Kahun'Darahl¶
"Darahl means Sunstone/Jewel/Light." — Sancturi campaign notes, on the name of a kindred hold (S200)
Contested
The dwarven kingdom's names are an open question: Dwarven place names (survey) and Identity of Kahun'Darahl. The 2023 Dreams of Inwe (S031) call the kingdom Kahun'Darahl; the 2020 History of Terrun (S386) calls the Great Dwarven Kingdom Nev'Mazarol with its capital Kuhn'Darahl; the 2015 Compendium (S372, S384) calls it Alz'Duen with its capital Dunar'Emaza. This page treats them as one realm under changing spellings, as the manifest presumes, and follows the newest source for each fact.
Kahun'Darahl was "the dwarven kingdom" of "twelve great fortresses" (S031), the Great Dwarven Kingdom of the histories, a "sprawling underground" realm whose capital bore its name (S386). In the Age of Magic it fell to the dragons and their orc, goblin and dark elven armies and was never retaken; its halls, "fortified Dwarven settlements ... difficult and costly to retake", remained occupied, and the alliance of the surface races "essentially gave up on trying to retake" it (S386). Its name survives in the "Golden Age of Kahun'Darahl" of dwarven memory (S529), in the Darahlan constructs of its engineers (S110), and in the fortress of Pro'Turra beneath Proturas, "one of the twelve" (S031). Also called Kuhn'Darahl; the kingdom is called Nev'Mazarol (S386) and, earlier, Alz'Duen (S372).
Gap
No source places Kahun'Darahl. It is filed under the Blue Mountains because the Great Dwarven Kingdom was the great dwarven realm of the central west, but the Compendium's Blue Mountains are the kingdom of Dru'Bazan, and S031 puts one of Kahun'Darahl's twelve fortresses "several hundred miles west of Gor'Turra". The location is inferred, not stated.
The kingdom¶
The capital¶
The capital, Kuhn'Darahl, was taken by the Primal Dragon Pravustiratel in the Second Dragon War and became his lair; he "was himself killed in his lair, which had been the great Dwarven capital Kuhn'Darahl", during the God Wars (S386). The Sancturi campaign reached it by portal: the anchor stands on a pad with "waterfall on either side", under "sun crystals", by "an underground lake", among "dwarven roads and bridges", with a signpost reading ten miles to Kahun'Darahl and, four miles the other way, "overgrown mushroom farms" (S192; S191 lists the same portal). A History of Kahun'Darahl could be bought there for fifty gold (S192).
Athul'Magaran¶
"The ancient dwarvish city of Athul'Magaran" was the alliance's last objective after the Second Dragon War; "after several failed attempts to recapture" it, the surface races "essentially gave up on trying to retake the sprawling underground dwarven kingdom" (S386). The Compendium calls the city Athul'Menz (S372).
Pro'Turra¶
Pro'Turra, "one of the twelve great fortresses of the dwarven kingdom of Kahun'Darahl", lies "several hundred miles west of Gor'Turra" and became the lair of the primal red dragon Vixseranyol: "these always seemed to be favored by dragons for some reason" (S031). When the Ascendant Khemeia destroyed the dragon and her court, "her corpse now lay in the great hall of the fortress", and Khemeia's allies "collapsed and warded the fortress so that it would act as a tomb and prison" (S031). Proturas lies above it: a clan-hall of old Pro'Turra opens from a secret door in a forge in the city's Warrens (S028); see the Proturas page.
Other holds¶
The Sancturi notes name Kam'Darahl, "old Dwarfhold" at the heart of a demonic orc Hollow in the Buried Realms, and gloss the shared element of its name (S200); whether it was one of the twelve is not said. The holds of the Buried Realms are listed on the Underdark page.
Works of the Darahlan engineers¶
The dwarves of Kahun'Darahl "were innovative and reconstructed much of the Dwarrow technology during the Golden Age of Kahun'Darahl" (S529). Their constructs are remembered by the kingdom's name: the Darahlan Tunnelbore, "a heavily reinforced frame used by Kahun'Darahl for digging smaller prospecting tunnels and in small mining operations", the Rockcrusher for the great mines, the Sentry for scouting and patrol, the Sentinel and Guardian for enforcement, and the Irondwarf, "a general purpose automata ... especially favored by dwarven engineers for extending their own lifespan" by passing into its frame (S110). "With the fall of Kahun'Darahl and the loss of the majority of their population and cities during the first demon wars, the dwarves faced another major technological setback", and much of the Dwarrow knowledge was lost a second time (S529). The founding of Kahun'Darahl is one of five scenes on the vault door of the Temple of Falling Stones at Kilmarn, beside the creation of the dwarven race, the ascension of Khardas, the creation of rune magic and the binding of the earth primordials (S163).
History¶
In the Second Dragon War, dated 851–922 MA in the Age of Magic by the History of Terrun, the dragon armies under Pravustiratel "were successful in taking the capitol (Kuhn'Darahl) and many of the largest cities of the Great Dwarven Kingdom Nev'Mazarol", though "they were still unable to take the fortress of Gor'Turra". "Most conquered territories were liberated, though much of the Great Dwarven Kingdom remained occupied by Goblins, Orcs and Dark Elves. ... Though the Dwarves were determined to regain their ancient homelands, their allies had little appetite for the cost in lives that it would take, and the Dwarves themselves had largely abandoned the effort a century later after heavy losses and small gains" (S386). In the God Wars (1005–1611 MA) Pravustiratel, having become a god himself, "was himself killed in his lair, which had been the great Dwarven capital Kuhn'Darahl" (S386).
The dwarves of the Fifth Age still reckon their losses from it. The Kalamite Axe of the High King, a piece of the Mithis Heartstone sacred to Khardas, was "lost somewhere in Kahun'Darahl" and is "possessed by Orcus, a Demon Prince ..., who doesn't realize what he has. He is suppressing it because it creates an unwanted hollow" (S182).
Earlier accounts¶
- The Compendium (S372, S384) tells the same war of 951–1092 MA as "the Dragon Wars", with the capital Dunar'Emaza and the kingdom Alz'Duen, and the lost city Athul'Menz; it has Pravustiratel "eventually killed in the ruins of the Dwarven capitol Dunar'Emaza" at the end of that war rather than in the later God Wars. The compiled overview (S429) repeats the Compendium's names and dates, and adds the Battle for Gor'Turra of 1078 MA, where "Khorun (Dwarven High King, Killed) led a group of Dwarven eagle riders against a field of a hundred or more Dragons".
- Dwarrow (S529) places the fall of Kahun'Darahl "during the first demon wars" rather than the Dragon Wars.
In Play¶
Kahun'Darahl is a realm of ruins under other masters: dragons' lairs, orc and goblin holds, dark elven cities, a demon prince's hoard. Its roads and bridges still stand, its signposts still point, and its engines may still work for those who know the Darahlan designs. The Sancturi campaign passed through its portal; the Proturan campaign lives on top of one of its fortresses.