Encyclopaedia Alundria
Dwarven strongholds and their citizens. A short (*) overview of the Children of stone.
By Brother Toth of the Gray Council.
(*) Pun not intended.
The dwarves are one of Alundria's eldest races.
The self-proclaimed Children of stone have made their homes in the mountains ever since the first human magi made their home at the Citadel and started to learn the ways of magic from the elven pilgrims and are one of the three major races that represent Order in Alundria.
These short, bearded individuals are master craftsmen, miners, warriors and musicians and have defended the human plains and elven forests from Orcish, troll and goblin interlopers before the coming of the dreaded Blight and what role they play now in this new Blighted world.
In this short excerpt I shall introduce you faithful reader to their culture.
Genesis.
According to their tales, much like our God who had first created the world and then the giants to be our protectors, the dwarves believe they to were created by a invisible deity. When this deity made the mountains, the mountains in turn made the dwarves out of clay. It was their duty to form and protect the mountains, to protect their creators and use their lifeblood (Such as ore, gems and lava) to achieve that goal.
The first recording of human dealing with dwarves is the old kingdom of Gryphon's Crown in the Sanctuary province five hundred years before the first recorded Blight in Bucktooth Bay. Then King Ivar ordered the construction of his castle and hired several dwarven craftsmen from the nearby dwarven kingdom. By this time the local nobility already knew the ingenuity and the craftsmanship of the dwarven folk and there are traces of trade going up and from the mountain strongholds to the human villages.
Some annals that are recovered mention human and dwarven weddings to cement trade alliances and the royal line of Gryphon's Crown can be trace their ancestry back to several dwarven ancestors such as bankers or even dwarven royalty much like how Alestrian royal bloodline is tied to elven royalty.
The bound between man and dwarf was so great that when the great Orc Warchief Gorvar the Dragon Rider came from the Desert island off the coast of Alundria to invade Sanctuary, dwarven mountain strongholds held the Orcish hordes and gave the human knights and elven princes time to rally their forces to throw back the Orc horde.
Dwarven stubbornness and the refusal to give up won the day.
However that stubbornness is a double edged sword and that unyielding loyalty to protect their friends has also created enmity between the other Chaotic half of the Grand Alliance, elves and even themselves....
Dwarven castes and society.
There are three confirmed types of dwarf and one rumoured one.
The three types are the Groundling dwarves, Mountain dwarves and the Gnomes. There are rumours of a fourth type called Dark dwarves but more on that latter.
The Groundlings live inside the mountains like their ancestors before them. These are the miners, warriors, bankers, inventors, blacksmiths and mountain kings. They are a head shorter than a man but also stockier and all men (and some women) have long beards that are considered a badge of honour for them.
They do not hate the topside world but prefer to life within and protect their mountain homes and shape them along by creating magnificent underground cities and thaigs lined with pillars that hold up the mountain ceiling above them, diamonds that light up the dark corridors and mines that run deep under ground.
Ore is very important to the Groundlings as they use it to make tools, armour, weapons, the road that connects strongholds and everything else.
Gold is mined from the mountain and used by the bankers to create a economy and trade to the other races down below. Before the time of the Blight the dwarves had a fierce rivalry with the goblins and frequently fought the green skinned creatures over the gold mines both deep below the surface and on the trade routes above.
They are also traders who frequent the human settlements and secure gold, food, mana from the mana pool and other things. Some dwarves made small homes on hilltops near human villages and are the closest things to a embassy for dwarven travellers.
They are the smartest of the dwarven clans as they are the ones responsible for the discovery of gunpowder. A mix of chemistry, mana and ore, the Groundlings found a way to create a powder that when ignited could send a attack much akin like a fireball spell from one of their weapons called a "gun".
These Blunderbusses and cannons helped defend dwarven strongholds against monster, dragon and Immortal alike.
However their caste system is quite rigid.
Every dwarf is born into a specific caste. Either a smith, inventor, a miner, a hammerer (warrior) or a banker.
