Thom Faldur was the mythical home of the dwarven pantheon, the Moradfilki, and was also the fabled home of dwarvenkind.

The plane consisted of an archipelago in the Sea of Worlds which lied barely more than 100 kilometers north of the Outer Circle, and some distance east of Gehenna. It was a huge cluster of islands, roughly circular in shape and around 800 kilometers in diameter. Most of its islands were rugged, windswept bits of land, consisting of sheer, snow-capped mountains and fields of rubble, some small stretches of poor grass, and occasional clusters of bare pine forest. Few creatures aside from the valkyries and the forgotten souls roamed these desolate places.

The islands were arrayed in a roughly concentric fashion, protecting a long approach to a calm inner sea. This sea, called the Lake of Souls - which, on some evenings when the sun shone orange, seemed to be a deep burgundy red in color - was dominated by a large island in its center. This was Mugal Throm, the island upon which the dwarf-gods lived.

Mugal Throm

The vast island of Mugal Throm was huge and a monument to the beauty of nature. It consisted primarily of a small cluster of mountains bursting out of the sea and rising high up to touch the sun. On the southern side, the mountains opened up into a small oval valley called the Sunlit Vale, where crystal-clear streams cascaded down from the mountains through rich pine forests and mossy clearings, streaking through white-sand beaches into the Lake of Souls. On the western end of the beach stood a large fortress-complex built of granite and worked directly into the mountainside called the Valykries' Keep or Valkyrekern; it was the garrison of the Moradfilki's army, and it also had a large port complex to accommodate visiting ships and the Moradfilki's small fleet. A long, wide road half-built into the mountain wound its way up along the side of the Vale, crossing seven fortified gates to reach a cliff-ringed plateau upon which the sprawling, brilliant white Mithrine Halls were built, overlooking the green bay, grey mountains, and blue waters. At the foot of the cliffs, reachable only by a steep cable train and two elevators flanking a large waterfall, was a vast forge complex half-built into the mountain to the side of the Mithrine Halls' plateau. And, directly behind the plateau towered the tallest mountain on Thom Faldur, a soaring statue of rock called simply the Mountain.

The Mithrine Halls

The Mithrine Halls were the palace of the Morafilki and the home of the dwarf-gods. From outside, they looked like a large complex of colonnaded white buildings, with at the back a large dome-shaped structure. By far the largest part of the complex were dedicated to the long white buildings, often with two or three halls, who made up the Halls of Columns. No one lived here, and apart from servants who cleaned and maintained the buildings, few people went there. These Halls, built of marble and a god-forged silvery metal more valuable than mithral called mirthrine, were well-lit by the sun and lined with columns on the inside. Along either wall, they featured long rows of white clay statues of life-sized seated dwarves. Each statue was the image of a dead hero, and its image remained white and pure as long as its soul remained alive, as long as the dwarven people of the world remembered the name and the deeds of the individual. In the newer halls, which are not yet filled with statues, the rows are pristine and white; in the older halls, where the shadows loom because new buildings cover the windows and new floors were built up above, ever more of the effigies turn grey and brittle, as their last living memory disappears and the soul is lost, leaving its effigy and turning into a Forgotten One.

Towards the back of the plateau, on an elevated rock formation built against the mountainside, stands a walled citadel called Moradkern. It is dominated by a huge circular construction capped by a marble-and-silver dome. This is the Panteor, the actual residence of the dwarf-gods and the place where they keep their holy relics and personal items. On the ground floor of the Panteor is a singular large hall; the walls are adorned with mithrine-and-gold scenes, and the windows let in a rich golden light. Facing the entrance is a massive golden throne, flanked by six smaller ones on either side; this is where Moradin receives celestial visitors. On the floors above are residences for esteemed visitors, and on the floors below are vaults where the Moradfilki keep their most valuable items, as well as the residence of Moradin himself, a fortress in a fortress built out of pure mithrine into the rock itself.

Beneath the Halls of Columns, inside the rock of the plateau, are unknown floors upon floors of closed, dark vaults, many of them lined with the crumbled, unrecognizable statues of ancient dwarves. These Crypts are where the statues were placed before, and each time every soul of a hall was forgotten, the place was closed down, in the hope that the forgotten souls remain underground and slowly disappear. The number of halls and the number of ghosts roaming them is unknown, but it is certain that not every forgotten soul has found its last resting place in the Crypts. Servants keep the Mithrine Halls and the Sunlit Vale clear, but throughout the misty mountains of Thom Faldur, one can hear the long howls and feel the cold touch of long-forgotten ghosts, haunted by the fact that their people forgot them and let them suffer in the endless void of time.

