Magnasdottir, the Shining One. While her older counterparts are known to mostly have worked in the Norscan Holds, Magnasdottir is recorded to have visited every Dwarf Hold along the World Edge Mountains and elsewhere. As the Time of Woes began, the now-ancient Runelord enacted what has been described as one of the greatest feats of Runic craft since the ancestor god Thungni himself. At the heart of every Dwarf Karak she crafted a great runic artifact as tall as any curtain wall, tied to the royal family. It's effects are straight-forward if far from simple. So long as the royal family stood, so long as this place could truly be called a Karak; no greenskin or skaven would be able to set foot in the Karak's holding without burning alive.



AN: Noblebright ending where our bumbling beardlings of apprentices took all the discoveries etc that we passed onto them and ran with it.

 

[Chimeraguard]

OOC: My attempt at an Omake. Unfocused yeah, but maybe I'll think up some others for specific Apprentices.
-------

Runesmith Journeyman Quest
​

In the earliest days, the Ancestors left the Southlands and the safety of Karak Zorn, forging a path of colonization that drew your peoples ever northwards. A time of colonization and great woe, for monsters of all size and shape stalked the lands, yet the Dawi prevailed; girded by Valaya's protection, armed with Grungni's craft and led by Valiant Grimnir's strategy your people carved their way along the great seams of gems and ore, their camps becoming homes, then fortresses, then finally Karaks. Izril, Azul, Eight Peaks, and many more minor Holds sprung up as your folk made their way ever northwards. A people, a kingdom united in values and blood, from the Rubybeards, Copperlockes, Durazklad and Norgrimlings, great lineages would see themselves born in the fires of this great trek and tempered in its growth. Among this burgeoning kingdom and her many families, your line especially is held in great esteem, for you are the blood of Thungni, son of Grungni, the second dwarf to ever learn the secret of the runes, who along with his father spread them amongst your people to offer protection and destruction in equal measure.

But you are not one of those great masters of Thungni's craft.

Not yet.

When you began, you were a mere
[ ] Gender: Beardling
[ ] Gender: Plaitling
of your Clan, and though you possessed the Gift, you needed to be taught. You needed a Master to guide you through your bumbling, correct your mistakes, and teach you the first steps one must take to become a Runesmith. You were a mere Apprentice, and it was only decades into your training until you were even allowed to strike a Rune, a moment that shall remain with you until your dying day. Trial after trial, decade after decade, every waking moment and half your time asleep containing another lesson, you slowly, painstakingly learned all there was to teach you, until at last, your Master

[ ] Master: Kraggi Steelback, Runelord of Karak Drazh
A member of the Brotherhood of Dron, Master Kraggi has a mind for metal unlike any other Dwarf you've ever seen in your (admittingly rather short) life. But he has given you insights into the varied metals of the world, most importantly Gromril. He has created masterwork weapons and armor, gleaming in runecraft so glorious it blinds. At times, it seems as though he makes his works on something... more, with metals that gleam a purest silver.
(Weapon and Armour Rune Specialties, Bonus to working with metals (especially Gromril), ??? Metal Inspiration)

[ ] Master: Jordis the Tide Turner, Runelord of Karak Kadrin
Despite her relative youth (a mere six centuries!), Jordis the Tide Turner has made a name for herself across the Royal Clans of the Karaz Ankor. Her Banners can be found in the armories of many kings, borne aloft by their greatest champions. She's also known for a strange tendency to intervene at just the right moment, starting from when she flew her Masterwork at the height of a frantic battle at Peak Pass, drawing a horde of Daemons from descending on the main host, and emerged battered, but victorious, banner still flying defiantly.
(Banner Runes Exceptional Specialty, wider connections across the Karaz Ankor, personal combat bonus)

[ ] Master: Snorri Klausson, Runelord of Kraka Drakk
A somewhat odd Dwarf, student of the even odder Master Yorri (no other title.) Renowned as the Gift Giver when, to fulfill a drunken Oath, he created enough masterwork toys to give one to every child in the Hold (not the recently founded and still small Kraka Drakk, his old Hold) twice over in a mere two months! He has been known first and foremost for his tremendous level of productivity ever since then, which you have seen displayed time after time, when he would lock himself in his workshop for a few years and emerge with enough equipment to outfit the entire hold.
(Engineering and Talismanic Specialties, Tremendous Productivity, Odd and Esoteric Runes)

finally deemed your work "mostly tolerable", and decided you would not completely disgrace them, your Clan, or yourself if you were to take the next step on the path of Runesmithing: the Journey.

