The Dwarves of the Iron-sea Desert

*Betrayal?? Nay, it was not 'betrayal' that rips us apart from our brothers. It was stupidity. Stubbornness Superstition. Our wise "brothers" allowed a wedge to be pushed between us. A house divided is sure to fall, and fall we did. We fell into into torment and torture and persecution. Our own brothers spending their last throwing-axes against US instead of the enemy taking our halls. We fell into a desert of cold wind and ice, and now we re-build our family, and to HELL with the dwarvin traditions that nearly damned us all.*

### Summary

The Iron-Sea Desert is technically a geographic feature rather than a nation, but within the bulk of its area lives a strange, disjointed, nameless nation of 'renegade' dwarves of the Numbhar Clan, who disavow all political structure for a life of isolation, but are slowly being forced onto the national stage of politics and nations, due to their growing population and influence. They do not have a central government, or any large cities, but have a strange, cooperative form of democracy by which their individual villages agree on important matters.

### Geography

The Iron-Sea Desert is a "cold desert", which means that it is a dry, barren landscape of sand dunes and rocky hills, but with continuous cold weather. Separating the desert from the Straits of Benuva waterway is a line of tall, sparse, crumbling mountains, made up of rocks embedded with ferrous materials, which rust in the air, giving them a rusty red hue. These same rocks are the source of the near endless horizon of sand and gravel in the desert, which takes on that same rust coloration, giving the region it's name. The mountains rock material, called "weak-iron", is relatively unstable, and prone to erosion and structural collapse. Also, its dust, when freshly pulverized, gives off a powerful irritant to the lungs. All throughout the mountain range, one can hear the sounds of rock tips breaking off and falling in the distance, and these mountains are hard to tunnel out, which means that very little of the local population lives beneath them, as opposed to the other mountain ranges on the Mainlund, which have far more hospitable subterranean environments.

### Racial Distribution

The Iron-Sea Desert's main land area (all the region except for the north-eastern tip) is populated primarily by the Numbhar Dwarves, a minority clan of dwarves from the original dwarvin kingdom under the Kharos Mountains who were nearly wiped out in a genocide by the Kharzhak majority dwarves after both groups had lost a bitterly fought war over their ancestral dwarvin halls to the Arachnid spider-people. Initially, as the scattered Numbhar dwarves started slowly coalescing in the Iron-Sea Desert, they were virtually the only people there. Some remnant human barbarians from the ancient era still lived nomadic lives crossing back and forth across the desert, but few other beings could survive in a cold desert with little vegetation The hardy dwarves increased their numbers steadily over the years, and have welcomed in any other peoples whom wish to live along side them in their tough terrain, which results in a slightly larger number of non-dwarves in current times. Some small number of halfings, humans (from nomadic barbarian, Parthian or Bhesinian descent), and elves now live in this land (albeit in much tinier numbers than the dwarves). There is a sizable, but scattered, group of half-giants whom have traveled to this barren land on a sort of religious pilgrimage to test their ability to withstand hardship in the barren dessert. These nomadic wandering foragers and beggars usually stay a few years, then return to their homes in Calcova.

The north eastern tip of the land is not commonly associated with the "Dwarves of the Iron-Sea Desert" as an entity, and technically belongs to the nation of Partha. This is territory occupied by Partha for mostly strategic reasons: the Parthians fear an assault from Gruthar (or perhaps Calcova) coming from the hidden valleys of the mountain range there. This has happened before, when the Ogres of Gruthar and Partha fought to a stand-still, and the Parthians never want to be caught off guard by a hidden army in these mountains again. There are very few people living in that region, mostly farmers who are encouraged by the government to create homesteads out that way, and a few groups of those barbarian desert nomads, whom are slowly dying out or being absorbed by the Parthian people through intermarriage.

### History

The dwarves of older times lived as one healthy, successful society, beneath the Kharos Mountains, and were known for their wealth generated by the rich minerals of the mountain, along with their renown metallurgy and blacksmithing skills. The dwarves were rich, but isolated. They freely traded with humans and elves who came to their mountain halls as guests, but they themselves were not known for venturing out into the surface world much. The Kharos Mountain tunnels connect to an almost endless chain of underground passageways, so there was no visible end the exploration that the dwarves might do in their cavernous world. As such, they really didn't see any need to bother with the surface world. Virtually all trade with the outside world was conducted by the minority Numbhar clan, as the majority Kharzhak clan viewed this activity as a a distasteful necessity, best left to the merchant class.

