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Twin hold to Karak Varn, Zhufbar (Khazalid for "Torrent-gate") was the hold where the metals, Gromril in particular, mined out from beneath Karak Varn were smelted and forged into the weapons and armour which made the Dwarfs famous.
Overview
Zhufbar is located in the Worlds Edge Mountains on the borders of the Empire, nestled in a deep chasm under the dark mountain lake known as Black Water. High above the city a huge waterfall cascades from the lake and rushes down the chasm. Long ago, Dwarf Engineers were able to build machines to capture the energy of the swift flowing torrent, to power drop hammers, ore crushers, washing pans and other mining and metalworking constructs. The city contains the main shrine for the Dwarf Engineers Guild and it is a centre for smithing and every kind of industry. It was from here that the Dwarfs first passed on the knowledge of metalworking and engineering to the humans of the Empire, and engineers from both races have had a close relationship ever since. The noise of mining and industry resounds throughout Zhufbar constantly, and at night the chasm glows with the light of a thousand furnace fires as the siege engines and steam-powered machines of the Dwarfs are assembled around the clock.
When the Karaz Ankor was in its prime, such a hold was a great prize, and the Orc and Chaos warlords of the Worlds Edge Mountains regarded Zhufbar with envious eyes. Slowly and surely, they drew their plans against it. In the same year that volcanic eruptions drained the lake and ruined Karak Varn, Zhufbar was rendered vulnerable for the first time. Greenskins surrounded its great gates, smashed the silent water-wheels and slaughtered the surprised defenders as the waterfall slowed to a trickle and the forges and hammers fell silent. The fighting ran the length of the canyon, and was bitter in the extreme, but with only one outcome: defeat. The surviving Dwarfs scattered into the crags and hills to regroup and plan revenge. Several were sent forth to find and bring aid.
Only one managed to do so. Alaric the Mad, renowned Runesmith, headed west to the Empire, following rumours of a mighty ruler against whom no evil could stand. There he found the man-god Sigmar, whose aid he entreated for Zhufbar with the promises of 12 mighty Runefangs. Sigmar broke the back of the Greenskin army at Zhufbar and drove them from the area, liberating the hold for the Dwarf smiths to return. Alaric, true to his word, forged his finest works in payment.
However, this task took him such a length of time that Sigmar had passed from the world with Alaric only able to give a few of the swords he promised. Nonetheless, the Dwarf smith completed his side of the bargain and handed his Runefangs over to the heirs to Sigmar’s Empire. Alaric’s swords are now held by the 12 Elector Counts of the Empire, and passed down from Elector to Elector as the generations have passed. The only exception to this is the lost Sword of Solland, which was claimed by Orcs during the terror of Waaagh! Gorbad, when Count Eldred of Solland fell in battle with Gorbad Ironclaw in 1707 IC during the Battle for Solland's Crown.
Following its reclamation by the Dwarfs, Zhufbar returned to relative normality; the Black Water refilled over the centuries and the forges again rang with hammer-blows. Zhufbar remains an important centre of both metal-working and mining, and is one of the key cities where the Empire and the Dwarf nation meet and co-exist. At some point a nest of Fire Dragons raided a hall that was sealed off, becoming the Khaz Drakk or "The Dragon's Hall", and used only as a final resort to deliver urgent messages to imperial allies. By the latter years of the Empire, Zhufbar has developed a human town around the lake-shore which traded with the Dwarf hold in the mountain facilitating a great amount of wealth passing into the Dwarf empire.
Sources
- Warhammer Armies: Dwarfs (4th Edition)
- pg. 10
- Warhammer Armies: Dwarfs (6th Edition revised)
- pg. 24
- Warhammer Armies: Dwarfs (8th Edition)
- pg. 24
- Warhammer RPG 1st Edition: Dwarfs - Stone & Steel
- pg. 28
- pg. 29
- Warhammer: Shadow of The Horned Rat