Clan Ironeater

Clan Ironeater was a dwarven clan who spent centuries guarding some of the otherwise empty holds of Illefarn from intruders.

History
With the demise of Phalorm in 615 DR the demihuman defenders of that realm were no more. Casualties had been too high to possibly sustain the realm but the clan of dwarves known as the Ironeaters held on stubbornly to the area underneath Mount Illefarn for many centuries. Circa 1257 DR, Derval Ironeater, the king of the clan at the time, decided that their numbers were no longer sufficient to survive in those tunnels and ordered his clan to the surface where they integrated themselves into the populations of Daggerford, Secomber and Waterdeep

In 1354 DR, the elder of Derval's younger brothers, Korin Ironaxe, who always disagreed with Derval's decision to leave their home, took a force of 32 dwarves and gnomes to resume their anscestral duty after their youngest brother Derwin discovered an anvil, believed to be an altar to Moradin (though it was actually dedicated to Imix) - taking it as a sign that Moradin wanted them to reclaim their home. When they arrived though, they discovered part of the tunnel complex had been occupied by orcs.

For 3 years, Korin and his troop fought the orcs, losing nearly a dozen of their number. Then in 1357 DR an earthquake in the vicinity of Mount Illefarn caused all of the water in the River Delimbiyr downriver of the Laughing Hollow to turn green and become poisonous.

Adventurous militiamen from Daggerford helped Korin retake the tunnels from the orcs as well as a band of bandit necromancers. They also stemmed the flow of polluted water coming out of the Laughing Hollow.

However, no more reinforcements from the clan went to aid Korin. Derval declared Korin and his followers beldarakin (treacherous creatures) and refused to speak of the incident and of his clan's history in front of anyone not of the clan. Korin however, had declared himself "King Korin Ironaxe of the Ironaxe clan, renaming his new realm Ironaxe Halls.

Around 1485 DR, King Derval died suddenly from heartstop during a conversation.

Activities
Derval became a councilman in Daggerford and a well-respected member of the community. His clan built many of the stone buildings in town and ran Derval's Bright Blade, the larger of the two local smithies. While the rest of clan worked on construction projects and basic iron work, Derval claimed to make the best steel weapons from Waterdeep to Baldur's Gate.