You will travel the world, and for the first time, without the guidance of your Master. You will bask in what marvels it has to display and offer. You will endure its endless dangers. You will be inspired and learn as one only can through experience. And you will return with something that will show all that you are worthy of further instruction. You will earn your right to become a Master Runesmith.

Or you will die trying.

 

[Copperscale]

@soulcake: have an omake

Spoiler

It's my first ever, hope it's passable

Dolgi Embermane was reminiscing on his days as an apprentice, striking practice rune after practice rune under the strict gaze of his master were barely half a century behind him. He remembered thinking he'd done a good enough job, only for his master to point out flaw after flaw.
How he would start over, careful to not repeat the same mistakes, and Master Snorri would find yet other flaws.
He knew he was the least talented of his master's latest batch, but that he had long since gotten over it. It wasn't a shortcoming of his, as much as it was a ridiculous overabundance of talent in his fellows.

Seeing all those beardlings being rushed to the halls of Valaya, seeking refuge from the monsters and demons made his blood boil. How many families had been rent asunder? How many clans had been gutted?

No. He had to do something.
------------------------------------
At first, he thought he could craft a bolt for the Reckoner, inscribed with Runes, and the names of the dwarfs that had fallen, but then he realized that too many had fallen in the recent battles, and he couldn't carve inscriptions that fine.
So he took his idea a step further. He'd carve a bolt for each fallen hold, and upon each bolt, the names of the fallen. Despite his broken leg, he'd gone to the halls of Gazul, to collect the names of the fallen, as well as their deeds. He spoke to the wounded, and those grieving.
He wasn't the most delicate with words, but the promise of immortalizing the deeds of their ancestors on a weapon meant to avenge them was the balm to many young dwarf's wounded souls.

Every tale he was told oppressed him, and filled him with indignation at the beasts' murderous ways. One bolt per hold was not enough. He would carve a bolt for every shattered clan, with the Runes and the founding deeds of the clan inscribed on the tip, and the names of the fallen on the shaft, driving it forward, deep into the hearts of the beasts.

When he was finally allowed to leave the halls of Valaya, fit enough that his wife would not have his head when he started working himself to the bone again, he made his way to the foundry district, eyes burning with the fire of inner vision.
He had one of the smaller forges curtained off requested a couple of cartfuls of the standard bolts for the commonest war engines in the hold's defences.
After all, of the latest batch of Snorri Giftgiver's apprentice, he was the one most like their Master.
--------
As he finished the last stroke of Grudge Rune on the first tip, the blue glow that had been building up in the other Runes turned into an angry red.
Well then!

 

[Horium]

King of the Skies climbed ever higher throughout the reaches his Domain, rising beyond even the easy sight of Clouds themselves, afore he made a tempestuous turn and dove from those great heights, plunging fearlessly to a dark, palpable miasma of Hunger and Fury, clad in the stolen mantle of Storms, that shambled far, far below on ground which groaned beneath the unnatural weight and debased nature of the Dragonfoe, the Monstrous Heir.

Both his mighty stature and the vast forces of Thunder and Winter embedded in his flesh lent the Sky King's descent a force greater than that of an avalanche in full swing, his very body forging an unstoppable projectile from Heavens to smite the corrupted Enemy that craved his Heart.

For any other, such a plunge would have been impossible to make, the great heights too mean with air, the velocity of the fall too deadly, the distance too great to aim accurately.

But he was not any other. He was the Firstborn of his kind, the Scion of Firmament. And Skies were his Realm.

The Sky King's fall pulverized the surroundings for many a mile, instantly vaporizing the foul creatures that made up a twisted entourage around his gargantuan prey, and created a vast circle of devastation and smoke surrounding Kholek, the "Sun Eater".

Suddenly, all was silence, as even the rolling thunder surrounding the smoky landing abated, the skies above clearing and a silent wintery wasteland dominated the landscape.

Unfortunately, it was not to be, as the Sky King suddenly heard a fey sound come from within the centre of desolation wreathed in smog, eerily alike to rumbling of boulders and quaking of thunder, and with a thunderclap, the storm came back to life, below and above.

With a start, the griffon realized that the Shaggoth was chuckling, even as his rapidly visible form became apparent, its flesh riven with immeasurable wounds that bled copiously, its head a ruin and its mountainous spine contourted into an unnatural shape. Despite the horrific wounds, the son of Krakanrok seemed hardly bothered.

