Dwarves

> "Of ore most pure, you can be sure, we were cast in the forge / By Moradin's will, til our hearts still, we watch the hearth and the forge / And when the hearts stop, weep we shall not, as we return to the forge / Smite all our foes, and take all their blows, then we return to the forge / Smash all our foes, and right all our woes, 'fore we return to the forge" - Extract from *Hymn of the Soul Forge*, a popular dwarven prayer song
>
>

**Dwarves** are a stout race of humanoids most commonly found underground or in mountainous regions. Supposedly one of the eldest races, dwarves are known for their stalwart nature and millennia of knowledge.

## History

### The Age of Myth

Dwarven history is long and deep, perhaps the most well-recorded among the civilized races. Dwarven history is divided into large units of time known as Ages, and while they do maintain a regular calendar of 13 equal length months and a single day outside that to mark the new year, Ages help roughly place the historical framework and summon the zeitgeist. According to the oldest dwarven histories, the Zagaz-Un-Myt (literally "The Sagas of Myth" in Common), the dwarven race originated from the nine peaks of Karaz-a-Karazan over ten thousand years ago. Supposedly the race was forged by the Tehmaniyaz, the eight high deities of the dwarves, who had taken to living on the Material Plane to explore the basic laws of the universe. They cast the dwarven race in their own likenesses, varied them as they saw fit, and set about delving into the mountains. It is said that in the early days of the dwarven race, the gods labored over the first dwarves endlessly, investing them with their own blood and essence, but later discovered they could forge more dwarves without such sacrifice. It is said that these first-born with the faintest of the blood of the gods were legendary, possessed of attributes beyond the ken of mortals, and these beings would become the Ancestor-Gods, scores of lesser divinities with their niche patronages, and whom some dwarves today claim direct descent from.

For a time, it seemed that all of creation would be laid bare before the Tehmaniyaz and their creations, as the dwarven race delved deep underground and spread through the roots of the world, braving the Underdark and bringing their civilization to distant mountains and caves. Along the way, the encountered the other races: mercurial elves, stalwart gnomes, curious humans, fickle halflings, and foul orcs. It is said that the gods warred openly in those days, leading their stout creations against the vile progeny of Gruumsh, who himself led the savage host to battle. This began to draw the basic lines along which the gods and their races fight to this day: they say Yondalla, Garl Glittergold, and Corellon Larethian all sent various aid against the orcish hordes, while Maglubiyet, god of the goblinoids, cast his lot with Gruumsh. Finally, they say Tiamat was drawn into the conflict, less out of love of Gruumsh and Maglubiyet and more to reap the spoils of war, which drew Bahamut to the side of the Tehmaniyaz and their divine allies, leading to a decisive victory over the hordes of evil.

The Wars of Creation, as they are remembered, left scars on the heavens and the earth, the mortals as well as the gods. This was when the gods began to depart for the Outer Planes, as many considered the havoc wrought to be unconscionable. Valleys ran with blood and the earth itself shook in fear. They say the meteoric force of the hammers of Moradin, Tharmekhûl, and Laduguer striking in unison to demolish the prison walls that held Lolth at one stage of the war shattered the very mantle of the earth, birthing rivers of magma, sending lava through the tops of mountains, and leading to the birth of earthquakes and tsunamis. Scores of Ancestor-Gods fell in battles that became the stuff of legend. Laduguer and Tharmekhûl are said to have created the fire giants, spun from the fires of the earth's heart to be his soldiers as many of Laduguer's precious duergar had been slain or vanished. Still, the Tehmaniyaz were said to have remained, trying their best to guide the dwarven race. After centuries of bitter, divine war, the dwarves finally began to spread out from Karaz-a-Karazan and establish proper holds across the world.

In the years after The Wars of Creation, it is said that the Tehmaniyaz slowly drifted away from the Material Plane. Roknar, Moradin's avaricious youngest brother, is said to have left first, eager to delve into other planes for their riches; rumors say he carved a kingdom of wealth in the Elemental Plane of Earth and sits on a golden throne with a crown carved from a single, massive diamond. Thautam, Moradin's tender uncle, and Valkauna, Thautam's runecarving wife, carved the first dwarven ancestor constructs in memory of the lost Ancestor-Gods, committed the first dwarven sagas to carved stone, and quietly retired away from the Material Plane, to Celestia. Tharmekhûl, lord of fire and son of Thautum and Valkauna, was said to have grown disgusted by the wickedness that suffused the fire giants, and willingly banished himself to the Elemental Plane of Fire to create something better, making the azers in his approximation of an idealized race. Hanseath, Moradin's rowdy son, became a wanderer, traipsing between the planes and supposedly going on many adventures, occasionally returning in various guises to revel with the dwarves.

