Hormak Thaig

Orzatyar Thaig, Eterna's City
Located at the roots of the Hundred Pillars, right on the edge of the Arlathan Forest. There are numerous Darkspawn, most of whom are genlocks. There are more shrieks than hurlocks in the thaig. The climate is cold and damp.

For the dwarves it was the richest thaig, named after the first paragon. Many brave dwarves tried to reclaim this thaig and every expedition failed miserably with no survivors. The words "Hormak Thaig expedition" became synonymous with suicide mission, and most dwarves accept the fact Hormak's technology and mines are lost forever.

For the surface - mostly remembered as where Dumat and his horde ascended to the surface, the thaig surface entrance is sealed. The lock is magical though, and will respond to the willingly given fresh blood of an Aeducan, a warden and a magister working together. For the Darkspawn - in 941DA Eterna, who claims to be one of the original darkspawn, took control of the thaig and started a great excavation. Since no darkspawn was allowed to enter or leave Hormak Thaig ever since she and her disciples arrived, this mysterious operation is a complete secret.

Sociological

 * Eterna - ruler of Hormak Thaig. Was high priestess of Lusacan before the events at the Black City. Possessed by a spirit of Regret, although after so many centuries they are almost one and the same.

Ogre Emissary & Genlock Dig Master - lieutenants of The Mayor and The Excavator respectively. Not awakened but very powerful nonetheless. Ogre Emissary is the only ogre in Hormak Thaig.
 * The Mayor & The Excavator - Eterna's lieutenants. These powerful disciples make no effort to hide their rivalry.

The Prophet - a disciple gifted with visions of the future. It was he who led Eterna to Hormak, although only the two of them know what he saw laying underneath the great thaig.
 * The Bride - this awakened broodmother claims she was the princess of Hormak Thaig and engaged to marry High King Threestone. Orzammar's betrayal was all the more painful because of this engagement, and The Bride desires revenge.


 * Din'asha - buried in an underground vault underneath the city that was recently discovered in Eterna's excavations, this elf's life was unnaturally elongated when she was charged with defending the Elvhenan's most precious treasures buried beneath the thaig just before the ruin of Arlathan. Driven mad by her centuries of solitude and the taint, the simple darkspawn fear her and Eterna's disciples ignore her. Whatever they seek, it is not in her vault.

Flora and Fauna
Biologically it is the typical Deep Roads life forms, but the thaig is also home of a mysterious species Eterna's disciples call "stone serpent". It's unclear how many of these monsters exist as they mostly hide within the stone, but those giant stone-skinned serpents have three heads- one spits fire, one acid and the third superheated steam. They emerge from the stone, eat whatever life forms they find and return to the stone. There is no record of stone serpents being killed nor dying naturally.

History
Thousands of years before humans first arrived to Thedas, a great war was fought between the Elvhenan and the dwarven kingdoms over mining resources. While the elves had unity and magic at their side, the dwarves of old were greater in number and superior in weaponry and fortifications. At that time, while most dwarves lived underground and most elves topside - neither was an absolute fact and a few small surface thaigs and underground elvhen forts did exist. No one knows how long ago this war started and how many years and lives it took, but close to the end of this conflict it seemed that the elvhen will win the war.

That was when Commander Hormak of Kal-Sharok first rose to power. A simple lieutenant from the warrior caste, Hormak believed that in order to defeat the Elvhenan the dwarves had to become a single nation. His way to the top is now lost in history, but eventually this bold man managed to become the king's second and commander of the kingdom's armies. A wise and persuasive man, Commander Hormak managed to make most of dwarven kings to declare his sovereign their High King with relatively little bloodshed. Only one thaig resisted, but it was the most important of all for Hormak's plans. Orzatyar thaig was the best fortified one, had the best trained army wielding the finest weapons and was the only one built both underground and topside - but most importantly, it was closest to Arlathan. The war between the newly united Dwarven Empire and the kingdom of Orzatyar lasted for five years, and after it ended all of the city's nobles were butchered to the last of them.

With a fully unified empire finally under his king's reign, Commander Hormak brought his armies to the surface and managed to turn the war around and defeat the Elvhenan. However, while his skill in warfare strategy had no equal, Hormak was a man of peace and logic. He could see that while the tall and lithe elvhen were better suited to live topside, the dwarves were of stone and belonged in the deep. The peace agreement between the Dwarven Empire and the Elvhenan was fair, and brought many generations of peace. It was agreed that the surface belonged to the elves and what lay below - to the dwarves. No elves were allowed to stay underground unless they had legitimate business, and any dwarf that left to the surface lost their caste for eternity.

With peace finally achieved, Hormak turned his attention to the empire. He built great underground roads in the tunnels that stretched between the thaigs, and the High King named the empire Deep Roads after them. Hormak also kept his word to the kings of the thaigs, and founded the assembly of deshyrs - kings and heads of noble houses from around the empire - which was given the power to veto, elect or remove the High King. He also insisted that every thaig had its own assembly as well.

Despite all of this, during that whole time Hormak remained a loyal servant of the High King. But the king, the assembly and the people all agreed that Hormak deserved a respect never before given to anyone else. The Commander was declared the greatest man of all, anything one can aspire to be in the world. He was elevated to noble caste and founded his own noble house in the (now only underground) city of Orzatyar - which was renamed Hormak Thaig after the first paragon.

Millenia later, in the first blight, the High King of Orzammar abandoned the great thaigs Kal-Sharok, Gundaar and Hormak in the belief that they had no hope of survival. Gundaar indeed fell, although Kal-Sharok survived, but it remains Hormak's doom could never be avoided. When the Archdemon Dumat awakened and lead the Darkspawn topside, Hormak Thaig was the place from which they emerged. Against the entire strength of the Darkspawn Horde the city could not stand.

At the end of the blight the entrance to the Darkspawn infested thaig was magically sealed, and with it some of the most advanced technology in Thedas as well as great treasures of knowledge, art and riches. It is rumoured that there is more gold and diamonds in Hormak than in all the rest of Thedas combined.