A race of short, stocky, powerful humanoids who prefer to live underground. Dwarves are great miners and trade metals (worked and unworked) and mining expertise for agricultural products. They were transported to Ghea in the First Age by the beings who created the Gates. The dwarven realm in Alastari extends beneath most of the Daggerspine Mountains, with above-ground outposts scattered throughout the hills. Their main trading outposts are in Khalhums and Murska. The dwarves are on good terms with the Andorian League, but are not part of it. The great dwarven kingdom of Ikhazdur lies beneath the Molen-Tei Mountains to the north of Alastari. There is little contact between them and the Daggerspine dwarves. Humans do not know why the two kingdoms split, and the dwarves don't discuss it.

Dwarves range from about 4'6" to about 5'6" in height and are quite heavily built (150-250 lbs.). They are not all bearded, some tribes are almost uniformly clean-shaven. Priests of Gurtarg, the dwarven god and patron of miners and smiths, may pluck out all their hair as a sign of devotion. This may have originated to prevent forge sparks from setting hair and beard alight. Dwarven females are not bearded. Female dwarves are seldom seen above ground. It is said that they have considerable say in government, but there is a powerful taboo against their leaving the dwarven realm. Dwarves have a low birth rate and are very protective of a woman of child-bearing years. Dwarves live for 80-100 years, but suffer less frailty in old age than humans do. Dwarves and humans have occasionally produced offspring, but these half-breeds are rare and always sterile.

A Dwarven History in the Lands of Alastari:
An Overview of Dwarven Origins

Like many of the intelligent races of Alastari, the dwarves were originally brought to Ghea by the First Gods through a chaos gate. The home world of the dwarves is no longer known. The dwarves served the First Gods as miners and metal workers. In exchange for their service, the Gods provided all the necessities of life; food, shelter, clothing.

More than ten thousand years ago, the First Gods left Ghea. The dwarves call this "The Abandonment." The races of Ghea, left to fend for themselves, began to fight each other. Many races became extinct with only the strongest and most isolated surviving. The dwarves survived this period by withdrawing to their realm under the Molen-Tei Mountains. This was also when the great glaciers began to advance to the south, beginning the current Ice Age.

The dwarves were leaderless and the unity of the One Clan (the dwarves collective name for themselves) was threatened. Fortunately, before the dwarven clans began a full-scale civil war, the first great dwarven leader emerged. Thorgin Stonesheer, later known as Thorgin the Great, was able to unite the various factions under his rule. He created a system of fair and just governance. Under his rule, the dwarves and their realm prospered. Thorgin named his new kingdom Ikhazdur after a mythical dwarven hero who was said to have forged the sword Godcleaver and driven off the original gods.

For the next 5,000 years, Ikhazdur remained isolated. The kingdom continued to prosper under the rulership of Thorgin's descendants. Dwarven metalworking was refined to such a degree that dwarven weapons were considered the best in Ghea. Many people traveled north, hoping to acquire a dwarven crafted weapon, but few actually returned with such a weapon. Through its excellence and rarity, dwarven smithing gave the Ikhazdurians wealth, power, and some leverage against the surface dwellers.

Dwarven settlements to the north had been reporting the advance of the glaciers for generations, but it was believed the ice would stop before reaching the Molen-Tei Mountains. As the ice showed little sign of halting, some of the dwarves became uneasy. Most, including the current king, Nurgitt the Third, were confident they would be delivered by Gurtarg.

It was the younger dwarves who believed otherwise. This was one of the first times open dissent between elder and younger dwarves was recorded. Previously, the word of the king or of an elder was all but sacred. Even now, the eldest dwarves are held in great respect. The years passed, and the dwarves were still unable to reach agreement, though the older generation prevailed.

In the year -1553, a young dwarf named Jurget Stonesheer, a direct descendant of Thorgin the Great, left Ikhazdur and traveled south. He hoped to find a new home for the dwarves away from the encroaching ice. Jurget remained on the surface for thirty-eight years (this amazing length of time on the surface earned him the name "The Sunwalker"). In -1515, he returned home to announce his discovery of a place to which the dwarves could relocate.