Moradin, Mya, and Laduguer were the last to leave the Material Plane, and on bad terms at that. Laduguer, younger brother of Moradin, had become withdrawn and bitter, as his personal creations, the duergar, had largely vanished, and his remaining clutch of them he clung to tightly. He and Moradin traveled widely together to find the lost duergar, and in doing so encountered a new enemy: the vile illithids. It had turned out that the mind flayers had used the tumult of the Wars of Creation to abduct dwarves and duergar over the years and fashion them into slave races. Most abhorrent were the derro, vile blends of dwarf and human that spat in the face of their creators and suffered inherent agony, and whom Moradin and Laduguer swore a blood oath to exterminate out of pity. The two vengeful brothers perpetuated a merciful genocide leading a grim throng of dwarves and duergar, but a terrible discovery derailed this slaughter, as the crime that broke the heart of a god was uncovered.

The duergar were bred en masse in an underground illithid citadel, which infuriated Laduguer beyond belief. Supposedly, he crashed through the walls in a frenzy during melee with a champion of the illithid god Ilsensine, a horrifically powerful ulitharid paragon. Standing in the middle of the slave pens, Laduguer supposedly pulled the head off the champion, who was personally connected to his vile god, swore a blistering oath to never again abandon his children, and squeezed the divinely empowered brain until it exploded in his fingers, granting the touch of psychic might to his assembled charges. Laduguer was a changed god, resentful and frustrated, and was inconsolable. Moradin's wife, Mya, could not sooth Laduguer's wounded soul. Moradin attempted to counsel reason, but Laduguer would hear none of it, insisting he would scour the planes for everything and anything to protect his children, and abandoned the Material Plane for the Nine Hells to seek dark blessings for his grey get.

Moradin and Mya left for Celestia, reasoning that the Material Plane had nothing left for them, and with heavy hearts the dwarven race said farewell to the last of their gods. By this time, the dwarven race had expanded to the far reaches of the plane, from the western island holds of Arak Zantliz to volcanic Tarak Zitlan in the far east, from the glacial Frazh Glim Azril in the frigid north to Narak Thul in the global south. By this point, the many Underpaths connected the whole of the race, the High Guilds had been established to preserve and promote knowledge, and sagas and grudges had become part and parcel of dwarven culture. Here ends the semi-mythic portion of dwarven history, as the first truly datable events are recorded approximately 11,000 years ago.

### The Age of Glory

The dwarven calendar officially starts at the coronation of the first High King, Angrist Bolkazzon, son of the Ancestor-God Bolkaz Moradinsbluhd, Ancestor-God of Hope and last creation of Moradin on the Material Plane before his retreat to Celestia. Supposedly Moradin left that same day, so the calendar is both religious and secular, neatly dividing the Age of Myth from the first well-documented age, the Age of Glory. The Age of Glory was characterized by a strength and unity of the dwarven race unseen since, with the entirety of the race connected. The many holds flourished as centers of civilization, churning out marvels of steel and stone. Very much picking up where their gods left off, the dwarves made a point of systematizing the cultivation of knowledge, slowly unraveling more and more of the secrets of the universe. The laws of the High Guilds encouraged this, leading to the writing of the Grand Codices, containing the sum total of agreed-upon knowledge in the important fields of alchemy, engineering, and runecraft.

As they developed, the dwarves came into contact with fledgling human polities, most notably the ancient Suel civilization that began to expand in all directions. Some dwarves assert that the imperial polytheistic cult, the Cultum Universalis, was directly inspired by their runesages, masters of the lore of the many Ancestor-Gods. The elves in their many forms were seen as aloof but mostly good people, with the two races having little territorial overlap and cordial relations. The duergar as a race split, with a slim minority remaining loyal to the original, united vision of the race as the dueri, and the majority, of the psionic slave stock liberated by Laduguer, falling into a cold and bitter madness. The savage races, mostly orcs and goblinoids, remained eternal foes, with many grudges sworn against them over the years.

