"They say that upon the highest peak, closest to the heavens, yet still touching holy Orons earth. Azalea prayed for victory."



The Sanctuary

Atop the lowest peak of Mount Daeron, overlooking the entire city, stands the grand complex of Azalea's Basilica. Connected via a system of platforms and stairs directly to the undercity and grand library of Tormengar. Domineering and inspiring, 3.7 miles up. Its main dome is 284 feet high and 200 feet in diameter. The building itself measures 289 feet long, 260 feet wide, and the dome reaches 190 feet into the sky above all beneath it. A mighty temple for Oron and a holy structure for mass. It is at the heart of Ekrilldor’s faith, a monument to the Bravesoul clans' imperial legacy. High above Khar Darin, the Eternal City. The basilica commands the peak with an austere majesty, its domes of golden tiles inlaid with runic etchings. From below, its silhouette dominates the skyline, a crown of arches and spires against the mountain’s crags. Not only does the structure sit atop it, but below lies a vast network of halls, living quarters, libraries, etc. . With even the royal delivery room for new members of the clan being beneath it. Facing east and overlooking the upper terraces. Through this, its history, and it’s the official residency of the High-Patriarch. It has been declared by Ekrilldorian's home and abroad as "the Sanctuary".



Lady Azalea - Queen-Empress Azalea I

Queen-Empress Azalea. Restorer of the Ekrilldorian empire was born in the year 13,687 A.E. First and only child of the then Magistrate of the city, Kaelgar Tharnion Bravesoul, and a sage of Tormegar, Helen Emberheart. Red Azaerian hair with shining eyes of sapphire blue. She spent the majority of her childhood being educated in governance by her father and the magics by her mother. Until she turned 80, by request of King-Emperor Xaexis I, she was to be hosted in his court and be forced to wed one of his retainers. A slight targeted towards her father, as the two firmly despised each other. Not wishing to make an enemy of the King-emperor, Kaelgar agreed to the marriage, at the expense of her mother's misery.

Upon her arrival in the court in 13,688 A.E., she was married off to Demetrios Granitemantle. Second son of Clan Granitemantle's Patriarch and Senator Varakoros XII. Little is known about their relationship outside of preserved scriptures of ancient court gossip.. With scribes describing Demetrios as thoroughly devoted to Azalea. As from this bond, their only child, Kugturuhm, came into this world in 13,720. Azalea, wanting to make sure her son enjoyed his childhood, fostered him in Kharnathrangul's outskirts in their family's villa. While his father made a name for himself, establishing the cadet house of "Marblehead" as he invested heavily into quarries, artisans, and mason guilds.



The Catastrophe

In 13,787 A.E., mountains split and where swallowed by the abyss. Kharnathrangul, jewel of Azaeri, was struck hardest. The city, once said to be carved from the oldest mountain, collapsed inward, as if the gods had slammed their fists down upon it. Hundreds of thousands fled for their lives as this cataclysm devoured all in its wake. At the epicenter of the chaos stood the crumbling and sinking palace. Where Demetrios carried his family through the collapsing, smoke-filled, blood-stained halls. Arriving at the eadtern evacuation tunnels and told Azalea to flee with Kugturuhm. When she asked if he would be joining them, he refused. Saying he couldn't leave countless members of the court behind. Azalea begged and pleaded with him to escape while they still had a chance. But he instead chose to run back into the inferno.

If her personal diary is to be believed. She ran until her feet bled, carrying Kugturuhm in her arms for miles until they finally saw sunlight. But when they exited the tunnels and looked back towards the west. All that remained was the smoldering landscape of a forsaken continent. She did not grieve; she could not until they had reached sanctuary. By the end of the second week, they reached the old road, which led them to Khar Darin, spared by the Catastrophe’s worst. The city had grown fat on cross-sea commerce and neutral diplomacy. Yet when the refugees arrived, the city was overwhelmed. Its gates closed. Its council argued. Disease bloomed. Its harbor was choked with smoke from burning barges trying to flee the influx. Azalea, exhausted, cloaked in soot and grief, walked alone to the gates and declared:

"You will open these gates, or I shall crack them with the same fury that cracked the world. I am Bravesoul, of Kaelgar, of Tharnan. You will kneel, or you will drown in silence."



For her, the gates opened.



Within days, Azalea reestablished law. The merchant clans fell in line. The city guard, once scattered, became her retinue. In the Temple of the Black Lantern, she claimed the title of the last remaining of the clan Bravesoul. Then she stood before the refugee masses and declared:

“The empire has drowned, but I have not. Its cities lie buried, but I breathe. Its people wander, but I will lead. I am Azalea Bravesoul, Widow of Demetrios, Queen-Empress of all Ekrilldor as my birthright, and by fire, oath, and hammer, I will restore what was shattered.”