When a dwarf becomes "bearded" (a adult and yes it is used for both genders), they follow their forefathers in their respective fields. It is possible for a dwarf to change castes but it is extremely difficulty and costs a lot of money and approval with the Mountain King and the council of Lords and Ladies. As such the poorer members of the caste cannot switch as easily and would need sponsorship.
Dwarven law is harsh as well, if a dwarf commits a crime it could reflect the entire family and in some instances meaning they get kicked out of the caste and forced to wander the underground streets of the thaigs. Many forge urchins are testament to orphans who could not find a new caste and are forced to scrap for coin any way they can.
This harshness and unwillingness to adapt is the reason why there are other types of dwarf.
Mountain dwarves are one of the two other types who have rejected the stubbornness of Groundling culture and moved above the mountains. There they joined the farmers who cultivated the sheep there and created their own culture. They look mostly the same to the Groundling kin but are slightly taller. and wear attire befitting mountain dwellers.
As such there is no caste system but there are two different type of Mountain dwarves (or Cloud heads as their subterranean brothers and sisters like to call them).
One group are the aforementioned farmers. They were shepherds and farmers who had to grow food on the fertile soil there and were once part of the shepherd caste. However when more exiles from below the mountain came and with anger with them, the shepherd caste left that system and were it not for their loyalty to the mountain, there would've been a civil war.
The other group are the Gryphon tamers. These dwarves do not worship the mountain but instead have adopted a new religion much like shamanism the Orcs have worshipped.
Native to the mountains are Gryphons, winged beasts who once were seen as a pest and a threat to the dwarven livestock and both races fought one another. According to legend one dwarven shepherdess had a vision from the spirit of the wilds that took the form of a gryphon and pleaded for peace.
This dwarf went to the nearest gryphon rook the next day and studied them. Every day from dusk till dawn the young dwarf travelled to the rook and studied how the gryphons ate, flew, interacted with each other. Her fellows called him mad until they saw him do the impossible....and tame a whole flight of gryphons.
She would be known as Thane Brunhilde, the first of the Gryphon Riders.
Only few could become riders but the more martial of the Mountain Dwarves adopted a combat style similar to a gryphon and would be known as Winged Warriors. These warriors can work themselves into a trance by drinking mana and connect to the spirit of the wild and their Gryphon kin.
Mountain dwarves are ruled by a thane who in turn obeys the call of the Mountain King.
The last tribe of dwarf are the Gnomes. Although they are still called the children of the stone by their kin, they are "still stone but with some moss on top of them".
These dwarves are smaller than their mountain dwelling cousins and wear blue clothing and red caps. Unlike their kin they do not life in the mountains but in the forests. Under the shade of the trees, the Gnomes have grown shorter than their cousins in the mountains but have grown faster and know the woods like the back of their hand. They worship the spirit of the wild much like the Mountain dwarves but prefer to worship the same spirit of the forest the elves do. As such the Gnomes are much closer to the elves rather than the humans.
According to Groundling legend, a large group of dwarves did not like the ways of the mountains and left. When they came to the forest they wanted to come back but the mountain rejected them so they could never com back home. In desperation they had to consort with the evil elves who corrupted them and could never return to the mountain. As such the gnomes were to be pitied.
The gnomes counter according to their legends, it all began with one dwarf farmer. Like the others he lived in the mountains but when he herded his sheep along the mountainside, he saw the forests down below. He had never seen such a sight before. The green, the brown and the faint smell of green. He talked to this to his friends who all said the same. The mountain protects us from the elements. If he would even step off the mountain, it would forsake him. Eventually he went down there and saw this wonderful land filled with life and sounds. He found these strange red fruits that hung on the trees. He picked one and found them delicious so he picked some more and brought them home back on the mountain. He shared them with his friends who wanted to eat more of this fruit, so they followed him down. In time these dwarves would remain longer and longer in the forest, eventually learning from the elves how to build homes, travel across the trees and how to hunt. And so the first Gnomes were born.
