1010AC Dwarven Tunnels to Attack Oenkmar
by Robin
Lower Broken Lands
Almanacs Mapping material textual
1010 AC Eirmont 25 .....the Dwarves in the Broken Lands are making a sturdy fortress of the cavern mouth leading to Oenkmar, and are developing a new closed, metal-encased raft that will dissipate heat long enough to allow dwarves to sail across the lake of subterranean lava. This day a test run succeeds; the Dwarf pedals the prototype around for fifteen minutes and returns unroasted
1012 AC Nuwmont 27 ... it’s now the Shadow Elves learn of Oenkmar.
1012 AC Vatermont 15 A scout brings thrilling news to Tanadaleyo, Radiant Princess of the Shadow Elves and governor of Aengmor. He speaks of the discovery (by use of magically created tunnels around the attacking dwarves) of the fabled underground city of Aengmor, thought destroyed when lava surrounded it more than 23 centuries ago. But there are two problems—Aengmor, now called Oenkmar, is currently inhabited by horrible Humanoids, and even more horrible dwarves are laying siege to the city
....The Shadow Elves of Aengmor(...) prepare for a holy war.
Oenkmar, the jewel of the depths, is indeed the ancient Elven city of Aengmor, now inhabited by Humanoid followers of Atzanteotl. Immortal magics protect the city from the lava lake upon which it drifts.
The dwarfs discovered indeed gold in the surrounding bedrock. The discovery sparkled a double invasion of dwarf soldiers and miners intent on destroying the Humanoid city (and the threat it poses to the civilized world) ands stripping the gold deposits from the broken lands. While the mining has been successful, the military campaign of the dwarves against Oenkmar is frustrated by the enormous difficulties posed by a city protected by Humanoid shamans and a lake of lava. ...
1012 AC Thaumont 23 The Humanoids of Oenkmar are astonished and terrified by a sudden rain of stones falling on their city. Some stones are large enough to kill or to do significant damage to any building they hit. Xilochtli, ....orders the city’s Flying Terror Squads of soldiers into the air. ... The barrage of stones, stops as suddenly as it started. In its place, hundreds of strong cords drop down to dangle above the city streets and buildings. As the Humanoids gaze in wonder at this new sight, dwarf warriors rappel down the ropes and drop into Oenkmar. The city erupts into chaos. The flying Terror Squad wreaks havoc on successive waves of dwarf warriors rappeling down the ropes while the defenders of Oenkmar’s ground forces attack those that reach the city. Within an hour of the first assault, the lava currents carry Oenkmar beyond the reach of the ropes dangling from the cavern’s ceiling. Nearly a thousand dwarves are now in Oenkmar, but they face 2000 trained Humanoid warriors determined to defend their city. The fighting will be long, hard and bloody.
1012 AC Thaumont 24 The lava current’s carry Oenkmar on a slow, clockwise, circular path about six miles in diameter. A full circle takes 18 hours, so the dwarves can attack once per 18 hours. As the city of Oenkmar passes under the dwarven carved holes once more, the assault on the Humanoids begins anew. A thousand more dwarves rappel into Oenkmar (new ropes replacing those cut or burned by the cities flying forces) as squads of skinwing riders and Humanoid archers wreak as much havoc as they can during the dwarf warriors’ descent. In addition to roughly 2000 dwarf miners and adventurers, there are 5000 trained dwarf soldiers from Rockhome’s standing army gathered in the broken lands. But as most of this force waits in caverns above for an opportunity to assault Oenkmar, the dwarf’s losses in Oenkmar will be horrific.
1012 AC Flaurmont 8 Shadow Elf warriors today drive back the dwarves defending the entrances to Oenkmar’s cavern. Meanwhile, other Shadow Elves assault Oenkmar itself, using magic and skinwings brought up from their lands deeper underground.
...
First Analysis These mapping descriptions are not marked on the canon maps, only mentioned in text
1010AC. Ok A long Tunnel connected to the Lower Regions of Rockhome ending in a ave entrance to the Great Magma Chamber, with access to the Magma is required to this goal.
