After the fall of Rihan and the subsequent capture and execution of Choshek the Traitor, the Dwarves were without a central leader for the first time in millennia. The royal lineage of the Godhammers stretched back thousands of years, and it was snuffed out in the matter of minutes; having royal blood was outlawed, punishable by death.
When Rihan marched west, Thrabuk was the first major civilization she met, and she demanded the Dwarven king kneel and surrender to her army, and with it, promise the loyalty of all Dwarves to her cause. Unbeknownst to the Godhammers, their faithful servants were not as faithful as they thought.
When they heard of the threat of Rihan, they secretly conspired to surrender in return for their lives. This was when Choshek seized the opportunity to betray all Dwarvenkind. Choshek and the King’s High Guards turned their weapons on the Royal Family, and killed them all; Choshek picked up the crown, put it on, and dropped to a knee for his new queen.
However, Choshek’s rule came to an end when Rihan’s did. The Dwarves banded together and stormed his gates to overthrow him, hanging him from the heights of Chel-Kohria, his chosen home. After this, the Dwarves were without a King, without a ruler. The Dwarven strongholds fell out of unity, waiting for a true leader to reunite the strongholds, and lead them to glory. Not long after the fall of Rihan and Choshek, the Humans of Ohnk could find the strength to march on Chel-Kohria, destroying it and the memory of all Choshek had done to them, but swearing themselves an enemy of Dwarves for ages to come