Verkal Gulan is a dwarf hold in the Middle Dwarovar known as the Golden Citadel, renowned for being built upon a great cavern with many gold veins running through, allowing them to amass much wealth in their vaults and being responsible for minting most coins in Aul-Dwarov. While being a humble hold in the empire, it saw a experienced a golden age under the Segbandal, allowing to use it's wealth to aid their allies and trade with the people of the surface. Protected by the Three Golden Gates, the Gold Dwarves survived the orcish invasion of the Dwarovar and later isolated themselves from the world and transitioning into a republic.
Culture and Customs[]
The Gold Dwarves built three Golden gates protect Verkal Gulan, the Hero's Gate faces the outside world and leads into the vale, decorated with great scenes of battle and victory over our many foes, it had often been beset by harpies and gnollish raiders. The King's Gate faces the Dwarovar, and is adorned with examples of dwarven craftsmanship and engineering. It was opened during the time of the second Segbandal, when the Gold Dwarves aided their allies with funds and troops. But when the orcs breached the rails in 816, the gate was closed, and it has sat closed since their isolation. The Miner's Gate faces the depths, it is the gate that provides access to the deep reaches of Verkal Gulan and to the great treasures that lie beneath its foundations, decorated with depictions of all the treasures and horrors of the deep earth.
Hero's Gate of Verkal Gulan
The economy of Verkal Gulan was driven by gold. The vast quantities of the metal that the dwarves retrieved from the depths of the mountains were so great that they threatened the stability of the nation's treasury. To create some relative stability, the council of clans had a massive vault constructed where all gold mined in the citadel would be stored. Then they created the institution of the Vault Magistrates, warrior-bureaucrats whose job was to carefully measure the quantities of gold in the vault and to always track the stores. These magistrates had the solemn duty of determining when it would be wise or unwise to tap into the Citadel's gold supply, and by their skill they stabilised Verkal Gulan's economy.
While condemned by many for their part in Jexis' occupation of Seghdihr, the Seg Band had a significant impact on the approach of the dwarves of the Segbandal towards mercenary work. While they were never as influential as in the days of Jaher, mercenaries were employed by the clans of the Golden Citadel in various positions of society. They became an established institution in their own right. The Companies of Arm were part of the city's structure of guilds, along with the Mining Company and the Smith's Guild and many others.
History[]
Reestablishment of the Segbandal[]
With the fall of Amldihr in 5895 BA, Grônstunad declared itself as the overlord of Aul-Dwarov and established the Jade Empire. However, with Gor Vazumbrog loyal to Amldihr due to its ancestral charge immediately severed ties with Grônstunad. The Gold Dwarves joined the Titanium Dwarves along with the other holds of the Middle Dwarovar in opposition to the Empire and in 5848 BA, after much discussions, officially joined the reestablished Segbandal.
Gulani Role in the Segbandal[]
The Gold Dwarves had much gold stored within their vaults which proved to be very useful, bringing prosperity to the Segbandal and allowing them to trade on the surface more easily. They played a role in the Segbandalic Golden Age beginning in 3590 BA as they helped with the populations of the Middle Dwarovar recovering from the fall of Amldihr, aiding many holds in expansion and renewing. They especially had to support Gor Vazumbrog and Hehodovar, putting strain on their hold as they were obligated to help.
Friendship with the Mašnsih[]
Despite opening up to the wastes of the Salahad Desert, Verkal Gulan found itself with an unexpected trading partner, in the tribes of the Mašnsih in 602. Bringing wares along the route that would one day become the Golden Highway, the two groups were both eager to break away from Seghdihr’s monopoly on surface access, and so began a long and prosperous agreement in regards to trade and exchange.
Devastation of the Middle Dwarovar[]
Since Gor Vazumbrog's fall in 472, the orcs had launched repeated attacks on Hehodovar and the surrounding area in an attempt to sack the hold. These were largely unsuccessful due to having to face the armies of the other Segbandal holds as well that blocked the rails outside Hehodovar. In 816, the holds of Seghdihr and Verkal Gulan had a quarrel over the usage of the gold mined in Verkal Gulan and where to best use it. Worried that this quarrel would lead to military action, Verkal Gulan withdrew its forces from Hehodovar. Seghdihr feared that Verkal Gulan was preparing to attack them and thus also withdrew their forces from Hehodovar. Now missing half its garrison, Hehodovar was unable to repel the next orcish onslaught. The remaining Pyrite and Topaz Dwarves retreated into the hold and barred the gates.
