Legends

The Founding of Erengazor

There is an inescapable, but seldom discussed fact of the Scourge – not everyone made it to the kaers and citadels.  Despite heroic efforts by thousands of individuals to prepare for the coming disaster, some construction efforts failed.  Some people couldn't be moved in time.  Some refused to believe the danger until it was too late.  And sometimes the kaer just wasn't big enough to hold everyone and someone had to be left out.

In the last days, as the kaers were closing, as Horrors stalked the land in ever increasing numbers a T'skrang riverboat Tarrnarr ran aground while traversing the Servos Jungle.  In addition to the crew, the vessel had on board a team on skilled dwarven engineers from Throal who had been working on kaers further west, along with a small number of human magicians from Thera who were the final advisors being sent to Throal to help strengthen their magical defenses.  History has made special notice of two of these individuals – Eren Spellsmith, head of the dwarven engineers, and Gazor T'litt, captain of the Tarrnarr.

In order to make repairs as quickly as possible, both crew and passengers were enlisted to help as needed.  Eren Spellsmith led parties into the jungle to get wood for repairs, while Gazor oversaw repairs and defense of the Tarrnarr.  Within a few days, however, it became obvious that the riverboat was not going to be going anywhere without extensive repairs – the sort that even the ingenious t'skrang were not easily able to accomplish.  The vessel also began to act as a magnet for refugees who took cover under the protection of its fire cannon.  Messengers were dispatched to K'tenshin requesting aid, and what work could be done continued.

Eren Spellsmith in particular was horrified to learn that there were still large numbers of humans and Windlings living in the Servos Jungle with no sort of protection from the Scourge.  She consulted with Gazor T'litt and found the t'skrang captain to be of like mind.  Much of the Tarrnarr's cargo had already been offloaded to make room for repairs, and it was decided that instead of reloading it the space would be used to load as many refugees as possible aboard for the run up the river (you can cram a lot of Windlings on board a riverboat).

For three weeks the crew, passengers, and refugees waited for aid from K'tenshin, but no aid ever arrived.  Nor did the group sent downriver ever return.  It was another group of refugees, that brought the news that K'tenshin had raised its wards and sealed itself off.  Crew and passengers were on their own.

Eren and Gazor discussed options for the group, and determined that the best course of action was for Eren and her team to begin the excavation of a kaer, while the Theran wizards began to cast the spells that would turn the grounded riverboat into a sort of citadel and the T'skrang crew, along with recruits from the human and windling tribes and the refugees defended both groups.  The task was daunting – the group had only months to accomplish a feat that had taken many cities years, sometimes decades, to complete.  Attacks by Horrors, and by increasingly desperate groups of refugees, grew more frequent by the week.  The weather itself seemed to conspire against success.  Supplies, especially elemental fire for the fire cannons, eventually began to run low.

Gazor T'litt led a spirited defense of the group, constructing several small craft from local materials and mounting fire cannons on them, he led frequent patrols up and down the river, as well as taking shore parties into the forest to protect work parties.  It is said that he killed no less than three Horrors and numerous Horror constructs.  It is said that he used no less than half a dozen Death Cheat charms defending the kaer.

It is doubtful that any of the group would have survived had aid not come from an unexpected quarter when 200 ork scorchers rode out of the Servos Jungle one day and requested a parlay.  The group, originally part of a large Scorcher band known as the Windfathers, had been driven from their traditional lands west of the Coil River by Horrors, and had eventually been pushed into the Servos Jungle, where the band rapidly disintegrated.  The exhausted orks and their mounts were all that remained of a band that once numbered several thousand. 

Bolstered by several hundred well trained warriors, as well as occasional refugees from other areas who wandered in seeking safety, the kaer and tiny citadel were eventually completed.  The Tarrnarr was sunk in the shallows of the river, and a passage was created between it and the underground kaer.  One last obstacle remained, however – the spells and rituals needed to seal the kaer required a large quantity of elemental earth to cast properly – more elemental earth than was available.  Once again it appeared that the kaer was doomed.

By this time, in addition to the humans, dwarves, t'skrang, and windlings working on the kaer there were also a small number of obsidimen who had arrived as refugees.  As time was running out for the kaer they came to Eren Spellsmith with a proposal.  They offered to allow the use of their own life force to provide a substitute for the needed elemental earth.  They would bond together, in effect forming a small liferock¹, which could then be mined for elemental earth.  Their only wish in return for their sacrifice was a promise on behalf of the entire kaer in perpetuity.  Occasionally they believed a young obsidiman might be born from their tiny liferock – it would be the task of those who survived to raise their children properly, making sure that they were taken care of.  Though initially highly resistant to the idea, Eren eventually grew desperate enough to accept the obsidimen's sacrifice, which allowed the kaer to be sealed, and those within to be saved.  One year, seven months, and sixteen days after the beginning of construction, the wards were raised².  One thousand three hundred and seventy one survivors were inside.  Eren Spellsmith was among them.  Gazor T'litt was not, having fallen in battle against a Horror only a day before the kaer was sealed.  The kaer was originally named in his honor, and early records refer to it as Gazor's Kaer.