This state of affairs would endure for several millennia until The Great Collapse, a global seismic event with wide-reaching consequences for all races. For the dwarves, it was the splintering of their holds. It began in the year 8529 O.D., which is known among the humans as the year 0 A.R. The convulsions of the earth tore asunder roads that had taken centuries to build, swallowed outposts whole, and allowed for the predators of the Underdark to swarm upwards. The Crown of Moradin, the term for the collective dwarven realms, had been shattered, each hold a lost jewel. Perfidious derro squatted in the ruins of lost outposts, drow and illithid slavers picked off prospectors investigating newly-exposed veins of ore, orc and goblin raiders became bold in their assaults, and the dwarves found themselves a race on the defensive. To visit a hold beyond one's own became something akin to a religious pilgrimage, fraught with terror.

### The Age of Woe

The Great Collapse left individual holds largely intact, but the broken community of the dwarves was a grievous wound. The younger races struggled to understand the issue, as a hold might still appear solid and the dwarves themselves mighty, but this was a deep loss. The inability to interact as a community greatly diminished the authority of the High King, and the difficulty of travel between holds meant that updates to the Grand Codices became increasingly rare. Even if treasuries still filled and stone was still carved, it was a time of great stagnation and loss.

Assailed on all sides, the dwarves suffered all manner of predations. The glacier dwarves of Frazh Glim Azril took a severe beating at the hands of generations of frost giants, eventually encasing their hold in walls of blue ice to keep out the rabble. Tarak Zitlan, the furthest flung hold even during the Age of Glory, became a semi-mythic memory. In the year 9529 O.D., the Great War Against Tiamat saw the rise of the chromatic dragons across the realms, with holds battered as throngs went on the march to slay them. Though the dwarves fought mightily, and in the end helped the forces of good prevail, it was a costly victory, with many holds either coming directly under attack, or being left open to assailants from the Underdark when the warriors were on the march. Karaz-a-Karazan, the ancestral home of the dwarven race and former abode of the gods themselves, found itself sullied, as a durzagon warlord took advantage of the chaos and declared himself King of Laduguer's Peak, seizing one of the nine mountains for himself.

The loss of Laduguer's Peak was a grievous one, as it showed that even the mightiest hold in all the realms was susceptible to assault. Thankfully, a combination of competing duergar lords and Underdark predators kept this loss from being the first of many, but still, it remained an affront to the dwarven race to see their homeland so defiled. Still, this paled in comparison to the collective shock felt by the race at the loss of Kraz Akzaran in 10943 O.D., with the entire hold falling to a monstrous horde of orcs, goblinoids, giants, and derro. They say the last king of Kraz Akzaran, Almir Krattson, and his most loyal retainers issued an open challenge to the attackers in one of the great halls, buying the time for as many refugees as possible to flee the hold. Their heroic sacrifice is remembered as not only the most recent, but perhaps the most egregious, slight yet suffered by the dwarven race.

### The Age of Reckoning

Most recently, in the year 11000 O.D., the dwarves elected Targim Purebeard, a thane turned fiery preacher of vengeance, to the office of High King. His force of personality brought together a mighty throng, which he led personally in the War of Reclamation, the campaign to bring Laduguer's Peak back into the fold. Backed by experimental weapons from the High Guilds, the throng washed away the shame of the past with the blood of thousands of duergar, and Karaz-a-Karazan was, for the first time in over a millenium, completely within dwarven control. With flying machines whirling overhead and black powder weapons roaring with fury, the dwarves had finally turned the corner on a new age: the Age of Reckoning.

The retaking of Laduguer's Peak re-energized both the dwarven race in general and the office of High King in particular. Emissaries were flown to the far reaches of the world to reconnect the holds, and guild secrets brought with them. Soon, every hold was bringing forth warriors for the throngs, marching under the banner of the High King for the first time in ages. A revitalized Engineers' Guild, now bringing the might of the whole race together for the first time in ages, began to reconstruct portions of the Underpaths, laying the foundations for a truly united dwarven empire once again. In the present, the year 11025 O.D., the new guild secrets have become widespread, the campaigns of The Grudgebearer, as Purebeard is known, fill the dwarven race with hope, and the largest throng in memory assembles beneath Karaz-a-Karazan, preparing for the long march to retake Kraz Akzaran.