This isolation was heightened during the Barbarian Era, as those people pushes back the elves, whom always had some level of cordial contact and trade with the dwarves, out of the central Mainlund. The barbarians themselves made plans several times to storm the Kharos Mountain stronghold, but the dwarves were always successful at repealing these invasions, and keeping their gates sealed. At this time, the strange Arachnid race emerged at the edge of the dwarvin territories underground, claiming to have been displaced from their homes far away. Their numbers were small, and they only wanted to set up homes in most mineral-poor sections of the Kharos caverns, so the dwarves greeted these bizarre folk with hospitality and allowed them to claim a small section of caverns as their own. This hospitality would prove to be the greatest mistake the dwarves would ever make.

As the Barbarian warlords on the surface of the Mainlund settled down into more permanent, peaceful people, the dwarves were poised to emerge as a dominant force again, but in a shocking move, the Arachnids revealed that they possessed easily 10 times as many people as the dwarves believed and opened up a lighting fast assault on the dwarvin government, assassinating virtually all the ruling Kharzhak leadership at the start of the conflict, while leaving the Numbhar chancellors untouched. The Numbhar clan, which was influential but small, protested that they had no idea why this was done. As the war ravaged the dwarvin population, whom had no answer for the highly magical assault of the Arachnids, the Kharzhaks became convinced that the Numbhars were secret allies of the Arachnids, and had betrayed their brethren.

The reality was that the Arachnids, being master strategists had correctly predicted that a schism in the dwarven society would be easy to trigger, and would allow for enough distraction to let the Arachnids smash the dwarves completely within a very short time. Their forces were primarily magical, and they did not have the resources to hold an extended siege war against the stubborn dwarves, so a lighting fast blitzkrieg was their plan, and it required that the dwarves fight amongst themselves to weaken their group collectively.

Within less than half a year, the dwarvin people were being routed. Their armies had been smashed, their leadership killed, and their halls mostly overran by the Arachnid forces. The existing leadership was divided over what step to take next. Some traditionalist forces (mostly Kharzhak) demanded that every dwarvin woman and child be armed to fight, and that all dwarves should fight to the death over the last few inches of their ancestral home. Other, more progressive forces (mostly Numbhar) insisted that the dwarves abandon the mountain and retreat on the surface world to re-group, using their human contacts for support and shelter. In the end, the idea of retreating out onto the surface won out, and the dwarves prepared to evacuate the mountains.

Once evacuated, the dwarves spilled out into the plains of the Mainlund in modern day Garmond, and immediately set upon each other in a vicious conflict. The Kharzhak's exposed to the harsh surface world, became more and more convinced that the Numbhar's whom were the ones with relationships with surface people, had a hand in the Arachnid plan, in order to seize power from the traditional Kharzhak monarchy. The Kharzhak's themselves, perhaps inspired by the efficiency of the Arachnid assault, launched a secret plan to kill all the Numbhar "traitors", but to the horror of the Numbhars, and to all the human forces whom were assisting the dwarves at this time with food and shelter.

The Numbhar lost half of their remaining people over the week-long massacre, and only survived by fleeing the region as fast and as in as many directions as they could, thus fragmenting their people and scattering them across the land. The Kharzhaks ultimately set up residence on a barren rocky outcropping in the northern sea called Rock Island, rechristening it "New Kharsis".

Having been nearly wiped out by their Kharzhak brethren the Numbhar found themselves scattered throughout the central Mainlund, looking for a home. The humans of Garmond allowed the dwarves some time to re-group inside their borders, but generations of tension between the dwarves and the barbarian forefathers of the Garmonders made it impossible for the dwarves to set up permanent residence in that land, and so they left. Some dwarves went further south, into the Footlands, and a very small contingent of Numbhar remain there to this day. Most of the Numbhar pushed north and northwest, taking them into the lands that separate Partha and Bhesina. The Bhesinians distrust dwarves due to a religious decree, and loudly instructed these refugees not to cross one foot into their lands, under penalty of death. The Parthians were more cordial, and offered the Numbhar temporary shelter in their south-western-most villages. The Parthians however, found themselves in a touchy situation, as they had also established close trading relations with the Kharzhaks whom had set up a new nation in New Kharsis. The Kharzhaks possessed all the monetary wealth that the dwarves had been able to escape with during their ejection from the Kharos Mountains, and they were in desperate need of trade goods like meat, oil, salt, wool, and leather from the Mainlund. Partha was only too happy to sell them these items, but the Kharzhaks threatened to buy all their necessities from Calcova instead, if Partha continued to house the "rebel" Numbhar. Partha gave the Numbhar a sizable cache of resources, and politely instructed them to vacate southwest Partha.

