City of Azadmere

Azadmere City is the third-oldest continuously inhabited settlement on Harn, surpassed only by the Sindarin towns of Elshavel and Ulfshafen. The underground portion, now known as the Inner City, was founded in 6894 BT by the Thazhain nation of Khuzdul. The city is home to most of Harn’s Khuzdul.

Legends say a divine vision guided the Khuzdul to this site, where Siem’s bounty provided everything they needed in Lake Arain and the mountains surrounding it. At the base of a cliff alongside the lake, they found a tunnel carved by the Ancients that led to a Godstone similar to the one at Kiraz. The first clanhomes where carved into the rock on either side of this Great Tunnel.

Having established their home, the Thazhain Khuzdul explored the surrounding Korkin Mountans and found rich deposits of gemstones, gold, silver, iron, and other metals and minerals. During this period, known as the Codominium, the Khczdul of Azadmere traded regularly with their cousins at Kiraz and the Sindarin at Pesino. Returning travelers were always glad to see “the Knives,” the largest granite outcrops towering above the city at the cliff’s summit.

In 1168 BT, the first Jarin arrived in the kingdom. Seeing that the humans had a tradition of agriculture and fishing, activities the Khuzdul disliked, the King of Azadmere allowed a few clans to settle along the shores of Lake Arain. As the Khuzan pupluaton expanded, and Outer City gradually formed outside the mountain. Many of its core buildings predate the Jarin, but as trade increased with the local Jarin and the Lowland kingdoms, more clans built shops there.

The city’s current appearance dates back to the Atani Wars period. When warlike Lythian tribes began to raid Harn around 900 BT, the Khuzan king ordered the construction of walls to protect the Outer City and approaches to the Inner City. These were completed in 780 BT.