## Religion

### The Tehmaniyaz

The dwarven race recognizes eight true deities as the primogenitors and patrons of their race. These eight are known as the Tehmaniyaz, and their deeds are recorded in legend and saga. While Moradin reigns supreme, the other gods, even those who have fallen from grace, have their place in the pantheon and are offered prayers as appropriate. While a dwarf may pick a particular deity as his patron, an appropriate circumstance will warrant an errant prayer; even the most pious cleric of Moradin will suggest a prayer to Roknar if the quest is for hidden treasure, for instance. A dwarf quarter in a human settlement will usually boast a single temple, invariably of Moradin. Within a dwarhold, religious affairs are handled in the Hall of the Gods, a massive complex with eight separate chambers, one for each god, where a dwarf may go to offer his prayers and seek clerical counsel as appropriate. The model for this was set in Karaz-a-Karazan, the ancestral homeland and holiest of peaks for the dwarven race. According to tradition, each of the Tehmaniyaz had a peak for themselves, and the central peak was where Moradin decreed his kind hold court; if tradition is truth, then the original Hall of the Gods in Karaz-a-Karazan was, at one point, physically occupied by the Tehmaniyaz in ages past, with the appropriate chapel being where a deity personally ministered to their people.

### The Gromahlds

Dwarves have a separate tier of deity known as Ancestor-Gods, or Gromahlds, which are numerous and storied. Humans are apt to mistakenly compare them to the saints found in their own religions, a misconception dwarves will gladly correct, though they know most humans will struggle to understand the difference. Supposedly handcrafted by the Tehmaniyaz, suffused with a hint of their divine essence, and possessed of extremely limited purviews and powers, they are nonetheless a significant part of the dwarven religious tradition. Some clans claim descent from a particular Ancestor-God, and they are often invoked in specific prayers relating to their niche in dwarven life. Some dwarves, known as *gromzhagaz*, dedicate themselves to the study of these scores of lesser deities. The nature of Ancestor-Gods is a complex topic in dwarven metaphysics, one which dwarf theologians and philosophers expound upon to this day.

### The Azhatalla and The Bhadizava

Dwarves believe living in accordance with one's gods and purpose bring one to a sense of divine peace and unity. They believe their race was cast in the image of their gods, and as such, by living correctly, their inner divine inspiration may shine. Thus, some living dwarves may gain small followings among those who share a similar *dhama*, a dwarven concept suffused with complex meaning. These dwarves are known as *azhatallaz*, meaning "models to emulate", and are believed to enjoy the favor of the gods. Even more blessed are those believed to have achieved as close to one can to worldly perfection in accordance with their *dhama*, and they are known as *bhadizavaz*. These individuals go beyond even the *azhatallaz*, sometimes gathering hundreds of followers in schools of thought to try to mirror their behavior. These figures are believed to be gifted a supernatural favor of the gods as a reward for their virtue, bringing out their inner perfection. Theirs can even become the basis for a new tradition to be followed, such as a particular fighting style or a particular focus in smithing.

## Culture

### Tradition

Tradition is perhaps the most defining feature of dwarven culture. Much of dwarven life is governed by tradition, with all manner of customs and social mores existing to regulate proper behavior. According to dwarves, there is a definite right way to do things, and that is the way of one's ancestors, guildmasters, and gods. That is not to say that progress can not be made, and indeed, new modes of thought and practice have emerged throughout dwarven history, but until proven thoroughly, dwarves consider innovation to be suspicious indeed. Critics from other races cast dwarves as extremely hidebound and rigid due to their strong considerations of custom and precedent, but dwarves argue that, if their traditions weren't the right way, they wouldn't have become such a long-lived race.

Tradition is the touchstone for most aspects of dwarven life, and is typically the default reason for pursuing a given course of action. Unless they are masters of a particular field, a dwarf will default to the dictates of tradition for almost all things; why should any but a master smith believe himself craftier than guildmasters of the past, or a commander beneath the top ranks believe his strategies better than proven ancestral methods of war, for instance? Typically only certain dwarves may circumvent tradition, but this is a tradition in itself: a savant must innovate and improve. Of course, dwarves, loathe to embrace the term "innovation" lightly, typically insist their work is simply an extension or refinement of an earlier tradition, which makes them feel better.

