Ruthmarna

Ruthmarna is a mountainous area that lies just north of Drache, serving as a border between the port city and land that is considered Northern Arangothian territory. It is home to the somewhat treacherous and well-traveled North-South Highway that extends from from Drache in the south, over the river Darian, and winds through the mountains to cities such as Hornath ul-Marfed and Tagrana in the north.

Ruthmarna

Area Information
Location	Separates Drache from Northern Arangoth.
Inhabitants	Dwarves are the primary race, but other Arangothians also make their home in Ruthmarna.
Language(s)	Arangothian; Common.
Religion	Menxism
Current Ruler	King Arlok
Currency	Arangothian

Location

This mountainous region separates Drache from the fields of northern Arangoth and is inhabited primarily by dwarves who mine gold, silver and other precious materials from deep caverns within the earth.

Behind the Name

The name "Ruthmarna" is Arangothian for the "Mineland". The name is derived from the terms "ruthmi", which translates to "cavern" or "mine" in the common tongue, and "arna", "land" or "homeland".

Most Noted Geographical Features

A narrow road crosses Ruthmarna from north to south, with many sharp windings, steep precipices and precarious bridges. This road often becomes unpassable due to avalanches or other disasters, and the only inhabitants outside the dwarvish miners are the Arangothians of various races settled in mountain villages with the job of making repairs on this vital thoroughfare. The main villages along the road, from south to north, are Thraxeti Kerrat, Diggodrele, Lurintheti Netri, Quarpodar, Tisponthoss, and Bralkadossath. In the common tongue, the villages are called Diamond Creek, Hundred-bricks, Golden Axe, Black-house, The Oven, and The Height, respectively.

Ruthmarna is also home to Prakanthos, an ancient monastery located high in the mountains. Prakanthos has trained both human and dwarven Templars of Menxvan for centuries. The monastery's name means "the anvil" in Arangothian, and it is said to be the place where Templars are molded from ordinary people. This is usually the first place young Initiates are sent for training, where they undergo a strenuous regime of prayer and physical exertion in the cold, thin mountain air.

History of the Area

The dwarves were the primeval inhabitants of Ruthmarna and governed themselves in ancient times. Once humans had settled in Arangoth, the dwarves and humans began trading foodstuffs for metal. Grand Duke Folvaholk of Leptatarna (Northern or Inner Arangoth) was responsible for building the north-south highway, and he also forced the Ruthmarna dwarves to swear fealty to him by threatening to obstruct their food supply. He established his son Kukarek as Grand Duke of Ruthmarna, and from that point onwards the heir to the Grand Duchy of Leptatarna always held the title Grand Duke of Ruthmarna. Later, when the Grand Duke of Leptatarna became recognized as King of Arangoth, the title Grand Duke of Ruthmarna was routinely held by the crown prince and heir to the throne. Ruthmarna supplied the gold, silver and copper for the Arangothian mint, and therefore it was very well-policed while the Old Kingdom still existed.

With the collapse of the Old Kingdom, the dwarves of Ruthmarna regained their ancient independence for a brief period, but they proved unable to defend themselves reliably against bandits who flourished after the old Arangothian police disappeared. For about half a century Ruthmarna fell into a state of anarchy, the old villages along the road resembling nothing so much as towns in the Wild West. Each village established a degree of vigilante justice, and bandits who were caught were generally thrown to their deaths from various precipices. The most fearsome bandit of all was Tatarn-ul-Tarrath (Tatarn-of-the-horn) who for a while had control of several of the villages, kept most of the dwarvish miners enslaved, and burned Thraxeti Kerrat to the ground after his romantic overtures were spurned by a girl native to that village (whom he abducted anyway; she was the mother of his daughter Tarla). Tatarn-ul-Tarrath was captured and thrown to his death by a vigilante group from Quarpodar, and since then his band's power has diminished somewhat, though it has continued to be a problem under Tatarn's ruthless successors, his daughter Tarla Nixkenixe and his brother Norpovath Quar. They still controlled some of the less-accessible mines and called themselves the Riders of the Horn (Sangliodaloth-ul-Tarrath) after Tatarn's horn, their most prized relic. They terrorized the countryside at will, and periodically staged merciless raids on the gutsy village of Quarpodar to avenge the death of old Tatarn-ul-Tarrath.

When the inhabitants of Ruthmarna learned of King BlkDragon and Queen AngelSin's arrival in Drache, they sent a delegation to recognize them as rightful sovereigns of Ruthmarna and bestowed the honorary title Grand Duke of Ruthmarna on their son, Prince Orion.

The Riders of the Horn took control of Lurintheti Netri, the Ruthmarnian capital in Hearthfire of 469. They claimed to be acting on behalf of the South, since the town supported Arlok rather than The Raven. The Northern Arangothian Army, led personally by Perlim Larkspin moved against them and eventually drove the Riders out of Ruthmarna, but not before they had killed many innocent people and started a fire that burned much of the city. Palatine Larkspin declared Ruthmarna under the authority of King Arlok.

The decline of the Riders of the Horn began with the death of Norpovath Quar in Hearthfire of 471 from a case of the Bloody Cough, an extremely contagious disease. His niece, Tarla Nixkenixe, took over control of the Riders, and decided to move their base of operations out of the increasingly well-patrolled mountains of Ruthmarna, into the war-torn and wild territory of Eastern Arangoth. There they preyed upon the countryside for almost a year, until a lull in the border conflict with the Assi gave the new Arangothian Army the resources to hunt bandits more aggressively. As a result, Tarla and the remnants of the Riders of the Horn moved north into the city of Taranor in Frost Fall of 472. After a few months of extorting Taranor, the Riders disbanded after Tarla was eaten by her own pet Golden Sand Panther.

Present Day

Today, the roads in the mountainous country are safe again, patrolled for the most part by heavily-armed detachments of the Provincial Guard (a similar organization to the Royal Guard in the northern parts of the Kingdom). The hinterland, though, is still plagued by bandits, who have an endless number of hiding places in the inhospitable mountain peaks.