Dessarin Valley

The Dessarin Valley is situated between the Kellgud Mountains and the Granite Hills. It is home to a diverse range of folk, although most inhabitants are either humans or halflings. The main industry of the Dessarin Valley is agriculture, and Goldenfields play a large part in the agricultural economy of the area

History:  Most people who live in the Dessarin Valley have no idea of its long history. Old-timers nodding sagely by the hearths of the local taprooms sometimes observe, “These lands, they have old bones.” Most locals have no idea of how right they are.

Some truly ancient ruins in this area go back to the days of the first great elf kingdoms. The earliest realm that does is the dwarf kingdom of Grakinimore, which was founded nearly six thousand years ago. Its existence is so far back in the mists of history that only a handful of non-dwarf sages have even heard of it. Most people of the Dessarin Valley don’t know Grakinimore at all, but they are familiar with two of its works: the engineering marvel known as the Stone Bridge and the crumbling ruins known as the Halls of the Hunting Axe.

The realm of Grakinimore was something rare: a dwarven kingdom built on the surface, with its strength measured in fields and pastures. It prospered for a time but was plagued by trolls and giants. The dwarves were obliged to build a stronghold underground, carving out the fortress-city of Tyar-Besil a century after Grakinimore’s founding. Unfortunately for the dwarves, the realm collapsed after its king and founder died in battle. Most of the surviving dwarves sought safer lands. The dwarven city beneath the Granite Hills was abandoned and then forgotten.

Tyar-Besil slumbered in darkness for many long centuries, occasionally discovered and occupied by monsters or ambitious miners, only to be abandoned again. It came to light again when a group of adventurers who called themselves the Knights of the Silver Horn discovered the ruins. Over the centuries they returned again and again, eventually founding strongholds of their own to safeguard the hidden entrances to the sprawling dungeon.

The knights had some success in clearing small domains in the wild Granite Hills, but only a few years later the powerful orc realm of Uruth Ukrypt arose nearby, and the Dessarin Valley became a battlefield. Trouble followed on trouble: the Orcfastings War, the First and Second Trollwars. By the year 942 AF, human settlements in the Dessarin Valley had been all but wiped out, and the Knights of the Silver Horn were no more. Their strongholds crumbled into ruin and became known in later years as the Haunted Keeps. Eventually, no one remembered who built them or why.

The current wave of settlement in and around the Dessarin Valley began after 1000 AF, coinciding with Port Kilntstron’s growth from a warlord’s stronghold into a city. The first small outposts that would grow into places such as Red Larch and Triboar were carved out of a wild and untamed land. People resettling the Dessarin Valley found the remains of “kingdoms of old” scattered here and there throughout the area.

Current Events: Minor issues are nothing unusual in the Dessarin Valley. Bands of savage humanoids from the Kellgud Mountains or the Granite Hills occasionally raid here. Human barbarians roam these lands, and the more aggressive tribes can be very dangerous. Bandits sometimes gather in the lonelier parts of the vale to waylay caravans traveling the Long Road or the Kheldell Path. Every now and then reckless or unlucky adventurers manage to stir up some ancient curse in the ruins scattered around the area. Constables of valley settlements are usually up to the task of restoring the peace.

Six months ago, an insidious new threat began to grow in the area, unsuspected by the locals or any passing adventurers. Dreams and visions drew four elemental prophets, one by one, to the Fane of the Eye beneath the Granite Hills. Each prophet began to gather like-minded followers. Strangers trickled into the Dessarin Valley in ones or twos. Some were already elemental cultists, eager to build a place where they could openly practice their vile rites. Others were brutal thugs, power-hungry dabblers in forbidden magic, or fanatics lured by the call of evil. At first the cultists valued secrecy above all else, but as their numbers grow and they establish their strongholds, they turned their attention to expanding their hold on the Dessarin Valley.