Kumush Zallari

Once, many generations ago, there was a wealthy dwarven hold with rich veins that reached deep into the earth. For hundreds of years, the mountain dwarves there dug streams of silver and gold from the stone, trading ore and goods with a dozen nearby elf and human settlements. Soon, however, the veins began to run dry. After years waiting and hoping the veins could be found again a portion of the clan splintered off in search of a better home. They hoped to find a new place to establish their own hold, one as rich or better than the last.   They traveled for a year, delving into mountains black and foreign. Finally, the glimmer of silver caught the eye of the Father Craftsman, a pale shimmer on the distant peak of a smoking mountain. It was a volcano, the exterior covered in glistening black stone and rich, thick vegetation never before seen by the dwarves. When they were able to see into the mountain, the lava which flowed at the bottom appeared to be molten silver, thus they dubbed their new home Kumush Zallari, the Silver Halls.   The veins here were better than even their wildest dreams could have wished for. Gold, and silver, and metals they had not even names for flowed like rivers through the black stone. They built quickly, establishing a respectable town within the caldera. Their remoteness made for difficult trade, but what settlements they could reach were grateful for it and Kumush Zallari gained the reputation of fairness and wealth.   Later, the dwarves of the Silver Halls learned their former home did eventually rediscover the veins, and a trickle of trade opened between them. A small part of both clans holds some minor grudge against the other, however. The dwarves of Kumush Zallari believe, in part, that mismanagement and greed lead to the veins drying up in the first place, which forced them from their homes for their own survival. While the dwarves of the old hold are bitter at their clansmen for abandoning their home and partially for finding a richer source of ore than they ever had. Still, there is no outright hostility between them, just a dour coldness.