The Rune Wars

## Precursor

In the year 670 of the Era of Dawn, A joint expedition of two Terran dwarf noble families to the area beneath the Equatorial Barrier discovered a strange underground ruin. Upon further excavation, it was realised that the runes on this place corresponded with the ancient Mortalis people, the first lifeforms- and was the most intact series of runes that had been found since their era.

This lead to a split between the two houses-

House Oresunder wanted to bring the runes to the surface world, so that they could be studied by experts in the Guild of Mages and Enchanters, their full meaning deciphered, and the information kept recorded, while House Kragrock wished to keep the runes in place, a secret for only Dwarves to make pilgrimage to.

## Beginning

As The Ancients are considered the ultimate of the Ancestor Gods of the dwarven religion, tensions quickly boiled over into an all-out war, where every dwarven city was forced to decide which side it lay on. Soon, tunneling and brutal warfare erupted underground- whole cities were plunged into darkness or outright destroyed through explosives and heavy weaponry.

With more and more cities engulfed in this civil war, it seemed that it would not end until one or the other side was left as ash. Brutal methods were enforced, tramways that had stood the test of time were broken down to be smelted into new weapons, and the War of Runes led to the shutdown of all trade with external cultures until it's end.

With so many cities collapsed and tunnels caved in, only the one path remained between the two sides of the war- the city of Deepfaul. Deepfaul became the primary battleground between the two factions, and for years was considered to be a city of the dead, lined with corpses from the thousands of fights that took place in it's once welcoming halls.

## Ending

In the year 699 of the Dawn Era, a final battleplan was drawn up. House Kragrock devised a plan- they would destroy the city, cave in it's tramway, and leave Oresunder to rot within it. They knew that the only routes out from that city would be through the city gates past the Equatorial Barrier, and therefore inaccessible. They would doom House Oresunder to an eternity locked in their own mines, with no exit. A slow and cruel death of suffocation.

However, what Kragrock did not know was that Oresunder had secretly begun plans to mobilize- they took the ancient runes that had been the catalyst of the war, broken them from the underground temple, and carefully dragged them back to their homebase. Although they had no knowledge of what Kragrock would plan, they knew that they could not leave the Runes in contested territory.

When the city of Deepfaul was finally destroyed, and it's tunnels forever blocked, Kragrock discovered in despair that they had also sealed away the ancient tablets- dooming themselves to never again see the catalyst of their own war.

## Aftermath

Little was known about the true and final fate of House Oresunder and it's allies.

Sealed away with time running out, the priests of the families translated what they could, and saw that what was written on the stones was  a prophecy. It spoke of the rune wars, and what House Oresunder should do once the city of Deepfaul fell.

Dig.

Dig Deep.

And so the dwarves dug until they hit upon the strange world of the Under. There, they discovered more air, and a strange heady liquid of a dark purple aura. The Runes told them to drink deep, and they did.

This was the birth of the Duergar. The Deep Dwarves of the Under. This protected them from teh Mind Flayers and demonic beasts that dwelled within this dark land, but also filled them with an irreconcilable hatred for those who locked them in the dark.