The Longbeards

## Overview

The Longbeards are the dwarven clan descended from the Line of Dúrin. After multiple evictions and reconquering of their Stronghold Erebor, the final reincarnation of Dúrin, Dúrin the Last, leads his Clan in one final attempt at rebuilding their destroyed fortress. While the King leads his people to the Lonely mountain, many remain behind in the Iron Hills to ensure their people will not be wiped out all at once if the worst occurs.

The Longbeards are said to live longer than other dwarves, boasting a lifespan of 250-350 years old on average, and are considered the oldest and wisest of the Dwarven Clans.

## Religion

The dwarves were created by Aulë the Smith among the Valar. Aulë also invented a language for the dwarves called Khuzdul. When Ilúvatar, the mightiest of the Valar, found out that Aulë had created his own people, he was furious. Aulë sacrificed to destroy his creation, but Ilúvatar stopped him. He told him he would adopt the dwarves but not awaken them in middle earth for his children, the humans, and elves. He also gave the dwarves free will; at first, the dwarves could only move and think if Aulë wanted to. The dwarves believe that the seven fathers of the dwarf clans would reincarnate.

Thus, they believe that Dúrin would reincarnate the father of our clan, the Longbeards, six times. The dwarves believe that, after death, we end up in the halls of Mandos, the same place where the spirits of elves go when they die. However, they believe that they will enter a unique hall for dwarves, where they will be taken care of by Aulë, their creator.

## Government

The King rules with a stone fist, The line of Druin is an unbroken line of Monarchs, leading their people through many disasters, scattered but unbowed. Below the king rules his Lords, who rule regions in his name. Semi-autonomous, though ultimately answering to their king.

## History

### The First Age

Dúrin's Folk lived peacefully in Khazad-dûm and prospered.

#### FA 545 - FA 587 | War of Wrath

After the end of the War of Wrath and the ruin of Nogrod and Belegost, many of the Dwarves of those cities migrated to Khazad-dûm, swelling its population and intermingling with Dúrin's Folk.

### The Second Age

#### SA 1693 - SA 1701 | War of the Elves and Sauron

During the War of the Elves and Sauron, the Dwarves of Khazad-dûm sortied out to attack Sauron's forces in the rear, allowing Elrond and his army to escape. Afterward, Dúrin's Folk earned the hatred of Sauron. Orcs were commanded to harass Dwarves wherever they could find them. As a result, the Gates of Khazad-dûm were shut, and the Orcs could not gain entry, the Dwarves within being too numerous and valiant to overcome.

#### SA 3430 - SA 3441 | War of the Last Alliance

Dúrin IV, King of Dúrin's Folk during the War of the Last Alliance, sent an army of Dwarves of Khazad-dûm to fight alongside the Last Alliance of Elves and Men to help in the battles. It is said that very few Dwarves fought on either side, but the Longbeards fought alongside the Last Alliance.

### The Third Age

#### TA 1980 | Dúrin's Bane

The Dwarves of Khazad-dûm mined too deeply and too greedily in their search for mithril and discovered a Balrog of Morgoth that had slept beneath the Dwarven kingdom of Khazad-dûm for more than five thousand years. It slew Dúrin VI that year, and his son Náin I attempted to destroy it in TA 1981. The Balrog also killed Náin I. After this, the Dwarves of Dúrin's Folk abandoned their ancient home.

#### TA 1999 | Settling of Erebor

Dúrin's Folk discovered the mineral wealth of the Lonely Mountain During the Second Age, but the colony only came into its own after the fall of Khazad-dûm. King Thráin I led his people there and became King under the Mountain. They became wealthy and amassed a large amount of gold and treasure, including the Arkenstone jewel. Thráin I used the Arkenstone to symbolize his rule and his sons and grandsons under him who were to follow.

#### TA 2210 | Thorin Joins the Grey Mountains

During the reign of Thorin I, son of Thráin, rumors were heard of greater wealth in the Grey Mountains. Thorin decided to leave Erebor and take his people to the north, where they lived in peace until the reign of his grandson Náin II when they began to be attacked by dragons. During the reign of Dáin I, a Cold-drake invaded his halls and killed him along with his second son, Frór.

