The Forge of Wills

Deep beneath the Ironhowl Range of Skorrheim lies Thuradun, the immense subterranean complex commonly known as the Forge of Wills. Conceived by the Jarl Triumvirate and raised with the aid of their giant kin after the Dawn War, it became the birthplace of the three dwarven lineages. Centuries later, the Dragon Ascendants returned during the Incursion and used its central Forge to create the first Dragonborn.

Thuradun extends through the Ashen Depths in monumental halls, galleries, bridges, shafts, platforms, and enclosed chambers built into the mountain itself. Despite having stood for millennia, much of the complex remains remarkably pristine. Stone surfaces retain their polish, metal shows little corrosion, and ancient structures continue to move or respond as they were designed to do.

Only a small portion of Thuradun is regularly occupied. Giants, dwarves, Dragonborn, and members of the Stormforged Order maintain posts within its principal chambers, but the complex has never become a city or permanent settlement.

Origins of the Forge of Wills

Thuradun was created in the aftermath of the Dawn War. When the Primordial Titans were defeated, portions of their power were bestowed upon those who would become the Dragon Ascendants and the Jarl Triumvirate.

Thalkor of the Stone Giants, Saaktar of the Fire Giants, and Thorden of the Storm Giants chose to surrender much of the power they had received. They selected the Ashen Depths for several reasons. The surrounding mountains provided isolation and natural protection, the caverns contained unusual concentrations of geothermal heat and ancient ice, and beneath them lay one of the most powerful ley line nexuses known in Eldareth.

With the aid of their giant kin, the Jarls transformed the caverns into Thuradun. Great halls were cut through the mountain, bridges and platforms were raised across enormous natural spaces, and structures of stone, metal, runework, elemental power, and divine craft were fitted into the surrounding rock.

At the center of their work was the Anima Core, formed from the power surrendered by the three Jarls.

Using the Core and what remained of their own divine essence, the Jarls shaped the first dwarves. Saaktar created the Emberforge, Thorden the Runeborn, and Thalkor the Ironcrest. All three lineages trace their beginning to Thuradun.

Architecture of Thuradun

The architecture of Thuradun bears little resemblance to later dwarven or giant construction.

Natural caverns frequently open into precisely ordered halls without any obvious boundary between untouched stone and worked surfaces. Massive slabs meet without visible joints, geometric patterns continue across walls and ceilings, and narrow channels of light follow lines that sometimes extend through several adjoining structures.

Great rings hang without visible supports. Bridges cross distances that would normally require numerous pillars beneath them. Doors several stories high open along seams that vanish completely once they close.

The scale varies throughout the complex. Some chambers were clearly intended for giants, with broad stairways and enormous entrances, while smaller galleries, workspaces, and access passages were built for dwarven attendants and craftsmen.

The Ashen Depths remain visible throughout much of Thuradun. Ancient ice rises beside polished stone, while magma moves beneath platforms and through channels incorporated into the foundations. Neither appears to have significantly damaged the surrounding structures despite the passage of millennia.

Age is most evident in how long some chambers have gone unused. Dust may gather across an empty floor, but beneath it the stone remains smooth and unweathered. Doors closed for centuries can still open without resistance, and dormant patterns sometimes illuminate as soon as someone enters.

The Heart of Thuradun

The most important chambers lie near the center of the complex.

High above the upper chamber hangs the Anima Core, suspended within enormous concentric structures extending into the surrounding walls. Pale light surrounds it, reflected across polished stone, dark metal, and fine lines of gold and runework.

Directly beneath the Core is a great opening overlooking the chamber below.

When the Forge is awakened, a concentrated beam descends from the Anima Core through this opening and travels into the lower hall. At its center stands the structure from which Thuradun takes its common name: the Forge of Wills.

The Forge is a colossal platform approached from several sides by broad causeways. Terraces and galleries rise around it, while enclosed chambers overlook the platform from the surrounding walls. Geometric channels and inlays connect these spaces to the architecture around the Forge.

The oldest accounts place Thalkor, Saaktar, and Thorden within these chambers during the creation of the first dwarves. Centuries later, the Dragon Ascendants occupied them during the Second Forging.

The beam from the Anima Core has been directed into the Forge only twice in recorded history.

For nearly all of Thuradun's existence, the platform has stood dormant beneath it.

The Second Forging

The Forge of Wills was awakened for the second time during the Incursion, when forces from the Far Realm threatened much of Eldareth.

Seeking a means of strengthening the mortal forces resisting the invasion, the five Dragon Ascendants traveled to Thuradun and repeated part of what the Jarl Triumvirate had accomplished centuries earlier.

The Anima Core was opened to the chamber below. From the surrounding chambers, the Ascendants contributed portions of their own draconic essence to the process.

From the Forge came the first Dragonborn.

Although created during a time of war, Dragonborn did not remain bound to that purpose. Their communities developed their own traditions and identities after the Incursion, while Thuradun remained an important part of their shared history.

The Forge has not been awakened in this manner since.

Nature of the Forge of Wills

The Forge of Wills does not create souls from nothing. Its workings reshape existing essence and allow it to be joined with other sources of power.

Both known creations of new peoples required beings of demigod strength to contribute part of their own essence. No mortal group has successfully reproduced either act, and much of what occurred during the First and Second Forgings survives only through incomplete records and knowledge preserved by Thuradun's custodians.

The limits of the Anima Core are equally uncertain. Some scholars believe the ley line nexus beneath Thuradun and the elemental forces of the Ashen Depths gradually restore what is drawn from it. Others argue that every major use permanently diminishes the primordial power remaining within the Core.

Whatever the truth, no attempt to awaken the central Forge is undertaken lightly.

