The reign of the High King Undin Greybeard had seen the Dwarf Kingdom enjoy a long period of prosperity and enterprise. This stability began to wane with the escalation of the war in the south between the Skaven and the High Elves. A quiet unease settled across the Dwarf Kingdom as the unending conflict between these two powers threatened to engulf the southern continent.
The death of High King Undin Greybeard did little to settle the air of tension in the dwarf kingdom. Upon succeeding his father, newly-crowned Morgrim Undinson sought to ease internal rivalries between the naval clans and mountain clans. By ceding Karak-A-Varr to the Admiralty, and moving his capital north to Karak Brynaz, Morgrim deftly appeased both factions by thus honouring their respective positions within the Kingdom.
Yet with the advance of years Karak Brynaz stagnated under the strain of dwindling trade income, caused in great part by the constant state of conflict across the Pan Coron ocean caused by Dark Elf reavers and Skaven war fleets. To combat this High King Morgrim began his great project - the Grand Canal that would connect the Pan Coron Ocean to the Great Rhun Sea. It would facilitate increased trade with the humans and elves by bypassing the southern coastline altogether, a notorious stretch where traders were so often caught at the mercy of roving enemy vessels. Moreover, such an undertaking would make Brynaz the heart of the Kingdom again.
Upon completion it proved to be everything the dwarfs hoped for, despite the witterings of the Human Empire who claimed to have far more involvement than they had in fact contributed. The human Emperor made ridiculous demands for sovereign rights of passage on the canal. With diplomacy reaching a stalemate, the military presence of both nations escalated in the area. Morgrim dealt a swift and crushing blow to the Holy Sigmarite Empire, taking their confused forces by surprise and thus settling the dispute. The HSE retracted their complaints regarding this imagined slight to their honour and peace and co-operation between he two nations was restored.
With the heart of the kingdom growing in power and influence, the rest of the realm grew with it. Karak Grimnil in the far north, ruled by King Alarag, became a home to the Guild of Runesmiths, still standing as it did as a stalwart reminder of the terrible Ghoul War. To the south, Karak Vermingard was to be the newly-founded bastion to hold back the verminous hordes of the Typhonian Enclave. To the east, Snorrisberg remained the home of the merchant guilds. It became famed across the Kingdom for the production of ale that even grey beards agreed was “not bad” compared to many other ales (albeit still nothing compared to the Bugman's drunk in their youth). High praise indeed.
Seeking to settle bad blood with the humans, High King Morgrim engineered a territorial exchange that saw the Sigmarites settle new small colony on the ruins of Aquila. In return, the Emperor gifted the dwarfs the southern reaches of the Durom Ranges. So it was that the founding of Karak Kharval was begun in the mountains bordering the Sigmarite lands. It was by this act, claimed Morgrim, that new mining opportunities would be plentiful, and the bonds of fellowship between Dwarf and Human firmly secured as they stood together in defiance against predations of their mutual enemies.
Most recently, at the grand age of 370 years, Morgrim took a young bride; Olga, agreed by all to be “a bonny lass”. Celebratory feasts were proclaimed across the Kingdom and in Snorrisberg a brewery was drained dry for the first time since its founding... much to the consternation of the inhabitants.
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