Another significant feature of dwarven culture that reinforces the hold of tradition over daily life are the sagas. Essentially blurs of history and myth, sagas typically offer models of ideal behavior, and so many times are cited before making crucial decisions. Dwarves all insist that the sagas, no matter how outlandish they may sound, are all true, and over time more and more have entered their cultural consciousness. Some are widely known, such as the Saga of the Prison of Lolth and the Saga of Laduguer's Wrath, while others may be more particular to a given clan, hold, or guild, such as the Saga of Angrim Raumusson and The Tree Elves or The Saga Of Thautum and His Hammer.

### Honor

Dwarves of all kind are unified by their overriding sense of honor. Even the least traditional dwarf considers his solemn promise to be a binding oath, and even the most insidious and self-serving duergar is loathe to break a sworn oath. Furthermore, every dwarf attempts to live up to his *dhama,* a word that does not translate neatly into Common but can generally be understood to mean "one's duties, purpose, and potential". Each dwarf has their own *dhama*, largely defined by the customs, laws, and traditions relating to their clan, profession, and personal life. Besides this, a dwarf attempts to uphold *wagodaw,* roughly translated as "honor of one's word and pledge", and more literally as "the dwarven way".

To swear an oath is to put an unbreakable duty upon oneself, and for this reason dwarves have always been suspicious of races possessed of less ironclad convictions. An oath can be for life, or sometimes beyond, or it can be until a condition is met. Sometimes to make right a perceived wrong, a dwarf will swear an oath that will expunge the wrong upon fulfillment; these can range from simply swearing to craft someone a fine set of plate, to undertaking a quest with them, to the mighty Slayer Oath, to die in glorious battle against the enemies of the dwarven race. An oath is often invoked using a full name, and if possible an oath stone, a stone carved with the name of the dwarf, and in some cases their clan. If an oath is written, the full name is as well, leading to the dwarven idiom "to put one's name on something", meaning an ironclad promise.

Just as significant as an oath is a grudge. Typically sworn when some sort of wrong has been perpetuated, a grudge is a particularly enduring oath of vengeance that can transcend the individual dwarf. A single dwarf may swear a grudge against a particularly vile goblin, but a grudge can also be communal, such as a clan swearing a grudge against an entire mountain for killing their kin in a cave-in (which supposedly happened near the lost hold of Kraz Akzaran, which led to a peak being completely levelled). In the worst cases, the entire dwarven race may be sworn against something, such as against the defilers of Laduguer's Peak. Every grudge is recorded, whether in a personal ledger, a clan book, or at the very top, the Great Book maintained by the High King in Karaz-a-Karazan. This has led to some who journey with dwarves to joking exclaim "this is going in The Book!" when their stout companions are riled up, and to the dreaded dwarven invective "thats a grudging", which typically denotes great displeasure.

### Knowledge

While dwarves are known for being very hidebound creatures, they are hardly backwards in terms of technology and learned scholars. Indeed, dwarves believe their entire race was created as an extension of their progenitor gods' quest to unravel the mysteries of the universe and lay bare the fundamental underpinnings of reality. The dwarven language is a popular choice among learned individuals of other races due to the large number of books written in it, second only to Common and perhaps the language of the gnomes, which shares the dwarven alphabet. Dwarves are fastidious writers, recording everything from personal grudges and oaths to histories and journals to field notes and experimental theorems. Dwarves invented an extremely advanced form of mathematics known as *kalkuluz*, which is the base of their engineering expertise. The gnome mathematical field of trigognometry is believed to be related to it. Their most prominent social institutions beyond clan and hold are guilds surrounding the most significant fields of knowledge.

