Progenitors

The **Progenitors** are a fundamental element of dwarven culture and life. Not quite a religion, the dwarven system of belief instead reveres the duality of the Stone-Mother and the Progenitors. Progenitors are worthy dwarves who have been properly interred in the Stone-Mother, and who therefore function as guides to their descendants, their noble deeds instructing the dwarves who follow them, and their voices heard in the justice meted out in Provings. They are regarded as honored and deeply respected spirits, and all dwarves strive to live lives that honor both their Progenitors and the Stone-Mother.

The Repository, an archive of all dwarven knowledge, history, and genealogy, records the deeds and words of the Progenitors, and thus their memories, in the Memories via lucenium.

## Progenitors and the Stone-Mother

In dwarven belief, the Progenitors and the Stone-Mother are both inextricably linked, but quite separate. Dwarves of worth who are returned to the Stone-Mother upon death become Progenitors after the words of a ritual are said. The dishonorable, the casteless, and surface dwarves are said to be outright rejected by the Stone-Mother, so that their failings won't weaken her. They are abandoned in desolate caverns for eternity as restless gangue shades or as rock wraiths. Neither the Stone-Mother nor Progenitors are gods to the dwarves, as dwarves have no gods, but Progenitors could not exist without dwarves being interred in the Stone-Mother, and the Stone-Mother itself is believed to be the ultimate progenitor of the "Children of the Stone-Mother". The Stone-Mother is not considered able to intercede in the lives of dwarves in the same way as the Progenitors, whose voices and blessings, or lack thereof, are primarily believed to impact dwarves in their day-to-day life.

## Progenitors and Exemplars

Exemplars are dwarves who have achieved a level of success, or completed a task deemed so impossible or glorious, as to be viewed with an unprecedented level of respect, beyond even that of the Progenitors. Unlike Progenitors, who become so simply by living worthy lives before their deaths and internment, Exemplars must be elected by the Assembly, and a noble house is then formed in their name. Exemplars who are nominated while alive are viewed as something akin to a living Progenitor, whose words and actions hold immense weight with the dwarven people. Such "living Progenitors" are very unusual, however, as Exemplars are rarely named, and are often nominated posthumously. So living Exemplars, and consequently living Progenitors, are of immense value.

## Voice of the Progenitors

The Progenitors are believed to speak to dwarves predominantly through the outcomes of Proving matches, giving or withholding blessings to combatants in matters of honor, judicial or political matters, even for the succession of rulers. Those who win Provings are considered to possess "Eineron Alagh", the favor of the Progenitors. Dwarves believe without question that a match cannot be won without the blessing of the Progenitors. In spite of this, matches in the Proving Grounds are sometimes rigged in order to assure favorable outcomes, despite this being considered an affront to the Progenitors.