Dwarfen Holds ~ Karak Zorn

“Tis no legend! Don’t fall for that trap, that is what the longbeards want you to believe! Karak Zorn exists and no doubt cries for justice in its state of abandonment! How is Karaz Ankor to exist as a united realm if we abandoned our ancestral past?! The dawi of Karak Zorn have the closest connection to our past, it is our duty to reconnect with them… if they still live. I shall do all that I can to find the Lost Hold, even if I have to walk down the spine of the world alone!”

~ Oluvia Garazgot, Stubborn Explorer

The name of Karak Zorn strikes at the heart of the dwarfs like no other dwarfen city possibly can – not even the fallen splendor of Karak Eight Peaks. At the mention of Karak Zorn dwarfs’ eyes are filled with a myriad of emotions from golden greed over the rumored wealth of the hold, to spiteful anger at its supposed fall, to a pang of sadness that the first hold of the Ancestor Gods should stand alone and perhaps forgotten, and yes even a hint of glee that youthful fools believe it ever existed in the first place. As for the truth of Karak Zorn’s fate, that can only be discovered by one bold enough to traverse the Southlands.

Dwarfen Holds ~ Ekrund

“Clan Dragonback stood firmly by Ekrund in its darkest hour, and Clan Dragonback shall never cease to long for its ancestral home. Through struggle and strife we stood alone in the Dragonback Mountains. Ekrund stood alone against the onslaught from the Badlands. We, the survivors, owe it to the ancestors not only to keep their memory alive, but to avenge the wrongs upon our people.”

~ Elise Dragonback, Matriarch of Clan Dragonback of Ekrund

Outside of the World’s Edge Mountains, one lone dwarf settlement arose during the Golden Age whose wealth would rival the richest veins of the World’s Edge Mountains. Ekrund was the final hold to be founded during the Golden Age and its destruction would spark the first colonization during the Time of Woes.

Dwarfen Holds ~ Karak Izril

“Kings and royal bloodlines failed Karak Azgal! They were not there to slay the beast within! Who are they now to claim rights over what my ancestor Skalf Dragonslayer risked his life for?! It was Skalf Dragonslayer who buried his axe in the beasts neck, and by our laws Karak Azgal is ours to claim! The Skalfssons have shed more blood trying to reclaim Karak Azgal for Karaz Ankor than any other clan. I’ll take no insult to my family’s honor from those who risked nothing and know not the burden.”

Kimril Skalfsson, Descendant of Skalf Dragonslayer of Karak Azgal

Karak Izril, the City of Jewels, was once the gleaming gem in the crown of Karaz Ankor. Karak Izril was the southernmost of the southern holds, therefore making it among the first and oldest holds of Karaz Ankor, the dwarfen realm. It was founded on a vein rich in precious gems and brilliant ores and crystals, a fact which would turn the hold into one of the richest in all of Karaz Ankor. However, this wealth would be the undoing of Karak Izril, for even the simple minded greenskins who have no need or appreciation for gemstones, the cunning skaven who only see beauty in warpstone, and worse creatures yet were drawn to the hold at the prospect of what treasures lay within.

Dwarfen Holds ~ Karak Drazh

“Great is the shame upon my shoulders that my ancestral home should be occupied by that hated foe of our kind, Gorfang Rotgut! That every dwarf spits at his name is all the greater burden upon the Ironsides, for it was our failure that allowed that boil to fester and grow. Though our numbers have dwindled, our pride has not diminished. The Ironsides shall never cease in their attempt to avenge our kin from Karak Azul for the wrongs they suffered at the hands of the monster who defiles our home.”

Galin Ironside, Heir of King Vikram Ironside of Karak Drazh

Karak Drazh, the Black Hold, was once one of the most powerful and prosperous dwarfen holds only after Karaz-a-Karak and Karak Eight Peaks. The mighty Karak Drazh stood as an immense fortress to hold back the greenskin onslaught, and to protect its brother-hold of Karak Eight Peaks. Though when the darkest hour struck Karak Eight Peaks, not even Karak Drazh could help, and when the older and bigger of the twin holds fell, soon followed the smaller. Today it is more commonly known as Black Crag due to its foul new occupants – the greenskins.

Dwarfen Holds ~ Karak Eight Peaks

“Hear me now dawi of Clan Angrund, I Belegar Ironhammer, descendant and true King of Vala-Azril-Ungol, swear to you that I shall retake our ancestral home or die trying! My body and mind shall know not a moment of rest so long as the grob and thaggoraki defile the halls which the most blessed Valaya shaped to be the first of the mighty homes for the dawi as they migrated north! The day draws nearer when the Ironhammer shall descend upon the foul heads of the occupiers of Karak Eight Peaks, and Clan Angrund will once again rule from the seat of its ancestral home!”

~Belegar Ironhammer, True King of Karak Eight Peaks

Vala-Azril-Ungol, Queen of the Silver Depths, or Karak Eight Peaks as it is commonly known, was once one of the mightiest holds of Karaz Ankor, the ancient dwarfen kingdom that stretched the mountains of the Old World. Karak Eight Peaks was the largest of the southern holds, and its might and wealth were said to rival that of Karaz-a-Karak. This all changed in the Time of Woes, a dark time that lead to the fall of the once proud Vala-Azril-Ungol.

