Moria#

The founding 46 to 88 AWS#

The city was founded in 46 AWS by 140 survivors of over seventy houses who had fled the ruins of the Inner City. Another sixty settlers joined them. They were 119 humans, 41 half-elves, 36 halflings and 4 elves. They carried a piece of the Everspark with them. By 88 AWS the city had grown by nearly three fifths, to 310. In 62 AWS Nosho Goldenfall, who led the humans, set the city to digging a mine deep under it, the Long Shaft. In 82 AWS squalor set in, as the hungry turned to what the city threw away. A fifth of the city came to live on it, humans most of all. The squalor held for three years. Famine came twice in those years and starved over fifty people, twenty-nine of them in 82 AWS.

The great houses 89 to 133 AWS#

In 89 AWS House Seconds, led by Mniheng Seconds, became the first family in the city to number forty, the first of its great houses. Three years later famine starved twenty people. Hoshag Deepbreaker led the humans for twenty-nine years. In 122 AWS Page Weakbuster came from the Inner City, leaving behind House Weakbuster’s feud with House Reddagger. Four years later the city finished the Long Shaft, which Nosho Goldenfall had begun in 62 AWS. Work on it stopped for eight years in all. In these years the city took in eighteen people who had fled the ruins of the Inner City.

The Seconds-Weakbuster feud 134 to 296 AWS#

In 135 AWS House Seconds and House Weakbuster fell into a feud because Seck Seconds killed Gita Weakbuster. It was the first feud the city had known. In 189 AWS Sadar Longfall killed Malasa Egratward. The city banished the humans’ own leader, Neclis Satwin, who had led them for sixteen years, along with the killer, because it blamed the humans for the killing. In the hills Neclis Satwin gathered the exiles the city had cast out, four outlaws in all. In 210 AWS Hor Seconds, who led the humans, set the city to building the House of the Turning Wheel. It took forty-nine years, and she did not live to see it finished in 259 AWS. In 223 AWS the city’s largest fire began in Lamanth Ruggedbranch’s home and spread to the homes of ten other families, burning their stores and killing five people. In 267 AWS the last quickling in the city, Weci Seconds, died of old age, and the quicklings were gone. The humans’ share of the city rose from nearly half to over three fifths.

The factions 297 to 496 AWS#

In 313 AWS Ekun Mepwood, a devout human scout, proclaimed that the Turning Wheel had made itself an avatar again, and all the humans’ great houses believed her. In 336 AWS Ekun Mepwood died, and the city prayed to her as a herald, at the Shrine of Herald Ekun, on the east side of the city. Five years later Lagho Satwin, who led the humans, set the city to building the Stone Walls. It took sixty years, and he did not live to see it finished in 401 AWS. Work on it stopped for five years in all. Three factions formed among the great houses in these years. The largest was the Satwin faction of House Satwin and House Mepwood, under Hyce Satwin. Hunger drove the city’s people to riot twice. The largest, in 381 AWS, was led by Oset Haghlow, and five rioters were killed in all. Famine came five times in the same years and starved over a hundred people, twenty-nine of them in 438 AWS.

The Haghlow Vein 497 to 658 AWS#

In 497 AWS Ref Haghlow struck a vein of lead, the Haghlow Vein, in the Long Shaft. Word went out, and in eleven years 190 people came for the lead, and the city had grown by nearly three fifths. The Haghlow Vein gave out in 524 AWS. Half of the houses that had come for it left the city that year. Also in 497 AWS Icac Longfall, the head of House Longfall, began a great hall for the house, Longfall Keep. It took sixty-five years, and she did not live to see it finished in 562 AWS. Work on it stopped for fourteen years in all. In 539 AWS a dry fog veiled the sun, and the summer never came. Frost blackened the fields, and the harvest fell by over a third. A lean year followed, and six people starved. The year after brought another short harvest, and forty-one more starved. In 565 AWS Rete Haghlow killed Kyli’bad Mepwood. The city banished the halflings’ own leader, Ona Haghlow, who had led them for sixty-nine years, along with the killer, because it blamed the halflings for the killing. Ona Haghlow took to the hills and gathered the city’s exiles there, an outlaw band four strong. In 576 AWS Knone Ruggedbranch, a human laborer, proclaimed that the Turning Wheel had made itself an avatar again. His own house believed him. House Longfall called it heresy. By 585 AWS none of the houses that had believed Knone Ruggedbranch was still among the city’s great houses, and the schism over his claim was over. In 630 AWS the city banished the halflings’ own leader, Jar Haghlow, who had led them for nineteen years, because it blamed the halflings for the raid the outlaw Rete Haghlow led. The city had grown to 515 by the end of 511 AWS, but it ended these years at nearly four hundred. The humans’ share of the city rose from over three fifths to nearly three quarters.