From there, the Numbhar, having no where else to go, moved further west, into the Iron-Sea Desert, which was viewed as mostly inhospitable, save for a few rough barbarian human groups there. Fortunately for the dwarves, their stout constitutions allowed them to survive (and later thrive) in the dusty, frigid desert. They befriended the nomadic barbarians there, surprising since these nomads were known for raiding nearby villages with shocking violence, and these barbarians instructed the dwarves on how to find the scarce edible roots and hidden water in the desert. The Numbhar, in exchange, brought medicine and modern technology (like steel-working) to the barbarians.

The Numbhar, being dwarves, tried for many years to set up a mountain hall in the mountains that line the coastline of the region, but the weak-iron mountains proved too unstable for safe residence. The bulk of the Numbhar population set up villages right at the foot of these mountains, with some tunneling done in the most stable sections.

Most scholars had a pessimistic view of the long-term viability of this new dwarvin community. Easily sun-burned dwarves living in exposed, above-ground huts in the middle of a cold desert seem unlikely to thrive, but the resourceful Numbhar learned to live in their new environment. They recognized small caches of gemstones in some of the tunnels they dug, and could find the occasional veins of good ore among the worthless rivers of weak-iron that striped the landscape. Giving up all material comforts known to dwarves, like ale, bread, gambling, and whiskey, the Numbhars pooled their resources as a community instead of hanging onto every last coin in greed, as was the normal dwarvin way. Slowly over time, they developed a trading relationship with Calcova, who needed metallurgical resources and could not buy them from Partha or New Kharsis due to political tensions. Calcova provided the Numbhars with capital and food in exchange, and their relationship continues to be favorable to this day.

### Politics & National Relations

The Dwarves of the Iron-Sea Desert have had cool relations with most nations around them, and downright hostile relations with Partha and Bhesina over the years. The Bhesinians especially trouble them now, as pilgrims and farmsteaders from that land are pushing out of their traditional grasslands into the patchy area that connects the desert and the grassy plains. These pilgrims do not respect anything about the dwarvin way of community, and view these dwarves as untrustworthy mongrels, as their religion dictates that dwarves are a sub-species of humans corrupted by greed and evil, and punished by their god with a short stature and an "ugly" countenance At various times, as this new nation has flourished, Partha has tried to push its influence west into the mountains, which it previously ignored, and this has caused tensions to rise with the Numbhar in recent years, which is exacerbated by the dwarves favorable relations with Calcova, Partha's chief rival.

They are on good terms only with Calcova, a close trading partner who has come to the defense of the dwarves on a few occasions when Partha, seeing how the dwarves have prospered, have tried to push their boundary further west to encompass some of the mines that the Numbhar have worked so hard to establish among the crumbling mountains of the region.

### Culture & Customs

The Numbhar have adopted a culture which would seem quite alien to "normal" dwarves, who admire ambition and wealth acquisition These dwarves have created a fairly communal society, wherein dwarves are assigned their trade by the communal leaders of their village, and all resources are shared among the families of the village. A collection of villages in a region make up a district, and any decisions to be made on a national level are voted on by a representative from each district. There is no single king/thane/emperor/priest who makes decisions, the district representatives poll their villages to make decisions so virtually all major plans are voted on by the average dwarvin man or woman. This does mean that no decisions can be made with anything resembling haste, but the dwarves prefer it this way. They do appoint a High Thane of Defense for a 3 year term, who's job it is to organize the militias instantly if a national threat emerges, but this has been mostly unnecessary, as the nation has never actually been invaded or went to war.

The communal aspect of their nation stretches down into everyday life among the dwarves. In each village, the council of elders appoints dwarves to various tasks, like farming, negotiating trade with neighbors, metalworking, mining, record-keeping, etc, and a villages resources are dispersed among the families there as they come in. Individual dwarves are forbidden from "owning" land for anything other than a temporary period, and personal accomplishment does not bring a dwarf more money, just more respect and responsibility in their community. There are, of course, some individuals for whom this way of life is just unsuitable. After all, the dwarvin drive for greed is deep-rooted in these people, but these rare individuals are often times sent out into the Mainlund for the purpose of adventuring until they either wear out their passion for gold, or until they can return in triumph with some nice cache of resources for the families they left behind in order to adventure.

The dwarves here have perfected the craft of buulding their cities directly into the sides of cliff faces and mountain sides. They have done so to avoid "Mind Rusted" barbarians of the Iron-Sea desert, affected by the Iron-sickness.