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Dwarfs
LINKS
- The Dwarfen Calendar can be found here
- some of the Dwarfen Customs here.
The Forged Race
Dwarfs are one of the ancient races. In the beginning there were giants and beasts. When Asgard gods struck down giants into the mortal world, they learned of the Räkenskap prophecy from the Ödes. At that point they decided to forge a race of warriors and craftsmiths to aid in the final battle, and at the same time to carry on the dogma of the gods in the rebirth of the world. (Though the gods will perish, their creations will be reborn in the new age). Thus Beordún sculpted the Dwarfs from the earth. Skaldia filled them with water of life. Aègnar put fire in their hearts. Loftrún blew breath into their lungs. Thoraín taught them battle. And Eileifr gave them law & justice. Audvýé agreed to keep watch over them. But before the gods had realized it, Cèrulãe too contributed to the creation – giving the dwarves an affinity for greed and filling their hearts with mistrust. When the betrayal was discovered, she was banished from Asgard, never to return again, except at Räkenskap, leading the armies of the giants.
The first Dwarfs were a taller race than what they are today. Many were as tall as 5 feet. They were also burlier and more savage. It wasn’t until Thane Drannor, the first king of Dwarfs, who was strong and cunning enough to organize the Dwarfs and refocus their fervor into skill & craft, beginning fulfillment of the race’s purpose.
There are two regions of Europa inhabited by the Dwarfs: Ruus and Norska. Ruus Dwarfs are viewed as the ‘old guard’ – the old aristocracy, more civilized and established in its ways. They are known world-over for their crafts, ingenuity, strict society, and Law set in stone. As the Dwarfs say: “If a law is good and lasted millennia, why change it?” They look down upon lesser races, and pay attention only in so far as it threatens their survival. It is therefore no surprise that The First Karak (kingdom) was forged in Ruus. It still holds today, and is often viewed as the capital of the dwarven civilization. (Karak Frumgerð).
The Norska Dwarfs are ‘novae riche,’ more savage and crude than the Ruus Dwarfs; they are the younger upstarts that grew too rich too fast, and now challenge the views of their elders. They braved the savage North, mining gems and precious metal, expanding too fast and too quickly for their own good. Today many of the Karak’s of this region lie still frozen but not forgotten – victims of the giants, beasts, and ice, serving as a harsh reminder of the brutality of the North.
Still, there is a respect and trade between the Ruus & Norska Dwarfs, and though language and custom are beginning to drift apart, their faith, heritage, and appreciation for craft bind them forever.
Short History
Nobody knows how long ago the Dwarfs were first forged. There are hints and rumors that before The Chasm opened about twenty millennia ago, there was a large and flourishing civilization built by the Forged Race. If there was anyone still in the world that could remember that civilization, it would be dwarfs and elves, but the elves were all but destroyed by The Chasm, and the dwarfs would have chosen to forget any fallen civilization that might have once existed.
By the time the elves marched North in an attempt to seal and contained Chaos, the dwarfen race was in disarray. Chaos does not discriminate, and though it ruined the Fair Folk, it also wrecked havoc with dwarfen way of life. Some hid deep in the earth and survived the brunt of the destruction, but the damaged had been done. Those that survived the surge of wild beasts, abberations, and mutation turned to nomadic life, abandoning everything that once constituted a thriving lifestyle. It was contaminated, polluted, and many dwarfen tribes spent centuries purging the world of any remnants of those days that had been cursed by chaos. It wasn’t until four millennia after The Chasm that the dwarfs began to organize again and started anew, building magnificent cities and returning to the life of the forge.