The year without summer 659 to 721 AWS#

In 659 AWS the summer failed. The sun hung dim behind a dry fog, snow fell in the warm months, and the harvest fell by over half. Famine followed, and forty-five people starved. The hunger lasted into the next year. After the famine of 659 AWS starved forty-five people, the city’s other peoples turned against the humans, who by then made up nearly three quarters of the city. Hostility grew between the humans and each of them. Resentment of the humans would flare again in 676 AWS. In 671 AWS Hode Longfall, who led the humans, set the city to building a temple to the Spark, the Temple of Mercy. The city was down to 204 in 677 AWS before it grew back to over two hundred and fifty. Three years after the fire of 692 AWS the city rebuilt in stone the ten homes it had burned, with firebreaks between wider streets, though it cost over a quarter of its stores.

The humans gain ground 722 to 805 AWS#

By 722 AWS the humans made up three quarters of the city’s people. Four years later the city finished the Temple of Mercy, which Hode Longfall had begun in 671 AWS. A great fire in 692 AWS burned nearly half of the work done on it. Hunger drove the city’s people to riot twice. The largest, in 776 AWS, was led by Nelo Longfall, and two rioters were killed in all. Famine came three times in those years and starved over eighty people, thirty of them in 776 AWS. When the famine of 776 AWS had starved thirty people, the city’s other peoples turned on the humans, who by then made up over three quarters of the city. Hostility grew between the humans and each of them.

Herald Showe 806 to 883 AWS#

After the sorry times of 805 AWS starved thirty people, the city’s other peoples turned against the humans, who by then made up nearly four fifths of the city. Hostility grew between the humans and each of them. Resentment of the humans would flare three more times, the last in 882 AWS. Afin Longfall, who lived to ninety, led the humans for thirty-eight years. In 838 AWS Showe Longfall, a human ranger, proclaimed that the Spark had come back in a new avatar, and all the humans’ great houses believed him. Nine years later a feud broke out between House Longfall and House Weakcrusher because Egu Weakcrusher killed Ufo Longfall. It was the first in over seven hundred years. Famine came three times in these years and starved nearly a hundred and seventy people, fifty-nine of them in 849 AWS. In 882 AWS Showe Longfall died, and the city prayed to him as a herald, at the Shrine of Herald Showe, on the south side of the city.

The year of the cyclops 884 to 985 AWS#

In 884 AWS a cyclops made its lair in the deep ways under the city, in a place the city came to call the Cyclops’ Lair. It came for the city twice and killed four people, until Ani Ruggedbranch went out after it and killed it. In 902 AWS House Satwin and House Longfall fell into a feud because Epin Satwin killed Yfisk Longfall. It was the first in over fifty years. From 922 AWS over sixty years passed without a feud, or so much as ill feeling between two of the city’s houses or peoples. By 985 AWS House Longfall was the largest house in the city. Fydo Longfall, a kind tailor who married four times, headed it from 926 AWS and led the half-elves for sixty-eight years. Perhaps the city was too busy with House Longfall’s weddings to quarrel.

Hatred of the humans 986 to 1071 AWS#

After the famine of 985 AWS starved fourteen people, the elves and the half-elves turned against the humans, who by then made up over four fifths of the city. Hostility grew between the humans and both of them. Resentment of the humans would flare again in 1025 AWS. In 986 AWS Croli Weakcrusher killed Leib Longfall. Because it blamed the humans for the killing, the city banished the humans’ own leader, Glete Longfall. The city shrank to 228 in 991 AWS and ended these years at over four hundred. In 1021 AWS Scrack Longfall, who led the humans, set the city to building a temple to the Ending, the Last Door. In 1035 AWS a party of twenty-eight people from seven houses left the city to found the Monastery of the Red Dragon. In 1052 AWS Dronth Longfall struck a vein of silver, the Long Seam, in the Long Shaft. Word of the strike spread, and in eleven years 156 people came for the silver, and the city had grown by nearly three quarters. The humans’ share of the city fell from over four fifths to nearly three quarters.

