Coldain Heritage and History Vol. I-VI

Volume I: Lost at Sea

Inscribed by:
Grand Historian Nicmar

During the ancient days when the first city of the dwarves was under construction, dwarves were being sent across the lands and seas to find precious reserves of stone, crystal, and ore for the project. Ships sailed in and out by the dozens bringing supplies for the great project. One fleet of such ships was sailing across the South of Antonica to reach the unknown island that would eventually be Odus, where a quartz mine was being set up in the name of the dwarves.

Led by the miner and explorer Colin Dain, the fleet of a dozen ships carrying about 200 dwarves ran into one of the worst storms Prexus had ever unleashed. Tossed and turned, flipped and torn the storm raged on for days as most of the dwarves huddled together in the ships' holds waiting for the seas to calm. When finally after eight days of turbulence the gales subsided and the dwarves crawled onto their tattered decks they found that six of their ships had been lost to the storm along with their crews and passengers. Worst of all not even the best navigators or cartographers had a clue as to where they were. Even the stars in the sky could not be relied upon for navigation, as none of them were recognizable to the dwarves who had never been in this region before.


----------



Volume II: A New World

Inscribed by:
Grand Historian Nicmar

Using typical dwarven logic, Colin picked a direction to sail in and decided that their only hope was to keep sailing in that direction until they spotted land. As the days and then weeks went by the only noticeable difference to the dwarves was that things began to get a lot colder. Some nights were so cold that many a dwarf froze to death on the deck, turning into a guardian statue of ice by the cruel weather. Only the morale boosting and determination of Colin Dain kept the dwarves hopes alives as he popped from ship to ship assuring the dwarves that they woudl "Hit land soon, if'n not tomorrow then the day after."

Eventually Colin's words rang true as the dwarves did indeed spot a gigantic white landmass in the distance. Unfortunately, the landing proved to be as deadly as the voyage there as a reef of icebergs both small and large began to tear the small fleet apart. Not a single ship made it to what could only be thought of as giant glacier intact. Most were torn apart far from land, and many of the remaining dwarves met with an icy death in the heart of the ocean. All in all ninety-four of the two hundred some dwarves who left from the Northern Hemispere countless days before made it onto that icy beach. Not a single ship was serviceable.

Colin Dain wasted no time in leading his people from the shorelin. He knew that they would have to find shelter to keep from dying in the cold. He also knew that they would need to find wood and other supplies so they could repair the remaining ships and set off for fairer lands. And so the quartz miners from the north settled in a nest of abandoned caves found abou ten miles inland from where they landed, in the side of a giant mountain of ice and snow in the northernmost tip of the Great Divide.


----------



Volume III: Frostone Keep

Inscribed by:
Grand Historian Nicmar

There's an old Erudite saying that states "Dwarves are like time itself, neither can ever remain idle." This certainly proved true for the new settlement.

The miners quickly discovered that the hard packed ice lying beneath the snow of Velious was as durable and malleable as stone. Being mostly quartz miners, the dwarves found they liked this ice just fine and were building all sorts of things with it in no time. The great walruses found along the coast proved to be an invaluable source of food and furs, although many a warrior fell to the beasts thinking "they're just dumb animals."

It was for this reason and others that a small dwarven settlement was formed near the shores of the ocean in the Eastern Wastes. Through time the settlement became a town, and then a strong dwarven keep seemed to form as if a new mountain had been born. Named Frostone, for the ice it was built out of, the dwarves realized that with the completion of this keep their stay on this strange new land was permanent.

Unfortunately this time of peace for the dwarves was coming to an end as they ran into the first other intelligent life on Velious, the Frost Giants.


----------



Volume IV: Our Greatest Loss

Inscribed by:
Grand Historian Nicmar

The frost giants make up the largest population in the Eastern Wastes and consider those lands their home.

Needless to say they did not take kindly to the children of Brell building a fortress along their northeastern border. And so it was with great surprise that the dwarves woke up one day to find their home under siege by an army of giants. After days of vicious battle the dwarves realized that they could not possibly hold out against the giants. Colin Dain led the exile from their new home in the Great Divide to the only place they could go - deeper into the mountains. The ice giants followed them into the mountains and a small group of dwarves volunteered to stay behing while the others escaped. Colin Dain himself led the suicide ambush, buying his people enough time to escape the giants' reach.

From this time onward the dwarves vowed to refer to themselves as the Coldain in honor of their beloved leader, and also that all the leaders of their people would carry the title Dain. From this day forward the Coldain were a new people born from the roots of dwarven kind.
This event also established an enemy of the Coldain that will most likely remain until the end of time.

As for Froststone Keep itself, all that remains are ruins in the Eastern Wastes marking the remnants of a once great citadel.


----------



Volume V: The Crystal Caverns

Inscribed by:
Grand Historian Nicmar

While hiding out in the frigid caverns, a Coldain miner by the name of Glight Snowchipper received a vision from Brell. The vision was of a labyrinth of ice where the dwarves could hide from the ice giants. These caverns would be a twisting maze so that the invading giants would become easily lost and fall into the many deathtraps the dwarves would set up. These caverns of crystal would be the salvation of the Coldain race.

And so Glight presented his idea to Dain Frostreaver the First, son of Colin Dain and called Frostreaver for his efficiency in dispatching giants, and construction began. The Crystal Caverns were completed in a little under half a century. The timeliness of the project alone was proof to the Coldain that Glight had indeed been inspired by Brell.

The true test of the caverns' effectiveness came 30 years later when the Kromrif discovered the location of the Crystal Caverns. Slagd Frozentoe of the Kromrif led an invasion force of two hundred and fifty warriors to the cavern, hopine to wipe the hated Coldain from Velious once and for all.

Glight Snowchipper himself led the defense of the Coldain leading the ice giants deep into the confusing caverns. His magical pickaxe, aptly named Snowchipper, split many a giant's kneecap as the dwarves struck repeatedly from hidden passages and around dimly lit corners. Despite losing more than two thirds of his forces, Slagd and the remaining giants had almost made it to the Coldain city in the center of the caverns when Glight pulled off his greatest and final trick. Thirty thousand tons of ice and stone crashed into Slagd and his remaining giants after Glight and a few of his brave miners led them down a false passage.

Unfortunately it was an act of self-sacrifice as the dwarf and his fellows were also buried in the intentional avalanche.


----------



Volume VI: The Second Exodus

Inscribed by:
Grand Historian Nicmar

Over the centuries that followed, strange creatures began migrating into the Crystal Caverns. These monsters were a collection of the most deadly cave dwellers who inhabited the frosty caves of Velious. Unfortunately for the Coldain, these monsters used stealth and camouflage to hunt their prey.

The crystal widows are a breed of arachnids that are almost entirely translucent and blend in with the walls of the crystal caverns catching many an unwary miner with their poison glass fangs.

Stalagterrors are particularly nasty hunter which appears to be an ordinary ice stalactite, launching their frosty tentacles and opening their icy maws only when their prey is within reach. It was these foes and more which eventually caused the dwarves to abandon the Crystal Caverns and set out to build a new fortress more akin to FrostKeep.

There are rumors that a few dwarves refused to leave their hmoe in the center of the Caverns but what has become of them is unknown.


------------------------
Source: Ingame book
Pictures associated:
Thurgadin - City of the Coldains - EQ
Thurgadin - City of the Coldains - EQ

Thurgadin - City of the Coldains - EQ
Thurgadin - City of the Coldains - EQ