Tethyamar

The Mines of Tethyamar were once home to one of the greatest dwarven communities in the North, Located in the northern Desertsmouth Mountains, these wondrous mines and caverns were founded in the Year of the Depths Unknown (-145 DR) by Thordbard, of the Iron House of fallen Oghrann. Generations of dwarfs carved out magnificent halls and looted the earth of her valuables, selling them to humans and elves, sending rafts of riches down the River Tesh to the Moonsea and beyond. The mines were ruled continuously by the hereditary Iron House, royal court of this great nation.

Tethyamar perished, however, in the Year of the Dark Dawn (1104 DR), after more than a decade of resistance, Tethymar was overrun by a “legion of orcs, bloodthirsty barghests, and demons summoned by a the circle magic of orc adepts and an archmage claiming to be the Great Hlundadim, wizard leader the ancient goblinkin kingdom of Hlundadim.” (Grand History of the Realms p. 118)

The surviving dwarves of the Iron House fled to the dwarven communities of the Far Hills, Storm Horns of Cormyr and southeastern reaches of the Desertsmouth Mountains. As of 1369 DR, the last king of the Iron House, Ghellin, still lives as the king-in-exile, reportedly in the Far Hills, where he is said to be ill of a wasting disease that has resisted all medicinal and clerical cures. If Ghellin dies, the leadership of the Iron House will pass to his twin sons Tasster and Teszter.

In the Year of the Wave (1364 DR) Borlin, blood of Ghellin, mustered a dwarf army, known as the Mithril Legion, to reclaim Tethymar for the Iron House. But the army was defeated by waves of orcs, barghests and demons. (GHR p. 147)

Nevertheless, dwarves in the lands around the Sea of Fallen Stars still speak of and work towards the day when “the king shall take his throne again.” (Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting 2 p. 41)