"Much like its sister nation, Ulkran is
a wondrous realm hidden away from the eyes of surface dwellers. We here above never see
the works of dwarven skill, the battles with the creatures of the deep. We do not hear the
sound of a thousand dwarves raising their voices in song as it echoes and thunders and
booms through dwarven halls. Such things are reserved only for those who dwell deep."
- Tarrin, Master of Uthran's Academy
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| Proper Name | The Under Realm Kingdom of Ulkran |
| Ruler | His Most Resolute Magnificence, Lordly Monarch of the Underrealm, King Dorian I, the Staunch |
| Population | 2,572,000 |
| Population Density | 54 people per square kilometer (140 people per square mile) |
| Demographics | Dwarven 90%, Human 6%, Orc 3%, Skrell 1% |
| Languages | Dwarven 95%, Northern 5% |
| Capital City | Independent city-state. |
| National Colors | Grey and white |
| Year Founded | 784 |
| Currency | Dwarven |
| Natural Resources and Manufactured Goods | Due to their subterranean geography, both Ulkran and Urmordia have access to vast deposits of many types of metals, minerals, coal deposits, crystals, gems, jewels and types of stone. Dwarven mining technology is used to good advantage to exploit these resources. In addition, these two nations conduct subterranean agriculture and some animal husbandry |
| Wealth | Above Average |
| Government Type | Monarchy |
| Government Stability | Stable |
| Allies | Uthran, Urmordia, Normidia |
| Enemies | None |
| Technology Level | Middle Ages |
| Primary Religion | Uxamar |
| Other Religions | Dwarven Pantheon |
| Climate | Subpolar |
| Total Land Area | 47,629 square kilometers (18,400 square miles) |
| Arable Land | 4% |
| Terrain | Subterranean/Mountainous |
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Although not the focus of dwarvish legends and culture, Ulkran was for several centuries the only dwarven nation. Even after the founding of Urmordia, Ulkran maintained its position of authority on dwarven life due to its immense size and resources. Ulkran is by far the largest known underground structure on the planet. It is nearly twice the size of Urmordia spanning over eighty kilometers underground and is reported to be 37 levels deep.
The entire nation of Ulkran is subterranean. Their geography is natural cavern until it is shaped by dwarven ingenuity into great halls filled with huge columns of stone. There are some large caverns filled with crops or fields for grazing. The dwarves also create something called "Life Halls". These are immense natural caverns, sometimes kilometers across and light with magical light, in which whole ecosystems are allowed to thrive. Life halls often have orchards, broad grasslands and small forests.
As the Age of Chaos gave way to the Great War, an Irenni mining community named Mord went underground to escape. Mord later founded Mordia (Home). Mordia later lost an underground war, the War of the Caverns, with another underground race and was forced to flee. Thousands of dwarves fled in two groups. The first fled underground through the Northern Tusk mountains and through the Dragon Claw mountains. This group was led by Durgen Kren Stonehammer Symul. The second group, less known, was a smaller caravan which fled southwest via an alternate route. Despite difficult obstacles and an encounter with a dragon, more than half of the sixty thousand dwarves in Durgren’s Trek survived to find a suitable cavern complex in the very northern reaches of the Thunder Peaks. There they founded Kran (Hope). Contact with the other group was lost and they were not seen again. Kran later surfaced and changed its name to Ulkran. (New Hope).
Because of their subterranean habitation, the dwarves must deal with vastly different ecosystems than their surface counterparts. Notable animals of the underworld include cave spiders, crystal ooze, dythillin, grobban, javoks and the dreaded shaker. Beneath the ground the black mushroom and light moss are the two most notable plants.
Dwarf Bullhounds
A species of heavyset, pug-nosed canine. Broad chest, short legs. Heavy rolls of fat. Used as guard dogs and war dogs.
Dwarven Cave Oxen
A large cloven hoofed herbivore. Stands about three feet tall at the shoulder, but weights close to 700 pounds Very strong for its size. Used as a beast of burden, pulling mining carts and such. The animals are too slow to serve as steeds. These sturdy beasts are docile and but rather stubborn and untrainable. They respond only to the whip. Dwarves also use cave oxen for meat and milk.
Shaker
Probably the most feared underground predator, these horrors are rare. They live deep in the ground, much deeper than Urmordia. However, some of the dwarven mining operations reach down into deep dark regions where shakers and other foul creatures dwell.
Dwarven society is divided up into great clans. Both of the massive dwarven city-state nations have hundreds of individual family clans, each of which may have hundreds or thousands of members. Clans compete for status, wealth and political positioning. Generally speaking, one dwarven clan will hold rulership of the dwarven city-state at one time. Leading over all of Ulkran is a king. The dwarven king is aided by the Great Council which consists of several hundred members of the Symul class (the judges and lawmakers of the dwarven race). The king and the council balance each other. A dwarven king is expected to appoint other members of his clan to political positions. So, having one of its members hold the position of king is the goal of every clan. A lot of political maneuvering goes on as each clan tries to position itself to be the next ruling clan.
