Dwarves

Dwarves are a major race in the series Rise of Darkness and in Shards of Fire. They are one of the three main humanoid creatures.

## About

Dwarves are short broad creatures, usually measuring up to 1.2 metres, who spend most of their time fighting, drinking or mining. Although the humans and elves like to see them as imbeciles, they are highly respected and are very gentle unless provoked. The average age of a dwarf is roughly 150 years old, with the oldest being over 3,000 years old. Dwarves are also known worldwide to be immune to any plague or illness, which shows that they do not require an apothecary, however most cities do have one.

## History

The dwarves were created around the same time as the Elves and began in the continent of Duchon. Unlike any other race in the world, they are the shortest human creatures just reaching 1.3 metres tall. Dwarves are infamous for being great warriors but even greater miners. They have a consistent economy, however inflation often occurs. Although they are great warriors, they care not much for wars unless they have to.

### Era of Creation

Originally from Duchon, when humans first came to Duchon, the dwarves allowed several to stay and form Norfeg and other human settlements. The dwarves would stick to Dragonbreath because they had no need for any other part of the region. When the first Elves came to Duchon, the dwarves hated their prescence and instead planned to make two new colonies around the world. This was successful with the creation of Diamore and another dwarf city.

### Slavery of the Dwaves

In the year 424 BS, the dwarven king sent a party of dwarves to Pacif to found a new dwarven colony, which he named Diamore. Upon the founding of Diamore, the eastern humans of Staguni had never seen a dwarf before, so they captured the "beasts" and experimented on them as well as used them for slaves.

Hearing of this, the king of Dragonbreath created a giant dwarven army (numbering close to 22,000 dwarves) that sail across the ocean, went up the river Amook and set up a military camp along the bank. The humans of Staguni learned of this, and used their alliance with Rabar to fight the dwarves. An army was formed containing 19,000 men, the War of Slavery began. For more information see the war of slavery. By 420 BS, the dwarves re-colonized the city of Diamore and joined The Alliance.

### Fall of the Dwarves

However, by 97 BS the Fall of the Dwarves began with the corruption of the unnamed dwarf city. Not much is known about this event except that inflation occured rapidly leaving Dragonbreath and Diamore nearly worthless. In the year 38 BS, Diamore fell during a mix of gas escapes which resulted in Diamore being filled with carbon monoxide. This left Dragonbreath being the last of the dwarf cities, several dwarves immigrated to Dragonbreath, whilst some created a small outpost in the Brass Hills.

## Dwarves in Rise of Darkness

Dwarves are first introduced as being quite honorable and serious however this was later debunked. This was because of the Fall of the Dwarves resulting in most dwarves fearing for their own lives.

### Known Dwarves

* King Brom
* Egeus
* Commander Ruso

## Trivia

* The common slang for a dwarven shoemaker or prankster is leprechaun which follows the original folklore of traditional irish leprechauns being, "short shoemakers with a prankster nature."
	+ Egeus is even nicknamed a leprechaun as a child when he pulled a prank on one of the elder dwarves in the forges.
* Several dwarves are named after Shakespearian characters
	+ Egeus is named after Hermia's father in A Midsummer Night's Dream
	+ Goneril is named after Lear's daughter in King Lear