When the last Doriak strongholds in the Paqaa Mountains fell to the Riedrans, the scattered remnants of this once-great nation were forced to the north, where they lived in small mobile refugee camps. The few remaining Doriak are an intriguing people—a fully integrated society of dwarf and duergar, attempting rebuild and fight back against their Riedran enemies. The Doriak are fighting a guerrilla-style war against the Inspired, launching forays into their occupied homelands while constantly defending themselves against counterattacks by Riedra's death squads. An Doriak character is likely to be driven to take back the Paqaa Mountains, and to eventually bring the fight to the corrupt heartland of Riedra.
A community-in-exile, the Doriak people currently eke out a seminomadic existence. There is no government or military structure per se, but rather ad hoc leadership committees and guerrilla bands. The charismatic duergar military leader known as Jade-Lin is attempting to galvanize the clans, and many have rallied to her flag of late. The Doriak refugees are closely allied with the southern Qiku tribes.
A select circle of Doriak leaders has knowledge of the metallurgical and alchemical technology that underlies the monoliths. While the Doriak do not understand all the particulars, they recently discovered that the Inspired are using the monoliths to bring about some kind of planar alignment. They suspect that the fate of all of Eberron might hang in the balance. So far, only the shifters of the Qiku seem to agree about the gravity of the situation. Doriak emissaries are being sent abroad to disseminate this information.
The Doriak lack the strength to attack the Riedrans in force, so they instead rely on a strategy of infiltration and sabotage. Doriak guerrilla bands, small and mobile, are dispatched into the mountains in search of hanbalani installations. The hanbalani are built atop the protomonoliths the Doriak built themselves as psionic power plants. Destroying hanbalani is not overly difficult (see Explorer's Handbook 134); surviving the journey there and back is. The few Doriak bands that have the knowledge and inclination to channel their revenge into monolithbusting play a deadly game of cat and mouse with the Thousand Eyes and the Sleeping Sword.
Getting the PCs Involved: Doriak emissaries in the port towns of Winterstead and Whitetooth are actively recruiting adventurers to help them in their struggle against the Inspired. The Doriak are desperate and hunted, but they are not without resources. Previous to the Night of Razor Dreams, the dwarves were one of the richest peoples in all of Sarlona, and a good portion of that wealth was spirited out of the Paqaa Mountains. PCs might earn this Doriak gold by allying with the dwarves against their shadowy Riedran oppressors.
Very recently, Qiku warriors have begun defying their Sky Teller's dictates and joining the Doriak guerrilla raids. PCs allied with or in debt to the Qiku might find themselves drawn into battle. Alternatively, Riedrans see the Doriak as savage raiders attacking from the north. The Riedran government pays a handsome bounty to foreign adventurers who hunt down and kill Doriak fighters. In short, mercenary work is to be had on both sides of this conflict.