2

The World of Aruneus

The Darven Empire
By Benjamin Gerber

LORD, THE GATES ARE BARRED AND THE VENTING TUBES ARE WELL GUARDED. WE HAVE FOOD ENOUGH FOR A
SEASON AT THE LEAST AND WATER APLENTY FROM OUR SOURCE. I BELIEVE WE ARE WELL SITUATED TO WEATHER
THIS STORM - YOU NEED NOT WORRY FOR ASHCAMERE NOR FOR THE SAFETY OF YOUR KINGDOM.
--PRINCE CAMERE, HEIR TO THE DWARVEN KINGDOM - THE LAST WRITTEN COMMUNICATION FROM ASHCAMERE,
AA 1.

The Dwarven race of Aruneus, on arriving to the world, congregated mostly on the East, near
the great mountain range known as The Fieldheid. By their nature, Dwarves tend to be an
inward facing society. For nearly a thousand years, the Dwarves of Aruneus crafted a society
based on strong kinship ties and loyalty to their ruling family. The Cameres were the first
Dwarven family of note and ruled their people for close to 3,500 years, until the dynasty was
eradicated in the great undead plague.

Ashcamere was their greatest and oldest city. With a population close to 100,000 dwarves by
100 BA the city existed on two levels. The first, above ground played host to the embassies of
other races, all trade and acted as the capital of the Dwarven Kingdom. Well over 80,000
Dwarves called Ashcamere's above ground (or sun-sighted) city home. In addition to the
Dwarven population some 10,000 Humans and Elves also called Ashcamere home, or held
legal status there as merchants, traders and speculators.

The second city (or night-blessed) existed below Ashcamere's above ground face, and
extended several miles into the Fieldheid range. Night blessed Ashcamere was accessible only
to Dwarves on penalty of expulsion or death. It was the political and spiritual center of the
Dwarven Kingdom and had been home to the Camere family since its inception before the
formation of the League of the Ring. 20,000 Dwarves also called the night-blessed Ashcamere
home, residing out of sight of the sun for large portions of their lives.

Ashcamere was the source of most of the Dwarven Kingdom's initial wealth. Founded not as a
city but as a mining camp over a particularly rich vein of gold in the murky past, it did not take
long for the Dwarves to capitalize on their wealth and found their kingdom. Through the ages
subsequent precious metals and other useful materials such as copper and Iron had been found
in mining operations near Ashcamere. It was the work of generations but eventually the mines
were connected and the night-blessed city was formed.

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The Dwarven Kingdom began to expand through the Great War and at the time the League of
the Ring was formed consisted of over 2 million souls and the greater portion of the west of
Aruneus. With several major cities and numerous settlements throughout their territory the
Dwarven Kingdom was positioned to be the strongest politically and militarily at the time of the
Conclave.

Even through the time of their Great Shame, the Dwarven Kingdom remained a political active
internally. When the Dwarves emerged and became members of the League of the Earth they
found it hard to shake off their long years of isolation. Active in interracial politics to an extent,
the Dwarves continued to be concerned more with their own kind, emerging to deal with the
other races of Aruneus only in times of great crisis. Even through the rise of the Necromancer,
the Dwarves offered only token forces to assist the Humans and Elves.

It was this isolation that may have contributed more than anything else to the destruction of their
ruling family and the massive casualties the Dwarven race took in the first years of the zombie
apocalypse.

Unwilling or unable to deal with urgent requests from their Human allies, the majority of the
Dwarves (those not concerned with outside trade) were taken completely by surprise when
wave after wave of undead humans found their way into Dwarven territories. The King, who at
the age of 170 was growing feeble, had taken to living well away from the mountains and
leaving most administrative tasks to his son and heir, Prince Terriace Camere. Prince Camere
was living in the night-blessed palatial residences at the time of the undead outbreak and failed
to adequately prepare the underground city to repulse the zombie hordes. According to second
hand reports compiled some years later, Ashcamere held out in one form or another for almost
a full year after the initial wave of zombies overran the sun-sighted city.

For most of the last hundred years, the Dwarves existed in a quasi-feudal state, although their
lords had no King which to appeal to for final judgment. Only in the last decade have they
organized themselves into a cohesive political body based on a Council of Nobles, with one
noble from each of the 9 houses being present to represent the remaining 9 Dwarven city-
states.
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The great Dwarven Empire, now a fraction of its former self, is just beginning to organize their
centralized government. Recently the Order of the White Cloth has offered great assistance with
the gift of 9 lighter than air craft, allowing the delegates the freedom of travel and the ability to
meet yearly and manage their new government.

Ashcamere remains a ruin. Above ground a few Dwarven settlements have sprung up, taking
advantage of the ruins for building materials. A small number of Dwarven scout parties have
reached into tiny portions of the night-blessed city but have found nothing other than destruction
and rotting bones. Rumors do persists of the last Prince of the Camere's and his loyal subjects
living still in their underground world but if this is true, the Dwarves have not provided any proof
and the Council of Nobles remains mute on the subject, ruling in his stead.
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15 COPYRIGHT NOTICE
Open Game License v 1.0a Copyright 2000, Wizards of the
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System Reference Document. Copyright 2000, Wizards of
the Coast, Inc.; Authors Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip
Williams, based on material by E. Gary Gygax and Dave
Arneson.
Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook. Copyright 2009, Paizo
Publishing, LLC; Author: Jason Bulmahn, based on material
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The World of Aruneus Copyright 2010, Benjamin Gerber.
Troll in the Corner Copyright 2010, Benjamin Gerber

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