The Xadroiya Empire

## **Origin of the Astral Dwarves**

 Claims
 Players
 Inhabitants
Humens,
 Active Organizations

**Xadroiya Empire**'s history is build around the Star Fall legend about a certain city, called Prevmore. It is said that a long time ago, it used to be a ship build by a particular horned subspecies of dwarves, called the astral dwarves, which resided not underground, but rather in space on asteroids as they harvested crystals in order to stabilize their floating fortresses. Sadly, due to their greed for rare minerals, they disturbed their own ecosystem, causing their floating cities to break apart and rain upon the Thunder Mountains. Many of their kin died in the process, but those who survived, had lost all their past knowledge regarding their advanced technology. Falling back into the medieval ages, it did not prevent them from trying to build a ship, called Prievmore, what was their last hope to return to their homeland, but having lost all their past knowledge, they had no other choice than to ask a mage to enchant their ship, so it could fly them back. However, something went horribly wrong during the process and instead of gently floating into the sky, ship broke apart, while the core engine was blasted into the mountain Treorith. Fortunately, the majority of the dwarves survived the accident and finally give up on returning to the stars as they founded their first cities Prievmore and Treorith, but for the majority of species inhabiting Thrae, it is merely a fairy tale and the strange, little white horns on the heads of the dwarves are believed to be the result of their kind mixing their blood at some point with minotaurs. Nevertheless, the tale of Star Fall is passed on from generation to generation of young dwarves by their parents, elders or friends, because deep within their soul, they never stopped to long for the stars, reaching out with their hearts towards the endless, pitch black night sky.

## **Cities of Xadroiya**

   **Prievmore** is the most famous city in the Xadroiya Empire, because of its connection to the Star Fall legend. Build from countless ancient junk, wooden planks, ship wracks and other trash, it is also the poorest city of the astral dwarf kingdom, located at an abandoned lake side. It is known for its high criminality rate, shady smugglers, thieves and proud fishermen, who supply it with meat on a daily basis, selling it on the marketplace in the middle of the city among countless blacksmiths offering their dwarven tools to brave adventures and merchants.

Most buildings in the city can be reached over old, squeaky bridges and water paths between the alleys, since the entire structure of it was build directly on the water, using sturdy wooden bars. However, no matter where one might wander, they will always smell a moldy fragrance being emanated by the pipes, channeling the dirty cooling water from the workshops into the lake, water what forced the fishes in the lake to adopt to the new harsh conditions by evolving or escape into the sea through the small passage in the lake, leading into the ocean. If someone desires to fish on that lake, they would need to bring a spear with themselves, because a few inhabitants of the lake exponentially increased their body mass in order to channel more water through their gills due to the lack of air in the tainted liquid surrounding them, becoming true monsters, consuming everything, they can kill in the cold waters. They are called Lurkers by the townspeople and their fat is used for Prievmore's oil lamps.

   **Uvreim** is a city, what can be reached by traveling up the river, leading into the polluted lake near Prievmore. It is build from marble, found in a mine beneath it, laying within one of many mushroom swamps, spread over the entire area, but unlike the fishermen's residence, it is located right on the border of the Thunder Mountains, where rich forests still can be found, allowing its citizens to cultivate bees in large amounts and sell their delicious honey to the neighbor provinces under the name of the Iron Wind trading company.

The forests surrounding Uvreim are called the shadow leafs due to the high amount of animal spirits roaming through them happily, freed from their mortal shell. They used to be the animals, which once traveled over the Thunder Mountains before the mountain tip of Treorith vanished, causing its volcanic steam to escape and create countless hurricanes, slaughtering the local fauna without any mercy. Wizards who came to study this unique phenomenon, settled down on the fertile countryside, founding the institute of arcane studies of the borderlines in Uvreim, which is controlled by the capital. By supporting Xadroiya to develop Soul Gear, intelligent weaponry, injected with artificial minds, produced from the research of the deceased animals, they are allowed to permanently stay in Uvreim and pursuit their own studies concerning the nature of the ectoplasmic anomalies within the woods of the dwarven realms.

