Lore:Rourken

The Rourken were a clan and house of Dwemer that lived in the wastes of Hammerfell. The Rourken are most well-known for their exodus from Morrowind, after the formation of First Council between the Chimer and the Dwemer. In legend, the Rourken Chieftain grasped his mighty warhammer, Volendrung and cast it to the far west, where he and his people would rebuild.  The hammer is seen as a family symbol for Clan Rourken.  Their capital city is known as Volenfell, which translates to the "City of the Hammer" in  . It is located in the vast expanse of the Alik'r Desert, however accounts vary on its specific location, either in the   region,  or in the mountains southeast of  .  
 

History
thumb|right|The Hall of Volendrung, where the hammer landed
thumb|left|Rkundzelft, the Rourken Clanhold in Craglorn
When the   was founded in  , the Rourken Clan self-exiled themselves from   because they did not want to make peace with the  . The Rourken Chieftain lifted his hammer, Volendrung and threw it to the far west across  , promising to lead his clan to "wherever it should fall". Their trek through the continent has been the subject of legend, often depicted in Hammerfell   as a mass exodus of golden-clad dwemer and trudging through the forests of  . Once they reached the desert, Volendrung landed head-strong from the clouds like a falling star in the night sky before it landed.  The Rourken Clan initially settled throughout the province's southern coast, where they established an easy trading agreement with the   to the south, and the proto- s to the north. Near the Gilane region, they built their capital city, Volenfell, on the site where his hammer fell. 

The Rourken discovered that the land was rich in resources and untapped potential was within their grasp, so they expanded beyond their capital and built many deep mines and busy workshops.  The Rourken had expanded all over the Alik'r Desert and beyond, as far south as   in  ,  and some that stayed east in the   like the colony,  .  The Dwemer scholar,   believed that other clans splintered themselves from the main clan to settle in far more remote places. One such example was the ruins of   in  's snow frontier,  and another possible example was the ruins of  , in  .  But even with this example, Ghelein suggested that there may be even more undisturbed archaeological sites as far south as Cyrodiil and  . 

Sometime prior to their disappearance, the Rourken Clan was engaged in a large-scale conflict with the Arch-Mage,   aptly known as the Battle of Rourken-Shalidor. On the side of the Dwemer was King Rourken, one of the last dwarven kings. In battle, he wielded the  , a magical tower shield that was fashioned specifically for him against Shalidor's magic. It was lost to time after the battle,  but its historical importance was well-known and documented.  Some modern myths dictate that the Dwemer of Hammerfell were driven out of the province by  s, but it is unknown when this happened. 

The Rourken Clan vanished with the rest of their race sometime around  , in concurrence with the  . Their cities were heavily plundered by the   and  ic pirates that roamed the coast, and the streets were prowled by desert predators until the sandstorms had gradually swallowed them. By the time the   arrived in  , much of their civilization had been lost,  though some of their ruins are still accessible, albeit very buried. With that being said, Volenfell's existence had been questioned by historians and archaeologists for the longest time, leaving many to question whether it ever existed. 

Post-Disappearance and Legacy
With Clan Rourken's self-exile from Resdayn, many other clans followed suit and settled in other regions beyond their traditional hold. Clan   is one such example, who followed the Rourken's path out of Resdayn and settled in what is now  . There, they built their new city,   and formed a four-way alliance between other city-states. However, as time went on and their alliance started to wane, the Kragen expanded further west into the  , where they built  . 

Two of the Clan's most well-known artifacts are Volendrung and Spellbreaker, both of which are also related to  , both   and   respectively. The writer,   claims that the former is one of the most notorious mythological artifacts in history, not only for its ties to both the Dwemer and  , but that every detail about it has been heavily questioned by scholars, such as Chief Rourken's ability to throw it cross-continent. A persistent theory from skeptics such as Gurour is that Volendrung's flight is poetic imagery of the clan's exodus from Resdayn. 

After many years of being lost in the desert, Volenfell was re-discovered in  , by the explorer duo,  ,  , and their band of adventurers in the northeastern Alik'r region in  . Their expedition team was able to locate it when they received rumors of the changing desert winds unearthing a Dwemer ruin. Their mission was to locate the  , an artifact of immense power,  but when Tharayya was betrayed by Verres and his mercenaries, the   stepped forward to defeat Verres and retreive the artifact, but a failsafe in the ruins buried the Guardian's Eye in the sands.  Since their discovery, there has been a race between scholars, treasure-hunters, and even the  ,  to search the ruins and its storied depths.  But even with the collapse and years since its discovery, by the late-Third Era, Volenfell and its ruins were still intacted, but they were reportedly near Gilane, according to the  . 

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