For a practice to be acceptable to dwarves, it must be in accordance with the laws of the appropriate guild. The three High Guilds are the Alchemists', Engineers', and Smiths' Guilds, and from them flow the many Low Guilds as extensions of them; Brewers' and Distillers' Guilds descend from alchemy, Merchants' and Carpenters' Guilds are associated with engineering (and in the case of Merchants', mapmaking using math), and so forth. In Karaz-a-Karazan sits the three Grand Halls of the High Guilds, each containing the Grand Codex of their guild. These Grand Codicies contain the complete list of all confirmed knowledge of the dwarven race, carved in a runic script on sheets of perfectly wrought adamantine and illuminated with golden lettering. Each dwarfhold will have their own Guild Halls, each with their own Great Codex, a smaller copy of the Grand Codex of their guild. For new knowledge to be made acceptable, it must be first written by a master of a guild, then his findings independently verified by masters of the same guild in at least two other holds, then brought to Karaz-a-Karazan to be entered into the Grand Codex, where the update must then be sent to the remaining holds. During the days of the united dwarven realms, this was a thorough, if slightly slow, system, but the collapse of the Underpath System made this a logistical nightmare, practically halting technological progression for millennia.

While updates to the Grand Codices are finally becoming more regular, many Great Codices contain errata not found in their cousins in other holds, as this is where experimental ideas are submitted under the heading of "master-crafted"; only a dwarf certified as a master in his field may even propose to innovate. Of course, once a "master-crafted" innovation is peer reviewed and entered into a Grand Codex, it becomes "Codex Compliant", and any guild member is expected to be familiar with it. In theory, all the errata from the various Great Codicies should eventually make it into the Grand Codicies after vigorous testing, but the sheer vigor of the testing makes this a time consuming process. Since any good guild member is expected to carry his own Codex, including personal notes and certifications, certain turns of phrase are believed to originate with the dwarves before migrating to languages of other races, such as "by the book" and "up to code".

## Politics

Dwarven politics are relatively simple to grasp, as their system, though extremely intricate, is also logically consistent. A dwarf is a member of a clan, an extended kinship network that predominantly occupied a single hold, though it often has members in smaller numbers in at least one other hold. A dwarf is also usually member of some sort of guild, which regulates professional matters. Within a clan, the most esteemed figures of authority are the thanes, who are the nobles of the dwarven race. Within a guild, the authority lies with the guildmasters. A thane sets the agenda for his clan, and a guildmaster guides his guild. The collective of thanes and guildmasters all answer to their king, and there is one in every hold. The king is of a royal clan particular to his hold, and his word is law, though rooted in legal precedent and honored tradition. At the very apex of political authority is the office of High King, who guides the entire dwarven race from Karaz-a-Karazan. In the past, this office has gone from being highly esteemed to seen as somewhat hollow after the Great Collapse, but respect for the office has returned in more recent years. The High King is an elected position, where all thanes and kings are both eligible candidates and voters, and is traditionally picked for embodying the values of the dwarven race and being an upright and honorable person. Every rank understands their obligations to the next, and the limitations of their standing. In the cases where there is a dispute, the nearest ranking authority renders a decision, and if either party is dissatisfied, it is taken to the next highest rank, and so on. In theory, a simple squabble between two dwarves could go all the way to being deliberated upon by the High King, though in practice that is very rare indeed.

## Ecology

Dwarves are a hardy race, and quite suited to life almost anywhere, however, their preferred climes are all subterranean. Whether simply out of tradition or something programmed into them at the dawn of the race, dwarves thrive when their realms are at least somewhat below ground. Mountains, caves, volcanoes, and cliffside caverns are all appealing to dwarves. In addition, they have developed all manner of adaptations over the millennia for such living, including a mastery of mycoculture, specialized architecture styles, and other technical and social norms. There are several variants of dwarves, which the dwarves attribute to the craftsmanship of their assorted gods. Perhaps most distinct are the duergar, who themselves are split between the psionic majority, and the minority who stayed with the rest of the dwarven race after the falling out between Laduguer and Moradin, known as the dueri. Friction between the two branches persists to this day, as the duergar continue to lurk in the Underdark in their wars with regular dwarves, illithids, and other denizens of the deep.

Dwarves enjoy amicable relations with other civilized races. They view humans with a mixture of amusement and curiosity, due to their short-lived nature. They consider gnomes something akin to cousins, and many dwarf holds feature a gnome quarter. Halflings are a welcome sight, viewed somewhat like humans but with more stability, given their longer lives and Yondalla's emphasis on community. Elves are the perennial foil to the dwarves, though usually relations are positive. That isn't to say that there haven't been wars between them in the past, but for the most part, dwarves consider elves good, if somewhat misguided at times. Still, as a pair of elder races whose gods fought alongside one another, the two more often than not throw their lots together in the face of threats.