The Symul also serve as judges. Individually, each Symul serves as the judge for a small section of Ulkran. Symul are viewed as wise men and their word is final.
The Thollis class is the warrior class of dwarven society. The Thollis class serves as the military, the law enforcers and general pacifiers of conflict.
The economy of Ulkran is stronger than Urmordia in that it is not as internal. Ulkran has a good amount of trade with other nations.
Ulkran society is very stratified as all dwarven society is. Each dwarf belongs to a certain class or "rank". Each class performs a specific function within the society.
Although the dwarves are not a particularly magical race, there are those dwarves who do excel at wizardry. These spell casters form the trimell caste of dwarven society. These individuals hold a special place in dwarven society. They are seen as touched and are given a great deal of respect mixed with a small amount of pity at having been given such a burden as magic. Dwarven society uses magic to help them light their tunnels, warm their homes, heal their wounds, grow food and carve out an existence in the otherwise unrelenting realm of the Underdark.
It should be noted that dwarves do not use orichalcum because of a racial intolerance for the mineral. The dust of orichalcum causes allergic like reactions in dwarves and concentrated exposure can even prove lethal. Dwarven spell casters make do without the mineral.
The Festival of Light
The largest dwarven celebration is the Festival of Light. It celebrates the dwarven lifestyle, ingenuity conquering obstacles, dwarven engineering reshaping the underworld and, more generally, light conquering darkness. It is a time of crafts and feasting, dancing and ale drinking, marriage proposals, new constructions being unveiled and speeches.
Like Urmordia, Ulkran is truly a massive subterranean city-state. There are no towns or cities... Ulkran is simply a maze of interconnected chambers, tunnels and shafts stretching for kilometers. This vast structure stretches in all three dimensions. The only way to navigate and organize something so vast is to break it up into a number of districts. Ulkran consists of 780 districts. This breakdown forms a rudimentary addressing and navigational system. Each district can be considered a "neighborhood". The only way to find anything in Ulkran is to reference the district.
In the lightless underworld, the dwarves take great advantage of height and their city-states are very three dimensional. Dwarven architecture often involves hanging structures of immense size. Huge stone bridges cross chasms and enormous buildings and fortresses are often built into these bridges. Some of these hanging buildings may be connected to sheer stone walls with several bridges. Some bridges are so large they have tunnels running through them and may have many internal chambers and multiple levels.
There are several temples to all of the major dwarven deities scattered throughout Ulkran.
The East Gate of Ulkran
There main gate of Ulkran which faces Normidia.
The South Gate of Ulkran
The secondary gate of Ulkran which faces Avar.
The Bridge of Mazkardon
The largest bridge in the nation of Ulkran is a tremendous structure which spans the Chasm of Mazkardon, a crack in the deep underworld which is 1200 feet across and over 8 kilometers deep. The bridge itself consists of three levels - a road on top and a two central corridors within. The bridge also houses several hundred chambers throughout its structure. About 5000 dwarves live in the Bridge of Mazkardon. The Bridge of Mazkardon separated the north districts of Ulkran from the south districts.
The Great Hanging Tower of Mirat
At the heart of the South Districts, in the deepest level, is the great Hanging Tower of Mirat. This architectural wonder is the pride of the nation. The great Hanging Tower is actually the remains of a tremendous stone column. The bottom crumbled to rubble long ago during the World Storm. It hangs from the ceiling of a huge vertical cavern. The cavern is about one kilometer wide and more than a two kilometers deep. The Hanging Tower is a great shaft of stone about 500 meters in diameter and over 800 meters in height. Dozens of skybridges connect the Hanging Tower to the walls of the cavern. However, the weight of this colossus is entirely supported from the ceiling.
The great Hanging Tower of Mirat is, in many ways, modeled after the Foundation of Urmordia. Named for the dwarven architect Mirat who conceived it, the tower takes advantage of the existing stone structure. Generations of dwarven architects and engineers have been crafting the great Hanging Tower for more almost 2000 years, since the very founding of Ulkran. The Hanging Tower of Mirat is the largest single structure in Ulkran and the tower, along with the cavern wall structures, house almost a tenth of the entire population of Ulkran.
The cavern floor below is lost in a perpetual mist. Legend says that there is a mushroom forest on the floor of the great cavern and that a race of foul flesh eating creatures dwell down there. The dwarves very rarely ever venture down to the floor of the cavern. They consider it taboo. The creatures of the mist below, whom the dwarves call the "ulfodar" or simply "the deep ones". One of the favored methods of executing criminals is to cast them from the Hanging Tower to plummet into the misty horrors below. If the fall does not kill the victim, the Deep Ones will.
This page last updated Wednesday, December 24, 2008. Copyright 1990-2009 David M. Roomes.
