White Towers¶
"The Hidden City of Thurn'Badir, said to be a jewel of the White Towers." — the quest of a dwarven madman in the Buried Realms (S199)
Contested
Named in the open question First recording of the Boreal Elves; the merge step wires the link.
The White Towers are a dwarven1 realm of the snowbound north, named for the White Tower Mountains, and in the Fifth Age the one dwarven kingdom that still rules above and below ground. Its queen is Melkorka, a runepriest four hundred and fifty years old and "favored of Khardas," titled "Queen of the White Towers" (S193, S201). The Dwarves of the White Towers appear in the Proturan timeline from the Morning of the Fifth Age, 0 AL (S107), and the Boreal Elves were first seen on their mountains' southern borders.
The land¶
The White Tower Mountains and the Cloudspire Mountains run north together; the Boreal Elves, first recorded "in the south western borders of the White Tower Mountains," "expanded all the way north along the edges of the White Towers and Cloudspire Mountain ranges," preferring "colder environs and pine forests, especially those found in mountainous areas" (S100). The Sancturi-era company who came here in 704 SM found "snow outside" a dwarven tower (S192), drew winter gear for a trek of twenty-one days (S193), crossed a ridge sixteen thousand feet high, "4000 ft above the tree-line," and followed a dwarven road north-north-west until it "exits into a pine forest" past "dwarven town ruins" with a water source, a "farming cavern," a passage of "restless spirits of dwarves" under "slight Hollowing," and a "holy arch" (S198). From the ogre-held coast to the south, the way home was "north to the White Towers," while the Sancturi Empire lay west (S198).
The dwarves range far. They "have sent several expeditions into the wastes, mostly after precious ores, such as Aurumite," and built the fortress of Thorm'Mald in the Drakkani Wastes, which now "lies in ruins" (S546). In 514 SM a company of the Tallachia campaign "disappears in the underdark in search of the White Tower Dwarves" (S326).
The court of Queen Melkorka¶
Queen Melkorka, "Runepriest, 450 years, favored of Khardas," holds court with High Priest Vorgak of Khardas, "20 priests, (Your Grace), favored of Khardas, Herald," the dwarven ranger Brulig and the engineer Drek (S193, S201). To the company that came to her in 704 SM Vorgak gave the Divine Beacon of Maradeim and the Adamantine Shawl of Hergrett, both relics of ascendants of Khardas, and the queen gave "Lavaforged Weapons: Runespear, Runeaxe, Runesword, Arbelest" and Khardas's Travellers Blessing (S193, S201). She then mustered an expedition of thirty-three, "5 Witches, 8 Rangers/Warriors, 5 Arcantus Priests, 6 Heavy Dwarven Infantry, Plate, Tower Shields, Warhammers, Flechette Rifles, 2 Khardic Battle Priests, Runemauls, 1 engineer," with the Darkwalker Clan among them (S201), to go by portal to Acadia. The company's dwarf, Abither, is of Gar'Agor in Dru'Bazan, not of the White Towers (S192).
Thurn'Badir¶
Deep in the Buried Realms of the Underdark, a "dwarven madman" searches "for a passage to the Hidden City of Thurn'Badir, said to be a jewel of the White Towers" (S199, S200). Nothing more is recorded of the hidden city.
The Boreal Elves¶
The Boreal Elves, blue-skinned and named "after their bluish skin and icy territory," were first recorded "around 200 AL in the south western borders of the White Tower Mountains" (S100); the Proturan regional timeline places their appearance around 280 AL (S107). They live in burrows "under the roots of trees and natural caves," in tribal clans led by Warleaders and Elders, and worship the Boreal Scions of Gelu'lax (S100); their page tells the rest.
Sanctuary¶
"Sanctuary was destroyed. # of survivors is unknown. They fled to the White Tower Dwarves" (S196). Earlier the engineer Drek is noted beside the word (S193), and a "Book of Kera'Jaol" was kept "in sanctuary" (S198).
Gap
The notes never say what Sanctuary was, where it stood, or who destroyed it; the refuge the same company used near Altenden in Brusau is also called "sanctuary" (S190), and the two may not be one place.
The Araxian Temple Pyramid¶
Somewhere on the ogre-held coast south of the White Towers stands an "underground ancient Araxian temple pyramid (3-sided pyramid)" of the Elder God Seth'Arax (S196). Its lowest level is "a small worship area," its second the priests' quarters and balcony, and its third the "chambers of trials: courage, glory and supremacy," which "at least 4 people must be present in each room to start." Courage, "Fearlessness and faith set you on the path," is "a gate like a great mouth with sharp teeth. Bones litter the area around the gate. First to enter wins." Glory, "Your glory at the cost of others," curses whoever warns a companion of the curse laid on them. Supremacy, "Rise above your peers," is a single chain that drops the floor beneath everyone else. The reward is "access to the inner sanctum (home of the pitch) and normally a pitchblade" (S196).
"2 Wakers (Evruspex) of Nox'Somn were tasked to guard this temple. They are both dead and on display in the temple. Impaled on soul anchors" (S196). The temple also holds "the prison of Nox'Somn," and the lore the company learned there: "7 seals of Seth'Arax, at least one has failed" (S196). Rupyt, "the master," "a merged Pitch Monster + Frost Giant," "was imprisoned in the temple, which was built around him," and "killed and drove away the other frost giants" (S194, S196). The ogres of the Hand of Setarak, who "worship 'an awakened one' of Seth'arax," serve him (S194), fifty or so of them on the shore (S196). The same god's older temple in the jungles is told under Aquitania.
The Dwarven Shipyards¶
A "Dwarven City of ??, no ships" and "Dwarven Shipyards of ??, occupied by the Hand of Setarak" appear among the ideas for the same coast (S194), and the temple is guessed to be "underwater in a flooded side cavern of the shipyards?" (S196). They are placed here because the White Tower dwarves are the dwarves of the region.
Gap
The shipyards and the city are unnamed, and no source says they belong to the White Towers. Nothing describes the realm's capital, its clans beyond the Darkwalkers, its population, or where the White Tower Mountains stand on the map of Numenia beyond "north" of the Sanctuary coast and east of the Sancturi Empire.
Earlier accounts¶
The Boreal Elves' ethnography (S100) gives the first sightings as around 200 AL; the earlier Proturan timeline (S107) marks them around 280 AL. This page follows the newer document and files the difference.