The Low King’s Throne

Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedLead for Gold 1:1In millennia past, a King was cast.You might think of your ruler as seated up on high.This Dwarven leader had a golden twinkle in his eye.Said I will become the lowest of them all!And so he set out to facilitate his fall.Bravery and a little foresightgave him the skills to gather his knights.They dug in deep to lower their race,to the here-to-fore dreamt-of placehe knew they were meant to tunnel out for the clanand clinch their future ruling place.In that way, he earned his title and name, The Low King.So he addressed his populacefrom the entrance to his new royal digs.He bragged the new level twowould be transformed.Grandeur, quality, bribery, and reform.A new noble’s districtin the place of his rival’s throne.So even as the bold new king immediately set forth on his goals.The most ambitious, exorbitant, labor-intensive projectthe clan had yet beheld.They stumbled upon a fortuitous discoverysomething history-defining.A massive deposit of Star metal,a mystical levitating variety.Uncommon to begin with,but to find this deep was rare indeed.This precious resource was used in boththe fantastic works of The Low Kingand to finance his miraculous schemes.He didn’t just want to dig a deeper holethan any of his predecessors,he wanted to leave a mark on the face of history,create something worthy of his future Dwarven brothers.He initiated two new tasks.He called his best and bravest crafts Dwarves,The best he set to creating a powerful floating sovereigntywith the mystical gravity-defying mineralharvested from their new locality.Anchored with adamantine chains of Nobility.Truly master work commissionedBy a one-day infamous creator of Dwarven unity.The bravest he sent to the topworldwith as much gold surplus capable of bearing,their instructions, trade for lead, your rate, one-to-one.Return with lead of greatest purity.The deepest compartment, the new number one,would get what he was deeming the Royal Treatment!The courageous Dwarves with wagons loaded,overflowing with veiled goldand scales meant for simple merchants, roll out!None had ever seen the light of the sun,yet topside was their destination.They passed the transfer stations,middle points where commoditieswinched down on elevators and pulleys,seeing the strange entities that usually handletheir foreign goods like woodin the dim light, unseen.They made their way,the gold, the merchants, and their guardsup, up, up, to the surface over days.A place they say no sane dwarf had ever been.It took ages and looked like a history lessonof Dwarven architecture as they ascended.Finally, runes glow, a boulder split,opening a great fissure in the primordial peak,and for the first time in their ancient lives,the sun touched sandpaper skin.Dazzling the group, as they affixedtheir foggy glass goggles to mitigate its effects.Everything sounded hollowand smelled so faint and wiffly,even the most pungent smells,faded unbelievably quickly.It was an innovationfor a dwarf to bask in the sun.What were the Dwarves known forif not advanced technicians?Pressing on,erecting their cloaked operationin the shadow of the looming human nationwithin a stone’s throw of the mountain exitthey just made their way from.Written on a slate, LEAD to GOLD 1:1,drew the curtain and began their pollin broken commonusing precisely the call, they were told.As the first few customers strolled on by,they were somewhat trepidatious,but gave a sparkle in their eyes,since no one had ever offered gold in exchange for lead.Many passed by,but when the first man returnedwith a hunk, he handed it over,looking them over,not knowing if he was being jerked about.The dwarf shut the curtain,tested to make sure of its purity,weighed it,and when they handed the manits equal weight in goldhe was more than incredulous,he was right screaming.Running back to town,the word spread quickly,which was, in fact, on the itinerary.Of course, in the blink of an eye,it was every Tom, Dick, and Harrywith any grey thingthey could find and carry.The testing process became laborious,consuming vast amounts of time,but this only added to the story,that the lead was transforming into gold,it was not just being paid as a fee.When the Dwarves moved from city to city,their fame grew and grew,while men lined up around their cities.Bringing them their dull grey quarry.Till one day, they traded their last coin,the last golden scrappassed through grasping hands,and just like thatthey were gone as quickly as they came.The wagon train packed,and all drove away.Behind them, though the legends stayeven on down to this day,that Dwarves are a greedy sort,they hoard gold and have cut stone hearts.The mysterious call Lead for Gold 1:1ringing in the topsider’s ears.Causing jealousy and fear.They traveled throughthe invisible gatein the mountain wall,like a mirage, the gold train disappeared,full of lead, mission complete.Not long after Alliances were struck,now Clans come together,and topsiders gather to give a salute,so Dwarven prosperity continues to grow.The Dwarven King who brought all lowwill be remembered forever more!