Nan-i-Naugrim




 * Politcal Organization: Kingdom.
 * Rulers: Broadbeams and Firebeards: Thrár III the Kind.
 * Administrative Organization: King, descending from the lineage of both tribes, advised by council of 49 Elders, offices distributed by the King according to age and merit. Property nominally held by the Houses of Dwalin and Thrar, but subdivided by private ownership.
 * Population: 7,200 Naugrim.
 * Military: 490 Warriors. 2.100 Warrior Levy.
 * Products: Finished goods, iron, tin, copper, lead.
 * Symbol: A Hammer surmounted by Three Tongues of Flame.

The Khazad of the Blue Mountains form the largest community of Dwarves outside the great subterranean city of Moria. Less secretive than their cousins in the Misty Mountains, the Dwarves of Middle-earth's western shores form a significant part of the traffic of the Great East Road and often appear in Fornost and Tharbad. They are the descendants of Thrar and Dwalin, but they maintain close ties to the House of Durin. Such close cooperation among Dwarvcn houses is rare; indeed, outsiders can no longer distinguish Thrar's from Dwalin's Folk. Dwarvish geneologists know the date when the last Khazad—whose lineage derived purely from either the father of the Third Tribe or that of the Fourth—died. In the eyes of most Dwarves, this obscure point is a technicality. The Ered Luin have been the home of Dwarves since the First Age, when the Dwarves of Nogrod and Belegost worked alongside the Elves. The theft and wars surrounding the great necklace known as the Nauglamir ended the accord between the two races, and misfortune surrounded the Houses of Thrar and Dwalin ever after. Nogrod and Belegost were destroyed in the cataclysm that drowned Bclenand, and the Dwarves of the Ered Luin never fully recovered their numbers or stature. Many Dwarves fled to sanctuary at the Dwarf-mansion at Moria, and the few that remained in the Ered Luin forever lost the skill at smithing for which their ancestors were famed. Their mines ceased to produce the fabulous gems they once had, and the flow of gold from the depths diminished to a trickle. The Dwarves of the Blue Mountains live around the ruins of the ancient cities of Nogrod and Belegost in a valley called Nan-i-Naugrim by the Elves. The ruins hold bitter memories for them, but they also serve as a focus for their long memories and rich traditions. Though greedy, stubborn, bellicose, and solemn, like Dwarves everywhere, these Children of Aule are more somber than most. Their past wars with the Elves now an unhappy memory', the current King Thrar maintains good relations with Cirdan and his folk in the Grey Havens. The Mountains produce some small veins of gold, but the Dwarves' staple mining products are the more mundane metals of iron, tin, copper, and lead. The Khazad ship these products to the Men of Arthedain and Cardolan, working them into beautiful objects for a steep price. The Dwarves also send occasional parties of warriors into Arthedain's northern marches to attack the Orc tribes there. Thrar perform this service out of friendship to Arthedain's Kings, and out of hatred of the Orcs. Few Dwarvcn leaders are so outgoing.