After the silver 1072 to 1187 AWS#

In 1072 AWS the Long Seam, struck in 1052 AWS, gave out. Over half of the houses that had come for it left the city that year. In 1085 AWS the city finished the Last Door, which Scrack Longfall had begun in 1021 AWS. Work on it stopped for five years in all. Famine came twice in those years and starved nearly sixty people, forty-three of them in 1116 AWS. When the famine of 1116 AWS had starved forty-three people, the half-elves turned on the humans, who by then made up nearly two thirds of the city. Hostility grew between the two peoples. In 1121 AWS the humans lost their hold on the city as their share of it fell to nearly two thirds. In 1165 AWS the summer failed. The sun hung dim behind a dry fog, snow fell in the warm months, and the harvest fell by nearly two fifths. The bare months followed, and eight people starved. The next harvest was short too, and twenty more starved. In 1179 AWS Peblem Satwin, the head of House Satwin, began a great hall for the house, Satwin Keep. In little more than a century the city had lost a third of its people, to nearly three hundred. The humans’ share of the city fell from nearly three quarters to nearly three fifths.

The second Satwin-Longfall feud 1188 to 1227 AWS#

In 1188 AWS a feud broke out between House Satwin and House Longfall because Hel Satwin killed Nul Longfall. It was the first in nearly three hundred years. Gaspri Longfall, who lived to eighty-one, led the humans for seventeen years.

Satwin Keep 1228 to 1377 AWS#

In 1228 AWS the city finished Satwin Keep, which Peblem Satwin had begun in 1179 AWS. Work on it stopped for two years in all. Ielit Longfall became the elves’ leader and led them for 273 years. The elves had by then overtaken the humans as the city’s largest people. They made up nearly half of the city, the humans over two fifths.

The sallow welts 1378 to 1431 AWS#

In 1379 AWS the sallow welts raged for six months and killed fifty-eight people, the worst the city ever knew. The city buried the dead of the sallow welts in pits outside its east wall, a place it came to call Griefcroft. Once the sallow welts had passed, the elves blamed the half-elves for the deaths, and hostility grew between the two peoples. In the wake of the sallow welts, four people who had no trade took up the work of its dead. In 1381 AWS Thracret Longfall, a human miner, proclaimed that the Spark had come back in a new avatar, and all the humans’ great houses believed her. In 1395 AWS Thracret Longfall died, and the city prayed to her as a herald, at the Shrine of Herald Thracret, on the south side of the city. By then the humans had narrowly overtaken the elves as the city’s largest people, 111 to 110.

The rise of the humans 1432 to 1512 AWS#

In 1444 AWS House Redbrand, led by Omnen Redbrand, became one of the city’s great houses. Tefol Longfall led the humans for thirty years.

In 1512 AWS the city held 258 people: 123 humans, 113 elves and 22 half-elves. No halflings were left. Olegh Longfall led the humans. Of the 132 founding houses three remained. The largest was House Longfall, 80 strong, the house of the human leader who had lived to eighty-one. Its great works still stood: the Long Shaft, the House of the Turning Wheel, the Stone Walls, Longfall Keep, the Temple of Mercy, the Last Door and Satwin Keep.

Watstead. Four peoples founded the hamlet in 2 AWS, the humans the most numerous among them. By 1512 AWS, after famines and plagues, the elves made up over three quarters of its 31 people, and the halflings and the quicklings were gone. The hamlet’s greatest loss came in 505 AWS, when the cooper’s itch killed nearly a third of the hamlet.

Monastery of the Red Dragon. Four peoples founded the monastery in 1037 AWS, most of them from Moria. By 1512 AWS, after two exoduses, famines and a plague, it held 20 people, nearly three fifths of them halflings, and only one of its founding peoples, the half-elves, was gone. In all that time no two of its houses fell into a feud. The heaviest blow fell in 1258 AWS, when plague killed a quarter of the monastery.

Watstead. Faithful to one partner at a time and a believer in many loves, Naegli Greenfield was a merchant by trade. He found a spring sacred to the Spark in 1172 AWS, and fourteen people came to the hamlet for it. He was still living in the hamlet at the end, at 545.

Moria. House Satwin, founded with the city by Plopa Satwin, became one of the city’s great houses under Inong Satwin in 250 AWS. In 1179 AWS its head, Peblem Satwin, began Satwin Keep, a great hall for the house, finished forty-nine years later. Its members led the humans for 1,100 years, thirty-five of them in turn. It was seventy-five strong at the end, with the Satwin faction still standing.

Moria. House Longfall came with the city’s founders, and under Olal Longfall it became one of the city’s great houses in 408 AWS. In 497 AWS its head, Icac Longfall, began Longfall Keep, a great hall for the house, finished sixty-five years later. It gave the humans seventy-five leaders, who held the lead 1,896 years between them. At the end it was the largest house in the city, 80 strong.

