Long ago, before the Dark Ages and before the Unravelling of the Mercurian Empire, the Östron peoples lived in small villages and hamlets near the Dwarvish realm of Duroth, in the wastes of the east. Long had the Östron people traded with the Dwarves, selling them tasty dark ales and woodcrafts in exchange for magical stone bricks and magical tools. They toiled long and hard in the wastes to trade for these items, and in times of particularly deep-biting cold spells, they often could not afford these items. Without magical rune-enchanted tools, they would have to work even harder to feed themselves, and trading materials with the occasional Demurgian or Valyrian trader was not possible.
The long winter of the 3rd era of the Cycle of the Owl was a particularly bad one in the wastes. The Östron were starving, not even able to grow the wheat and rye needed to feed themselves. Potatoes turned to stone. Carrots turned into knives of steel. Trees withered in the dry cold, leaving them no kindling to stoke their fires. The Dwarves typically assisted during these terribly cold times, even hosting Östrons in their great underground halls. However, their Orc slaves had rebelled due to a political disagreement, igniting the flames of what would be called the great War of the Chaos Orc.
However, the Dwarves did welcome one particular Östron Thane and his tribe - Beoden the Great, as we now call him. His tribe were known for their great love for the tales of Dwarves, and their deep knowledge of the Old Dwarvish language. It was through this love for the Dwarvish culture that the scholars of Beoden's tribe took note of the story of Thorgil the Wise. Thorgil the Wise was basically a god to the Dwarves. He was the founder of the first mines of the Dwarves thousands of years ago, when the Dwarves woke up beside the mythical Ice Sea of the North from their stone sleep. Thorgil constructed a great hammer to break stone and enchant that stone with great mystical powers, making the stone impervious to destruction and cold winds. He learned his craft directly from the gods of the Dwarves, magical giants of stone and ice. He enchanted many a magical tool, hammering enchanted runes into their metal to give them great powers. He wrote down his secrets into a magical enchanted book thousands of years ago, and according to these tales, this book was kept in the crypt of Thorgil in the heart of the Duroth realm.
Beoden had long lusted for this book - what if the Östron could learn the secrets themselves? The thought haunted Beoden in his sleep for decades. Towards the end of his life, the Great Winter of the Owl struck, and Beoden appealed to his friends in Duroth. His appeal was heard, and they were welcomed to take refuge in the great Dwarven city there. Warfare soon spread to this great Dwarven stronghold, leading to the loss of most Dwarves there. While retreating deeper and deeper into this great stronghold, Beoden and his Thaneweard found a dark place with:
"Here lies Thorgil, Lord of Magic"Beoden's heart nearly stopped. His lust for this magical tome had stolen hundreds of nights from him - how could he resist the temptation to break in? So he did, with great war hammers, he and his company broke into the crypt of Thorgil. To their relief, a large book bound in leather, iron, emerald, gold, and diamond lay on top of his tomb. The book "Thorgil's Hammer." The myths, the lore, the hopes were true. Beoden hid it away in his cloak, and his company found another way out of the stronghold as it fell to the enemy.
The Dwarves had long forgotten where the crypt exactly was, and many of them thought the old tales were but fantasy. However, with the ending of the war, and the coming of summer, the Dwarves became outraged upon the news that the Östron tribes were making their own enchanted tools and weapons. They couldn't prove what had happened, as Beoden and his descendants always denied that they took the book, or even knew what it was.
