Exemplar

**Exemplars** are the elite of dwarven culture, the pinnacle of dwarven excellence, and the one exception to the rigid caste structure, as they can be drawn from any caste, even the casteless.

## Background

They are the noble warriors, politicians, smiths and even children that all others seek to emulate, and they function as essential role models to their race. The dwarves have no gods, instead they venerate their Progenitors. To them a living Exemplar is considered a "living Progenitor", whose actions and words carry the wisdom and will of their Progenitors. The word of a Exemplar surpasses in weight even the word of a king; even if the former's title does not grant official power.

Dwarven cities are decorated by monolithic lifelike statues of Exemplars from days past. The most impressive is Ondrathum's Hall of Heroes beneath the surface gates in the White Spine, where giant statues appear to hold up the ceiling. This is meant to impress, and perhaps intimidate, visitors to Ondrathum, and to convey upon dwarves heading to the surface all that they are leaving behind.

King Endark Stonehammer is known as the First Exemplar of the dwarves.

## Election of Exemplars

There are few living Exemplars, as many dwarves are named Exemplar only after their death. The act by which one becomes an Exemplar can vary. Typically it is a feat of bravery in warfare, or an incredible invention, but it can also be something as simple as embodying the ideals and tasks of one's caste to an unprecedented perfection. Some have earned the rank for less important pursuits, however, such as writing particularly good rhymes or brewing stronger ales. An Exemplar is elected by the Assembly, which is no easy feat, and often involves long debate considering the political consequences; an Exemplar creates a noble house with a managrum representative, which may upset the political balance, as well as the society in general, since dwarves from every caste can be invited to join the new house and be uplifted to the privileged noble caste. This new house bears the name of the Exemplar, and is recorded in the Memories, the records of the dwarves.

In the Dark Ages, the best warriors of Grand Provings were named Exemplars, and many statues were constructed in their honor.

## Prominent Exemplars

### Astyla the Grey

Dwarven tradition during Astyla's time forbade women from becoming soldiers. Astyla opposed this viewpoint, and argued with the elders of the Warrior caste to change it. When they ignored her, she cut out her tongue in protest of being "silenced" by them. Without the distraction of speech, she was able to concentrate on honing her abilities, and eventually fought in and won a Grand Proving using only her bare hands. Her triumph in the Proving won women the right to become soldiers.

Impressed with her feat, the king also called on her to be his personal bodyguard and his second. She became the first female Exemplar of the Warrior caste in **1A95**, after she sacrificed her life to save him from an assassin. In her memory, the Sisterhood of Silence was founded. To honor their honorary founder and Exemplar, all Silent Sisters cut out their tongues.

### Beladin

Beladin was born during the First Scourge, when the surface world was ravaged by the fiendish hordes. His mother was a noblewoman of House Olihm and his father Smith caste worker. As per dwarven tradition, the male child inherits the caste of his father, so Beladin became a smith. His mother fought to keep him close, however, and devised a plan in which both father and son could serve House Olihm officially as smiths. Beladin proved from a young age his smithing talent, and he often employed creative techniques in his work. A few years later, he had taken most of his father's commissions, and was entrusted with outfitting House Olihm's finest warriors, many of whom were also his close friends.

As more of the Underways fell to the fiendish hordes, the dwarves became ever more desperate to push them back from their dwindling cities. Beladin envisioned a solution, based on a years-old idea, one that would turn the tide of battle in the dwarves' favor. The smith sequestered himself to his workshop, where he spent years marrying the disciplines of smithing and lucenium enchantment. When he finally emerged, he presented what he had made to the Assembly; the first Golem. For his achievement, he was declared a living Exemplar by the Assembly, and given his own noble house. Following his ascendance, Beladin went on to design a stronghold for the Legion of the Dead, which was named Borimmar.

The golems allowed the dwarves to not only hold their ground against the fiendish hordes, but push them back. Many victories were won against the fiendish hordes. But in **-248D**, after six years of constant output, Beladin and his followers vanished, and with them, the process of golem manufacture.

The dwarves mounted numerous expeditions to find the Beladin, but the fiendish hordes pushed them back each time. One major operation was conducted during the second year of the reign of Queen Nasmera, not long after Beladin's disappearance. She sent the entire Legion of Steel, a total of 126 golems, but none of the golems returned. Due to the incalculable loss of the Legion of Steel, Queen Nasmera was deposed, and the Repository declared Beladin dead, extinguishing the dwarves' last kindle of hope of reclaiming their fallen empire.

### Eganor

One of the greatest dwarven warriors ever know; Eganor mounted the defense of the Kingdom of Hugulum against the fiendish horde until it fell in **-35D**; he left for the surface after High King Threestone decreed that the Underways leading to Ondrathum be sealed, Eganor claimed that he would "rather die under an alien sky than be buried in the Stone-Mother that betrayed them"

### Endark Stonehammer

Endark Stonehammer rose to prominence when his friend and ally Thaldar Meirdeck died, and he succeeded him as the new ruler of the empire. At that time the dwarven empire spanned the length and breadth of Morgaea, encompassed by innumerable hewnholds.

