"Some say we did not dig deep enough. Some that we dug too far. That the stone of Karak Zhul was cursed before any dwarf set foot here or desecrated the darkness with pick and shovel. He has found us. The Dark One comes with his legions to reclaim what is his. I write this in my blood, before it is spilt. So that the sons of Grungni, the underkin of Karak Zhul, might be avenged."
- — The Dammaz Kron[1a]
Karak Zhul, known as the Dreadpeak among Men, is the northernmost mountain of the Worlds Edge Mountains, where the mountain range meets the Northern Wastes. It was the final outpost of the ancient Dwarf empire under the reign of the Ancestor Gods, for the Dwarfs feared to venture further. No Dwarf would speak of Karak Zhul, for the horrors committed there at the beginning of time.[1a]
It was within the bowels of the mountain that the First Shrine to Chaos had been built and where the Crown of Domination rested. What had remained of the former Dwarf Hold had been altered by the designs of the Chaos Gods, reshaped into domains of their liking.[1b] After Archaon, the thirteenth Everchosen, had passed the trials of the gods and earned the crown, he emerged at the foot of the mountain, despite entering at the peak.[1b]