(You find this slab buried in the mountainhome archives)While the King has forbidden me to mention Rith Heavenlances or her home in his presence ever again, but I cannot allow what has transpired to be buried and forgotten. Hopefully someone finds this archive in the future and will see what all of dwarfkind should have born witness to.
Sixty-six years ago, the King
banished commissioned a new outpost from six completely unskilled haulers and a trader who hates commerce and had a poor relationship with the truth.
With only enough food and drink to make the trip to the rocky desert, the expedition was just another way of saying "death sentence". Indeed, when I made the required trip in autumn to "check on the progress of the fortress", the only thing I saw at first were corpses of dwarves who appeared to have succumb to dehydration. I was preparing to leave when I heard a rumbling to the south as a crude wooden wall shifted and a dwarf beckoned me inside.
That was when I met Rith for the first time. It was easy to tell why she had been sent to such a place, as she wasn't much like other dwarves. She fully believed in herself and her ability to thrive all alone. Indeed, one of the first things she told me was to inform the mountainhome that migrants were unwelcome at Dikegenius and would be left outside in the sun to die if they ever chose to make the trip. Her next sentence reinforced her oddball nature, as she declared that she needed nothing from the mountainhomes ever again. She vowed never to trade anything with the mountainhomes, saying she could create everything she needed from what was available here in her new home. Looking around at the squalor she was living in (a couple scrawny plump helmets scrounged from the caverns, a dank pile of straw on the floor to sleep on, the ghost of her dead friend lounging nearby,
no booze), this statement was rather hard to believe. To appease myself and the merchants, she requested some bizarre leather on the trade agreement which we both knew she had no intention of trading for, then sent me on my way.
Upon my return home, the King was unhappy at first when I told him that one of the dwarves had survived. However, he began laughing heartily when I told him of her situation. Having already cast off the undesirables, he had no real use for Dikegenius any longer. No migrants would ever be sent to reinforce the outpost in the middle of the desert, and as far as he was concerned, that would be the last he would really ever hear of the matter. I would be sent each autumn as the official outpost liaison, but no one really expected anything to ever matter in such a place. We were wrong.
The following year, we met in the same grungy area, yet a few changes had been made. She now owned a rickety bed, a dining table and chair, as well as coffins for her 6 fellow outcasts. A small farming area was set up growing plump helmets, and a couple pots of wine had been brewed. While far from luxurious, the fundamentals of civilization had been placed. True to her word, no depot had been built and the merchants were turned away without even a curious glance at their wares. She once again requested some random leather on the trade agreement and shooed me away so she could return to her work.
In the roughly 25 years after that, Rith was constantly busy constructing something from marble on the surface. It took quite a while to take shape, but eventually I deduced that she was building a very large home. Tall enough that any human could stand without being able to reach the ceilings, I couldnt figure out why she would need such a large area. A dozen dwarves could have worked and lived within comfortably. Complete with
magma forges and furnaces, she had made good on the statement she made to me so long ago. Or so I had thought.
Rith had become quite the skilled mason during her decades of marble block making. Every door and hatch cover in her home was a work of art, equaling the best you would find in the empire. I believed that she was almost done outfitting her home when I saw those, but apparently she had other ideas. Instead of making more stone furniture, she turned to carpentry for a while. Scores of beds were produced from what few scrawny trees she had access to over the years, and eventually she had crafted one to her satisfaction. Believing that her life's work to be almost finished, I informed the King after my trip back to the mountainhome. The King wasn't happy with Rith's anti-social tendencies, but still begrudgingly respected her perseverance and regretted the loss of a skilled mason to his workforce. I was to return the following autumn to observe the final state of her home. I did not expect what would happen then.
I anticipated to find her home fully furnished upon my next trip. Instead, it appeared to be completely unchanged from my previous visit. I found her hard at work at her magma smelter creating brass bars when I approached her for our annual meeting. I have to admit that my curiosity overcame my professionalism, for instead of starting the meeting like we always did, I told her of my assumptions and asked her to tell me about her plans for her home moving forward. "I am a dwarf like all the others," she said, "and I value metalworks above all other crafts, the same as you". I stared incredulously at her, for I knew she had no training at all around the forge. Combined with the fact that any metals she wanted to use would have to be mined and hauled all alone, it appeared to be a foolish endeavor to say the least. I eventually shrugged and began the fruitless trade negotiations like we always did. Rith had been true to her word thus far and never traded a single thing with us, and I didn't expect her to change her mind any time soon.
The next thirty years saw Rith doing nothing but mining, smelting, or forging statues for her home. The statues... By Armok's beard, the statues... I couldn't begin to do them justice with words alone. I've seen her dump a wonderful statue made of pure platinum into the smelter, the likes of which even the King would have been proud to possess. My gasp echoed throughout her lofty marble hallways, while she merely shrugged and said "It isn't perfect; I'll just have to try again."
Each winter I would report back to the King, and each winter he became more and more outraged by my declarations. The merchants had never seen a completed depot in all their trips to Dikegenious. Rumors that both the humans and even the
elves possessed a fine platinum statue of a dwarf that sounds very similar to Rith have been floating around, but have yet to be confirmed. Between his worry that other dwarves might be inspired to break away from the mountainhome and her complete disregard for his authority, the King was left no choice in his eyes. By royal proclamation, I was forbidden to speak further of Dikegenius or Rith Heavenlances to anyone. I will never forget what I have seen, and have done my best to record what I could for posterity. My last visit in autumn of 191 will forever be etched into my mind as solidly as if it had been in stone itself.
I wandered the halls over her home in wonder, admiring works of art at every turn. Each magnificent statue was as awe-inspiring as the last. Rith clearly would not tolerate anything but perfection in her home, and obviously had persevered in her efforts. As she reclined in her masterful platinum throne, sipping from a glass cup of fine dwarven wine from plump helmets she grew and brewed herself, I couldn't help but think to myself. Is this what all of dwarvenkind is capable of? If we finally win our eternal war with the goblins and are free to work in peace, could all dwarves reach such mastery? Or is it just Rith who was special? I will never know for sure, but I'd like to think that we all have some form of greatness within. Rith was able to fully show hers to the world, and I am the only dwarf that will ever see it in her lifetime. Even though I can never express out loud my admiration for her works, I am proud to have born witness to what she has created for herself. I have attached diagrams and sketches made to the best of my abilities. You who has found this record, know that I have not been able to capture their beauty.
By my hand,
Tobul ImusheralOfficial liaison to Dikegenius
(Only the ones in use are listed here)
18 Marble Doors
11 Marble Hatch Covers
1 Chesnut Bed
2 Platinum Armor Stands
2 Platinum Weapon Racks
1 Platinum Cabinet
2 Platinum Thrones
2 Platinum Tables
3 Platinum Chests
47 Platinum Statues
5 Silver Statues
1 Brass Statue (for a splash of color)
All workshops were made with Platinum bars.
The only non-masterwork items in her home are clothing (some are, but everything degrades too quickly to matter) and the food containers/bags.
Author
Topic: Rith Heavenlances - The Opulent Hermit (Read 1896 times)