Historical Record #
In the deepest rock of what would one day be named the Az’rak Mountains, the dwarves emerged and began to build their homes. It wasn’t a peaceful start. Their society was just forming, and squabbles were a daily thing, tiny conflicts erupting over resources, space, or just plain stubbornness. Out of that chaos, the first clans were born, groups of relatives and close friends banding together. It wasn’t just about family. It was about raw political muscle, a way to carve out a bigger piece of the action, and they fought fiercely for their place in the new world’s hierarchy.
As the years ground on, some dwarves became masters of stone, their hands moving mountains while others, the first engineers, began to pull metal ores from the dark veins of the rock, experimenting with fire and simple tools. These crafts were a new kind of power, and they led to the formation of new, specialized clans. These were not built on blood but on shared skill, individuals working together to make their discipline—be it forging or carving—the very best. Those craft clans would eventually become the powerful guilds that held the nation’s future in their hands.
The people called their subterranean space Umundir, which meant “The Forge of the World.” As the population swelled, their deep-city expanded like a living thing. More people meant more disagreements, and soon the old way of settling things just wasn’t cutting it anymore. In 14,765 BR, the most powerful among them, the ones with the most social weight, came together. They met to hammer out a system that could impose order and keep the growth going. They wrote the nation’s first charter, creating Aumon, a nation to be led by nine representatives. These chosen few would settle disputes and write the laws of their new world. To show their authority, nine ceremonial hammers were forged for this council, which they called The Assembly of the Nine Hammers. Five permanent seats went to the largest and most powerful clans, but the four remaining spots were given to the smaller guilds—the trade masters and the skilled craftsmen—making sure their specialized knowledge was represented.
Over the next few millennia, the growing need for food and materials drove the dwarves toward the light. They sent scouting parties to the surface, looking for land where new settlements could fuel the deep nation. They met other races and, with their signature business sense, helped carve out a major trade route that stretched across the continent. Stories of their genius with metal and stone spread like wildfire. Merchants from all over Monsherba came to trade, and some even stayed, establishing homes and businesses in the dwarven territories. The Assembly quickly realized two things: they had to control this region or risk invasion, and integrating these outsiders gave them a massive advantage in trade, production, and sheer knowledge.
To manage this new surface empire, in 7,295 BR they appointed powerful administrators called Kantarchs to oversee smaller, federated zones they named Kantons. This whole governmental shift was codified in a new national charter, which they named The Umeron Kantonat. The old Assembly was reforged into The Council of Hammers and Coin, a name that showed the world exactly what was now driving their destiny.
But success has a way of turning on itself. The merchant lords and great guilds in the Council of Hammers and Coin became incredibly powerful, pulling a tide of wealth from the surface world that slowly poisoned the council’s original purpose. The gold turned the Kantarchs into greedy feudal barons, men more loyal to their own bulging coffers than to the nation. They began to ally with each other, forming a tight, self-serving circle that only profited at the expense of the lesser clans. The once-proud guilds became obsessed with protecting their monopolies, refusing to teach their most advanced secrets to anyone outside their elite. Council seats became things you could simply buy with enough coin, a hereditary right instead of an honor earned by merit. The common dwarf found the ladder of opportunity had been kicked away, their future limited by the tangled web of the rich and powerful.
This era of rot and stagnation finally broke around 2,214 BR. Recognizing the system was collapsing under its own weight, a ruthless group of Kantarchs, led by the notorious dwarf Borok, staged a bloody coup. They ripped apart the federated system and seized total control of the major trade routes and guilds. Borok’s new regime was called Barum’or, “The People of the Great Forge,” and he dissolved the old council, replacing it with a small, hand-picked directorate of the most powerful men. His argument was simple: only a single, unified government could save the economy and stop the nation from falling apart. And while they did stabilize things, their rule was absolute and unforgiving. The free flow of ideas and goods was replaced by a rigid, top-down system designed only to serve the interests of the oligarchs.
This iron grip proved to be unsustainable. The absolute control of the few over the many bred a deep resentment in the common dwarves. The elite guilds’ hoarding of knowledge and their total suppression of new ideas led to a crippling technological stagnation. While surface races were making huge strides in engineering and magic, the dwarves of Barum’or were falling behind, shackled by their own leadership’s paranoia. The system couldn’t adapt, and when unexpected geological shifts made mining difficult, the cracks in the oligarchy’s facade began to show.
In the middle of this decay, a new faction emerged from the ranks of the nation’s most brilliant but overlooked engineers, miners, and artificers. They were thinkers, a collective that believed true societal progress could only be achieved through objective data and cold, hard logic, not the corruption of the old clans. Led by a brilliant but reclusive master artificer named Gromdul, they quietly began gathering support among the dissatisfied and the young craftsmen who longed for a return to real innovation.
This new group, calling themselves The Sparkwrights, orchestrated a revolution of logic and machinery. It was a planned strike, not a bloody civil war. They used their advanced knowledge to cripple the oligarchs’ communication and resource networks, seizing key strongholds while trying to avoid mass casualties. The oligarchs, bloated with wealth but lacking any true strategy, were easily outmaneuvered.
After they seized power, The Sparkwrights wiped away the old councils and titles. In 1,045 AR they renamed the nation Bar’umun, “The People of the Forge of the Deep,” a symbol of their commitment to a unified, working society. They established a new government with one unyielding principle: rule by merit, and merit alone. The highest positions were no longer bought with gold or inherited by family name, but given to those with the most proven skill and intelligence in their respective fields. Gromdul became the first Director of The Enclave of Reason, a council of Master Artificers, Grand Miners, and Lead Engineers who governed the nation. Decisions were now made based on empirical data, efficiency, and logical analysis. The old guilds were broken down and rebuilt as state-sponsored academies where knowledge was freely shared and new technologies openly researched. The Grianan Scriptorium, sealed by the old regime, was thrown open to everyone.
Today, Bar’umun is a marvel of technological advancement. Clockwork mechanisms power its systems, and automated mining rigs dig deeper into the earth than ever before. The surface settlements are no longer just outposts; they are bustling hubs of trade and invention, linked to the deep mines by vast subterranean transport. The Enclave of Reason is known for being detached and almost cold, with every choice rooted in an efficiency that often ignores tradition or individual feelings. Life is rigidly structured by their decrees, but the nation is prosperous, and the common dwarf has a clear path to advance—as long as they can prove their value through skill and logic.
Present Day Details #
Founded: 1045 AR
Capitol City: Umun
Citizen Population:
Government Type: Technocratic Directorate
Leadership:
Language/Name influences: Old Norse, Old English, Celtic
