Kol Darim

**Kol Darim** (Nadûra: *Bul dakh kol Dhârim*, literally *Mine-citadel of the Exiles)* was a city-state on the northwest side of the Farwydd inlet, in the northeastern Danderillon. It was one of the oldest cities on the continent, founded by Rakkimarran exiles and explorers in the -2200s. It grew into a large subterranean city in a great cavern that bordered tributaries of the Farwydd inlet, tall and proud, reaching high to the cracks in the Delling Mountains above and low into the fiery mantle of the Cradle.

## What's In A Name?

**Kol Darim** was so named originally as **Kól Dárim** in the Old Rakki language, which meant 'Coal therein'. The name persisted; the first settlers decided to live in the cavern for its rich rock.

It was referred to by the natives of Gildegra and the Yuren River Valley to the north as **ᑲᓪ ᑕᕆᒻ** (**Kaltarim**).

## Darim: The City Therein

Kol Darim was founded in -2296 by Rakki sailors, pre-Skýndrar. Ragnar Fjállaþorson writes the following in his Rasmussland & Farlandarna (Rasmussia and the Wide World):

*Many moons ago, there sailed an intrepid group, Skýndrar before such a notion was even brought to name. In thirty boats they journeyed under bloody sails, and at their head stood proud Gruðolynn Rótthand Þormasdottir. Gruðolynn was not given the epithet Red-Hand lightly. In her home upon the øy of Reikur, it was said at the age of only twenty, she was set upon by a vittbjørn in the wastes. With her axe haphandedly embedded in a nearby æsc tree, the beast bore down on her, but she weathered its charge, and tore its heart out with her bare hands. For this, she gained her name, and the respect of many.*

*Let us return to the tale. Off to warmer shores they sailed, beneath crackling bolt and rumbling clouds, till they came to the inlet they named as the Fjárd of the Ødvilrar, the Bay of Drowned Wishes. On their journey in, they passed three great spires of rock, and on the land farward, there lay a small town of a peoples with an old tongue.*

*In the shadow of the jaws of the many towering fjallar, Rótthand and her fellows gave this land the Rakki name of Rávmunnen, the Mouth of the Fox. The people lived high up the farward fjall, and Rótthand and her crew knew this was not the end of their journey. Nonetheless, they spoke with the people of Rávmunnen, who in their tongue named themselves as Brakkánr, people of the Brakkan valley.*

*Many weeks of living amongst the Brakkánr had made Rótthand and her crew restless. It was around then that they heart of a local legend. As a seer of the valley told them, an old serpent god had made the mountain its home long ago. When the serpent, named in their tongue Bævcygg, died, its body became a vein of black gold that spiraled deep into the depths of the ground. The story intrigued Rótthand, and without much further hesitation they set off into the snowy fjallar.*

*A hard journey was weathered, with many turning back or falling. After days, even weeks striking the frozen rock up high above the Brakkan valley, the crew was rewarded. For Rótthand was cunning, and beneath a great and unique black tree, Ravensbone, they found it. A vein of black gold as promised, and as they mined more, it spiralled down and down into a great empty cavern. The cave was warm, and well-supplied with water and beasts. Rótthand and her fellows decided to call it a home, or so I am told, and in such honour they named it Kól Darim, meaning 'The coal therein'. As records tell, Kól Darim is a prosperous enclave, the only foray of Rðikkimarlanders onto Ðanland yet. Let us now move on from the valley, and onto elsewhere. There are tales yet of Ðanland.*

## Early Years

During the -18/1700s, the city was a prospering citadel that didn't own much outside land except for the mountains and some land at the foot, south of the city. It was ruled by Halfdarym Skolsson until the mid 1800s, and then Kjotverð Tooth-in-the-Eye succeeded his father. During this time, the advisor Heithkja served at both Jarls' sides. The city was long removed from its Rakki cousins since centuries ago, but with the encroaching arm of Æthelwulf, they considered sending for help to their long-separated family. Æthelwulf was voracious, and by -1780, Kol Darim was the only blank spot within the Rice (Kingdom of) Bræknge.

With the help of the Summer Army under Kjotverð, the Jarldom of Kol Darim launched its Great Raid on Braeknge, and took control of the Kingdom of Bracken and the north coast of the Danderillon.

Some years later, Kjotverð Jarl died, leaving his son **Sigurð the Unready** in his place.

## Some Odd Constants

Two things were legendarily constant in the city, and rumoured to have been around a long time. Firstly, Hallbjorn Ulfsson and his **Ulfsson Brew-House**, oldest brewery in the city. Second, Landgraf Richard Dread, who (allegedly) acted as advisor to every jarl from Kjotverð through to Erik Brimchin...

## Modern Times

Kol Darim was ruled in the early 1500s by the dwarf Lord, Erik Brimchin, whose son Burdur is on the Dwarf Council. A greying man of three hundred, he is well into his old age. He ruled throughout the 1400s and mid-1500s.

Kol Darim as an enclave was conquered by the Lusken Empire during their fourth century expansion. However, rather than do to them what they did to the Vreigardts (that is, crush them entirely and spread them thin), instead the Darimfolk were left with an ultimatum. Be flushed out of their homes and be abandoned, or stay put, but agree to supply Datria with iron and precious metal. Unwilling to lose their halls and mines, including their Great Forge, they agreed, and adhered to these terms until Datria fell.

In more recent times, the city was booming without the weight of the Luskens upon it. Full of wealth and power, it was also one of the most inacessible cities on Faerun, easily defended.

The city had a pit that reached down into The Underdark, where the Darim waged the First Darim-Drow War against the Tribunal of Spiders - their mortal enemies. The pit was known in Darim as *sparvgrappen*.

Its internal and external affairs was headed at the Darim Investigative Bureau.

Dain Axehelm was a Darim native, and returned in 1490 along with Kellen Brownwater, Kessar Truespear, Henrich, Crow and Balgolor Firbolgsprog. He and Crow stayed put, and joined the wars in the Underdark, becoming a legendary commander, and later a martyr in the process.

In late 1516, after the Second Battle for Guzuth Toth, the Darim realised they could fight a proxy war with all their dead for the Underdark. Since then, no graves were dug or left in the city. Instead, at the base of Sparrow's Pit, in the encampment of Sparrow's Landing, graves were made instead. Risen Darim would then join the battle in the Underdark, part of the Kol Darim Undead Legion. This gave rise to the Second Darim-Drow War.

## Weaponry

Darim weapons were simple and iconic. Their war picks, great war axes, and angular greatswords were of legendary renown, their thick chain armour was impenetrable, and they were famed for their hard heads that came in handy too. When applicable, they also rode war goats.

## Hierarchy

Kol Darim, like old Rakki culture, placed strong emphasis on honour (kutskýptr) and spirit (húgr).

Their hierarchical ranks had many levels. The highest was Jarl (earl) and Jarlsbur (Jarlsson and Jarlsdottyr) - the Heir(s) to the Jarl).

The other high ranks included landgraf, a land-owning noble, and góþir, advisor to the Jarl's court.

## Kol Darim in the Late 16th Century

After the assassination of Jarl Erik Brimchin in 1557, his son Burdur took over. However, Burdur passed away himself of old age in 1589. After their deaths, by motion of the Sommarþing (Summer Parliament), to avoid a crisis of succession that left a year-long power vacuum, the city-state was eventually passed to the most experienced member of the þing. That was Richard Dread. He was appointed officially as **Leidnstadtsgraf Rityrd Dreddr** on midsommar 1591.