"You Came. My Thanks. I Was Not Looking Forward To Digging You Out. NOW, MY TURN!"

With a speed completely at odds with its size, Kholek swung its fell weapon.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Many hours later, The Sky King fled the battleground, its superior alacrity even when wounded allowing him to escape, as Duty and Pride momentarily warred inside him. The flight from combat was a heavy sting on his dignity, but he knew his task well, and his Flock took precedence over his Ego.

With a heavy heart, the Firstborn knew that he was no match for the Dragon-Ogre, for even when suffering wounds that would have killed a True Dragon many times over, the dark blessing of the Shaggoth's Dark Masters allowed the Sun Eater to fight on without rest or respite.

King of the Skies observed the blizzard howling around him, even as a roaring Storm was left far behind in his wake.

"Nothing for it, then. I will bury Kholek in snow and ice, and make his advance freeze to a halt. Let's see how his lizard flesh likes the bite of Winter."

After all, he had promised his allies of Earth and Mountain that he would slow Kholek down, if everything else failed.

 

[Copperscale]

@soulcake: here's part two

Crafting the Grudge bolts, as the engineers had taken to calling them after he'd finished the first lot, had taken him most of a year. He hadn't gone into seclusion, as he'd miss his wife too much, but he had worked many a late night, and sometimes through the night as well.
He'd earned his moniker, "Crank Arm" twice over and then some.

After a handful of days of vacation, he returned to the Forging district, where he began to hear some Runesmiths grumbling.
Using the stealth skills earned over the decades he'd spent teaching Snerra's to focus and stop being as skittish as a goat, he moved within eavesdropping range.
It seems like his master was up to his old tricks again, rustling the runesmiths for another great undertaking: he wanted to arm the newly arrived refugees with Rune weapons.

To Dolgi, his master's wisdom was self-evident. After all, every dwarf in the Throng of Kraka Drak was armed with a Runic weapon. The throng had taken significant losses recently, but the weapons from the fallen warriors would be passed on as heirlooms within their respective clan.
As the Siege of Kraka Drak approached it's the first decade, even the youngest of the refugees from the first wave was an adult, itching to fight. There wasn't a shortage of hands to take up those weapons.

Dispossessed Beardlings without the protection of their elders, eager to fight for a chance to reclaim their home and do their ancestors proud?
They should be given as much help as much as possible.
In these bitter days, a Runic weapon would do as much good as a word of wisdom, and be taken twice as well. A weapon would make them that much more likely to see the next day.

But why not both?

Well, the hold had enough Longbeards to hand out words of wisdom, and enough runesmiths to hand out Rune weapons.
It was the first lessons Master Snorri had taught him and Fjolla. Not the one about the Rune of Pride, though he still remembered that one too. It was after all his intelligent question that he'd asked his Master after all. But the lesson that had struck him the most was that Beardlings were important. Master Snorri had shielded them from a rockslide with his own body. And having now taken his fair share of hard knocks, he could imagine how much that incident hard to have hurt.
It was a lesson that Master Snorri had reinforced time and again, especially when he'd let them have a hand in teaching Snerra.

Was this one of the times where he should keep his mouth shut and keep the peace?
They were his elders, and they outranked him, but perhaps he could pass on some of his Master's wisdom to them. Circuitously, of course, just in case this was one of those occasions. They were Elders and could draw their own conclusions from his words, he wouldn't bring up the Rule of Pride directly.

He left them to their grumbling, still unnoticed, and returned to the forge he still had reserved for his next project. Next to his supplies were the five tomes he had penned in the Halls of Valaya while recovering from his wounds. Five tomes filled with lamentations of tragic deaths before their time.

If that didn't make them jump into action, he didn't know what would.

He took the topmost three and walked up to the table where older dwarfs were sitting and after receiving a nod of assent, he dropped the books on the table and joined them.

Without a word, he pushes an unmarked tome towards each one of the runesmiths, drawing their attention once more.
"In the first days of my apprenticeship, my Master taught us something very important..."

