Valeholm

Valeholm is one of the playable maps of Nosgoth.

Birthplace of the Ironguard
A high valley in the mountains, known as the Iron Pass, was one of the piercings in the granite walls that stride across this corner of Nosgoth. A place where men and women hardened by the winter winds clung on to a harsh existence, free from the rule of Vampire and from the laws of the Human cities of the plains. Tribal in makeup, the people here controlled both the mountain region and their independence.

When the Humans started the great war of extinction (as it was called by the people in the mountains), the inhabitants of the Iron Pass wanted none of it. They had lived in peace with the rest of Humanity and avoided all conflict with the Vampires. They wanted to continue this solitary existence.

With the coming of the war, the people of Valeholm had increasing pressure placed on them to join the Human cause. Their resistance to it and refusal to help in the war saw them gain no mercies though, and when the war turned against Humanity they were engulfed by the wrath of a Vampire army bent on revenge.

It meant nothing to the Vampires that Valeholm had sought neutrality, here were Humans denying Vampire superiority. Kain’s lieutenant, Zephon, had those who did not flee brought to the city’s religious centres and burnt alive with their priests in their own pyre churches.

The warriors of the Iron Pass who did escape to the Hinterlands swore they would never again be victims, and so was formed the Ironguard. This army was to stand as protectors and teachers of Humanity, and carried the hope that one day they would be able to strike back at the Vampires and reclaim their mountain home.

Humans return
As they sought to rebuild their cities and their civilisation, Human forces returned to Valeholm to take control of the mountains.

Recognising that other cities would play a more important role in their bid to rebuild a Human empire, the Ironguard have made Valeholm a garrison and a centre for planning, but they hope that one day they can rebuild the city’s glory. One day the city will hear the ring of the bells from Valeholm’s towers, the sound of these bells a reminder of each man’s mortality and the need to fight for their survival.

Back in the mountains, the Ironguard is determined to drive Humanity forward to gain their revenge on Zephon, Kain and all their kind. To the Vampires, Valeholm is a symbol of Human folly, home to superstition, religion and dangerous ideas of liberty.

In the name of the Damned
The Vampires have now sent a spearhead force to destroy Valeholm and those who would rebuild it. They have vowed that history will be repeated and that all Valeholm’s defenders will burn. As the Vampires enter the streets, so Humans are rounded up and driven into their own temples to feed new pyres.

Now, whilst the Humans pray to a vanished sun, the Vampires seek to make Valeholm a bonfire built of Human bodies.