Kuldahar

Kuldahar is a northern settlement of Firbolgs located in the frozen, rugged frontiers of Icewind Dale, near the shores of the frozen lake Lac Dinneshere. It is celebrated chiefly as the homeland of Hrothgar Hillsfar, one of the legendary saviors of the Sword Coast, and is famous for its colossal world tree.

The Great Tree and the Ordning

Kuldahar’s defining feature is its enormous world tree. Unlike other world trees created by Annam the All-Father, this magnificent specimen was grown by his favored daughter, Diancastra. She was permitted to create it to exist outside the constraints of the Ordning, the rigid social hierarchy that defines all other giant races.

Because Kuldahar exists outside the Ordning, it has long been protected by various giant-kin. The Firbolgs constitute the largest group and define the community’s peaceful way of life, and their presence also serves to isolate and shield a few storm giants who dwell in the nearby mountains.

Culture and Faith

The clans of Kuldahar preach a delicate, harmonious balance among three protective deities:

• Othea: The mother goddess of nature, community, and the home.
• Diancastra: The goddess of trickery and cleverness.
• Torvik: The local name for Ulutiu, the sleeping father of giant-kin. He is a deity of ice and wind, known as the first challenger of Annam and the Ordning.

Because Torvik remains in an eternal slumber, Kuldahar’s clerics primarily draw their active powers from Othea and Diancastra. Consequently, the community traditionally places nature, diplomacy, trickery, and careful planning at its center.

In this society, clerics serve as skalds—nomadic storytellers who travel between the clans to remind them of the cultural bonds that unite them. Because of their mastery of words and community building, they also function as diplomats to the outside world.

History and the Dragon War

Three centuries ago, a destructive coalition of chromatic dragons launched a devastating assault across the North, laying waste to emerging cities like Neverwinter, Luskan, Waterdeep, and Baldur’s Gate. When the storm giants of Kuldahar sensed the approaching threat, many of their communities were dispatched to confront the menace before it reached their homeland.

Hrothgar Hillsfar, a Kuldahar cleric and skald eager to travel beyond his traditional tasks, stepped forward to represent Kuldahar in the Lord’s Alliance. He joined a legendary company of heroes that included Elminster Aumar, Lady Tanager Alagondar, Esfaloth Nightbreeze, Gorion, Kiara Shadowbreaker, and Uther Vendrock.

The Dragon Masks

To defeat the massive draconic threat, the heroes constructed five powerful dragon masks—one for each chromatic color. These artifacts granted immense power, allowing the party to influence the minds of the dragons and directly control them.

Using these masks, the heroes successfully convinced the black, red, and blue dragons to fly away and never return to the northern Sword Coast. However, the masks failed against the wily green dragon, Virethas (the Jade Queen). Virethas had to be dealt with directly, ultimately being slain outside Neverwinter by Lady Tanager Alagondar, who tragically perished in the battle.

To ensure that no single individual could wield absolute control over the dragons, the remaining mask locations were kept strictly secret, even from other party members. Hrothgar took the white dragon mask and buried it in his own empty grave in a tomb by the shores of Lac Dinneshere, trusting the warmth of Kuldahar’s great tree to counter the icy, corrupted influence of the white dragon Cryovain.

Legacy and the Great Cover-up

Following the war’s conclusion, Hrothgar’s fame grew immense. Fearing that the surviving dragons or their fanatical cultists would seek retribution against Kuldahar and his beloved family, Hrothgar chose to make a supreme sacrifice. He asked his ally, the Archmage Elminster Aumar, to cast a powerful combination of Modify Memory and True Polymorph upon him.

This magic stripped Hrothgar of his memories, reduced his towering 3.2-meter Firbolg frame, and transformed him into Farwald, an elderly human adventurer. For three centuries, his true identity was lost, even to himself. Farwald only began to piece together his past after encountering the white dragon Cryovain, seeking guidance at an ancient temple of Ioun, and later being healed of the mental fog by a restoration ritual.

Intriguingly, Farwald’s restored cleric powers no longer stem from the goddesses of peace, trickery, or nature. Instead, they manifest as the domain of Torvik, the sleeping god of ice and wind—a sign of the awakening anarchy of the sleeping father.