The dwarven youth rallied to him, prepared to leave Ikhazdur for the south. The king and the older generation continued to believe Gurtarg would save them from any danger. They attempted to silence Jurget, which almost caused a civil war. In -1500, Jurget left with a following 10,000, mostly young, dwarves. This is now known as "The Great Migration".

In -1498, after two years of travel, they arrived at the place Jurget had promised them. Much to the astonishment of his followers, this proved to be an area of grassy plains, surrounded by hills and forest, bordered on one side by a river. Jurget planned to turn his people into a surface dwelling race. Despite opposition, they did settle there, on the surface.

Lapur, city of the dwarves, grew in relative peace and prosperity for 1400 years. The city was a marvel of dwarven architecture and stone work. From their city, the dwarves traded with humans, elves, and any other races they encountered.

On the other side of the Hyorn Forest, the Aroai elves of Monuntial watched Lapur and the Sunwalkers grow in strength and prosperity. The elves resented the interlopers and felt the dwarves were overcutting the trees of the Hyorn Forest and polluting the Duskblood River with smelter waste. The dwarves disagreed with those claims and refused to limit either their cutting or their smelting. The elves bided their time for many years until elven priests from the temple on Niytyole Island called for action.

Claiming visions from Merth and Ruhor commanded them to avenge the harm done to both the forest and the river, these priests called for the destruction of the dwarves. The elves soon assembled an army and in -100, they attacked the unsuspecting dwarves. The Sunwalkers were taken totally by surprise, but still managed to kill many elves before Lapur was razed.

There were perhaps 5000 survivors of the 20,000 Lapurian dwarves. They gathered under the leadership of Graillor the Third, the king. Many of the surviving dwarves wanted revenge against the Aroai, but Graillor managed to persuade them against that suicidal course. Instead, they headed north intending to return to Ikhazdur.

On their way, they passed first the Daggerspines, which were much too close to the Aroai. Then they saw a single mountain in a range of hills all surrounded by forest. This was in the kingdom of the Shewish Giants. The Shews were happy to let the dwarves settle in their lands in exchange for dwarven craftsmanship.

The dwarves were allowed to settle in a valley later known as the Welgin-Tei Valley and under Mt. Khadizan. There were many caverns under the mountain to house the refugee Sunwalker Clan. Some of the dwarves wished to continue living above ground. They built a settlement that eventually became Murska.

Back in Ikhazdur, religious fanatics following Hartig, son of Gurtarg and a dwarven woman, plotted rebellion against the established order. In -1011, the priests and their followers overthrew the Stonesheer Clan. The new theocracy cemented their rule by having all known Stonesheers killed. Only one family of the Clan survived, by hiding further underground than dwarves usually go. Hartig and his priests remained in power for almost a thousand year.

Around -14, the seals on many of the Chaos Gates were weakening. One of the first to break open was in the Molen-Tei Mountains. Amongst the chaos creatures who came through the gate was a dragon named Tyrexisisloc. He had been one of the dragons enslaved by the Folstrom. He used his mental abilities and physical power to gain control of the other chaos creatures coming through the gate. He formed these creatures into an army and began a war against the Ikhazdurians. The dwarves were able to delay their defeat by over a decade. In the year 2, Tyrexisisloc and Hargit fought face to face and the dragon killed the demi-god. By 3, Tyrexisisloc had won and used his mental powers to control the current priest-king. In time, the dragon came to be worshipped as a god by the conquered dwarves.

Gurtarg watched these events but did not intervene as the majority of the dwarves had rejected him. He did continue to protect the hidden remnants of the Stonesheer Clan. The Stonesheers had grown from the original single family to a few hundred members. Gurtarg sent visions to the Stonesheer leader, Thorgut. These visions showed the Stonesheers regaining the rule of Ikhazdur. Prompted by his visions, Thorgut sent his people into Ikhazdur to sow the seeds of rebellion. Gurtarg's name was again heard in Ikhazdur.

