Izdurgrak

CategoryStrongholds
ContinentBrucrumus
RegionIce Cap
OwnerBrisingr
Built6 Hollow 514 HE
MapAettein

Izdurgrak was built by the kingdom of Malad-Mîn. With Turkûn engineering, it was a bulwark against the stone giants of Aemar and marauding bands coming north out of Cinyossion and other malcontents.

Izdurgrak is sited across a mountain pass leading north into the glacial vales of Khalas. This pass, the Khazan-Fel, has long been one of the more safer and quicker routes to enter this valley.

In their conflicts with the Titan Empires, Izdurgrak held against many assaults by giant armies coming from the lands around. The western attacks were perpetuated by Aemar's stone giants and those from the east were soldiers or raiders in service with the Saer Erkjorg. The times the place did fall, it was not held long before dwarven forces came in through the tunnels under the Iberak mountains then into the bowels of Izdurgrak. In this area is a fortress connecting with one on the surface. It was built after one of the times it fell, with the dwarves making the passages sized for them but impassable without digging for anything larger. As a result, the dwarves were able to hold this lower area even when the surface fortifications fell to marauding giants.

Izdurgrak is built into the blue-gray cliffs overlooking the valley Hou'tzor. After the fall of Gadstill Dynasty and Saer Erkjorg, operations shifted from defending against giants to defending against undead. Fortifications were changed to deal with restless spirits and the lifeless. The defenders of Izdurgrak keep watch over the ancient battlefields of Hou'tzor. This valley became haunted in 1537 HE when an eldritch giant lich named Erthjorn sent his undead legions against Izdurgrak. They tore apart two legions of dwarves in the siege, but were themselves defeated. Erthjorn was surrounded and killed, but his essence was so powerful that it drained into the landscape, leaving the valley forever tainted with negative energy and plagued with unusual weather.

The defenses of the place are formidable with five tiered walls and twenty fighting decks spread between them. The walls are lined with a layer of lead and are reinforced with iron rods. These rods are magical and can be heated to melt off any ice or snow that builds up against them. During the razor sleet, blizzards and death hail that frequent the valley, these iron rods afford the heat and protection needed to keep the defenders of the place in comfortable conditions when assailed by the undead that plague Hou'tzor.

Izdurgrak is linked to Khalas by sixteen underground passages. Each of these are covered by heavily fortified keeps that can be flooded with chilling glacial water if taken by invaders.

Civilization Tree
Malad-Mîn
Izdurgrak
Brisingr