The World of
Story & Lore
Two peoples. One mountain. An ancient power stirring beneath. This is the story of the Ironveil Wars.
“Three weeks on leaking barges. Half the fleet sank in the Straits. But we made it. This valley... it will do.”
- Grizzik One-Ear, Warchief of the Ashland Clans
The Ironveil Wars
Two desperate peoples collide in the Ironveil Mountains. The dwarves are defending their ancient homeland from what they see as invaders. The goblins are refugees fleeing a poisoned homeland across the sea, looking for anywhere to survive. As skirmishes escalate into full-scale war, both sides are drawn deeper into the mountains — where they discover that neither of them is the oldest thing living in the stone.
The Dwarves of Greyhelm
For three centuries, Greyhelm Hold has been their fortress, their home, their identity carved into living stone. Led by Thane Borin Deepforge, they are master builders, fierce warriors, and stubborn as the mountain itself.
"The mountain is ours. We have spent a thousand years making that true. Whatever came before can stay buried."
The Goblin Ashland Clans
Driven from their poisoned homeland, the Ashland clans crossed treacherous seas on leaking barges. Led by Grizzik One-Ear, they are survivors, scrappy, inventive, and ruthlessly pragmatic. In this new land of stone and snow, they must build, breed, and fight for every scrap of territory.
"Forward or death. There is no fleet to carry us back."
The World
The Ironveil Mountains
Four hundred miles of stone teeth running through the heart of Aethermere. The mountains were shaped by vast automated systems in an age before recorded history. Ore veins run in geometric patterns. Tunnels that no dwarf carved extend into depths that no map records. On moonless nights, a faint blue-white glow pulses from the deep places.
Greyhelm Hold
The largest and oldest dwarven hold, carved into the western face below Greyhelm Peak. Home to forty thousand dwarves, the Hall of Ancestors, the Great Forge, and the Grudge Archive. For a thousand years, the mountain folk have called this fortress home.
Anvil Pass
The widest crossing through the Ironveil, double-walled and heavily fortified. The primary chokepoint between east and west, and the site of the war's first major battle. Both sides paid dearly for control of this narrow corridor of stone.
The Deepvein Caverns
Sealed three generations ago after a collapse killed forty miners. Survivors spoke of script carved into walls older than any dwarven settlement. No one has been back since. The seal holds. For now.
Timeline
~50,000 years ago
Age of Shaping
Vast automated systems shape the Ironveil Mountains, laying ore veins in geometric patterns and carving the deep tunnel networks.
~3,200 years ago
The First Sealing
Proto-dwarves and proto-goblins seal something deep beneath the mountains with three runestones. What they sealed — and why — is lost to time.
Year 0 AH
Founding of Greyhelm
The first dwarves carve Greyhelm Hold into the Ironveil's western face. The Seven Holds are established over the next two centuries.
~200 AH
The Smog Cities
Goblin civilization flourishes in the volcanic Ashlands. Five great cities arise, powered by geothermal engineering and fungal agriculture.
500-700 AH
Peak Prosperity
The golden age. Seven Holds wealthy and secure. Smog Cities productive and innovative. Trade flows freely across the continent.
995 AH
The Ashland Catastrophe
The Boomwrights' Guild cracks the vent system. The Smog Cities are destroyed. Eighty percent of the goblin population dies in three days.
995-996 AH
The Long March
Two hundred barges cross the Ember Straits. Half sink. Forty thousand survivors push inland to the Ironveil Mountains.
1012 AH
Present Day
The war continues. Mines run deeper. Old tunnels groan. And on moonless nights, a faint glow pulses from somewhere far below.
Campaign Heroes
Six heroes drive the story across 32 missions. Each levels up, gains abilities, and faces choices that will define who their people become.
Thane Borin Deepforge
Dwarf Warrior-King
Leader of Greyhelm Hold. A proud, stubborn warrior who believes the mountain belongs to his people by right of a thousand years of sweat and stone. What the war will cost him — and teach him — remains to be seen.
"The mountain is ours. That is not a negotiation."
Sigrid Ironmantle
Dwarf Scout Commander
Flamebraid. The finest crossbow in the mountain kingdoms. First to scout the newcomers, first to report back. What she saw in those lowland camps unsettled her more than any goblin warband could.
