I am the king of Greshe Khaaran, a small dwarven kingdom tucked in the northwestern corner of the continent. It is located in a harsh, mountainous region, with a few vales, that are accessible through one single pass that starts at the border with Imaria. Unfortunately, I might as well be the king of a pile of rubble, as this once fairly prosperous kingdom has become a husk of itself, plunged deep into poverty. What is the cause for my kingdom's ruin? Many of my citizens believe it was all the fault of Teldarion and the elves “those bastards!”, I believe that there is quite a big amount of nuance there. Even if the origin of it lies with him, there is plenty of blame to spread around, especially in the decades following Teldarion's defeat.

As the kingdom has very little arable land, but plenty of ore, it would make sense that Gresha Khaaran would, like other Dwarven countries such as Tharaz Eron, have an economy mostly based on the production of metal crafts. However, unlike Tharaz Eron, Gresha Khaaran's geography is safe to an extreme extent, making its military technology be quite underdeveloped. As such, Gresha Kaaran's exports have always been overwhelmingly works of art, first primarily of metals, then as it became more prosperous, of other things such as clothes. And what high quality it was.

For thousands of years, the elves have been famous for their exquisite taste and beautiful ornaments, but what not so many people know is that a good amount of those ornaments, clothes among other things, were produced in Gresha Khaaran. Those that did know were often willing to pay fortunes for even a single furniture made by a master craftsman of Gresha Khaaran.

Still, the Elves were always our premiere trading partners, as the kingdom of Imaria was the only one with access to the heartland of my kingdom. Due to that, I am sure that my great grandfather, then king Kharangoss, was the first foreign leader to feel the effects of Teldarion's rise. Owing to our longstanding partnership, Kharangoss welcomed the exiled elven royal family into Gresha Khaaran after Teldarion declared the Elf Republic of Imaria. While blind fools like many city-states at the continent's south sung the praises of the Courageous Revolutionary Leader, Teldarion, Kharangoss listened intently to the exiled elven royal family when they talked about Teldarion's cruelty, which he had still not shown the world.

After that, we still traded with the elves, but Kharangoss was the first king of Gresha Khaaran to earnestly prepare for war. Knowing that he did not have the numbers to fight any conventional kind of war, he focused mostly on defensive warfare and creating elite commando units that would not directly engage enemy forces. As a fairly isolated nation, free of worry from external threats, Gresha Khaaran always had quite the cutthroat court, so at least in the matter of stealth, undercover warfare, we were quite skillful.

Years later, when Teldarion started his campaign of conquest, destruction and torture, we were more than prepared for it. Gresha Khaaran was the single nation bordering Imaria that actually declared war, rather than having war declared on us. I believe that it was quite a courageous, moral and noble thing to do, even if extremely foolish, considering we could easily maintain ourselves neutral through the whole thing. Even Teldarion, bigoted as he was, considered the products of Gresha Khaaran beautiful beyond measure and a mark of the kind of high culture that deserved to be tolerated by elves.

Nevertheless, to do the right thing, Kharangoss cut his kingdom from its greatest source of prosperity by declaring war on its greatest trading partner. Our contributions to the fighting against Teldarion were so forgotten in the accounts of other countries that one bitter joke still circulates in the taverns of my kingdom to this day: “How many dwarven warriors of Greshe Khaaran does it take to defeat an Elf Tyrant? Ten from Tharaz Eron ought to be enough!”

While the coward nobles from Tharaz Eron cowered behind their highly fortified cities on the mountainsides after a couple of shameful defeats, Teldarion pillaged and enslaved their lands. Meanwhile, not only did Teldarion's forces never set once foot in Gresha Khaaran's heartlands, but we were also the only ones to ever fight in Imaria itself. The orcs and minotaurs are usually credited with turning the war, but very little is talked of the intense campaign of sabotage that Gresha Khaaran's agents fought in the seat of Teldarion's power, including through Elven agents with ties to the exiled royal family of Imaria.

While there would be no forthcoming recognition of Gresha Khaaran's efforts once the war was over, Kharangoss hoped that at least the promises of concessions made by other members of the coalition would be honored. Among them, were pleas of mercy for the country of Imaria itself, once it was restored to their rightful rulers, the royal family. After all, a prosperous Imaria would, by proxy, mean a prosperous Gresha Khaaran.

Alas, no mercy would be forthcoming for the elves. Not only was the country stripped of a considerable amount of land in the borders between them and Tharaz Eron, as well as Meridia, they would pay a hefty sum in tribute to Meridia each year for the next 100 years. Their trading would be stifled and controlled by Tharaz Eron, which greatly angered Kharangoss.

The biggest disappointment was seeing that the Imarian royal family, now restored to power, did almost nothing to fight these terrible conditions, which not only greatly weakened their own country, but would slowly but surely bring Gresha Kharan to ruin. This was despite us taking them in as exiles, despite us sacrificing much that we didn't have to in order to fight, this was in spite of us defending their interests at every turn, this was in spite of their first princess born in more than two centuries having been born in our capital of Greshia. The bitter taste of these results would never leave the mouth of the Gresha Kaaran's royal family.

According to my grandfather, King Kharangoss died full of grief and regrets, lamenting the fact that he had the courage to do what he believed to be the right thing, despite it not being the best choice for his subjects. “We should never have involved ourselves in that war.” “We should have allied ourselves with Teldarion and made sure he won.” Became quasi-family mottoes, even if it was not uttered in public.

Decades later, I'm sure that most of my subjects agree with that sentiment to some extent. While there is a sizable portion that blames the elves for ruining themselves and us along them, other hate Tharaz Eron and Meridia with a burning passion. All I want is to restore the greatness of my kingdom, but like my grandfather, I cannot see a way. If only I had an opportunity...

“My king! Aurelya, the Exalted, Bereul, the Grand Tactician and a tengu seem to want an audience with your majesty. Shall I prepare the throne room?”

I am quite surprised at receiving such a message from one of my personal guards. Once I was crowned the youngest king in Gresha Khaaran's history, having leapfrogged my father's generation, I never received one single foreign dignitary. After all, who would want to speak with the king of such a decadent and impoverished kingdom like mine? The names are intriguing, I wonder what the Exalted and the Grand Tactician want with me.

“Please, do. There is still some pride left in Gresha Khaaran. I will listen to what they have to say.”