Corunglain's Deep
by Giulio N. Caroletti1. An Introduction
The city of Corunglain is an adventurer's haven in the northern regions of the Republic of Darokin. It's very close to the Broken Lands, and being a frontier area it is full of adventure possibilities, if someone is daring enough to search for them.
Among the common facts is the nature of the city, built upon an old underground system that is said to connect some orc-settled dungeons from the Broken Lands to the core of the city itself! This explains why, once in a while, a small orcish patrol might be found in the city itself. Fortunately for the city's population, the orcs don't know exactly how to get to the city. Unfortunately, the citizens themselves don't know where the locations of these hidden entrances are.
However, nobody knows of the true origins of the underground dungeons. Origins lost in time well long before the first King of Darokin had been crowned. The time when lost races crossed paths (dark paths?) over the surface of the Known World: the Wolvers and the Nithians.
2. Wolvers & Nithians
Wolvers were a race of wolf-like humanoids that dwelled in the mountain ranges that currently make up the borders between Rockhome and Vestland. The Wolvers were a quite peaceful race, not very fertile, versed in magic, and masters in the art of shapeshifting. They worshipped the Canine Seven, a pantheon of virtually unknown Immortals, although probably the names by which they were known to the Wolvers are just alternate names for well known Mystaran Immortals. Head of the pantheon was Tagazin, the Jackal Demon, an Immortal from the Sphere of Time.
When they got in touch with Nithians, Wolvers were cunning shapeshifters, able to assume an almost human form. In their natural form they were similar to the current "wolfman" form of werewolves, although they were less than 1,70 tall, and were less muscular and of slim built. In their human form, they maintained their physical built; long, slim fingers, and pointy ears were the only alien traces in them.
The Nithians entered in touch with Wolvers around BC 1000, when they conquered the Antalian and Thantalian (Protothyatian) tribes of the Northern Reaches. The Wolvers were very reclusive, and the Nithians not overly interested in the barren areas of the Northern Reaches, so the contact with the Wolvers was in the beginning scarce. However, the discovery of the true nature of the Wolvers puzzled some of the Nithian magicians and clerics, especially those that studied lycanthropy (see John Calvin's "A Treatise on Lycanthropy"). Several Wolvers were captured and killed by the Nithians, and brought back to the cities of the Kingdom to be studied - it was in this way that the Nithians, experimenting upon the Wolvers, were able to create Gnolls and Hutaakans. Unfortunately for them, the enraged Canine Seven interfered with their work, causing the Wolver-descended races to be totally uncontrollable. There is speculation that maybe Pflarr himself was none other than one of the Canine Seven reincarnated in the body of the first successful experiment.