Cloudward Bound

Cloudward Bound is a book located within the library of Mol Boramm.

## Description

Cloudward Bound is a historical tome describing dealings with a sect of cloud giants that travelled the Ironfangs demanding payment for keeping the skies clear of dragons. Bound in griffon leather, the edges are folded but untorn.

## Research

### Completed by Hassk

*One would not be out of place to assume that Cloud Giants have not feud or folly with those that live beneath the surface of the soil and stone, but in that one's own chagrin and folly would be made plain. The residents of Ulding's Keep, a hovering settlement corralled in mist, haze and fog high within the skies had long considered themselves superior in stature, standing and elevation that those beneath them, but particularly those that dwelled beneath the surface. To those, and thus most notably so those of Mol Boramm. Though unconfirmed to this day, it is believed that this focus may have stemmed from the proximity of the dwarven kingdom to that of Pilskold, a Stone Giant Kingdom which which the Cloud Giants of Ulding's Keep has historically quarrelled. Although the dwarves of Mol Boramm have themselves found conflict with the steinjotun on numerous occasions, a silent amnesty of peace has long been the default political stance, and so such inaction has brought the ire of the skyejotun.*

*Conversely, some theologians have instead pointed towards a more religious reasoning for their attention, with reference to the most common member of the Ahlusian Pantheon held in high regard by most Cloud Giants in Ahlus, Vyra. Their dedication to the Secret Sister, holding the goddess highly in favour of her charm, persuasiveness, curiosity and proclivity towards trickery may offer a simple explanation to their quarrel. Favouring instead a smaller and more easily fortifiable entranceway that those of other dwarven kingdoms, the route into Mol Boramm is considered simply too small for most cloud giants to enter safely, and so restricts their inherent curiosity by depriving them of the passage of the halls. Despite the mundaneness of such an argument, further evidence is provided by the typical virtues of fickleness found amongst skyejotun, as well as numerous sightings of Vyra's Exarch appearing alongside Cloud Giant disciples.*

*Others have instead postulated that the result to be more indirect in nature. As aforementioned, through regular maintenance and ever-changing reworkings of the hallways, tunnels and corridors beneath the Ironfangs, Mol Boramm was made deliberately easily defendable, the exemplar fortress-city of Ahlus capable of being effectively defended from an army marching upon it with but a fraction of the souls attempting to conquer it. Coupled with the riches continuously drawn from the ground beneath through spiralling tunnels entrenched deep into the soil and stone, Mol Boramm has long been coveted by all manner of predominately chromatic dragons. Finding the dwarven kingdom to be too much of a challenge for even their might, their greed and/or wrath was frequently delivered upon surrounding settlements of material worth - and who more frequently that a floating settlement of extravagance and opulence? Numerous accounts have detailed pursuits of the city by draconic foes, the cloudbound settlement weaving dangerously close between mountain peaks to shield its residents from wreaths of lightning and flame.*