Tyrexisisloc was unconcerned but his Dragon Shamans, fanatical priests of his worship, were not so sanguine. They started a counter-campaign against the worship of Gurtarg. This undercover war continued for twenty years. Eventually Thorgut, guided by another vision from Gurtarg, started an open, armed rebellion. The Stonesheers were outnumbered three to one, but they still managed to keep the fighting going for two years. In the end, Thorgut and his followers were driven back down to their original hiding place.

Gurtarg had not intervened previously because of the Compact (see Gods). With the remnants of his followers almost certain to be killed, he decided to break the rules. As Tyrexisisloc's army advanced on the cornered Stonesheers, a wall of white light formed between the two groups. Tyrexisisloc's army was blinded, but Thorgut and his people were not affected. Gurtarg opened a portal in the cavern wall, though which he led the Stonesheers. He left them on the surface at the southern base of the Molen-Tei mountains.

This was in the year 23. Approximately 8,000 dwarves, mainly Ikhazdurians with about 200 Stonesheers, headed south in search of Lapur and the Sunwalker Clan. Dwarven scholars call this even "The Second Exodus".

On finding the ruins of Lapur, the Stonesheers turned back to the north. Thorgut led his people towards a small range of mountains they had spotted on the way south. This range included Mt. Khadizan, so the Stonesheers and the Sunwalkers were reunited. It was eventually decided that the two clans would remain separate, but both by governed by Jurget the Second, king of the Sunwalker Clan.

In the hopes of fairness and balance in the governance of the two clans, a council of elders was also established. The council was composed of five elders, two Sunwalkers and three Stonesheers. In theory, all matters of state were to be ratified by the council before being brought before the king. In practice, the Sunwalkers were able to control most decisions.

Things ran smoothly for the next hundred years or so, but in 136 the mines in the area began to play out. The clans began to argue amongst themselves and many families lost everything as the mines stopped producing. The current Sunwalker King, Jurget the Third, ignored the advice of the council of elders to limit production from the mines. Instead, he consolidated all the mines under his control. This move outraged the Stonesheer Clan.

Thorgut the Second, nominal leader of the Stonesheer clan, called the clan elders together for a secret meeting. They decided to move the clan to the Daggerspine Mountains. Once there, they could form their own nation, separate from the greedy Sunwalkers. Jurget tried to stop the Stonesheers from leaving, but was unsuccessful. In 138, the Sunwalkers left, an event which was later called "The Sundering".

The Stonesheers settled in a network of caverns they discovered on the south face of the Daggerspines. Thorgut was acclaimed the first king of the Stonesheers. Rather than granting the king absolute power, however, the clan gave the real power and responsibility to the Council of the Wise, a council of seven elders. In 140, Khalhums (meaning "mine tailings" in polite dwarvish) was founded above the Stonesheer caverns. It served as a point of contact between the dwarves and the surface dwellers.

Back under Mt. Khadizan, the Sunwalkers mined deeper and found new veins of ore and metals. At about the same time, the Harkeny people discovered the Welgin-Tei valley, Murska, and the Sunwalkers. At first, the two races were wary of one another. The dwarves retreated underground and the humans settled in Murska. In 159, they two races negotiated an alliance of sorts and have lived peacefully together since.

After the death of Jurget the Third, the new Sunwalker King, Raellor the First, re-established communication with the Stonesheer Clan. Hathgar the First, then king of the Stonesheers, and the Council of the Wise rejected offers of a treaty with the Sunwalkers. After much negotiation however, they were reconciled in what is known as "The Pact of Reunification".

In 303, work was started on the Great Underground Tradeway, brainchild of Lathgar Ironbender. The two clans began tunneling from their respective kingdoms, planning to meet in the middle. After twelve years, the Tradeway was completed and the two kingdoms were joined. They still retained their separate kings and jurisdictions. Since that time, the dwarves have lived peacefully. They have traded and formed strong ties with the neighboring surface kingdoms. Despite this, the dwarves remain reclusive and are rarely seen on the surface outside of Khalhums or Murska.

Encyclopedia Alastaria

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