The Forge

The Forge is a huge complex of stone buildings sprawling at the foot of the plateau, and inside of the roots of the mountains at the back of the Sunlit Vale. Thousands mine the deepest rock beneath, bringing up ores which are smithed into the most magnificent creations, holy relics precisely forged during thousands of hours and imbued with celestial power. Goibhníu spends every waking hour here, and many of the other gods, including Moradin himself, are known to spend weeks or years working in the Forge. There are a few huge forges, deep inside the mountain, which are restricted for the use of the gods. The Forge is the only place where such powerful relics as those of the Moradfilki can be made, and it is the only place that produces mithrine, a purer form of mithral.

The Mountain

Behind the Mithrine Halls towers the largest, proudest monolith of all: the Mountain. Its face is untouched by the creations of mortals, and its snowy peak lies well above the clouds. Small paths marked by cairns lead over the Mountain's long flanks, and Heimdall can sometimes be seen wandering these paths, patiently walking for days until she reaches her goal. Deep beneath the mountain, in caves none know the entrance of, lies the vault of Dumathoin, where she keeps all the knowledge of the dwarves in a great book.

Dwarven Afterlife

Dwarven souls did not die until no living dwarf remembered them. While they lived, the souls remained in the hearts of those who remembered them, and those of heroes were given a new body, a statue of clay in the Halls of Columns, in which they could live and enjoy dwarven afterlife. The souls in the Halls could speak with their deities, even with the Moradfilki themselves, and they could participate in the feasts and celebrations of the gods; the gods could even call the souls to life, animating the statues to become ker'kyn, white humanoids with the hardness of clay but the mobility and skills they had in life.

Once a soul was forgotten, it traveled to Thom Faldur to begin its true afterlife. If it had a statue in the Halls of Columns, it could no longer inhabit it, and the statue's clay turned gray and brittle. Most souls entered the Crypts; some were even forced into them. The souls then stayed there, slowly forgetting themselves that they existed until they disappeared completely. Other souls did not rest easy, had perhaps some slight from their lives that had not been resolved, or they were sad that they had been forgotten; these souls continued to roam, becoming ghosts known as Forgotten Ones.

Native Creatures

Thom Faldur was of course the home of the dwarven gods and demi-gods. There were however other creatures who inhabited the islands, as servants of the gods on Mugal Throm or as free creatures in desolate parts of the island or in other parts of the archipelago.

Valkyries. The native inhabitants of Thom Faldur, who reputedly inhabited the islands before even the Moradfilki came and made them their home, were the valkyries. These were strange, wild creatures, humanoid in shape and barely a head taller than a dwarf. They were quite similar in appearance to faelings, but for the curved horns on their foreheads and their dark complexion; they had light brown skin, dark hair, and eyes either black, green, or yellow. These creatures reproduced sexually. They could survive even from grass, bark, or tree sap, which made their survival on harsh Thom Faldur possible. They were also extremely fierce and capable fighters, intuitively enhancing their fighting with an innate aptitude for magic to produce buffeting forces, searing light, or make things catch on fire. They also had an affinity for seeing and touching the unseen, making them able to see invisible ghosts and even physically interact with them. Thus, the Moradfilki decided to make the valkyries their servants and soldiers. The Valkyrekern and the road gates are garrisoned by thousands of valkyries, and the Mithrine Halls themselves are filled with valkyrie guard-servants.

There are also a few groups of "wild" valkyries out on the islands, known for riding mountain goats and deep, echoing horns to hunt.

Dwarves. By Moradin's decree, there may be no dwarves on Thom Faldur but for visitors and for the Old Clan, a clan of excellent artisans who have served the gods for all history. The hundreds of dwarves of the Old Clan, who call themselves Kerek, live and work in the Forge, serving the gods. They do not fight, and they do not leave Mugal Throm.

Fär'kyn and gäld'kyn. Though rarely applied elsewhere, the Moradfilki have a great ability for both creating life and golem magic. The majority of workers in the Forge are fär'kyn, stout dwarf-like creature made of iron but granted sentience by the gods. They work the mines and the forges, accomplishing tasks with their awesome strength and infinite endurance. The gäld'kyn are smaller, lither equivalents made from gold who are relatively fragile and can't withstand too much heat, but who are extremely deft artisans. They assist Moradin in his experiments and build the clay statues of heroic souls.

Ghosts. Thom Faldur is the place where the souls of dead dwarves go, and it is full of ghosts which the locals call Forgotten Ones. Though most such souls wile away time in the Crypts, invisible and immobile and numb to everything around them, some act like confused spirits and can be seen drifting around, while others are desperate and angry, seeking to survive and to kill that which is still alive. Most ghosts are in the Crypts, and it is rare to see a Ghost in the Sunlit Vale; but other parts of Mugal Throm, and especially the outer archipelago islands, are roamed by wild or sad Forgotten Ones. When one hears a howling on the wind, one never knows if it is the wind, a goat-riding valkyrie, or a lost soul.