"Arx's gates do not open."
—Old Brakenrock Tribe wisdom.
Arx, fortress city of the Brakenrock Tribe, spans a great bridge that rises twenty-two thousand feet above the earth, connecting the twin peaks of Urzik and Dagkor. Though the children of Mourclesis have tried for centuries, they have never gotten past its gigantic walls. The Beastmen are little more welcoming to outsiders.
The tremendous bridge that forms Arx can divide itself in two and fold itself into the surrounding mountains, half within Urzik and half within Dagkor. As Arx's gates have never been breached, this has never been a required defensive measure: rather, the city submerges into the peaks to avoid any excess damage from the recoil of the Brakenrock Tribe's superweapon, the Nasri Vai, a cannon that can strike up to a sixteen hundred miles away with force enough to leave an entire kingdom nothing but a crater.
It has not been used for as long as anyone can remember, and any tales of it being fired have been lost, but the Nasri Vai is kept pointed at Maelthrazra.
History
DC10: Until recently, Arx was closed off completely to outsiders. Only under the leadership of Danar-Kel has the Brakenrock Tribe strengthened its ties with Ascelia to the point that the two cities can truthfully be called "allies." In the thousand years before Danar-Kel, the Beastmen considered themselves alone in the world.
DC15: Long ago, there were other tribes of demihumans besides Brakenrock, and Arx was not the only fortress city in the mountains. These other proud kingdoms and their tribes were wiped out when Mourclesis first spread its corruption. Many of these tribes were as tough and skilled at war as Brakenrock: Arx survived not only because of its defenders and its walls, but also simply because it was build among the highest peaks of Urzik. The mists devoured the earth, but did not rise all of the way into the sky.
DC20: Arx's Shamans have as much say in the Urzikhan - Brakenrock's tribal council - as its generals, but they prefer to remain nameless, only their families knowing who they were before their ascension to spiritual leaders. This was not always the case: once, a Shaman had as much of a chance as a general of becoming known as a leader of Beastmen in the style of Danar-Kel. Their disappearance from open political involvement came with the advent of the Warforged. Fearing that the families of Warforged might seek revenge on their order for unnaturally extended their lifespans in violation of tradition, the Shamans made a collective decision to remain in power only anonymously. Now the identities of each member of the Shaman caste are a closely guarded secret.
DC25: At the beginning of known history, after Mourclesis, the Nasri Vai was broken. Somehow, the Eladrin learned of this fact, and so began the hundreds of years of war between Arx and Maelthrazra. While Arx's gates were never breached, they easily might have been, and hundreds of thousands of Brakenrock died at the hands of the Cursedblood Legion. In secret, the Dragonborn Warlord Rhodan Drazic convinced the Guardian Patriach of Ascelia to aid Arx, and a team of Dwarves and Deva was dispatched to the fortress city. They successfully repaired the Nasri Vai, and the mere threat of its being turned on Maelthrazra forced the Eladrin and their Half-Elves to withdraw. There has been a cold war between the two cities ever since.
