Ironhold

Ironhold is one of the oldest dwarf holds in the known world dating back to the time when Malgoth held sway in the North and the dwarves desperately wanted a haven where they could be free to develop their own way outside of the influence of demons and giants. Work on the construction of Ironhold began in -9107 in secret but despite the precautions of the Dwarves the flood of refugees from the foundering western lands which Ironhold felt compelled to take in meant that its location couldn't be hidden for long. In -9058 the Giants discovered the hold and demanded tribute from its inhabitants. The dwarves reluctantly agreed to pay the tribute but hid the true strength of Ironhold from their nominal masters.

In -8325 the Giants demanded that the Dwarves of Ironhold submit to a full census but the Dwarves refused and a bitter war broke out. By that time, however, the climate had started to warm slightly and the Frost Giants were unwilling to deploy their army too far south except in the coldest of winters. Further the Dwarves had forged a number of specially designed ballistas with the specific aim of giant-killing which gave them the edge in the skirmishes which ensued. In the end Giants had to concede independence to Ironhold.

It is worth recording that the Giants soon got over their bitterness regarding the Ironhold Dwarves and over the next few thousand years (apart from one brief war) the two sides formed a stable trading partnership. Indeed apart from their Goliath allies (whose tribespeople the dwarves appreciated for their honesty and reliability) the Giants were the race the Dwarves had most interaction with. It is true that other tribes of people came and went on the Lodalf plain and other areas surrounding Ironhold but until the arrival of Men the Dwarves paid them little heed.

The rise of the Pelorean Empire, however, provided a superior trading partner for the Dwarves as well as a society to the south in which they could freely travel and be respected. The Dwarves were very pleased with their new ally until the Peloreans started settling on the Lodalf plain and they managed to antagonise the Giants. Biding their time the Giants took vicious revenge on the new human towns in the Long Winter of -3825. The shadow of that event lingered long over the area and indeed soured Ironhold's relationship with the Giants for a while. This had largely been repaired when the collapse of the human Empire and the onset of the Great Darkness led to a renewed assault on human civilisation by the Giants.

So swiftly did the Pelorean Empire collapse that the Dwarves were powerless to intervene and in the end were just forced to accept the new order in the North. Since the majority of Giants followed their herds south onto the Cambrian plains the Dwarves chose to found a separate colony on the southern slopes of Ered Augrim, Mountain Hall. Ironhold itself became gradually encased in ice and the Dwarves had to greatly expand their underground fish and fungi farms in order to survive. When Mountain Hall declared itself independent from Ironhold in -2458 the King could do little to prevent it.

The end of the Great Darkness saw a new period of isolationism from the Giants. So much so that in -1666 King Drain declared the end of the 'Age of Giants and Dragons'. The small dwarf-size entrances and passages of Ironhold were greatly expanded and indeed made to look more like the royal halls of the Giants themselves. Drain also proclaimed that he would change the face of the North by building a series of roads across Jotunheim but although initial plans were drawn up it was not until five hundred years later in the reign of King Darin that any serious attempt was made to implement them.

Although one or two engineering works were undertaken, however, the plans were not popular with the indigenous peoples of the Lodalf plain and Darin had to send out military units to protect his surveyors. Many in Ironhold had come to the conclusion that the plans could not proceed when Orcs from the Ettin Mountains took advantage of the situation to ally with Hobgoblin tribes on the Plains. In a surprisingly ambitious plan the Orcs attacked both Ironhold and Mountain Hall in the First Northern War.

The nature of that war deeply troubled the Dwarves of Ironhold because up until that time they had not considered the military power of either the Orcs or the Hobgoblins to be significant. Further the absence of Giants in the conflict was of little comfort as many realised that if they too had joined forces with their enemies the tide of battle could have turned. A further 300 years passed before the the Dwarves felt bold enough to expand their operations on the Lodalf plain with King Daegon commissioning a series of forts across the plain to give early warning of attack. When the attack came, however, it was very well planned and subterfuge led the Dwarves to fail to understand either the size of the invasion force or the presence of the dragon, Angrax. The hold fell and King Daegon and his family lost their lives. Ironhold has only just been retaken.