Over the course of 2 centuries, Azalea reestablished law. The merchant clans fell in line, the legions were reorganized, as the crownlands and gamgudor were reclaimed. After which she forged a new crown from wreckage recovered from Kharnathrangul, a circlet of melted sigil-stone, Thraenite, and the iron ring of a Krakoan Warhammer. Forever to be known as Azalea's circlet as she donned it, carving out a new court and throne from solid basalt. She went on to rule for seventy years before passing away at 307 in the year 270 A.C. after a long struggle with a terminal illness. Which was only sped up by her rampant magic usage. She is forever remembered for establishing the Second Ekrilldorian Empire, and is to this day the only Queen-empress to sit on the throne. Laying the groundwork for her son, Kugturuhm, to accomplish his dream. Reconquering the heartlands lost during the catastrophe.



Kugturuhm, The Builder, and his Accomplishments. (Circa 270A.C - 892 A.C)

When Azalea Bravesoul passed from this world in 270 A.C, it is said all nine bells of Khar Darin rang for three days without pause. Her pyre lit in the Hall of Cinders brought thousands to their knees. The city went silent, save for the crackling of flame and the thunderous dirge of anvils struck in rhythm. Her son, Kugturuhm, stood unmoving throughout the entire vigil, clad in lamellar armor, his mother's crown in hand. He did not speak until her ashes were lowered into the Ancestral Vault beneath the city. He was crowned with the Anvil Circlet, reforged with his mother's sword. Donning his armor and hammer, for he would reforge the realm anew in his image. Raising the Ashen Legions, numbering 22,000 dwarves. Kugturuhm’s campaign began with fire and honor, reclaiming ancient dwarven strongholds across the fragmented Drarrowstone Peninsula. He rode first to Bharakorum, once a gem of under-mountain architecture isolated on a plateau overlooking the sea, which had become overrun by bandit-king clans. Kugturuhm besieged it with tunneler sappers, flooding its lower caverns with steam to flush out enemies. The city was retaken in the Year 278 A.C. Kione, a spiritual center of the old empire, had fallen to religious heretics who worshiped the Catastrophe as a divine entity. Kugturuhm razed their temples and rebuilt the Hall of Oaths atop their altar. Pithaki, a fortress city at the edge of the Nopahtin wastes, surrendered without bloodshed when Kugturuhm marched in with his mother’s banner flying. The governor laid down the keys and kissed the ash sigil upon the King-Emperor’s palm. Over nearly seven centuries, Kugturuhm led his armies across the known world, liberating former provinces and reforging the shattered imperial chain. in southern Drazhdor (~332–388 A.C.): The rugged highlands were home to entrenched hill-kings. Kugturuhm built over a dozen highland roads and fortresses before the resistance broke, and in Bhagandor (~400s A.C.): Perhaps the bloodiest campaign, where over 60,000 dwarves died retaking the Deep Lodes. But Kugturuhm pressed on, famously saying:



“The mind is slow to crack—but we are slower to quit."



His greatest ally during these centuries was his brother-in-arms, Kazrikos, a lowborn Kionean general raised to nobility. Kazrikos led the southern campaigns, most notably:

* The III Bhagandoran subjugation war (~436 A.C.): Reimse Ardaithe Taken through brilliant naval assaults and mountain pincer attacks.

* Oskavia (~462–470 A.C.): A protracted siege ended by Kazrikos's engineering marvel—the Firespine, a mobile siege tower powered by volcanic steam.

Together, the two restored twelve major provinces, eighteen cities, and over one hundred minor holds to the banner of Ekrilldor. Securing the second empire for the foreseeable future. He began to restore the old roads, shattered infrastructure, lost holds, and temples. Ushering in another golden age of Ekrilldorian administration. So wealthy was the new realm that he funded the creation of two marvels. A Basilica raised on Mount Daerion's peak above the capital in honor of his mother. Which would be christened in 611 A.C. with a statue of Azalea forever overlooking her city and empire. Azalea's Circlet never left his head, save on the Day of Six Bells, when he would lay it beside his mother’s sealed urn and sit in silence for one full hour. Kugturuhm died peacefully in his sleep in 892 A.C., surrounded by flame-priests, descendants, and a roaring city outside his chamber that chanted the words, Hammer born, hammer bearer, hammer breaker. The mountain remembers. Half of his ashes were entombed in the Agtiunvault of Kione. The rest were buried with his Mother beneath the Basilica.