| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Snowblood |
Posted - 06 Sep 2010 : 04:55:06
Dear Scribes here is my effort for Sarphil.....hope you enjoy it...I'll be off line for a while now...got a bone tumor to get cut outa me leg on Wednesday so will be out of it for a few weeks. So enjoy this little number on me... I'll do part B of it when I'm back on my foot...
http://phasai.deviantart.com/art/Sarphil-178233972
So cheers |
| 22 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Icelander |
Posted - 21 Sep 2019 : 15:18:30
quote:
Originally posted by George Krashos
Sure does sound plausible. Dwarves do like making those fancy underground roads - even if in my opinion they end up paving the way for the Underdark races to march right into their domains.
— George Krashos
Funny you should say that, as one of the other locations I plan to use from Snowblood's work is a former dwarven hall on also connected to the Ice Road, which in the fifth millennia before Dale Reckoning was attacked by drow with demonic allies, forcing the dwarves to call upon their allegiance with the elves and eventually seal the deeper levels off using elven high magic and runecastings of titanic power.
Despite these seals supposedly providing security, life on the upper levels never was the same, with inhabitants experiencing bad dreams and vague feelings of dread, and the hold eventually acquired an evil reputation for a variety of reasons. So, despite an abundance of natural springs, a beautiful subterranean lake and a verdant mountain valley on the surface that provided plentiful sustenance, the hold was eventually abandoned.
More than six millennia later, few dwarves (and even fewer people of other races) know about the ancient Ice Road and even those who know rarely know how to find entrances to it. And even the name of the abandoned hold southeast of the Hollow Mountain has been lost to history*, but those few who have explored the Ice Road experience unexplained feelings of dread near it and take care not to spend too much time there.
There are still good springs there to replenish water for underground explorers, but with vague tales of curses, not everyone would prove willing to drink the water.
In game terms, the deeper levels would be something analogous to a demoncyst, where thousands of drow and their demon allies were sealed within collapsed mines. Some of the springs are indeed safe to drink, but the lake and some of the deeper springs carry an abyssal taint that induces nightmares, paranoia and mental degeneration.
*Which, given the dwarven reverence for history and genealogy, should give pause to anyone who realizes this. |
| George Krashos |
Posted - 20 Sep 2019 : 17:47:20
Sure does sound plausible. Dwarves do like making those fancy underground roads - even if in my opinion they end up paving the way for the Underdark races to march right into their domains.
— George Krashos |
| Icelander |
Posted - 20 Sep 2019 : 02:45:17
quote:
Originally posted by George Krashos
Well the elves of Cormanthyr forged their alliance with the dwarves of Sarphil on the "battlefields of the Vast" in -6400 DR ("Cormanthyr", p.32), so clearly there was a dwarven presence there - even if it was to just keep the humanoid numbers under control. On that, I note that while the write-up for Sarphil in FR11 mentions orcs, I see their main foe and being ogres and giants.
I would assume that miners from Sarphil would have scouted some of the Earthspurs looking for precious metals and gems, so I expect that they had a presence there, even if their major clanholds were to the north. I also think that in those days, the Earthspurs were giant-dominated, likely with goblin/hobgoblin/bugbear servants. The Vastar of the Orcs came along much later and was due to the influx of gray orcs escapting the Orcgate Wars.
And I don't think that any part of Sarphil proper survived the fall. "Cormanthyr" (p.26) seems to make that pretty clear and that's why I had Felimar as an offshoot of Dareth.
The above pretty much matches my thinking.
quote:
Originally posted by George Krashos
I haven't read Snowsblood's work because I haven't wanted it to consciously or subconsciously influence any of my Realms musings. If he has Sarphil surviving in some form after -4400 DR, then that assertion is one that comes purely from him - there is no canon support for such an assertion other than to note the survival of a number of small, isolated dwarven holds and settlements in the area.
-- George Krashos
Fair enough.
While I don't see a way to use his history, because a surviving Sarphil just plays havoc with the plausible history of later polities in the era, I want to use some of his locations.
Chiefly, there is an interesting idea of the Ice Road, a subterranean route leading from the Earthspurs in the Vast to the more northerly clanholds. It would go below the Hollow Mountain, which I imagine might have been the most southerly major site of Sarphil, with anything south of that being mining expeditions and waystations more than permanent settlements.
Does that sound plausible? |
| George Krashos |
Posted - 20 Sep 2019 : 02:26:40
Well the elves of Cormanthyr forged their alliance with the dwarves of Sarphil on the "battlefields of the Vast" in -6400 DR ("Cormanthyr", p.32), so clearly there was a dwarven presence there - even if it was to just keep the humanoid numbers under control. On that, I note that while the write-up for Sarphil in FR11 mentions orcs, I see their main foe and being ogres and giants.
I would assume that miners from Sarphil would have scouted some of the Earthspurs looking for precious metals and gems, so I expect that they had a presence there, even if their major clanholds were to the north. I also think that in those days, the Earthspurs were giant-dominated, likely with goblin/hobgoblin/bugbear servants. The Vastar of the Orcs came along much later and was due to the influx of gray orcs escapting the Orcgate Wars.