**Ibrafast** is said to have beenconstructed right after the destruction of the mountain Treorith in order to secure the survivors in the core engine, what was blasted into the mountain side. However, in reality no one knows when it was made, for the dwarves it guarded the entrance to their capital Treorith since the beginning of times. Carved into the mountain, Ibrafast is a gateway, defending the heart of the dwarven kingdom, but also functions as a storage for merchandise, produced in Treorith or the goods, which are being transported into the mountain by foreign merchants, creating the trading hotspot of Xadroiya. Unfortunatly, it is also the meeting point of the criminal syndicates residing in Prievmore, who control the flow of stolen and illegal goods within the borders of the Thunder Mountains. The government tolerates their mischievous activities, because they mainly only damage the economy systems of foreign countries by selling fake products under the labels of other nations in the far west besides Xadroiya and, therefore, only help their government to dominate other markets with its superior economy and high quality merchandise. They go so far as to accept requests from the government to destroy certain foreign trading guilds, not leaving behind a single trace.

**Treorith** or also called Mountain's Eye is the gem of Xadroiya with its countless sparkling casinos, luxurious restaurants filled with delicious dishes, secure banks and the only stock market on the entire planet. One can gain a fortune over a night or lose everything they earned in a blink of an eye, but Treorith is not only famous for its gambling establishments. Unlike other cities, it is buried deep under the mountain and possesses a thick iron ball like shell, surrounding its core crystal, supplying its street lights with mana, instead of simply stone walls, making it the safest city of the dwarves, since it can only be accessed through Ibrafast.

It is governed by the Iron Wing trading company, which oversees all of Xadroiya from its headquarters build over the core crystal. In comparison to other countries, Xadroiya does not possess a monarchy and is being ruled by a few large trading companies, unified under the great banner of Iron Wing, what also invented the Wind Sliders, Treorith uses in order to catch bird colonies in the merciless hurricanes by launching them from Ibrafast. It is the only city aside from Al'Hanar what has access to centipede trains, which connect it and Al'Hanar with the dwarven harbor on the south-east coast.

**Browront** being the main training camp for the dwarven rangers, does not necessarily imply an exceptional hospitality. For someone to reach it, they would be forced to climb down into the rift, protecting the camp from the roaring winds and expose themselves to deadly Hell Suckers, Nightlings and a few carnivorous mushrooms species in the swaps. The Fungus Tribes, along with the Root Callers tend to hearty help the rangers in their camp, but during the night, the mushroom swamps in the rift surrounding Browront, turn into a rather dangerous place due to the predators, inhabiting the area being nocturnal. The houses of the dwarves in the swamps are normally build from those very mushrooms or stone and function as a temporally shelter, until they are swallowed whole by the fast growing vegetation and have to be swiftly rebuilt.

The rangers are responsible for the protection of the mushroom swamps as well as the taming of the huge hamsters, living in caves under the mushroom trees, going by the nickname Cavelings, who are the only animals, which can safely travel over the surface due to their enormous weight. Without those creatures, no one would be able to travel through the Thunder Mountains, unless they possessed an expensive Wind Slider, bought from the Iron Wing trading company.

    **Grahia** the lonely sword of Xadroiya or also referred to as the iron city, what withstood countless hurricanes, combines the formidabel engineering skills of the dwarves and the knowledge of the Institute of Arcane Studies in Uvreim into the greatest factory of Xadroiya. Its enforced iron walls, leading into the chimneys on top of its armored towers, conceal the secret technologies of the dwarves behind its borders. Only with a permission from the Iron Wing itself, foreigners may enter this facility, otherwise, they are executed if spotted near the walls of Grahia without a warning, while those who try to escape after violating the border, are being chased down by skilled Caveling Riders. Only a few have seen the Grahia from the inside, but those who did, were not able to witness anything else besides dwarves and iron. Houses, streets, windows, toys, statues, almost everything behind its walls is said to be made of iron, it is as if the entire factory was smithed as a single piece of iron ore, broken from the lifeless mountains, decorating its intimidating outlines on the grey horizon. It is responsible for the production of weaponry, transporting parts for the Wind Sliders into the capital for their montage and builds the infamous Soul Gear, creating artificial intelligence within weapons by killing spirits, extracting their ectoplasmic essence, which also partly seeped into its iron walls. On cold nights, the workers claimed to hear voices from the factory itself, but those were note the voices of their sturdy hammers working on their products, they were the whispering coming directly from the factory itself, a factory what became a living being, what can hear the whispers of its brothers of steel.

