The Eska Mountains are home to the isolationist dwarves of the Dorann Holds, who are thought to have migrated from Frostfell over an ancient land bridge. Little is known of these clans today. The dwarves and duergar who eventually migrated to populate southern regions appear to have split from the Dorann centuries go. Since then, the Dorann dwarves have maintained a policy of political isolation, although they still trade with the northern shifter tribes and Inana maenads of the Tashyvar Islands. It is said that an increasing number of the Dorann clans are feverishly mining the Eska Mountains, stockpiling raw minerals as they dig. The dwarves of the Dorann Holds are a mixed lot.
Northern clans tend to be more primitive, clannish, and warlike than their distant cousins in the Mror Holds. Whereas the Khorvairian clans settled into a prolonged peace under Karrnath annexation, the dwarves of the northern Dorann Holds have never known such an era, and the typical state of affairs is one of low-simmering clan conflict. The southern Eska clans, by contrast, have much more arable land to work, and hence more peaceful relations, trading among themselves and the nearby humans and shifter tribes. Still, all Dorann dwarves tend toward mild xenophobia and isolationism, and as such have little contact with the world beyond their borders.
These days, a Dorann dwarf adventuring in the larger world is likely to have chafed under the oppressive policies of the recent Stone Council leadership. As the northern clans fall into line under the Hammerhand leadership, southern clans are rallying to the cause of the resurgent Clanguard paladins. A Dorann character is certainly concerned about potential civil war, and might feel compelled to choose a side and take a stand.
The Holds have long been a collection of loosely confederated clans, with frequent infighting and skirmishes between various factions. In recent years, however, the infighting has calmed, and several of the clans are working together to an unprecedented degree. The Stone Council, previously an intermittent conclave gathered to settle important intraclan disputes, has been in permanent session in the fortress of Tannishold. Able-bodied dwarves from all clans are being dispatched—forcefully in some cases—to work in massive excavation projects deep in the Eska Mountains. Recent reports indicate that heavily armed militias, controlled by a member of the Stone Council known as Hammerhand, now control many of the major passes and valleys of the Eskas. Opposing dwarf clans are uniting under the flag of the paladin order known as the Clanguard, and rumors of a civil war hang heavy in the air.