After securing the Stirian and Oremenian thrones, Archon Carinius ventured into the dwarven realm to negotiate a treaty with the dwarves. When he was met by dwarven guards, he offered himself as a hostage, and asked to be taken to their king. However Carinius was sent instead to Nar-Lodahr's Proving Grounds instead in order to prove that the Progenitors, and the Stone-Mother, would favor the meeting with King Stonehammer. After fighting many champions of the Warrior and Noble castes, the Archon fought against a lone dwarf in magnificent armor wielding a war hammer forged from pure lucenium. The dwarf was far more cunning than his previous opponents, and the lucenium hammer shattered Carinius' spells like spun glass. After fighting for hours in the sand, the dwarf suddenly called a halt to the combat declaring that Carinius possessed "Eineron Alagh"; the Progenitor's favor. He then revealed his identity; Carinius fought King Stonehammer himself. The two men forged a trade alliance in **-1205D** (-5 AE). As a symbol of their friendship and pact Endark attended the first match of the Grand Proving Arena in the City of Adamantium.

At **-1170D** (25 AE), because of Nar-Lodahr's close proximity to Adamantium, Stonehammer moved the capital of the empire to Ondrathum, as a result of the internal turmoil caused in the Adamantium following Carinius' death, and also to boost commerce with the surface. While Stonehammer is credited with moving the capital, some argue that the matter was originally put forth the Assembly, by his predecessor and Stonehammer merely enforced the decree.

During his reign, Stonehammer expanded Ondrathum, building the legendary Stonehammer Hall, and reorganizing the Ondrathum Proving Ground, to allow for more massive tournaments. Exemplars began to be named from winners of Ondrathum's Grand Provings around **-1170D**.

At **-1131D** (64 AE) Endark Stonehammer was named Exemplar on his deathbed. His first and only act as Exemplar was naming his late friend Thaldar Meirdeck an Exemplar as well.

#### Legacy

Endark Stonehammer ruled the empire for at least 70 years. He and his predecessor are credited with creating the special bond between the dwarven people and the Adamantium, which has endured for more than two millennia. Based primarily on the mutually profitable lucenium trade, dwarves hold a unique position in the Admantium due to the covenant Stonehammer created with Carinius, existing as foreign dignitaries rather than citizens. Dwarven embassies exist in many cities in the Adamantium, with the greatest of them located in the City of Adamantium, housed in what was once the guest house of Stonehammer himself, and considered to be one of the wonders of the world.

### Grynar

Originally born to the Warrior caste, Grynar was a man of little note. According to the Memories, Grynar never entered a single Proving, and never sought to elevate his place among the Warrior caste. He spent most of his years prior to the First Scourge fighting skirmishes in the Underways, keeping them free from surface bandits, content to live quietly with his wife and daughters.

When the Scourge began in earnest, sometime after **-395D**, it caught the dwarven empire in the midst of a vicious inter-house war. Most of the Warrior caste was caught up in the feuding, for as word of attacks poured in, each great house demanded that the army be sent to defend their hewnhold, and no house would agree to sacrifice their own holdings for the safety of any others. The Assembly was so utterly tied up with the infighting that the fiendish horde spread, unchecked, to the gates of Ondrathum and capital of the empire.

In the chaos, Grynar grudgingly took command of the armies. He enlisted the aid of the Mining caste to collapse overrun passages, called upon the Smith caste to supply them with arms, and bypassed the Assembly and Noble caste entirely. Furthermore, according to a letter he sent to his wife, he witnessed with his own eyes the great fiendish horde moving to the surface led by the Archfiend Vemon.

With his leadership, and insubordination, Grynar saved the dwarven race from annihilation. Even after thousands of years, he is still considered to be one of the most famous and celebrated Exemplars of the dwarves. He is the only Exemplar in history whom the Assembly unanimously voted to raise up, with no debate necessary, and only a single veto, who was later savagely hacked to death by his colleagues for attemting to vote against him. Grynar was reportedly melancholic, and his fervor regarding Ondrathum's safety bordered on obsession. He was is entombed in the Hewnhold Chamber of the Grynar Hewnhold, the ancestral home of House Grynar named after their Exemplar and founder.

## Exemplar-Elect

After the rediscovery of Nar-Lodahr, it was revealed that in the time after the kingdom was completely isolated in **-15D**, and considered lost to the fiendish hordes, the dwarves of that city changed the way Exemplars were nominated and venerated, as well as the type of power the held. Exemplar Elect is the highest elected government office of Nar-Lodahr. Furthermore, the practice of nominating Exemplars has changed from recognition of past deeds into recognition of promised deeds.

In Nar-Lodahr, Exemplars are not rendered as giant statues like Ondrathum, but as massive posthumous wall carvings that span lengths of the Underways. The dwarves of Nar-Lodahr do not recognize the Exemplars of Ondrathum and likewise, Ondrathum does not recognize their Exemplars.