Urkhaim (pronounced URK-aim) is a dwarven realm within the Northern Wall. The hardy dwarves that live in this frigid land are largely isolationist and rarely leave their mountain homes, only venturing forth into the Aban Steppe during their great hunts and to carry their dead to Tomb Lake.
Geography, flora, and fauna
Urkhaim lies entirely within the snow-capped mountains of the Northern Wall, north of the Khindushar Basin and Mhakan's Trials. The region is cold year-round. There is enough seasonality, however, that in the summers some plants manage to grow around small streams and ponds in the rocky valleys, enough to support small populations of animals like mountain goats and hares, which then provide food for bears and a handful of other predators. At higher elevations up the mountains, where the dwarves live, effectively no wildlife is found, the snowy and icy environment too hostile to support life. Temperatures never rise above freezing, or even get close to it, at the peaks of the higher mountains.
History
The Urkhaim have not always lived in the mountains, and in fact only moved to their current homes several hundred years ago. Previously they lived in lodge-villages within the foothills of the western Cage and along the Eastern Hethalak River, where they made their living through hunting and trading with the targai to their north. But this same land was also claimed by the Xuldorai giants, and after many centuries of conflict between the two peoples the dwarves were left with only a handful of scattered communities in the lands up against the mountains.
Eventually it became clear to the dwarves that staying in their remaining villages, under constant threat from the giants, was untenable. Leaders from their largest tribes held a summit in the late ninety-sixth century to determine what course of action their people should take, but their decision ultimately tore the dwarven communities in two.
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