And I don't think that any part of Sarphil proper survived the fall. "Cormanthyr" (p.26) seems to make that pretty clear and that's why I had Felimar as an offshoot of Dareth.
I haven't read Snowsblood's work because I haven't wanted it to consciously or subconsciously influence any of my Realms musings. If he has Sarphil surviving in some form after -4400 DR, then that assertion is one that comes purely from him - there is no canon support for such an assertion other than to note the survival of a number of small, isolated dwarven holds and settlements in the area.
-- George Krashos |
| Icelander |
Posted - 20 Sep 2019 : 01:38:52
quote:
Originally posted by George Krashos
Sarphil was destroyed well before the time that you are looking at. That's why I created Felimar. Sarphil was founded in -7500 DR and fell to drow and monster attacks in -4400 DR (as per the "Cormanthyr" accessory, p.33).
-- George Krashos
Exactly.
Which is why I had trouble reconciling a Sarphil that survived that fall (albeit much reduced for a few centuries) and was apparently back to expanding a millennia later with other canon for the area.
How far south do you think Sarphil reached into the Earthspurs and the Vast, in the 5th millennia, before the fall? |
| George Krashos |
Posted - 19 Sep 2019 : 23:27:31
Sarphil was destroyed well before the time that you are looking at. That's why I created Felimar. Sarphil was founded in -7500 DR and fell to drow and monster attacks in -4400 DR (as per the "Cormanthyr" accessory, p.33).
-- George Krashos |
| Kentinal |
Posted - 19 Sep 2019 : 21:02:25
quote:
Originally posted by Icelander
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
Snowblood hasn't posted here in several years; you may be waiting for an answer for a while.
Well, does anyone else have thoughts?
You might try contacting him though https://www.deviantart.com it appears he has added material as recent as 2018. |
| Icelander |
Posted - 19 Sep 2019 : 20:14:53
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
Snowblood hasn't posted here in several years; you may be waiting for an answer for a while.
Well, does anyone else have thoughts? |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 19 Sep 2019 : 19:57:51
Snowblood hasn't posted here in several years; you may be waiting for an answer for a while. |
| Icelander |
Posted - 19 Sep 2019 : 18:34:16
On the second map in the Sarphil PDF, there are locations like 'Highskull Rock' and 'Seaspire', but these don't seem to be mentioned in the text.
Got any insight into them? |
| Icelander |
Posted - 19 Sep 2019 : 18:19:11
Thank you for your research and commitment to providing fanlore, Scribe Snowblood.
I'm hoping you can help me sift through which parts in your writeup are original creations and which are the result of research.
I'm running a campaign where the ruins of Roldilar and Vastar are important and I've been going through sources about the history of the Earthspurs and the Vast. Both the dwarves and the orcs claim to be the 'original' founders of great kingdoms on the region and bitterly diverge on which peoples first mined a given mountain or constructed halls there. So the founding of Vastar and any dwarven presence in the region before it is important for my campaign.
George Krashos introduced the dwarven realm of 'Felimar' as a predecessor to Roldilar, to account for the construction of Earthfast City.* I find his reasoning compelling and was planning on having that answer be the answer in my campaign.
I'm not sure about Sarphil existing as a powerful polity into almost the modern age, either. It seems difficult to reconcile it with other history of the region, especially if Sarphil has powerful cities located within the Earthspurs.
The minotaur kingdom of Grong-Haap ruled most of the eastern Moonsea between -981 DR through -350 DR and I just don't see how Sarphil and Grong-Haap could coexist in that area without a major war. What are your thoughts on that?
*Roldilar existed for too short a time for such a huge construction to be finished during its lifetime. |
| Elfinblade |
Posted - 06 Sep 2010 : 17:21:07
Ah a dwarven treat finally! Well done sir, and good luck with your surgery. |
| Ionik Knight |
Posted - 06 Sep 2010 : 16:48:35
I've been perusing your works and they are just amazing! One question, have you seen any city or dungeon maps for the ruins of Siluvanede various sites? |
| GRYPHON |
Posted - 06 Sep 2010 : 15:03:27
Nice work... |
| Cleric Generic |
Posted - 06 Sep 2010 : 14:30:47
Yay! more Dwarfy goodness! A quick skim reveals your usual high standard of detail and general niftiness. I shall read it with gusto. |
| Snowblood |
Posted - 06 Sep 2010 : 14:07:34
thanks too all for the best wishes....I'll be back.....hop hop hop..... |
| Ionik Knight |
Posted - 06 Sep 2010 : 13:20:16
Best wishes to you |
| Brimstone |
Posted - 06 Sep 2010 : 10:57:43
Good luck.
|
| arry |
Posted - 06 Sep 2010 : 10:52:20
Good luck with the surgery and as always thank you for your hard work. |
| Ergdusch |
Posted - 06 Sep 2010 : 09:44:52
Nicely done!
All the best to you and fast recovery.
Ergdusch |
| The Sage |
Posted - 06 Sep 2010 : 05:25:09
As always, an interesting take Snowblood. Well done.
And good luck for your forthcoming surgery. |
| bladeinAmn |
Posted - 06 Sep 2010 : 05:19:49
Hope everything goes well man! |