#### 2590 | Settling of the Iron Hills

Thrór, the eldest son of Dáin I and now King of Dúrin's Folk returned with his uncle Borin and part of his people to the Lonely Mountain. His younger brother Grór left for the east, where he founded a lordship in the Iron Hills.

#### TA 2770 |The Desolation of Smaug

Thrór ruled during long years of peace until a Fire-drake, Smaug, the last of the great dragons, descended from the north and sacked and took the Lonely Mountain. Dúrin's Folk became a nomadic people in exile. Many of them went to the Iron Hills and settled there. Thrór went insane and tried to re-claim Khazad-dûm by himself, leading to his death at the hand of Azog.

Until TA 2941, Smaug would rule the Lonely Mountain, slumbering in the riches of Dúrin's Folk.

#### TA 2793 - TA 2799 | The War of Dwarves and Orcs

In TA 2793, the Dwarves were gathered and advanced together, conquering each of the goblin-holds in the Misty Mountains from Mount Gundabad in the north to the peak of Methedras. Most of the war was fought underground; the Dwarves bent on finding Azog. This stage of the war was said to be so grim and pitiless that few Dwarven veterans afterward ever recounted what took place.

The war reached its climax in TA 2799 when a final battle was fought in the valley outside the eastern gates of Moria, the Battle of Azanulbizar. The Dwarves won when reinforcements arrived late on the scene from the Iron Hills. After the battle, Thráin II, son of Thrór, wanted to enter Moria and reclaim it, but the Dwarves, not of Dúrin's folk, refused, saying they had honored Dúrin's memory by fighting, and this was enough.

The war was very costly for the Dwarven race, as nearly half of their warriors had been killed. Náin, son of Grór, Frerin, second son of Thráin II, and Fundin, son of Farin, the father of Balin, were among the more noted casualties. Thráin II himself lost an eye and was wounded in the leg, and Thorin was injured when his shield broke, and he had to use an oak branch to defend himself. For this, he was given the name Oakenshield.

#### TA 2800 - TA 2881 | Thorin's Hall

After Azog was slain, many of the Dwarves under the rule of Thráin II went to the west to the Blue Mountains and settled there. To the current age, these dwarves still live there. At the time though, it was the only retreat of their race.

#### TA 2941 | Reclamation of Erebor

Thráin II's son, Thorin II Oakenshield, was convinced by the wizard Gandalf to lead a company of 13 Dwarves and one Hobbit on a quest to recover the Lonely Mountain. The quest led to the death of Smaug at the hand of Bard the Bowman and the great Battle of Five Armies against the armies of Orcs, in which Thorin and his nephews Fíli and Kíli were killed. Thorin's sacrifice led to the Kingdom of the Lonely Mountain being restored under the rule of his cousin Dáin II, Lord of the Iron Hills, who became King under the Mountain in TA 2941.

#### TA 3019 | War of the Ring

Dain II died in the Battle of Dale in the War of the Ring, fighting hordes of Easterlings in Dale. His people were then besieged. After Sauron was defeated, Dáin's son Thorin III Stonehelm and Bard II, the new King of Dale, defeated the Easterlings.

### The Fourth Age

The Fourth Age, also known as the 'Age of Men,' began once Sauron was defeated and the One Ring destroyed. The Dwarves, once again diminished after persecution by the Orcs, settled in the Iron hills. There they lived in peace.

Dozens of small nations are formed for protection as the influence of Sauron fades from the world, and the orcs go back to their roving, pillaging ways,

#### FA 1672 | The Second Reclamation of Erebor

Mid-Fourth age, Dúrin VII, also known as Dúrin the Last, leads an expedition to Erebor to rebuild the Dwarven Stronghold. He leaves behind Stôboin the Old as Lord of the Iron Hills and has named Girion Lord of Dale though the broken city has yet to be rebuilt.

## Local Laws

Currently, there are no local laws in the lands of the Longbeards.

## Alliances

The Longbeards are part of the 'Dwarven Alliance.' This Alliance is comprised of the Ironfists, Longbeards, and The Xanthos Republic.