1012 AC Vatermont 15 He speaks of the discovery (by use of magically created tunnels around the attacking dwarves) of the fabled underground city of Aengmor/ This requires multiple new tunnels (or connevting Old existing tunnels by new tunnels)
Oenkmar floats due immortal Magics; So possibly build upon magically enhanced heat resistant Pumice which suits the descriptions I compiled in my Broken Lands compilation PDF
Succesful Goldmining; This means tunnels shafts and such to mine and transport the materials, as well as having some ventilation.
1012 AC Thaumont 23 This describes an attack from a single location above Oenkmar. It also describes only a 6 miles diameter=3 miles radius which gives a circumference motion circle of only 18.8495 miles, being rougly 1 mile in diameter this would leave a too low amount of time to toss stones, followed by a set time enough to Xilochtli reacting and ordering flying Orcs to investigate, and then followed by rapelling Dwarves.
The roughly once a 18 hours attack possibility(probably just based on the circumference) would mean Oenkmar would move at 1 mile in 18.8 hours
As the volcanic activity enforces a rising and sinking of the Magma level, it also enforces a low level larger trajectory and a high Magma level smaller trajectory. And thus different timing periods. The smaller trajectory would better be 16 miles in diameter,(circumference 50.26miles) and the larger one 48 miles in diameter.(circumference 150.79 miles) It can be assumed the Magma level was at an ultimate high, prepping the oenkmar Rock almost at the ceiling with an 6 mile orbit. For game simplicity and balance it can best be assumed the speed of the rock is always about an hour per mile due the immortal magics, which would decrease the amount of attacks to once a 50 hours in normal high trajectory and once a 151 hours in low trajectory, eitherway this will allow the top attack still be possible in one(no more) hour before the Oenkmar rock flows away underneath the attack holes from above (and still fit in the textual timing constraint.
History of Aengmor/Oenkmar important to the Geomorphology and Ecology
To remain within the constraints of the almanac canon, it must be assumed it is an attack on the High Magma trajectory,
Eitherway the most important issue is not these orbits, yet the description that the Dwarves attack from above!!!! There are no description they are in Lower Gnollistan, the description and accompanying illustration more or less describes multiple openings close to eachother above the rocks orbit (which at this height must be far towards the middle of the magma lake, and away from the crater opening to above) Both these thus suggest a minimum of at least one tunnel BETWEEN Gnollistan and the Magma Chamber, connected to the new Dwarven Fortress somewhere along the Great Magma Lake, with several openings down to the Magma chamber.
As such a larger tunnel allowing a dwarven fortress to be build in this tunnel cannot be created normally, so it is most logical this tunnel already did exist, at least partially, (and then connected by the long tunnels Eastwards
Final Analysis for mapping;
1 A large tunnel connected to the Great Magma chamber(Oenkmar's Cavrn) must exist above the extreme high level with a 5 mile trajectory, allowing access to the Magma Lake.
2 several tunnels or magical tunnels around this larger tunnel exist or are made fully or partially by conneting existing smalleer tunnels
3 A tunnel exists or is at least partially created ABOVE the Magma Lake and BELOW Lower Gnollistan (the time constraints and temperatures as well as hardness of the rock to prevent collapse in such a span, do not allow dwarves to make a tunnel over 18 miles (and more) over the magma lake) The Holes Below are certainly created. So it is suggested thus by the canon descriptions that a network of minor caves already exists between Gnollistan and the Great Crater.
4 The six mile diameter trajectory is too high to allow the structural effects of such above tunnels, as well as the magma flooding then will have effect on the neighbouring Lower Broken Lands regions, (as most are only a mere 100 feet above the magma as per canon) so the 16 mile trajectory is more reasonable, with attacks only once a 50 or so hours instead 18.The span of the Great Magma Chamber does not allows many tunnels above due strength of the ceiling required not to collapse, so a minimum of tunnels must exist prior to these events, possibly between the extra resilient molten matter of the Great Magma Chamber (possibly due continuous melting and hardening, leaving steel-stone -like strength ceiling), connected by some minimal Dwarven tunneling (as especially the dwarves understand the danger digging/mining/boring in the shell above a magma chamber).