 

[Chimeraguard]

OOC: This has been in my head for a while, so I decided to make an omake about the various enemies of Kraka Drakk might have in "modern" Warhammer. Note that I'm assuming that we do kill Kholek, since if we don't, well, everyone in Kraka Drakk will probably be dead.
------
Foes of the Dragon Hold
Life in the Karaz Ankor is to be a bastion surrounded by enemies, and the Northern Holds are no exception to this. Kraka Drakk, as the largest, wealthiest, and most prosperous Hold in the North, often spearheads battles against the Dwarfs' many, many foes. There are some foes however, that hold hatred and grudges against the Dragon Hold almost as strong and fierce as the ones it holds against them.

Trolls
While the Greenskins, Skaven, and Chaos are the enemies the Dawi hate the most for countless Holds lost and Clans destroyed, it is the Trolls that the Dwarfs have the longest history of fighting. Long before the Goblin Wars, or even the Coming of Chaos, Dwarf caravans that braved the surface risked Troll attacks, though the beings overall stupidity prevented fortified Holds from being put at risk.

Bordering the heavily populated Troll Country, Kraka Drakk has an especially long and storied history of battling this old menace. The battle against the Greedy One (a particularly powerful, intelligent, and Chaos-corrupted Troll, as well as the progenitor of the Greedy Troll sub-species) a mere few decades into the Hold's founding.

Generations of Kraka Drakk Dawi have made their names hunting the Trolls ever since, assisted by the Hold's plethora of Rune Weaponry. Most prominent are those forged by the Legendary Runelord Snorri Gift Giver, his creations imbued with an aura that strikes fear into the hearts of most Trolls. The only exception being the Greedy Trolls, who loathe the Runelord and Hold that took their progenitor from them, and many will join any force that seeks to make war upon Kraka Drakk, bringing with them warbands of their lesser kin.

Skaven
Though hardly unscathed, the Gianthome Mountains were not as ravaged by the Time of Woes as the Worlds Edge Mountains where the bulk of the Karaz Ankor inhabited, so Kraka Drakk and the other Northern holds escaped the worst of the damage. This does not mean Kraka Drakk escaped unharmed, but combined with its sheer distance, at the very least, this allowed it to largely repel the Skaven attacks launched at it.

But there is no shortage of conflict, as the main Underway route that once linked Kraka Drakk to the rest of the Karaz Ankor is now contested with Clan Moulder of Hell Pit. Gronti have battled Rat Ogres and Abominations, while heavy patrols and fortified strongpoints fend off Skaven raids, and counterattacks retake fallen positions. The escalating warfare has become increasingly costly for Clan Moulder from its more distant position away from the larger Skaven Under-Empire, while more than once, surface forays by the Throng have depleted the stock of monsters the Clan wished to experiment on.

A dream of many in the Dragon Hold is to one day make a decisive assault to burn away Hell Pit in its entirety, equalled by the desire of many in Hell Pit to see the home of the Dwarf-things plundered, their Griffon allies dragged into the depths of the workshops of Clan Moulder.

Chaos Norscans
Though the Norscans of the south have largely rejected Chaos, shielded from the Wastes by ranges of mountains, those of the northern shores have happily embraced it. While much of the hatred and grudges is between the two factions of Norscans, those aligned with Chaos will hardly pass up an opportunity to fight the Dwarfen realms. To them, a victorious siege of a Dwarf Hold promises plunder beyond anything else achievable in Norsca. It is also a swift path to glory, for it is said the Dark Gods still resent the failure to wipe the North clean during the great incursion, and will richly reward any who could succeed where the Suneater failed.

Dragon Ogres
The Dwarfs have won victories and made enemies of all the servants of Chaos. Fimir, Beastmen, Daemons, Warriors. But none hold the same loathing for Kraka Drakk as the Dragon Ogres. During the Chaos Incursion, when Daemons rampaged across the entire world, when Aenarion wielded the Sword of Khaine on Ulthuan and Grimnir created the Road of Skulls on his final journey, Kholek Suneater led the invasion of the North, the Dark Gods promising great rewards should it be razed and eternal torment should he fail.

Unfortunately for him, he failed, brought down in the final stage of the Siege of Kraka Drakk.

The loss of one of the first-born of Krakanrok the Black, a Shaggoth of such an age to have been present when the Dragon Ogres' pact with Chaos was made, was poorly received by the rest of the species. Whenever the Dragon Ogres are roused from their slumber by great lightning storms, bands will gather together under Shaggoths, seeking to both avenge their elder and redeem their species' failure in the eyes of the Chaos Gods. For their part, the Dwarfs and Griffons of Kraka Drakk are always on the hunt for Dragon Ogres. Each one hunted down while they still slumber is one less that will besiege them in the future, and one more to be added to the tally of vengeance for wrongs inflicted across the history of the North.