## **Al'Hanar (Former City State / Special Economic Zone)**

    The former city state **Al'Hanar** was conquered by the dwarven empire after Halenia fell due to the assault of The Tide. Have lost all allies Al'Hanar had no other choice than to surrender to the Iron Wing Company. However, instead of plundering the city state the Xadroiya decided to turn it into an official dwarven city and a special economic zone. Enforcing its granite walls by gluing a metallic net over them and raising a second wall right over the net itself, they had created a thick double wall with a thin metallic core. The walls of Al'Hanar became incredibly flexible to siege weaponry after their overhaul. The citizens of Al'Hanar at first enraged at their conquerors were eventually able to calm their hearts as the dwarves continued to improve the city by building countless aqueducts throughout their home, connecting it to the lakes in the south-east. over underground pipelines. Within a short time span, the dwarven occupants altered the face of Al'Hanar itself by combining their gothic architecture with its native oriental building style. Opening banks, trading guilds and casinos similar to those of Treorith the dwarves expanded Al'Hanar's infrastructure, enriching its markets with their ores and rare weaponry. It now consisted of several tall square like towers with corners stretching themselves upwards, creating a curve on each side of the roofs. They were connected by a massive granite wall and bridges leading from said walls up into the very center of the city, where a giant cathedral could be seen with a single mosque dome. Its building style was a mixture of oriental and gothic architecture. Underneath the bridges long rows of egyptian houses could be seen. With flat roofs and equally square like shapes, each of them possessed several canopies and flower gardens on top of the roofs. A few of them were shops, while others were used for housing purposes, but most were build in the same fashion.

Unfortunately, all food and water had to be imported into the metropolis from afar. By using their giant, armored centipedes the dwarves gave birth to an underground centipede train system. It stretched itself from Al'Hanar to Treorith and to the very shore in the south-east, where it ended in a large harbor. Due to Al'Hanar being located in a desert and surrounded by large sandworm colonies praying on innocent travelers, who intend to visit the city by walking through the desert instead of using the centipede trains or harbor at the coast, it became **Sabathiel's** holy city of fire. Being the counterpart of Grahia the city of iron, it turned into the home of the dwarven church what worshiped the goddess of alcohol and war Sabathiel. She was a deity who was worshiped by their kinsmen even before their appearance in the Thunder Mountains. The church viewed the greed for gold and economic strives of its dwarven followers as disgraceful, but since economic wars were still wars, the church closed an eye on this matter as it continued to preserve the dwarven culture from their own greed for power, what threatened to consume their entire kind with the progress of their new capitalistic believes.

The **Nuns of Sabathiel** were not healers or clerics, but in fact the strongest warriors in the entire kingdom who spread her teachings, while constantly drinking her holy water (whisky made from sandworm urine). Many tend to laugh at the mere fact of a small, drunken dwarf nun being a mighty warrior, completely forgetting the un-tameable nature of those earth dwellers, which leads to unpleasant surprises for countless opponents. The nuns of Sabathiel are not drunk for self-amusement. Normally, every single living being has a limiter within its body, restraining its physical capabilities in order to preserve the body, but the strong dwarven alcohol removes this limiter, allowing the drinker to reach new highs, in the case of the nuns to literally throw orcs through the midair like a bunch of green plushies. Sadly, this ability comes with a high price as well, whoever drinks even a single drop of Sabahiel's holy water will instantly develop an addiction or die due to its incredible taste and ridiculous alcohol percentage. It is also the reason why most nuns have to vomit from time to time, because their small bodies cannot handle the alcohol in their blood. Many of them wear partly torn clothing, what only underlines the believe that they are only silly drunkards, but their clothing is often damaged for other, more violent reasons. They are cheerful and unpredictable individuals respected throughout the country.

