Khazad-dûm, latterly known as Moria, was the grandest and most famous of the mansions of the Dwarves. There, for many thousands of years, a thriving Dwarvish community created the greatest city ever known.
It lies in the central parts of the Misty Mountains, tunnelled and carved through the living rock of the mountains themselves. By the Second Age a traveler could pass through it from the west of the range to the east.
It was founded in very ancient days by Durin the Deathless. Durin awoke at Mount Gundabad in the Misty Mountains, who came upon a shimmering lake beneath the mountain Celebdil, with a crown of stars reflected in its waters.
Most of its great wealth was based on the Mithril that can be found in its mines, and as the centuries passed, the Dwarves mined deeper and deeper for the precious metal. In the year III 1980, they dug too deep, and unleashed a nameless terror from the depths beneath the city. The creature wreaked dreadful destruction, and in slaying the then King, Durin VI, became known as Durin's Bane. In the following year, Durin's son, Náin I, was also lost, and the Dwarves fled their ancient home.
After millennia as one of the richest cities in Middle-earth, Khazad-dûm stood dark and empty, but for the brooding menace the Dwarves had released. In that time it was given a new name, Moria, the Black Pit.
Special Features:
- Main vegetation: mountains
- Special units: Trolls, Guards of Khazad-dûm
- Capability to gather local troops when under siege (only AI) |