 

[ArchAIngel]

As I said I would. For I give my oath like the Dawi.

Legendary Lord, Snorri Klausson.

Starting Difficulty: Medium. "While Kraka Drakk is poor in resources, and has little room to expand, the hordes of the Norsii are very poor at handling stout Dawi infantry."

Faction Trait: This Far, And No Further: "The oath of Kraka Drakk will resound far and wide. Given the day they beat the Sun Eater." +10 Melee defense factionwide in Siege Battles. -50% attrition from sieges. Walls take 1 less turn to build and are 25% cheaper. Walls move down 1 tier to build, minor outposts gain special Tier Three walls.

Legendary Lord Trait: The Gift Giver: "By Grugni, I will give them gifts!": All units gain magic melee/ranged attacks.(Lord's Army) +5 armor piercing damage melee and ranged.(Lord's army.) +5% Ward Save(Lord's Army.)

Defeat Trait: No More Gifts: "But who will make the beardlings happy on Ancestor's Day now?": -1% Upkeep, faction wide, cause Fear in Dwarves.

Special Trait, if defeated by Suneater: Vengeance Against Vengeance: "The Suneater has avenged his terrible defeat at the hands of this... this DWARF.": Causes Terror in Dwarfs, +25 Armor Piercing Damage.

Special Trait gained if defeats Suneater: Midnight Underground: "I told you, wazzock, get out of my Hold.": +30 Bonus vs Large, Charge Defense Versus All(Lord's Army)

Special Trait List:

1: Winds Denied: "The truly old Dawi are more resistant to Magic, but even among them, The Gift Giver is a unique entity, bending it to runes and his own ancient ways." +25% Magic Resist(Lord's Army.) -20 to Enemy Winds of Magic reserves.

(All the next require 1)

2: Smith of Myth: "A Runelord from the Golden Age knows more than even Kragg the Grim has forgotten. Including many, many tricks..." -25% cooldown to all Runesmith Runes(Faction Wide.)

3: Hearth and Home: "POCKET TROLL TONGUE, BEARDLING." Perfect Vigor, Unbreakable when attacked. (Lord's Army) +50% Ambush Defense Chance(Lord's Army)

4: Defense. In. Depth. "And here's where we put the Gronti, and here's the magma traps, and here's the falling axes, and here's the pitfalls, and here's the firing lines..." +150 XP a turn for all garrison units.(Faction Wide) +80 XP a turn for units in Snorri's army.

5: Adamantine Armor: "The Brotherhood's FACES when I sent them a bar but a year later! It's like they expected me to be slow on it!" +25 Armor(Lord), +5% Ward Save(Lord), +10 Melee Defense(Lord).

(6 requires 2-5)

6: The Earth Mover: "I built a four-decade project in ONE, beardlings! You can move your legs a little faster!" +25% army movement speed, +50% Underway movement speed, -10% construction cost(Faction Wide)

Notes: May not take Anvil of Doom mount. May take Griffon mount, stats comparable to Deathclaw.

Legendary Items:

Talisman: The Wyrm Banner: "The creation that bid the forging of the legendary warcry of his Karak. This far. And no further." 40m Aura: +25% Magic Resist. Units with the Summoned keyword take constant damage. +10% Ward Save, +5 Melee Defense(Lord)

Armor: Barak Azamar: "White as a snowcapped mountain, cold and hard as stone, beating like a living thing." Regeneration-like Effect without fire weakness. +20 Armor(Lord), Activatable Ability Barak Azamar. Effects: 90 second cooldown. 40 second duration. +44% Ward Save, +20 Melee Defense, Cause Explosion centered on Self with IFF.

Weapon: Zhaargal: "Creation and Destruction in equal measure, Zharrgal is the perfect weapon for any Runelord." +3 Public Order(Locally), Weeping Blades Effect(-50% enemy armor on hit.) -10% upkeep(Lord's Army), Siege Attacker. Bound Spell: Sunfang x3

Enchanted Item: Her Cloak: "Red. White. Simple. Clean. And woe, woe to those who break it." +15% Ward Save, +5 Armor, +5 Melee Defense, Unbreakable.
(I'm taking suggestions here.)

AN: Yes, I know Snorri isn't an army leader. Neither are a lot of Legendary Lords, this is for cool. And pinging @soulcake if he likes it.