Clan of the Crystal Tear, The Age of Steel and H'rath-gar, Life-Path           
     
              by Belsharrion, Dwarven Chronicler                
                                                                        
     Introduction....................................page 2      
     The Age of Steel................................page 3 & 4
     Birth of Paksinnaarion .........................page 5
     The Quest for the Perfection of H'rath-gar......page 6
     Ironfist Returns to Tahrenia....................page 7 & 8
     Discovery of the Portal to Hell.................page 9 & 10
     The Slaying of King Gaarlthion..................page 11 & 12
     Exodus of the Realm's Inhabitants...............page 13 & 14
     The Death of Paksinnaarion Ironfist.............page 15
     The OgreMage Gristoch...........................page 16
                                                          
     (to read the separate parts, read page.2, page.3, etc)

Introduction
  Throughout the Age of Steel the dwarves prospered greatly, for 
the knowledge and skill to forge steel and the ability to produce
the needed materials from the mountains was theirs alone. Their
greed and prosperity led them to believe that the future of the
realm would be determined by them and they couldn't have been more
correct. It was in this age that Tahrenia made war with the realm
in an attempt to increase their power and enslave all magics for
themselves.  The secrets of certain magics had been traded to them
for the steel they forged by magi desiring to secure peace by either
allowing the friendly commerce, or later if necessary by the use of
the steel in combination with their magics against those who would
use the steel against them.  As a consequence the dwarves gained
the power to imbue their masterful creations of weaponry with magics
so powerful, that few could stand before their warring armies.  

The Age of Steel Part 1
  The development of steel and its utilization brought with it a moral
bankruptcy that would see the prosperous and beautiful lands turned
into battlegrounds, and the richly diverse and peaceable peoples turn
to warring with each other to their eventual destruction was realized.
Common was the opinion that the magics of the previous age were inherently
evil, and brought to the realm plagues, disasters, and the diseases that
seemed so rampant. These things were thought to be the cost of delving
into such divine mysteries and tinkering with the essential powers of
the gods.  In time the elimination of magic was deemed absolutely 
necessary. Never was it suspected that it was prosperity, and the enjoyment
of unprecedented leisure time provided by the very practice of those 
same magics that afforded the time for such unfounded contemplations and 
conclusions that led to this self destructive crusade. 

The Age of Steel Part 2
  The dwarves failed to foresee that it would be the evil of
their own hearts that would eventually culminate in the lands
destruction.  In their zealous pursuit to destroy their foes, and 
establish their dominion over all magics, they failed to recognize
that the greatest of evils was the greed in their own hearts.
They made war against all others in attempt to maintain their
superiority over them, and with the magi especially, in order
that their magics would serve only the dwarves.

Birth of Paksinnaarion
  On the first day in the year 756 in the age of Steel, Paksinnaarion
Ironfist son of Sinnaar Ironfist was born.  His hair was white gold,
and his skin as fair as snow.  He was a strong, virile, ferocious lad
within his first 25 years.  And soon with the guidance of his father
he developed the beginnings of a code to live by, a code called 
H'rath-gar, Life-path.  It was a simple system that held family,
honor, and a quest for perfection to be the ultimate goal of wise
mortals. It was believed that this discipline might eventually be
the salvation of the realm, that perhaps it would save them from
the destruction the races seemed so determined to bring upon 
themselves. Upon his 60th birthday Paksinnaarion set forth on his
quest for perfection, saying to his father, "Today I must go for
there may be no tomorrow. Peace, my father, and when you see me
once more, I will be a man."

The Quest for the Perfection of H'rath-gar

  His quest for perfection led him to distant lands, and across
many oceans. He encountered peoples unknown to the realm and studied
warring arts never before practiced by any in the land. His physical 
strength and quick mind came to be forged into something stronger
than steel as a result of his pursuit for excellence.  His ability
could not be matched by any, and throughout the realm he laid waste
to every evil, and righted every wrong he encountered.  Strong
adventurers of like intention and mind desired his powerful
knowledge and strong discipline, and joined him in his journeys.
The magic arts they had come to understand were not the source
of evil.  It was the evil in mens hearts that caused the magics
to be used for malignant purposes. 

Ironfist Returns to Tahrenia Part 1

  Upon his 142nd birthday a history changing event occurred.
Having attained the knowledge and discipline he required for the
code of H'rath-gar and desiring to share it with his people, he
returned to his home only to find his family dead, and their lands
plundered.  The discipline he earned through his questing led him
to believe there could be no recourse but revenge.  He stood over
his fathers body, and to his amazement saw there was a crystal tear
in his fathers eye.  He took the tear from his fathers eye, and
swore an oath of vengeance on his family's killer, and vowed to
protect the innocent from such senseless acts of evil and violence.


