Author notes

A mysterious shield excavated in a diamond mine, ornate and aglow with inner light.

Hurricane Ivan

on May 16, 2011

Deep under the princedom of Khufsa, south of the mountains of Iron, winds the bizarre and mysterious cut diamond mine.
The Khufsese natural philosophers have long debated why the diamonds mined here are found cut and polished, rather than rough, as one might normally expect, the most popular explanation being that ages ago, some being or race of beings gathered a great hoard of diamonds, before disappearing, leaving no other trace of their existence. As such, the miners who excavated the shield were not quite so mind-bendingly nonplussed as others would have been when they discovered it. Shortly after the shield was excavated, the natural philosophers who backed the theory that the cut diamonds were a natural phenomenon were exiled by the Mad prince.