The Gnomes live in villages in the forests into several clans and share a alliance with the local elves. Their respect for nature and stature would make one ponder if these creatures ever were dwarves to begin with.
Save for their beards the only thing that would mark them as dwarf is their means of manipulating metal. Many elven princesses and Assassins had their swords made by Gnomes before it was blessed by elven magic.
Gnomes are ruled by a Major who are elected every seven years but like all dwarves obey the call of the Mountain King.
The last rumoured tribe are the Dark Dwarves. Only spoken of by parents who want their children to behave lest these dwarves take them away deep, deep under the surface where evil things lurk to work in their sulphur mines.
They are rumoured to have white skin and red eyes with long black beards. They had black armour, blacker than the blackest night that absorbed all light.
Again these are just tales but some rumours of abandoned dwarven settlements left no traces of what happened to their citizens save for large tunnels that were collapsed behind them.
Government
Like the humans, the dwarves are ruled by monarchy.
The Mountain King is not hereditary per se and much like a Gnomish Major could be elected if the ruling council of Lords and Ladies, nobility and leaders of the castes.
A King can be of either gender and of any caste, although there have been so far in recorded history no Mountain dwarf or Gnomish Mountain Kings.
To become a Mountain King, a dwarf has to be chosen by the previous king or by the majority of the council. After that the candidate is locked in the crypt of his or her forebears for several days with no food or water along with a large thick tome called the book of grudges. The default amount is seven but the days or even hours change in the case from kingdom to kingdom or from situation to situation.
These book of grudges contains insults and crimes committed to the dwarves in the past who have not yet been corrected.
After the days are over the candidate flips the book of grudges to a random page and will focus his or her efforts on solving that issue in the book.
The fact that most of the dwarven kings have supported the Grand Alliance, despite their dislike for the Orcs, Trolls and Goblins, is because most book of grudges' pages are filled with the threat of the Blight.
Famous Dwarves
Mountain King Freya Dainson: Queen of Coolcraig and ruler of the Dwarves during the War for Sanctuary and the start of the Second Blight and veteran of the First Blight where she took over the reign from her father after he was corrupted to be one of the Immortals.
She led a army of dwarves alongside Prince Halmadir and King Leopold that drove the Immortals to extinction in that region.
Mountain King Thror: The ruler of the dwarves in the Iron Crown Province, said to be a exile from Sanctuary who has risen the ranks to Mountain King been illicit means. Kidnapping, mana smuggling, blackmail and other accusations have been thrown at him by his opponents. His special friendship with the Orc Warchief Grella of the Laughing axes and the Troll prince Aziboo did not help take away that darker image.
Because of his more progressive view on caste changing and close ties to Alestrian royalty and his heroic actions during the first (*) Battle for Iron Crown , he has remained firmly seated on the throne.
{*) A Second battle is currently ongoing by this time of writing.
Mara of the Mushroom Leapers: A gnome messenger turned ambassador between the gnome clans of their dwarven cousins in Sanctuary. It was because of her plea that Mountain King Freya joined the cause against the Blight at the start of the War for Sanctuary. Her unification of the Gnomish and Dwarven people made her matriarch of House Axehamerer and mayor of her clan for several terms.
Thane Brunhilde: The first thane of the Mountain Dwarves and first of the Gryphon Riders.
A former shepherdess who learned how to tame Gryphons and consolidated Mountain Dwarves independence from their Groundling peers.
Thane of Gryphon's Peak: The ruling lord of Gryphon's Peak who was responsible for sending plagued gryphons to Molten Forge and Stormy Fortress and the first dwarven leader to fall to the First Blight.
Due to gross incompetence and shame, his name was stricken from the records and the survivors from Gryphon's Peak, Stonemason Hill and Foxpass Fort were all cast out for the part they played in the destruction of much of the province.