The regency of Derkin Lawgiver in Thorbardin lasted for thirty-six years. During that time the war of conquest waged by the Daltigothian Empire against the elves and humans of eastern Ergoth finally dragged to a close, with no real victors. The war never again spilled into the dwar-ven lands, but dwarves were involved in it. Because of the scheming of a Theiwar named Than-Kar, Thorbardin had been demeaned, and the Hylar Chieftain Dunbarth Iron- thumb returned to the field several times with Hylar warriors to assist the elves in their battles.
By the time the war finally ended, the western elves were well along on the development of a new elven culture-in truth a new nation-in the land of Qualinesti. Thousands of them also had joined with dwarves in the continued building of a city in Tharkas Pass-Pax Tharkas.
In the thirty-first year of his regency, Derkin Lawgiver left Thorbardin for a time to travel to Pax Tharkas. There he met with the elf leader Kith-Kanan, to formally adopt a permanent treaty between the dwarves and the elves. Joining in the solemn ceremony were the two chief magistrates of Pax Tharkas, the elf Selanas Prill and the dwarf Talon Oakbeard.
The treaty formalized the alliance between dwarves and elves, and dedicated Pax Tharkas as a living monument to that alliance-and to all those who had died in the cause of it.
The treaty was called the Swordsheath Scroll.
It was the last time Derkin Lawgiver would ever leave.
Five years later, he became the first king of Thorbardin-a Thorbardin that was no longer confined to subterranean caverns sealed from the world by impregnable gates, but was now a mighty nation, spanning the mountain lands of old Kal-Thax, from Pax Tharkas to the Thunder Peaks, from Sky's End to the Anviltops-a nation full of dwar-ven places like Stoneforge and Barter, Herdlinger and Firestone, Redbluff and Split Crag-a kingdom where those who chose the open sky lived as Neidar and those who preferred the comfort of stone lived as Holgar, with the great fortress of Thorbardin as capital of it all.
Derkin the Lawgiver reigned as king in Thorbardin for one hundred and twenty-three years. He was succeeded by his grandson, Damon Stonetooth, who decreed that he and all future kings would be known both by their own names and by a 'throne' name, honoring the first of the dwarven kings.
The name was Derkin.