Great cats10

Snow Leopard, Clouded Leopard, Leopard, Cheetah, Nigeer Tiger, Crecian Tiger, Kyrian Tiger, Amari Tiger, Lion, Mountain Lion

Small cats3

Serval, Crecian Highland Cat, Dumasque Sand Cat

Wolves and wild dogs5

Hyena, Fox, Jackal, Dingo, Fennec Fox

Dogs13

Saellem Snow Hound, Bulldog, Pitbull Terrier, Coliseum Terrier, Darkwood Boarhound, Crecian Terrier, Bull Terrier, Tharsian Mastiff, Morian War Mastiff, Jewall Mastiff, Kinforge Ratter, Dumasque Wrinklehound, Kyrian War Dog

Great beasts5

Elephant, Rhinoceros, Hairy Rhinoceros, White Rhinoceros, Desert Elephant

Deer and antelope14

Bongo, Bontebok, Nyala, Oribi, Reedbuck, Waterbuck, Red Deer, Okapi, Antelope, Spotted Deer, Gazelle, Addax Antelope, Oryx, White-Tailed Deer

Cattle, goats and sheep8

Bison, Crecian Buffalo, Alpaca, Bighorn Sheep, Ibex, Llama, Mountain Goat, Yak

Wild horses and camels3

Donkey, Dromedary, Zebra

Pigs4

Boar, Warthog, Western Bearded Pig, Collared Peccary

Apes and monkeys1

Lemur

Marsupials5

Numbat, Jewall Devil, Bilby, Marsupial Mole, Quokka

Small mammals26

Badger, Weasel, Ferret, Gerbil, Hare, Hedgehog, Otter, Mongoose, Dwarf Mongoose, Giant Armadillo, Capybara, Giant River Otter, Prairie Dog, Volcano Rabbit, White-Tailed Mouse, Unicolored Oldfield Mouse, Jackrabbit, Crecian Hare, Civet, Jerboa, Meerkat, Nine-Banded Armadillo, Pocket Mouse, Aardvark, Armadillo, Chinchilla

Bats1

Crecian Flying Fox

Birds of prey19

Prairie Falcon, Darkwood Hawk, Chanting Goshawk, Peregrine Falcon, Osprey, Harpy Eagle, Golden Eagle, Lammergeier, Pariah Kite, Red-Backed Kite, Red-Shouldered Hawk, Hooded Vulture, Swallow-Tailed Kite, Dumasque Vulture, Griffin Vulture, Jackal Buzzard, Bald Eagle, Bone Vulture, Falcon

Owls2

Burrowing Owl, Great Horned Owl

Waterbirds13

White Pelican, Great Blue Heron, Snowy Egret, Green Heron, Greater White-Fronted Goose, Wood Duck, Black-Headed Heron, Belted Kingfisher, Sandpiper, Red-Bearded Goose, White-Winged Wood Duck, Brown-Winged Kingfisher, Flamingo

Other birds23

Ostrich, Purple Martin, Mountain Bluebird, Ruby-Crowned Kinglet, Paradise Tanager, Long-Tailed Sylph, Black-Backed Grosbeak, Hoopoe, Sunbird, Scarlet Macaw, Orange Winged Parrot, Hooded Oriole, Mockingbird, Menusian Bird-Of-Paradise, Crecian Thrush, Wrinkled Hornbill, Yellowish Imperial Pigeon, Yellow-Throated Hanging-Parrot, Amari Lovebird, Yellow-Legged Pigeon, White-Winged Collared Dove, Roadrunner, Sandgrouse

Crocodiles1

Alligator

Lizards7

Rainbow Lizard, Iguana, Rock Iguana, Chuckwalla, Desert Iguana, Horned Lizard, Skink

Snakes4

Mountain Kingsnake, Rattlesnake, Sand Cobra, Sidewinder

Turtles and tortoises6

Geometric Tortoise, Amari Box Turtle, Yellow-Margined Box Turtle, Amari Mud Turtle, Jagged-Shelled Turtle, Desert Tortoise

Frogs and toads9

Toad, Glass Frog, Yellow Delta Frog, Shore Toad, Menusian Coast Frog, Robber Frog, Saltwater Toad, Ash Toad, Estuary Frog

Salamanders and newts1

Yellow-Legged Salamander

Fish1

Toothless Blindcat

Crabs and crayfish4

Mellowdeep Crayfish, Riverlet Crayfish, Mudflat Crab, Amari Shore Crab

Snails3

Land Snail, Telescope Hornsnail, Pebblesnail

Insects and spiders2

Leaf-Cutter Ant, Scorpion