Among the savage races, dwarves count many enemies. Orcs and goblinoids have a racial hatred of the dwarves, and consider despoiling their lands to be something akin to a religious activity. Similarly, giants have earned the enmity of the dwarves through their wars over the high peaks and deep caves of the world, as well as the imperious nature of many giants; supposedly every race of giants is indigenous to the Material Plane and naturally formed, and consider dwarves to be artificially crafted usurpers squatting on their world. Evil dragons find dwarves to be competitors for treasure, and many remember Tiamat's defeat during the Wars of Creation with much bitterness. In general, the same orderly, good characteristics that make dwarves get along with civilized races also draw the ire of their enemies.

The most elusive and legendary foe of the dwarves are the fabled derro, a mongrel race borne of vile experiments on human and dwarf slaves held captive by the illithids. The very existence of the derro is considered extremely shameful and an outrage to be corrected, a blend of two immiscible substances that is a waste of both races. Dwarves especially see this as the defiling of the work of their gods, and thus wish to return all of the lost dwarven essence to Moradin's forge. To this end, they have sworn genocide upon the derro as a mercy upon their miserable lot, and consider the extermination of any discovered derro to be an absolute imperative, though also a grim and melancholy undertaking. They are not eager to discuss the derro with outsiders, and while they will not deny their existence, they volunteer no information on them, and are usually quite uncomfortable discussing the derro.

## Economy

The dwarven race produces some of the finest stone and metalwork in the known world. Their penchant for craftsmanship makes them consummate professionals, and especially with the guilds certifying goods of only exceptional quality being produced, dwarves profit from their many trades. Mining forms an important part of their livelihoods, to provide raw materials for their forges. Gems are also held in esteem, though they are just as often traded to gnomes as they are kept and cut by dwarves themselves, as the gnomes are recognized as talented artisans when it comes to gemcutting. Dwarves are also keen engineers and alchemists, making all sorts of high quality siege weapons, contracting services for construction, and deriving all manner of unique goods from the bounty of the Underdark. Brewing is an esteemed dwarven art, and even the least impressive dwarven beers fetch a fair price. Dwarven tools are considered among the best, typically passed down generationally by the younger races due to their high quality and endurance. Quite simply, if it requires technical expertise, the basic assumption is that dwarven goods will be of a certain quality, and in some fields exceptional.

Dwarves are also quick to acknowledge when their holds are unable to provide every necessity, and readily trade with other races, most notably humans. Humanity typically offers all sorts of raw materials in exchange for goods of a quality their own kind can not craft. Ale and arms are typically the order of the day, though other specialty goods are also sought after. Adventurers looking to brave the Underdark often seek the nearest dwarven market, both for their tools and their expertise. Gnomes, inventive souls that they are, often produce wonders of artifice that dwarves can appreciate and pay highly for, typically finely wrought devices such as clockwork devices, movable type printers, music boxes, and other luxury items. While elves are also masterful craftsmen in their areas of expertise, dwarves are less keen to trade with them, less out of an aversion and more a disinterest in what they usually offer, save for exotic raw materials, which the High Guilds will gladly pay for. Halfling merchants are a welcome sight in dwarven markets, as they typically can ensure the fair flow of commerce in both directions, and are more frequently further afield from dwarfholds than many dwarves can comfortably be. While dwarven merchant caravans exist, all manner of issues, including threats from the Underdark, pressing grudges to be avenged, and other hindrances means oftentimes a buyer is better served traveling to a hold than waiting for dwarven goods to come to them; the fact that the other races see this as a fair encumbrance is a testament to the quality of their goods.

## Military

Dwarven armies, known as throngs, are renowned for their discipline and professionalism, though are sometimes considered a touch inflexible. Most usually, a throng is comprised of a relatively small number of dwarves fulfilling a particular military duty, such as checking an advancing horde of drow or running off an orc tribe. A throng will usually have a mix of young dwarves fulfilling their duties to the hold, and career soldiers dedicated to king and kin. In times of war, a mightier throng may be summoned, with the ranks bolstered by all manner of grizzled veterans. In these cases, with the longbeards at the front, the dwarves march in clanking lines of steel, typically heavily armed and armored, maneuverability be damned. The most elite troops, typically personal guards of a thane or king, are clad in more exotic metals and armors, such as interlocking full plate and mithral or adamantine. Most recently, the throngs of the High King have assembled possibly the most fearsome mustering of dwarves since the Wars of Creation, with all manner of warriors fighting under one banner.