Right beneath Al'Hanar a cave bazar had been born. Soul Gear, gems, silk, lamps, oils, spices, small instruments and other goods from the desert could be bought on its wooden streets, which towered over the underground water tunnels, leading the water from the lakes into the city as well as collecting rain water by itself and storing it deep underground where the bazar stood. However, said bazar was also the main burning point for prostitution in the entire kingdom. Being a special economic zone Al'Hanar's bazar tolerated prostitution, slavery and drugs. All of those subject were closely observed by the Iron Wing company itself, what made sure that those goods could only be bought and sold on Al'Hanar's bazar. Improvised tents of traveling merchants, tricksters and thieves could be found on all the wooden footbridges supported by the moldy walls of the water tunnels. Fishermen had little luck in said domain due to the low water level. Only glowing slugs, snails and small amphibian creatures alike frogs were able to survive in such a climate.

## **Xadroiya's Weaponry:**

**Grimmjacks** are the most common Soul Gear developed in Uvreim and produced in Grahia, what can be found in the realms of Xadroiya. Like all Soul Gear, it can only be wielded by experienced individuals with an especially strong will, otherwise, it consumes the user, taking over their spirit, replacing it with its own mind. The saw teeth on its blade are used to tear shields, swords and spears out of the enemy's hands or to climb on objects. If the wielder of a Grimmjack or another Soul Gear dies, their loyal weapon will automatically take over their body as it begins to fight for them instead, controlling their flesh, until its host's body cannot move or they are fully destroyed.

**Abracars** in this regard are similar to Grimmjacks, they also possess an artificial mind, but unlike their close relatives, they can move independently. Their primary use is to defend the dwarven armies from incoming arrows by firing swirling harpoons into the midair, connected to two wires, which begin to spin around the spear's tip due to the rotation of the staff, slicing through wood and flesh. The rotation is caused by a windup mechanism within the ballista. However, Abracars can be rather moody, because they were created by inserting deceased cat spirits into their iron shells, causing them to develop a fear of dogs and an undying love for being polished and carefully patted.

**Town Ballistas** greatlydiffer from Abracars, since they are not a Soul Gear. They are usually placed on the town's walls in order to shoot down large enemies or weaponry by using charged spears. On top of each Town Ballista, a lighting rod collects thunderbolts from hurricanes, charring up the spears as it turns them into flying magnets, heating up their metal, which is regularly smeared with a special highly ignitable oil. If the air friction is high enough after the firing of a projectile, the oil ignites due to the air friction, turning the iron spear into a flame arrow, piercing almost any object as it sets it on fire.

**Bramnas** are the main long range weapons of choice of a common dwarven warrior. They are simple crossbows, modified with a six case cylinder and an optical attachment, allowing even unskilled users to hit distant targets. The arrows are often drenched in the poison of Hell Suckers, halting the blood clotting of the victims, what results often in a slow death, unless the wound can be closed with a pressure bondage for the time span of two days and the victim does not receive any further injuries.

**Yacroduns** were only recently introduced into Xadroiya's arsenal. They are the only anti-infantry and siege weaponry of the dwarven armies. A Yacrodun is a wheel, what can be winded up and released into the enemy's lines as it slices through their ranks with its razor sharp blades, while covering them with greek fire through small openings on its sides. Normally, a single dwarf operates a Yacrodun from the inside with a balancing system, switching directions. But if they are used to break through city walls, they are empty. Because if someone winds up a Yacrodun too much, it will reach an incredible speed and penetration power, but becomes fully uncontrollable. When the windup mechanism inside of a Yacrodun begins to slow down, its pilot needs to return it to its windup station, otherwise, it becomes an easy target for the enemy, who can knock over the wheel onto the side.