Fall of the Monarchy[]
With the collapse of the Segbandal, the Gold Dwarves of Verkal Gulan grew increasingly decadent and isolated with their wealth, built on the backs of Topaz and Pyrite refugees. With his personal hoard growing larger by the day, Gilded King Thorar Goldhands was affected the most. No longer did he care for ruling, only for increasing his wealth. The Goldlords of Verkal Gulan would not allow the hold to fall to the greed of their King and thus ousted Thorar. Exiled from his home, Thorar turned to his people's long time friends the Masnsih for shelter, leading to the Goldlords setting up a republic to rule the hold amongst themselves in 1201.
However, a century after the creation of the republic in 1316, the Goldlords had fallen to the same curse as their last king. With the gold no longer flowing outside the hold, the Goldlords became richer and fatter, with decadence and corruption tainting the entire hold. Verkal Gulan had exchanged one evil for another and the people suffered for it.
Jaddari Siege of Verkal Gulan[]
In the 1440s, Urothr managed to pass some reform to the institutions of the republic, but at the same time the Goldlords began to organise to block the reforms, trying to claw back the power and privileges they were used to.
During this time, Khedira, Thorar Goldhand's granddaughter, converted to the Jadd, promising Jaddar access to the riches of Verkal Gulan if they take the throne and restore her dynasty.
Knowledgeable about the corruption and isolation of the Goldlords, and of the strategic value of the hold, both theologically (as the underground kingdoms of the Serpentspine were ruled by the Dark) and politically (since having the riches of Verkal Gulan would increase the meagre resources of the Desert Legion and its vassal states), Jaddar agreed to Khedira’s plan, and with the objective to bring the Gold Dwarves into the Jadd’s fold, the Desert Legion marched through the Hero’s Vale and lay siege to Verkal Gulan.
The gates were closed and when Jaddar shows up to siege, it's not all that of a nuisance for the dwarves inside because they've been in stagnation for over a century now, and outside trade was mostly for show now that the Goldlords were making a comeback.
Despite the logistic nightmare that is sieging a Dwarven Hold, the Desert Legion make progress thanks to elven magic, gunpowder (a scarce good at the time), and even one of the Wishblades that the szal-Fazil tribe kept hidden in Ulmišbar, used to breach one of the three Golden Gates.
After three years of siege, the Goldlords tried to coup Urothr, a bloody fight that he managed to win after promising to erase the debts of the Pyrite and Topaz refugees that the Goldlords had placed upon them, under the condition that they fight alongside his forces.
The Goldlords tried to escape as their quasi-slave class rebelled by throwing open the Hero's Gate, almost allowing the Jaddari soldiers to secure. The Goldlords were captured, with the armies of the Jadd gaining a morale boost after watching the riches of their captives, which they believed were dwarven commoners.
Urothr managed to hold the gate with what was left of his forces, but he was wounded during the battle, and after watching everything he's worked for the last 30 years to almost being destroyed, he tried to figure out a way to get his people out of the situation alive. The night of the same day, he sent envoys to Jaddar, and started to negotiate the surrender of the Hold.
The first days the negotiations were tense, as both sides were adamant with some of the terms of the surrender. After a week of backs and forths, the negotiations resumed after Khedira, without Jaddar’s knowledge, offered her hand in marriage to Urothr, allowing him to use her dynastic claim to ascend as king of Verkal Gulan. This result was desired by Jaddar, as having a follower of the Jadd in charge would guarantee the resources for the legion, allowed the negotiations to go smoothly, and after 3 days of negotiations, Verkal Gulan surrendered.
The Desert Legion got their gold, a steady yearly instalment, access for their missionaries to the hold and a vested and faithful individual as queen of Verkal Gulan. Urothr converted and acknowledged Jaddar as the successor of the Jaherian Contract via being son and heir of Jexis Jaherzuir. It is believed that this act was mostly symbolic, as on the surface it wasn’t meaningful for the dwarves, but in the long term allowed Urothr to keep his reputation mostly intact.
The population of the Hold was allowed to retain their Ancestor worship, and conversion was willingly. They got access to the surface and the promise of foodstuffs and support in reclaiming the Dwarovar.
Urothr and Khedira established a new dynasty that ruled Verkal Gulan, through Urothr refused to rule like an absolute monarch and instead established several councils to ensure checks and balances, to prevent the same excesses as the Goldlords and king Thorar.