Irregular additions to dwarven throngs include all manner of spellcasters. Runesmiths are always a welcome addition to a throng, and typically unafraid, as their ability to be armor clad makes them less averse to entering the fray. Clerics and war priests are other linchpins of dwarven battle lines, exhorting their fellows to fight longer and harder. Furthermore, slayers, dwarves sworn to die in glorious battle for the sake of honor, are often drawn to battle whenever not on their own adventures. Quicker than most, they often take on the role of shock infantry, charging into the fray before the main line can take to the field, or coming in unexpectedly from a new angle to rip apart whatever may be battering the steel wall of regular dwarven infantry.

In addition, dwarven rangers, known as cavers, can often be found leading skirmishing parties or units of crossbow wielding quarrelers. Dwarves consider the bow to be a weapon for elves and other, "less direct" races, and uphold the crossbow as the superior choice: a heavier duty weapon that relies less on speed than on stopping power. Dwarves supposedly invented the repeating crossbow, which approaches or even exceeds the speed of a traditional bow in skilled hands, but still live by the maxim of "less shots, so make them count" in terms of ranged weaponry. Even non-cavers who fight at range share this philosophy, and aim to take down opponents with synchronized volleys of heavy bolts. For situations requiring more ranged firepower, engineers typically bring all manner of advanced siege weapons, including trebuchets and ballistas, including the rare repeating and volley ballista models. An engineering team is a valuable dwarven military asset, and while few other races see the battlefield applications of mathematics, to the dwarves they are essential for pummeling enemies at range. Often drawn by teams of mules, these weapons are typically mounted on "platforms", a term for a rotating base attached to a solid wagon, allowing for ease of transport and aim. In more permanent defensive emplacements, platforms can be more sophisticated and rotate along multiple axes, allowing their devastating payloads to even be pointed skywards at dragons and the like.

Dwarves have no traditional cavalry; they tend to be distrustful of horses, and donkeys and mules make for poor mounts in the field of battle. A rare few holds, however, can muster warriors trained to ride the beasts known as rust monsters. Dwarves clad in stone armor with matching warhammers, known as rust riders, can be a terrifying presence when their mounts magically disintegrate the arms and armor of their foes. Most of the time such cavalry is unnecessary or not the most effective choice, but against more advanced foes such as the drow, rust riders can effectively negate the advantages of heavy armor.

Rounding out the dwarven throngs are the new creations of the High Guilds. Black powder weaponry has proven to a devastating innovation with a variety of military uses. The use of thrundbolters and thrundkhlappers as an additional measure of ranged firepower alongside crossbows has allowed for dwarven throngs to engage at greater distance, and the larger weapons, known as thrundsturmers, take their place alongside other siege weapons and artillery as powerful displays of guild secrets in action. Particularly with competition to innovate more efficient powder formulas, projectile shapes, and gun configurations, more and more experimental weapons overseen by guildmasters enter the fray. The most famous of these even take on names, such as Hellhammer, the massive thrundsturmer that first cracked the gates of Laduguer's Peak. From above, the whirligigs dash across the sky, and while perhaps not as graceful or lethal as a dragon or roc, they present the dwarves with a level of mobility hitherto unheard of. While most fly unarmed or with minimal armament, their ability to rapidly survey the battlefield and deliver troops where necessary has been an extremely effective force multiplier; the additional flexibility has allowed the dwarves to do more with less, which has translated to several key victories in their recent wars. Some master engineers have taken it upon themselves to innovate further on the whirligig design, leading to each being a uniquely equipped vessel. Some are built for speed with finer motors or exotic hull materials, others as floating weapons platforms for bringing the terror of an artillery piece to the skies, and others with larger and larger bays for disgorging scores of warriors where necessary. Much like the finer artillery pieces, these master engineers are eager to name their creations, as well as attribute honors to them for good performance.