Dwarves

The race of dwarves were known as the second kin to the elves and were born of Al-ki, the force of chaos, while the races of humans and elves were born of Ro-ni, the force of order. Despite their birth being of chaos, they were known to be some of the most order abiding races in Augoria.

The dwarves lived to be around 300 to 400 years old.

The dwarves all claim lineage from the god of Orryn, whom they say chopped off his own left hand and carved it into the figures of the dwarves. One finger for each of the first five dwarves. They also say that to make sure they were able to see in the darkness Orryn tore out his left eye and molded it into the form of five pairs of eyes. Orryn's sacrifice reminded the dwarves to always think of the greater good themselves, and many of their beliefs were focused around Orryn's sacrifice.

## History

The dwarves were kept asleep during the period of Aros, as Orryn feared that if they saw Aros the dwarves would yearn for it when the continent would eventually be destroyed. Instead, Orryn placed them deep underground in hopes that they would survive. Orryn would awaken his dwarves almost 300 years after the destruction of Aros, and the dwarves slowly made their way to the surface, only to find that the sunlight made the world hot and unlike their cool sleeping chambers deep underground. They made contact with some of the elves living at the base of the mountains, (later called the Mountains of Awakening) and they formed the first 9 Dwarven Houses under which each dwarf would pledge allegiance of one of the 9 Houses. These Houses were ruled over by Kings, who each sought to expand their domains through trade and diplomacy.

Overtime, more kingships were born while others fell into obscurity. The distance and depth of the dominion the dwarves controlled would later become so vast that it would take months to travel between underground strongholds.

### The Third Era

During the 1st and 2nd Era, the dwarves continued to grow in relative power to their human and elven counterparts, and during the Third Era, the dwarves would experience a golden age which would last from 1,146 3E to 3,670 3E called the Dwarven Imperium. During this period, the dwarves would construct massive underground rails connecting all of their fortresses together across Augoria. During this period, the dwarves would buy large areas of land from smaller kingdoms and attempt to control many kingdoms with bribery and political intrigue.

Their golden age would end with the already stretched dwarves being decimated by a great sickness and famine followed by the darkening of the tunnels, which caused many of the dwarven fortresses to become disconnected from each other. During this time hoards of goblins and trolls would attack these holds in an attempt to steal all the wealth stored in their vaults. The human kingdoms also largely revoked their land deals with the dwarves and seized the land they had bought.

Many human kingdoms were somewhat supportive of the goblins and even hired goblin bands to steal the wealth of the dwarves during this period. Adventurers would also begin to enter old abandoned dwarven holds and would report back tales of untold riches, which only put more pressure on the dwarves to cease most communication with the outside world.

## Subraces

* High Dwarves
* Snow Dwarves