My question is where to place this original tunnel, I estimate somewhere north of the Kol-Gnollistan Tunnel, and south of the Eastern Magma River.Yet I am totally uncertain at this moment.
03-08-2023;Continued Research
From here
First; When looking at the tekst the Dwarves came from Rockhome, that is from the East, mainly Underground
It can be assumed most are existing tunnels, often connected sometimes connected by digging. Too much digging would be impossible within the constraints of the canon storyline.
Secondly, the area where the build their fort, would be close to the Magma River, in a way as to defend their claim. This fort would be would, and stone and be very simple. as the building of a stone Fort dwarvenstyle also exceeds the canon storyline.
Thirdly ; The Ceiling of the Great Magma Lake must have an ultra hard ceiling (otherwise it would collapse due the miles and miles wide/long span), which could be explained by melting-hardening, ores, carbon in the air and stones together, in effect creating a 'natural'steel stone mixture, stronger than armored concrete, maybe as strong as carbon filaments.
This however prevents making long tunnels in this material to reach above Oenmar Rock.
4th; The only logical position has to be close, yet above the Magmas level.
As already explained the 6 mile diameter trajectory is enforcing a Magma level that is too high, and too minimal within the Magma lake. the 16 mile diameter trajectory is already more logical, yet the 150 miles trajectory is even better and within a shorter distance to the shore on the East of the Magma lake (2 to 4 miles only).Both Cave and 150 mile trajectory must exist within a reasonable distance, accesible from the east by tunnels
This however requires an existing cave (non-canon) above the Magma low and High Level orbits. This also has no long distance, but only short distance carving tunnels in the ultra hard ceiling as long distance carving would extend beyond the canon time constrants.
The Canon story speaks of one attack from the ceiling and explains a secondary attack would require a wait of 18 hours . In the case of the 150 mile trajectory this would be once a 150 hours, which is every 6.25 days. It is pushing the canon time constraints yet actually explains the noted distances between actions in this time line even better when using the 150 mile trajectory.
So all in All
First; We need a extra Cave , with tunnels east wards which may be somewhat seperated prior to the invasion of the Lower Broken Lands....to be combined into one tunnel system later by some new connecting tunnels
Thus far in my 1000AC map this is now doable. Only the locations I have to ponder upon.
The area is by canon and historic fanon(1700BC maps and earlier ) as a series of collapsed mountains destroyed in the 1700 Broken Lands Disaster. My Own map named this the Collapsed Mountains, and detailed these as ridges east-west, so underground similar east-west tunnels and even caves would certainly exist there. They however stop at the Dwargate Mountains.
There are sevral mines I mapped their locations from Dwarven Orogin (Canon&Fanon), which I can somehow connect partially. So in the Dwarven Assault on the Broken Lands only small sections of tunnels have to be dug, befitting the Time constraints of Canon.
I think I use unexplored Tunnels and explored tunnels seperately to differentiate.
Secondly; during and after this invasion we need a Fortress (still no name as of yet), a singular tunnel to above the 150 mile trajectory, and some extra Shadow Elven tunnels around the Fortress into the Dwarven tunnels above the 150 mile tract.
And... we need the Eastwards tunnels to be connected into a singular connection to the East.
So this requires a seperate map section, just for historic time continuation, and visibility where the tunnels were dug.
13-08-2023; Ok finally the final conclusions and the map of the region 1010AC+
The map is greyscale to differentiate the used areas. with the Dwarven Paths(Yellow existing, Red newly dug) and the Shadow Elven (Purple existing, Pink magically created) tunnels
The names are either Dwarven or Shadow Elven (translations below)
It finally details the tunnels created and described in the Wrath of the Immortals boxed set and the Poor Wizard Almanacs
See the map of the whole Lower Broken Lands 100AC including this area and note the diferences