The original name for Vorsprangs Bridge is lost in the mists of time. Originally it was set up by the wandering families of the Direbrand tribe when they found an area of Duardinia that could support a few crops. Building simple shelters they started to set down roots and farm the land. A violent earthquake in the Treweryn Mountains sent shockwaves rippling through the lands nearby and caused a ravine to open between the settlement and the farmlands they had so carefully cultivated. Rather than spending days walking around the ravine, or moving to a new location, the Diretribes made a simple bridge across the ravine, but as time passed the bridge would keep collapsing.
The tribes’ elders sent word to the duardin at Vorstargi Mont, begging for assistance to build a permanent bridge of stone across the gorge. None of the master stonemasons would lower themselves to such a task, but there was one Vorsprang Vorgsonn who took up the challenge for a year’s supply of the local beer, a fiery brew called Direbrew.
Vorsprang worked with the local rock and all his stonemason skills to build a bridge spanning the ravine in one year to ensure his supply of ale didn’t run out before he finished. He was not the most skilful stone carver, so the bridge was very plain, but his mason skills could not be faulted and the bridge stands to this day. When the bridge was completed, there was a huge feast in the town, with all the locals taking part, now they had permanent safe access to their farmlands and production could start in earnest.
Travellers, tradesmen and tribes would use the bridge as a shortcut, saving days of walking to circumnavigate the ravine. One day an enterprising local called Bartholomew set up a barrier and toll booth at the end of the bridge and started to charge people to cross the bridge. Only a few copper coins, but the inhabitants of the town took offence and beat him until he agreed not to charge them to cross. As word of the bridge spread, more and more travellers would come this way and Bartholomew’s wealth grew. Resentment started to build as people felt that they could have started this business if they had thought about it, and why shouldn’t they be rich? To appease the locals, and ensure his survival to old age, Bartholomew ordered a barrel of the life-giving water of Ghyran from Hammerhall Aqshy and donated it to the poorer farmers, or farmers with poor soil. This was well received by the population of Vorsprangs Bridge and Bartholomew was elected to the council of elders and granted the rights to the toll in perpetuity. In return, Bartholomew granted that a barrel of Ghyran water would be purchased each year on the anniversary of the opening of the bridge and distributed to the poor and worthy of the town.
This increase in fame for the bridge resulted in the town losing its original name, as traders would agree to meet at “Vorsprangs Bridge”, or travellers would meet “In the Green Dragon tavern near Vorsprangs Bridge.”
With increased prosperity came increased revenue for the town council and eventually, they could afford to employ Vorsprang again to build walls for the town. With new walls, the town was safe from the wandering tribes of Orrucks that had no stomach for sieging the town and would move on after jeering at the inhabitants for a while. As a result, the town militia stopped training and let their weapons fall into disrepair. This was the downfall of the town when Khorghus Khul’s goretide swept down from the Scablands and through Duardinia on their way to the Brimstone Peninsular and the total control of the area that would become known as Khul’s Ravage.
Few of the townsfolk survived the arrival of Chaos. Those that did, managed to scratch out a pitiful existence from their war-ravaged fields, fleeing their homes every time a Chaos warband came near and only returning when the danger had passed. When the Gregorian Lord Castellant Cerberus Stoneheart arrived, he realised the importance of the bridge and quickly set about rebuilding the stone walls that had been destroyed by the Chaos hordes and establishing barracks and storehouses for a garrison to guard the bridge. This allowed the people of Vorsprangs Bridge to return to their town and begin to rebuild their lives.