The Other Forges

The Forge of Wills is the greatest forge within Thuradun, but it is not the only one.

Other forging halls are scattered throughout the complex. Their forms differ considerably, ranging from broad platforms surrounded by runic channels to immense anvils, suspended structures, and chambers built around arrangements whose full purpose is no longer understood.

These forges have produced works of exceptional quality. Ancient records describe enchanted weapons and armor, powerful constructs, ceremonial arms, and other creations whose methods of manufacture have since been lost elsewhere.

Several remain functional and are occasionally used under strict supervision. Skilled smiths, runekeepers, artificers, and other craftsmen may be granted access when their work is judged important enough to warrant it.

Even the most capable of these forges remains limited compared with the central Forge. They can create extraordinary objects and constructs. Only the Forge of Wills has demonstrated the ability to reshape living essence on the scale required to create an entirely new people.

The Greater Complex

Thuradun extends far beyond the chambers surrounding the Anima Core.

Broad halls open onto galleries several levels high. Bridges cross vast shafts, while stairways climb between terraces carved into cavern walls. In some places, vertical structures disappear above and below sight, crossed by narrow walkways at different heights.

The same geometric forms recur throughout distant parts of the complex. Circles, intersecting lines, angular runes, and repeated arrangements appear in chambers separated by great distances, suggesting that Thuradun was conceived as a single connected whole.

Some structures still move after centuries without direct attention. Rings turn slowly above empty platforms, sections of wall withdraw to reveal passages, and faint light passes through channels when nearby chambers become active.

Large portions of Thuradun remain closed. In many cases the chambers beyond are neither damaged nor lost. They are simply sealed, restricted, or no longer required.

No complete survey of the complex is known to exist.

The Ashen Depths

Thuradun lies within the Ashen Depths, a vast natural cavern system beneath the Ironhowl Range in Jotungard.

The convergence of powerful ley lines beneath the mountains was central to the Jarls' decision to build there, as were the unusual conditions found within the caverns. Magma moves through some sections while ancient ice persists nearby, creating a region where opposing elemental forces exist in unusually close proximity.

The principal known entrance is the Gate of Anvils. The enormous doorway stands within the mountain behind a succession of carved approaches and ancient wards maintained by generations of custodians. Tradition claims that the Gate opens only to someone who approaches with a worthy purpose, though few outside those responsible for it know how literal that claim may be.

Routes into the Ashen Depths are deliberately absent from common maps, and reaching Thuradun without guidance is difficult. Other entrances exist, but most are sealed, closely watched, or reserved for those responsible for maintaining specific sections of the complex.

Guardians and Access

Several groups share responsibility for protecting and maintaining Thuradun.

The Emberguard descend from Saaktar's Fire Giant kin and maintain the strongest giant presence within the Ashen Depths. They hold important approaches to the central chambers and regard Thuradun as part of an inheritance entrusted to their ancestors.

Runeborn dwarves from Dur-Kazad maintain many of the surviving wards and preserve knowledge of the complex that has been lost elsewhere. Custodians, smiths, and runekeepers rotate through posts within Thuradun rather than establishing permanent communities in its halls.

The Stormforged Order also shares responsibility for the site. Its members come from several peoples and are bound by an oath to preserve knowledge of Thuradun and prevent its power from being misused.

Dragonborn maintain a smaller presence connected primarily to the history of the Second Forging. Scholars, religious representatives, and other visitors from the Aldramar Isles may occasionally be permitted into chambers associated with their origins.

Outsiders can be admitted to Thuradun, but such visits are rare and subject to considerable scrutiny. Scholars, diplomats, accomplished craftspeople, pilgrims, and others with legitimate reasons to enter may petition for access. Approval usually limits them to specific routes and chambers, and visitors remain under escort while inside.

Permission to enter Thuradun does not grant access to the Anima Core, the central Forge, sealed sections, or many of the functioning lesser forges. Entry to those areas is granted only under exceptional circumstances.

Guard posts, archives, workshops, and modest quarters have been established near important chambers and entrances. They exist to support those responsible for Thuradun rather than form a settlement within it.

The Giants and the Forge

The giant clans of Skorrheim no longer possess the unity they held under the Jarl Triumvirate, but Thuradun remains closely tied to their history.

Fire Giants retain the strongest direct involvement through the Emberguard, while Stone Giant communities continue to regard the complex as one of the greatest achievements associated with Thalkor and their ancestors. Many Storm Giants preserve old accounts of its creation and hold that the central Forge should remain dormant until circumstances arise comparable to those that justified its previous use.

The complex itself preserves evidence of the generations who helped raise it. Giant inscriptions, maker marks, carved records, and names remain throughout the oldest halls, left by those who worked beneath the direction of the three Jarls.

Other giant clans possess weaker historical claims. Some Frost Giant jarls nevertheless regard Thuradun as part of Skorrheim's wider inheritance and argue that its guardianship should not remain concentrated among the descendants of those most closely associated with its construction.

These differences have prevented the giants from presenting a single claim to the Forge.

The Dragonborn Connection

The Dragonborn have their own historical connection to Thuradun. The Second Forging remains one of the foundational events in their history, and the Aldramar Isles lie across the Stormbreaker Sea from Skorrheim.

There is little agreement over what that connection should mean in the present day. Some support the existing guardianship, while others believe Dragonborn should hold a formal role in protecting the site where their ancestors were created.

More radical groups have argued for using the Forge again. Proposals range from repeating the Second Forging to altering living Dragonborn through Thuradun's power.

Such ideas remain controversial among Dragonborn themselves and are one reason requests for deeper access receive particularly close scrutiny.