The Barrow Downs and the Adraghasts

'''The Barrow Downs and the Adraghasts'''

The Barrow-downs, or Hügelgräberhöhen, are an area of low hills located to the northeast of Westfell Dell and the Tulgeywood. And East of Velvet Green. They were made by men, it is said, in the ancient days of Albion. Many of the sepulchral hills are crowned with monoliths and barrows, whence comes their name. They served as resting places for the men of Carpathia and the ancestors of the Stonecypher lords.

The Barrow-downs were raised by Ur-Men in the First Age, together with men from the Hills of Karwen to the north. They fled in to the mountains as the land was invaded by the Hybernium Imperium, but when the Forest Lords caused the disappearance of the Hybernian’s settlement, the sons of the Ur-Men, now one with the Karwen hill people, returned to the region.

During the Second Age, the men of the downs returned from their mountain retreats in the Dwarf Halls, now a tall and hardy, Alpine folk, and when they met with the newly-emerged Fair faced sons and daughters of the wood, the Barrow-downs were the first places where they made pact and peace.

In this age, the area of the Barrow-downs became the necropolis of both the People of the Mountains and the People of the Forest Lords. These people became one and are the ancestors of the modern Ruritanians who hold close the Spirits and whoe blood sometimes runs with the power of the spirits.

The third age brought defeat and devastation to these magical people. before the armies of the invading conqueror kings, the area was subjugated and became Westphalia. By treaty and pact, the region became known as Ruritania in the new tongue. Meaning, “Place of the Ur-Men”.

The shame of their defeat and the influx of the conquerer people caused the ancestors buried in the vast catacombs under the downs to become the Adhrghasts. Evil spirits, known as Barrow-wights, to haunt the once-great tombs of the ancient men. After the Ravenlocke lords claimed kingship over all of Ruritania, there was an attempt by the invaders to recolonize Westfell, as the region was named after the subjugation; this ultimately failed due to the mysterious power of the barrow-wights. And the people of the Westphalian capital left this corner of their dominion to the ancestral stewards of the lands. The fey-blooded pact-sworn sovereigns of the Forest Lord’s people and the Mountain Kings of Carpathia, the sworn Dwarf Friends and peace was made.