- Fallen Empires, vol IV
The Last Summer has come and gone, and may never come again. It is a discouraging thought, but one that must be put out of ones mind if one is to survive. Neigh over fifty years ago Bhall, the Goddess of Fire, fell from the sky and destroyed what was once the thriving and prosperous city state of Braduk. Ninety five percent of its people were killed in that instant when the Goddess struck the earth, their souls sucked into Hell along with the Goddess as she traveled through the earth into the depths below where Agares the Black, the God of Night rules. Only a handful of refugees survived the cataclysm that rent open a hole between the planes. Two small settlements outside the blast radius survived, Peptin in the south and Falcon's Hollow in the north. However the Braduk people are a strong and determined folk and even near ground zero some survived, those survivors are the unfortunate ones.
After Bhall's fall Mulcarn, the God of Winter, moved into Creation and was followed by the champion of the gods Sucellus, the God of Nature. Their battle ravaged the lands west of Patria where the Doviello and the Amurites dwell. In the end Sucellus was slain by Mulcarn and the far reaching effects of his death have yet to truly been seen. Each year the winters have grown harsher and the summers shorter and shorter as Mulcarn's influence is felt. With the fading seasons comes a shortage of harvests, a freezing of the northern reaches and the mountains, and the ever present growing threat of The Frostlings, agents of Mulcarn himself.
The lands of the Kilmor, the dwarven people, things are particularly difficult. The once wild and scattered Ember Clans, orcish and goblinoid factions, have been united under a strong leader and wage a war against their hated foe that is going on 5 years now. The mountain tops have been freezing and not thawing for years, and the alpine glaciers there push ever downwards causing the Kilmor no end of trouble with their surface side holdings. To make matters worse demons from The Burning Pit have from time to time joined the Orcs in attacking their strong holds and politics and greed keep the dwarven people from facing their threats as a united people.
Winter is coming, and the dwarves will not escape it even buried in the mountains and if they are not careful they may find their underground homes are nothing but a frozen coffin.