Ironfist Returns to Tahrenia Part 2

  His search for the killers of his family did not take long, for
on the second day of his homecoming, he was summoned to an audience
with the King.  King Gaarlthion instructed that much had changed
in his Kingdom and that no longer would Magi be allowed the freedom
to pursue their arts.  All were to be enslaved in order that their
magics be used solely for the advancement of the dwarven kingdom.
Resistance was futile and any who did quickly found themselves
without tongue or hand with which to weave their spells, or worse
yet, dead.  

Discovery of the Portal to Hell Part 1

  The King had sought to identify the source of all the magics
and have it for himself.  His quest led him to discover a portal
to Hell.  It was the ultimate deception of a captured magi.  His
hands taken from him already and having endured tortures that would
please even Cthuga, he told the king of a way to a power that he
could harness for his own purposes, failing to mention the horrors
which awaited. 
  All that remained was to discover the method that would allow
entry into this plane.  The remaining few magi decided that they
would allow this undoing of spatial fabrics and give to the King
the method for the realms destruction, but the secrets to closing
it would go with them, after all the King did not think to ask of
them this information.  

Discovery of the Portal to Hell Part 2

  The magi would then remove themselves from the realm entirely, 
for it was no longer home to them. Gristoch, Son of Mistrik related
in the last years of the age of fire that his Ogre Mage tribe, 
Pugnar had elected to stay above ground and brave the raging fires 
and the attacks of the dragons.
  The King called upon his people to follow him in this reckless
venture and it had been Paksinnaarions father that advanced the
objection of a minority of the dwarves to the indiscriminate
slaughter of the magi and those who would assist them, and to the
opening of the portal, and for this he also had been slain.  In
his ignorance and greed the King caused the gates of hell to be
opened, and the unleashing of the denizens of that realm upon the
world. 

The Slaying of King Gaarlthion Part 1

  The King had severely underestimated the power of Paksinnaarion
and those that followed him, as they set upon the King and his
faithful with an unabridged fervor.  All were slain in the King's
court and any sharing his opinion that fateful day in Tahrenia.
  The search began for another King but without success.  The 
desire of Paksinnaarion was to teach by force and example the
way out from the abyss of ignorance and prejudice, and not for
the sedentary responsibilities of the crown.  None other could be
found and it was so that the Age of Fire began for Tahrenia
without a King.

The Slaying of King Gaarlthion Part 2

  The King dead, and the Magi gone, none could hope to close the
portal now that it had been opened. Pakssinnaarion came to form
'The Clan of the Crystal Tear', the sworn protectors of good, and
establish the principles of the H'rath-gar, Life-Path. Upon the
summit of Mount Kibuu, the clan established their home, secure
from approach for a tunnel of wind was the only way to get there.

Exodus of the Realm's Inhabitants Part 1
  While many factions in the realm warred with each other because
they fiercely believed the other to be evil, the Clan of the Tear
ventured to bring about peace by ridding the realm of those whose
sole desire it was to continue the senseless slaughter of each other
and unify the realm in order that they could confront the power
that had been unleashed upon the realm by the opening of the portal.
They began what proved to be an unsuccessful quest to find a way to
close the gateway.  The land had been so decimated by the continual
warring, that the evils that had been unleashed could never be
contained.  Huge beasts, dragons, entered the realm, demons and
tortured souls the like of which had never roamed the fair lands,
took to the battle and soon it was that the races of the land had
no choice but to flee to the underground in the hope that some might
survive to see another day.  

Exodus of the Realm's Inhabitants Part 2
  After the defeat of the inhabitants of the realm and their exodus 
to the underground, the Clan retreated to their home atop Mt. Kibuu.
They came to believe that mankind was inherently evil, and could not 
be salvaged, and so determined to force the evolution of their clan 
by secluding themselves away from the evils that now roamed the world, 
hoping to one day emerge with the wisdom their pursuits might gain
them and bring to the world a new peace and prosperity.

The Death of Paksinnaarion Ironfist 

  On the twenty-second day in the year 121 of the Age of Fire
Paksinnaarion Ironfist surrendered his mortality as his advanced years
of 365 demanded of his aged body and was layed to rest in the Catacombs
of Nobles.  

The OgreMage Gristoch
  In the later days of the age of fire one named Gristoch, the first
OgreMage of Kaghnot came to the Clan seeking knowledge that might free
his peoples from a horrible plaque that had beset them.  He related his
wonderous story of how he came to lead his peoples away from the fires
to settle in the far north where a star had fallen after slaying the
great dragon Tarmac.  None in Gabal-Naron knew of a cure for the plaque
that was destroying the peoples of Kagnot and although the best researchers
attempted to find one, all their efforts came to naught.  Gristoch left
the mountain fortress to continue his search, never to be seen again.