The Ashen Peaks
The Ashen Peaks. Fire, endurance, survival. Seven volcanic ranges; one way to live among them.
Smithing, mining, geothermal — the forge-and-stone tradition.
Philosophy
Power through proximity. Survival through respect. Truth through fire.
The Long Story
The Ashen Peaks are seven volcanic ranges where small human cultures have lived in the shadow of the dragons for so long that the cultures have become, in places, more dragon-shaped than the dragons themselves. A peaker is, by long tradition, neither the dragon's enemy nor its servant. The peaker is the dragon's neighbor. The neighbor is sometimes consulted, sometimes ignored, and occasionally eaten; the peakers find this preferable to being conquered, which has been the experience of every nation that has tried to integrate them.
History
The Ashen Peaks have no founding date. The peakers were there before the histories were written; the histories simply began to mention them. Vorthul has been their neighbor for nine hundred years. They have brought him no tribute in living memory. He has burned no peaker village in living memory either. This arrangement is not trust. It is a stalemate maintained by mutual disinterest.
How They Fight
Firecraft and high-ground. The peakers do not need armies; they need passes that burn under foot. A peaker village can collapse a road in an hour and rebuild it in a week. They do this rarely. They make sure outsiders remember the time they did.
How They Live
Three languages, all related, none written by outsiders. Ash-marked faces for the first-funeral and the last-funeral, plain faces between. Music is percussive, made with hollow stones. Hospitality is total within the village walls and absent outside them. The peakers do not, on principle, lock their doors.
Known Figures
Old Greb
Drunk, but useful
Drinking slowly. Watching the fire. Occasionally says something useful by accident. Originally a peaker; left when he was nineteen.
Helm-the-Younger
Caravan guard
Born in an ashen village; works the southern road now. Says the Quiet Glade has been quieter than usual this season.
Hellard, no surname
Ember Market stallkeeper
Claims peaker birth; claims many things. Lies casually; sells real and fake side by side.
Bonuses
- ++3 Dragon Resistance
- ++2 Intimidation
- +Knows one firecraft recipe
Weaknesses
- –Distrusted everywhere
- –Ashen surcharge at most shops
Starting Reputation: Disliked
Likely beginnings: Emberhold · the high villages · Hearthhold (by trade) · Caldera Notch