Greenskin Tribes

The Old World is crawling with innumerable greenskins, a rolling tide of bloodlust and wanton destruction which crashes upon any force that stands in its way. Unlike all the other races of the Old World which have some semblance of societal organization, the greenskins live in a tribal structure where might rules. Not every tribe rises to prominence, but a select few have found themselves written into history with the blood of the fallen. Tribes rise and fall along with the path of the sun. As long as there are civilized races around to remember the names that caused so much angst or dread, the memory of the mightiest greenskin tribes will live on. The tribes illustrated on this map are by no means a complete account of all the greenskin tribes of the Old World, for far more exist hidden in the deep forests and rocky mountains waiting to leave their mark in history.

Greenskin Tribes ~ Bloody Sun Boyz

“Bash yer way in you maggots! Dem stunty wallz ain’t stoppin’ da Bloody Sun Boyz! We’z gonna blow a hole in da mountain if dat’s how we’z gettin’ in! I don’t care about no stinkin’ stunty magic door! Any maggot in dat mountain dat ain’t a Bloody Sun Boy iz dead! You ‘ear that you useless gits?! Any ratterz, stunties, and shroom-gits in dat mountain are bloody dead! Tonight da Bloody Sun Boyz’ll dine on dere bones in Karak Eight Peaks!”
~ Grumlok, Warboss of the Bloody Sun Boyz

The cradle of the greenskins is the Badlands. Where they originally came from no one knows, but where they are strongest now is the Badlands. With such multitudes of greenskins, it is only a matter of time before a great warlord arises from the countless masses, and the time has come for the might black orc Grumlok, and his mischievous goblin shaman Gazbag. Together they shall rally the greenskins of the Badlands, and perhaps the Old World, for the greatest WAAAGH! yet to come.

Greenskin Tribes ~ Slimefeetz

“Dat’s da one! Yeah yeah! Bring ‘im to me! Let’s see ‘ere, lotsa teef, spiky back, thick skin… dis is da perfect squig for our manglers. Still a little runt, but when we’z gonna feed him da other little runts den ‘e’ll grow. Remember you maggots, youse gotta starve em and poke em wif a pointy stick. Dey’s gotta know dat dey’s gotta show dere teef! Den you feed dem da runt. Feed, starve, poke, feed. You mangy lot got it?! When da Slimefeetz get enough manglers den we’z goin’ out huntin’, and it don’t matter if its a big ol’ giant or a stunty covered in scraps n’ bits, da manglers will tear em apart!”
~ Vargit Slimefoot, Warboss of the Slimefeetz

Though the night goblins are known to use squigs in battle, the art of squig herding is a complex thing that one tribe has truly mastered more so than any other night goblin tribe – the Slimefeetz. Squig breeding has proven to be a lucrative business, one that has brought the Slimefeetz wealth and fame. In the abandoned mines of Ekrund and the Dragonback Mountains, the Slimefeetz have established a complex of squig nurseries where they breed squigs for many purposes, but none more valuable than the massive squigs they prod into war.

Greenskin Tribes ~ Darkeyes

“No fires! The stunties’ll see da flickerin’ flames! Stamp out da cookin’-pot flames and breathe in da smoke. Leave nothing for da stunties to know we’z comin’! No fire, no smoke! Des tunnelz once wuz deres, but now da Darkeyes are movin’ in and we’z gonna make dis our place! Da Darkeyes see wut da stunties can’t see. Da Darkeyes don’t need no light, and where we’z go darkness follows. An’ youse know wut ol’ Narbit sez, a dagger in da dark is a dagger in da back.
~ Narbit Darkeye, Warboss of the Darkeyes

The hatred between the dwarfs and greenskins goes back centuries, but among the greenskins there are those who have earned the strongest contempt from the dwarfs – the night goblins. The night goblins undermine, physically and metaphorically, the foundations of dwarfen society. Their manner of fighting is deemed as cowardly by the dwarfs, and they desecrate the sacred notion of craftsmanship – perhaps nothing is more insulting than their piss-poor take on brewing. Of the night goblin tribes, one inches ever closer to Karaz-a-Karak, fighting it’s way through the abandoned tunnels and collapsed sections of the Underway. These are the Darkeyes.

Greenskin Tribes ~ The Lost Boyz

“I’z got da map! Da git wif da map is da boss, ain’t dat rite?! Of course dis stick in my hand ain’t da map! Youse see any lines on dis stick dat looks like a map?! Da map is in my ‘ead! And don’t youse go on finkin’ dat youse can take my ‘ead off and find da map inside! Cuz when da eyes close da map is hidin’! Mork’ll show me da way and only me! You dumb gits got too much gunk in yer ears to hear Mork! Rite den, now dat we knows who’z da boss we can find our way outta bein’ lost! Follow me gits, dis is da way to bein’ found!”
~ Peeta da Pan, Shaman-boss of the Lost Boyz

It is said that the hardest things to find that are lost are your mind and time, but it is hard to say the goblins really ever had either. The Lost Boyz have completely lost everything they once had, to the point that they don’t really know what it is they lost anymore and what they are looking for. Their charismatic leader, Peeta da Pan, assures them that with Mork’s and or Gork’s guidance he will lead them to finding what it is they lost. Fate would have it that the only thing the Lost Boyz haven’t lost yet is their dumb-luck, because given the lands they’ve travelled and hardships they’ve bumbled through, the Lost Boyz remain bruised but not broken. Who knows where they are going, for not even they know.