Grimstonefire:
Now here is a powerful story if you happen to know the basis of the ideas behind my CD fluff. There is a lot of subtle things in here, which I will give you at the end.
Note that the name and structure is not entirely something I’ve made up…
The Epic of Gilgamish
During the great storm, which was to trap those Dwarfs who had migrated east underground, the ground shook and twisted under the immense magical forces. As it so shook, many caverns and tunnels were to open up. As the Dwarfs explored the perilous darkness, they were amazed to find countless chambers of unusual architecture forming a vast ruined city under the ground. What was perhaps more astonishing to the explorers was that they could find no traces of any civilisation to have ever existed there. The city was so ancient, it was supposed that those who built it must have done so thousands of years before.
Many thousands of years later as the Chaos Dwarfs delved ever further under their city, a series of stone tablets were discovered recounting the rise and fall of a nation. These ten tablets being the only written record to be found of the civilisation that existed before them, and apparently carved by a scribe named Gilgamish. What the words of the story mean has long been debated.
The First Tablet
So it is written that the Drawzhira did move into the lands of Darkness, and settled within the walls of the great volcano. There to spend many long years carving walls of stone to protect against the Terror of the north. For around the city was discovered much wealth in the ground, which the Drawzhira did keep unto themselves. Thus it was for many an age, delving ever deeper into the black rock.
The Second Tablet
So it is written that many long years after work on the vast city had begun, it was discovered that there existed under the earth the ancient ruins of a much older civilisation. These ruins being of a shape to which there was no pattern, and with tortured faces carved upon their walls bedecked with gold. How and why such a city could have been built was clear to none. For many years the Drawzhira were to ponder the mysteries unearthed to them, but alas there were no traces of those that had gone before.
The Third Tablet
So it is written that the portents coming before the great storm were to destroy much which had been created. Many were the Drawzhira killed by the droughts, disease and famine to befall the lands, and after ten years of slow destruction the worst was yet to come. For the mountains rumbled and before them the ground did shake, destroying the once great city.
The Fourth Tablet
So it is written that as the lands were left in ashes, and the river of ruin flooded our lands, a saviour did come to deliver the Drawzhira. Arriving from the distant mountains, he was cloaked in shadows and the darkness followed him. From his eyes glowed a light of purity, and the Drawzhira bowed before his greatness.
The Fifth Tablet
So it is written that under the protection of the Dark Lord, the Drawzhira and their city did rise from the ashes. But such peace was not to last, for the Terror of the north did come once more to claim the lands. Much was the blood spilt by the terror, but our divine Dark Lord lead the army in a great victory, crushing all his enemies before him.
The Sixth Tablet
So it is written that the Drawzhira did thrive as never before under the direction of their Lord. For unto them he did bestow the knowledge of stone and metal, and great were the Ziggurat created under his eye. Such advances were not known to the lesser races that beat upon the walls of our great city, and the Drawzhira were content to mock their primitive ways.
The Seventh Tablet
So it is written that another great hero rose to lead the Drawzhira, and Enkidu was the name given unto him. And the Drawzhira did thrive under having two such blessed leaders. Such things were not meant to last, and Enkidu was to desire the power that the Dark Lord did possess. His lust for power was to be the undoing of the Drawzhira, and so it was that the two great leaders did plot and plan to destroy each other.
The Eighth Tablet
So it is written that the two great lords did wage a war on the mountains around the great city, each with many followers unto them. Once the great armies were slain, the two lords ascended to the highest peak and fought a battle in the heavens. Many weeks later the noble Dark Lord returned once more from the mountains, but his vengeance upon his people who had betrayed him was to condemn the Drazhira to eternal damnation.
The Ninth Tablet
So it is written that the Dark Lord did reveal his true face to the Drawzhira, and smote them down throughout the great city for daring to defy his greatness. And from somewhere in the south a great explosion occurred, and rocks did rain down upon the great city. And fire did fall from the sky, and the ground did shake. And the immense volcano walls that once protected the city did tumble down, burying all within.
The Tenth Tablet
So it is written, so it was done that the once great city is destroyed, and that the Drawzhira are no more as those before them. Those not killed by one of the great calamities to descend, have slowly disappeared. In the darkness the Terror has arisen, how it is that it comes deep below the ground? Alas, the terror is coming for me, and my words will be all that remains. Gilgamish, scribe.
Things to ponder on��
Who/ what were the Drawzhira?
Who/ what were the race before the Drawzhira? Why did they die, and why build such a peculiar city?
Why is it they happen to all build a city in the same spot?
Why is it they all happen to look for wealth, and have a thing about power?
Who/ what was the Dark Lord?.. Or the Terror…
How is it that all the nations to exist here are more advanced that many around them?
Does the series of events seem familiar (magic storm, trapped underground etc)?
The name of this, and the concept of the tablets is not something I’ve made up, but I’ll let you all google that��. I kept the name and the concept for a historical link really.
Incase you are all completely lost reading this, what it basically means (developing on my fluff), is that the CD were doomed/ damned before they even existed. As those before them were, and those before them etc.
I never made it clear that those before the actual DZ were not actually dwarfs, incase anyone is wondering if this is Hashut looking after another race…