Khazalid Empire
Affiliation | Order |
Status | Defunct |
Leaders | Grungni |
Races | Duardin |
Capital | Karak-a-Zaruk |
Settlements | Karak |
Language | Khazalid |
The Khazalid Empire was an expansive Duardin nation that existed during the Age of Myth. At its height, it boasted colonies across all eight of the Mortal Realms and countless sub-realms. Some of these sub-realms were even created by the Duardin themselves through realm-craft.[3a][15a]
For a time this mighty empire flourished, in part due to the gifts and tutelage given to its people by Grungni, and the Duardin who lived within it worked alongside Humans, Aelves, Gholemkind and many others to create.[9a][5a][2a] Before the empire fell it produced many untold wonders and grand halls.[15a]
Their patron god valued self-sufficiency in his followers, maintaining that only adversity allows his people to outdo themselves and reach their full potential.[2a] As a result, Grungni left for Azyr once he felt his people ready to prosper on their own.[2a][8a]
Overview
More often than not, the Karaks of the Khazalid Empire took root into the innumerable mountain ranges and underground caverns of the Mortal Realms and subrealms the empire sought to colonize.[3a][15a] Occasionally they would even create their own subrealms with their realm-craft, in these artificial places rare gems ran like water, the clockwork of the Cosmos Arcane could be accessed and amended to meet the needs of the duardin, and marvellous underground strongholds were constructed.[3a][15a]
Many of these marvels of engineering fell during the Age of Chaos.[3a] The survivors seeking refuge in High Azyr or amongst the emerging sky-ports of the Kharadron Overlords.[10a]
Those who escaped to Azyr became known as the Dispossessed. These proud Duardin clans cling tightly to the traditions, arts, and cultures of their ancestors. It is the Dispossessed, and their kin within the Ironweld Arsenal, who are responsible for building the foundations of the Cities of Sigmar.[3a]
Following in the wake of Sigmar's Tempest many Warden Kings of the Dispossessed led their people to retake territories and karaks lost in the apocalyptic Age of Chaos. They are often aided by other Free Peoples.[2b]
Recently, rumours abound that The Maker has begun to work on great reclamation engines that will usher the reconstruction and recovery of the ancient holds of the Dispossessed.[2a] Others say that the duardin patriarch founded a new hidden stronghold deep beneath Chamon.[11a] There is also the possibility that Grungni is crafting something wondrous able to reunify his dispersed people, be it a new duardin bloodline, a great machine or a way to return Valaya to the Mortal Realms.[11a]
List of Age of Myth Karaks
- Barak Gorn: A Duardin seaport in Ulgu dating back to the Age of Myth.[12a]
- Karak-a-Zaruk: A grand stronghold of the Duardin that fell in the Age of Myth.[9b]
- Karak-Cairntomb [1a]
- Karak-Khazhar [1a]
- Karak Kzaf: A stronghold found in the Evermount, a mountain in Ghur.[13a]
- Forge-City of Grungni[1a]
- Karak Ohrgaf[6a]
- Kharz'Naghad: A duardin hold established following Sigmar's visit to the kingdom in the Age of Myth.[7a]
- Karak Thain: The predecessor stronghold of Barak-Thargar.[14a]
Sources
- 1: Battletome: Kharadron Overlords (2017)
- 1a: Upon Clouds of Gold, pg. 24-25
- 2: Soulbound Core Rulebook
- 3: Battletome: Cities of Sigmar (2019)
- 3a: The Dispossessed, pg. 36
- 4: Age of Sigmar: Core Book (2nd Edition)
- 4a: The Spiral Crux, pg. 104-107
- 5: Code of the Skies (novella)
- 5a: pg 84
- 6: Battletome: Beasts of Chaos (2018)
- 6a: pg 18
- 7: Carrion Empire
- 7a: Dynasty of Artisans, pg. 2-3
- 8: White Dwarf November 2020
- 8a: pg. 11
- 9: Battletome: Kharadron Overlords (2020)
- 10: White Dwarf April 2017
- 10a: pg. 33
- 11: Battletome: Fyreslayers (2019)
- 11a: Legacy of the Lodges, pg. 22-23
- 12: Inferno! Volume 2
- 12a: At the Sign of the Brazen Claw: Part Two - The Merchant's Story
- 13: Battletome: Gloomspite Gitz (2019)
- 13a: Ages of Loonacy, pg. 16-19
- 14: White Dwarf October 2020
- 14a: pg. 30-31
- 15: White Dwarf March 2021
- 15a: The Maker's Work, pg. 132-141