Thaim Ironsmelt is the Court Chanter of Baruk-Azhik. Accompanying his
Overthane, he explains a ruin discovered in the Chimaeron:

This tower bears the design and ornament of Avani! There is no doubt that
is one of the towers built by the Order of the Sun, Avani's Order. In the
days before the Anurians came to Khinasi, when the land beyond Baruk-Azhik
was still ruled by Basarji traders, an order of knights defended the
city-states. This was the Order of the Sun, also known as Avani's Order, or
the Knights of the Eternal Sun, a brotherhood of Paladins, chosen from among
the ranks of the soldiers of Avani, goddess of the sun. The knights stood
for justice, stability, and reason. The order defended the Khinasi against
the Anurians during the Anurian expansion, over 700 years ago. Founded
initially after Deismaar to combat the awnsheghlien, the Order of the Sun
achieved military, political, and spiritual might in the Western Khinasi
lands of Binsada and Dhafrane, as the Chimaeron was known before the coming
of the Chimera. The Khinasi pushed into Baruk-Azhik intent on subjugating
us, and we turned to our long-time friends on the Anurian throne, the
dynasty of Roele, for assistance in 1277. The new emperor, Alandalae, nobly
took up our cause. The coming of the Anurians was the direct cause of the
fall of the Order of the Sun. With our assistance, the armies of Anuire
crossed the Iron Peaks and pushed into Dhafrane. A citadel known as the
Spires of the Sun was the order's greatest stronghold. It was located in
the city of Dhafrane, which was leveled by the Anurians and refounded as
Barniere. They had outposts all throughout the Iron Peaks, along the
Tarvanian Hills, near the Rain Serpent Mountains, and along the Kratal river
facing Coeranys. The adventurer-knights of the Order could not withstand
the organized forces of the Anurians. Pressed by the Anurians in the west
and the awnsheghlien in the east, the order collapsed. While this occurred,
the renown Khinasi general, El-Arrasi organized the Basarji Federation to
meet the Anurians. Most of Alandalae's army was heavy cavalry poorly suited
to fighting in the southern Iron Peaks, so he tried to fight the Khinasi in
the Khurinbyrn Valley and east into the Rohrmarch, then subject to the
Khinasi. In the southern territories of the Rohrmarch, where Khinasi
colonization took place, the Basarji Federation and the last companies of
the Order of the Sun met Alandalae and his Anurians at the Battle of Asarwe
in 1299. Many dwarves fought alongside the humans in special companies.
One such warrior was your ancestor, Makkan Rockhammer. During the battle,
the Knights of the Sun launched a suicidal charge to kill the Emperor.
While they succeeded in killing Alandalae, they were themselves destroyed by
Alandalae's honor guard and the dwarven company to his right, including your
great, great grandfather Makkan. It was then that Makkan earned his
birthright by killing one of the noble captains of the Order. Upon assuming
his blood power, Makkan Rockhammer's beard turned stone gray, and he was
forever known as "graybeard", as you are today. The Order of the Sun was
destroyed and was never reestablished. Now all that remains of the Order
are its ruins, such as this one.

1277 GR (Gideon Rinsparr) Emperor Alandalae takes Iron Throne opens
a campaign against the Basarji
1279 GR El-Arrasi organizes Basarji Federation
1299 GR Alandalae killed in Basarji campaign at the battle of Asarwe,
Caercuillen becomes emperor and ally of el-Arrasi
1311 GR Death of el-Arrasi
1327 GR Eldracht Hoffstugart of Mafden leads rebellion against Anuire
1328 GR Makkan "Greybeard" ambushed and killed on a diplomatic mission.

By the way, the story of your ancestor Makkan remains tied to the imperial
house of Roele. After the Battle of Asarwe, Caercuillen became emperor and
made peace and concluded an alliance with el-Arrasi. But this was the high
watermark to the Empire. In 1327, Eldracht Hoffstugart of Mafden started
the rebellion against Anuire. The Emperor, aware of the noble reputation of
Makkan, who was as endowed with charm and grace as he was with strength and
courage, asked Makkan to undertake a diplomatic mission to Brechtur. He was
asked to call upon the Dwarves of Massenmarch to suppress the rebellion, to
journey to Brechlen to ask the Herzog of Muden to arrest Hoffstugart and the
ringleaders of the resistance. Such a mission, if successful, could have
ended the rebellion and stemmed the decline of the Empire. The Brechts knew
it and they laid an ambush for Makkan as he crossed the Thurin River between
Kiergard and Massenmarch in the Thuringode Forest. We do not know exactly
what transpired, but it is known Makkan and his diplomatic party was killed
by the rebels. His birthright descended to his son, Golan, whose sterling
character, heroic reputation, and marriage to Grabbo Rockhammer, his cousin,
secured his acquisition of the Thaneship of Rivenrock, which has been in the
hands of Rockhammer for centuries, and was thence passed to your collateral
branch.