"They seemed more scared of us than anything."
Runvar the Lorekeeper
Dwarf Runesmith Scholar
Keeper of the deep runes and the oldest living dwarf in Greyhelm. Has spent decades studying texts that no one else can read. Lately, the old scripts have started making a terrible kind of sense.
"The ancestors sealed those tunnels for a reason, Borin."
Grizzik One-Ear
Goblin Warchief
Leader of the Ashland refugee clans. Lost his ear, his homeland, and half his people on the crossing. What he hasn't lost is the conviction that survival doesn't have to mean becoming something worse.
"Forward or death. There is no fleet to carry us back."
Skara Swiftstitch
Goblin Demolitionist
Boomfist. If it can explode, Skara has already improved it. Sarcastic, brilliant, and equally dangerous to friend and foe. Give her scrap metal and five minutes, and she'll give you a problem for whoever's on the other end.
"Pretty walls. Shame about the foundations."
Mok the Breaker
Goblin Shaman Elder
Spirit-speaker. The shamans say the ancestors whisper through him. Barefoot, half-mad, and unsettlingly perceptive. Since landfall, the whispers have been getting louder — and they're not coming from the ancestors.
"Gold in the deep, Warchief. But something else lives down there too."
Dwarf Campaign
The Weight of Stone
16 missions across 4 acts. Defend Greyhelm Hold, hold the frontier, and discover what the ancestors buried beneath the mountain — and why.
Act I
The New Quartermaster
Greyhelm Hold is struggling. Mines running dry, granaries at quarter capacity. When green-skinned strangers appear in the lowlands, the mountain folk must rebuild their strength while deciding how to respond to the newcomers.
Act II
The Gathering Storm
The frontier erupts. Anvil Pass becomes the first major battlefield, and Borin must hold the line with dwindling resources. Desperate times demand desperate measures — including reopening places the ancestors sealed shut for good reason.
Act III
The Deep Places
Runvar has found something in the archives. Something that changes everything. The war above may not be the real threat.
Act IV
The Reckoning
The mountain itself has a voice. And it is not pleased.
Goblin Campaign
The Long March
16 missions across 4 acts. Build a new homeland from nothing, face the same war from the other side, and find out what your people are willing to become in order to survive.
Act I
The Ashlands
Three weeks on leaking barges. Half the fleet sank. The last of the Ashland clans make shore with nothing but the tools on their backs. Behind them, the homeland glows with poison. There is no way back.
Act II
Strangers in Stone Country
The mountain folk have walls, crossbows, and every tactical advantage. The clans have Skara, empty pockets, and nothing left to lose. Survival means pushing deeper into territory no one was meant to enter.
Act III
Blood and Fire
The emotional core of the campaign. War demands choices that define a people. Grizzik faces the hardest one of all.
Act IV
The Shaping
Mok has been hearing voices from below. Now everyone else will too. The Long March ends — but not how anyone expected.
Two Sides of the Same War
Key battles appear in both campaigns, fought from opposite sides of the line. What looks like aggression from one perspective looks like survival from the other. The same events hit differently depending on whose flag you carry.
Play both campaigns to understand the full story. Neither side is wholly right. Neither side is wholly wrong. The truth lies somewhere between the grudge book and the refugee camp.
Themes
Refugees vs. Defenders
Neither side chose this conflict. One is defending home. The other is searching for one.
Mercy as Strength
The hardest choice in war is not to fight harder, but to stop fighting when you have every reason not to.
The Mountain as Character
The Ironveil is not a backdrop. It is alive, ancient, and it has its own agenda.
Two Paths to Truth
One reads ancient texts. The other hears voices in the stone. Two paths toward the same truth — if they can survive long enough to compare notes.
Coming Soon
More Campaigns on the Horizon
The Ironveil Wars are just the beginning. Future campaigns will explore the Ratmen of the Underhive, the ancient Lizardmen of the Star Empire, and the three Elven factions as they are drawn into the conflict. Each campaign adds new heroes, new missions, and new perspectives on the world of Shards of Stone.
Experience the Story
32 campaign missions. Two full campaigns. Six heroes. One war that changes everything.
Play Now - Free