It is currently 18,506 AD (Anno Drannorae). It is now over eighteen and a half millennia since the first Karak was founded by the Dwarfen ancestors. It is said that before Thane Drannor, Dwarfs were nomadic, savage, and unorganized. Drannor the Mighty was the first to organize the dwarves and build a kingdom (Karak) in the Ruus. He forged a peace among various clans and established Dwarf laws, many of which hold to this day. It is said he was inspired by Eileifr himself. Millenia later, Thane Drannor’s actions reached the height of dwarfen craftsmanship and expansion. It was a time of prosperity, growth, exploration, and invention. But as all good things must come to an end, eventually dwarfen neighbors got jealous, especially the Giants of Fire & Ice, cast down by the gods to the mortal world. So giants, wild beasts, and greedy princes all waged pricey war upon the dwarves. In the end, a tenuous stalemate was reached (and holds to this day), but not before many Karak’s were lost, and many dwarfen clans were extinguished. Today this stalemate is a de-facto modus-operandi, but as the war(s) never officially ended, anything can happen, and dwarfs throughout Ruus and Norska stand on constant alert.
Outlook
Dwarfs are a sunset race. They are clearly in decline, populations are down from their peaks, and the mines of ancient dwarf homesteads run for hundreds of wheels (like miles) now, as minerals have been exhausted after many centuries of mining. Births are down as well, which means a great deal to a long-life race such as the stout folk. It is plain for all dwarfs who have eyes to look and minds to think upon it, that within 10-15 generations, dwarfdom will be merely a shadow of what it is today. Bear in mind that these are dwarf generations, and as such, there are probably about 3,000 years left until such is reached. Dwarfs are like the mountains they inhabit though. They see time as fluid and rapid and they fully expect there to be an end of things.
That in mind it is vitally important that they perfect their assorted crafts, and masters are exploding in productivity and output. It is the last golden era of dwarf craftsmanship, and there are new masterworks each year. The race will see to it that its name and fame linger for 5 times 3,000 years, and its artifacts will live on long, long after they themselves have gone on. Mind you, this gives many a dwarf the idea that the race is still very vital and can be again led into a stable growing pattern. Time will, of course, tell.
Memories
Dwarfs have astounding memories. I don’t want it to be a ‘gimme’ in terms of giving you past information to solve puzzles and such, but otherwise it is something as native as your nightvision. The saying is that a dwarf never forgets a road he’s traveled on, and that is accurate, particularly underground. This racial memory trait makes them excessively good at playing the merchant game, they have total recall if they study facts and figures, and can be counted on to give you historical commodity prices in their area of study. If you can trust the dwarf, that is. Another area this ability manifests is the crystal clear memories of wrongdoings. Each clan has a Book of Grudges. These are all the wrongs done to the clan by others. Be it violence, financial, political, what have you, if it is significant enough (unwarranted, egregious, excessive, evil) the clan elders will mark it down, and all dwarfs in majority have read and memorized it. If you wrong a dwarf, his family will mark you, will mark you very well indeed. Maybe 2 or 40 years later, you and yours will eventually be given comeuppance. It is a point of dwarf pride. They are traditional (stemming from how ingrained they are in the merchant game) in the sense of being even-handed, and so the Grudge must be well-documented so your clan knows the quantity of the payback. If your house was torched and you lost 5,000 gold in gems and merchandise, then your enemy should not have his family killed, nor should he be bankrupted; he merely needs to suffer a like amount of financial distress or the emotional equivalent. So there is both a logical and emotional payout from the ability that you can use with your characters.
Appraisal
Dwarfs are a craftsmen race and a merchant race. All dwarfs are apprenticed into the trades of their clans when young. This apprenticeship takes many years (if not decades), and as it IS their very nature and thousands of years of traditions, nearly all dwarfs dive in and immerse themselves. The end result is that any dwarf in his majority is a passable expert in that specific field, particularly involving dwarfcraft. A dwarf raised as a gemcutter will be able to judge, weigh and appraise gems and jewelry, both the intrinsic value of the item, and the level of workmanship brought to bear on it. A dwarf can usually tell when the specialty item is dwarf-made, and can perhaps judge the other races as well, depending on his level of immersion in his craft. Obviously a practicing journeyman or master dwarf craftsman can tell much, much more, but this assumes the dwarf completed his apprenticeship and went on to other objectives (one of the most popular being soldiery).
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