Dwarves of Dvergheim
The mountainous nation of Dvergheim is home to the magically disinclined but technologically advanced dwarves. Here, they mine for iron and precious metals, while taming the land with feats of engineering.
The dwarves of Dvergheim worship a reclusive god called Ymir, who appeared among them in the dawn of their culture. He taught the dwarves many secrets of stone and metal, and encouraged them to research and explore further. Before leaving, he promised to issue one final task when he deems the dwarves ready. If this task is successfully completed, Ymir said, a golden age will follow.
Dwarves are a short-statured race, whose members rarely stand taller than 160 centimeters. They are built like bricks, however, and their muscle-bound bodies make up for what they lack in height with raw strength..
The typical dwarf has a ruddy complexion, a broad skull, and very strong facial features. Their noses tend to be rather big and have a roundish shape, while their eyebrows are bushy, and their lips are set in a semi-permanent frown. The thick skin of dwarven faces are dominated by countless lines and furrows, making them appear old and weatherworn from a young age.
All male dwarves grow thick, impressive beards, which they often wear in two or more braids. They take great pride in their beards, and regard a strong, healthy growth as a symbol of manhood.
See race page for info on attributes.
History
Five hundred years ago, one of the most numerous and powerful dwarven clans, called Svartdverg, fell under the influence of a sinister deity. Delving for secrets in the depths below their main clan settlement, they discovered a large and mysterious cavern, which lay enveloped within the surrounding rock. The walls of this cavern were rich with signs that indicated raudstaal veins, and a blood-red, shrine-like rock formation stood in its centre.
Unknowingly, the dwarves had stumbled upon the prison-home of a god called Heimar, who was entombed within the cave during the Usurper Wars. He immediately took control of the minds of the Svartdverg miners, and sent them back to their dwellings to spread the contagion of his worship. Then he bid the clan subjugate the rest of Dvergheim in his name.
The long and bloody civil war which followed ended in the ultimate defeat of the Svartdverg clan and their allies, who were driven into exile. Despite the determined efforts of their mightiest magesmiths, however, the dwarves could not destroy Heimar’s shrine-prison. All entrances to the cave in which it stands were collapsed, and today its location is a closely guarded secret.
Approximately half of the surviving svartdvergir, as they were eventually known, sought to build a new life for themselves in what today is northern Morak. The remainder fled through the underground in small groups, most of them settling in remote regions that were beyond the reach of Dvergheim’s armies.
Barin's plan
The culture of Dvergheim has long been self-absorbed and isolationist, but this may now be changing. The present king, Barin Grayfell, is pressing iron-hard for an ever more efficient and profitable Dvergheim, and he sees integration into surface life as necessary for growth. To point the way forward, King Barin has partially abandoned the subterranean stronghold of his ancestors, in favour of a simpler castle on the surface. His reign has already seen a noticeable growth in surface activity.
Society
Dwarves are the most technologically advanced race on Agon. They constantly seek progress in smithcraft and engineering, and their feats of construction are considered miraculous in a world where monsters abound and magic is commonplace.
The arts of smithcraft and engineering are sacred to Ymir, and the dwarves constantly seek to better themselves in these areas. At the same time, they seek the hidden treasures of the subterranean world, such as precious stones and magical metals.
The wealth brought by their advanced mining operations has allowed the dwarves to build glorious cities. However, this beauty stands in stark contrast to the devastation visited upon the surrounding lands, where yellow clouds of smoke pour out of smokestacks and mountains of slag steadily grow. Dwarves do not see this as a problem, since they fail to find any beauty in unmanipulated nature.
Gray Vale and Ymir’s Tear
Reflecting the duality in the nature of Dvergheim’s dwarves, their capital has two radically different parts. One of them, called Ymir’s Tear, is subterranean, while the other, called Gray Vale, lies on the surface.
Few dwarves live in the surface segment. Instead they live underground, where a massive cavern houses the true heart of the dwarven civilization. Huge stalagmites and equally huge stalactites have joined to form a gargantuan, vaguely tear-shaped pillar, which reaches all the way from ceiling to floor. Dwarven tunnels, halls and houses honeycomb this exceptional rock formation, and in its oval heart-chamber lies the Rock of Creation, the heart of dwarven spirituality.
The cavern which houses the Tear, called the Chamber of Stars, has been decorated with metal-patterns of kvitjarn, raudstaal and lapis lazuli that resemble the constellations of the night sky above.
King Barin Grayfell
The current king of Dvergheim is the dynamic Barin Grayfell, who inherited the throne upon his father’s death ten years ago. Grayfell is of medium build for a dwarf, and his appearance is unspectacular. However, he has an enormous presence about him, mostly due to a fierce intensity. Barin has been known to go for weeks without sleep, and he seems driven onward on a quest to increase the wealth and power of the dwarven nation. He can be impatient, and has been known to explode with rage at perceived laziness, or when his orders are imperfectly implemented.
The dwarven king prefers to wear common dwarven work clothes and little or no adornment or jewelry. He is generally quite careless about his appearance, and his hair, beard and clothes tend to be slightly disheveled. He appears uncomfortable in the full regalia he needs to wear during ceremonies, which feature the ancient symbol of the Grayfell clan: a snow-capped silver mountain. Barin is not a great warrior, and he seldom wears armour or carries weapons with him, instead trusting in the ability of his omnipresent bodyguard. He is red-haired and red-bearded.
Barin is a dedicated technologist, who believes that the dwarves should constantly strive to increase the efficiency of their mines and forges. As is the tradition in Dvergheim, Barin personally commands the state’s coffers, but unlike many of his predecessors, he mostly invests in research that is geared towards inventing new machines or improving existing designs. He has also built new guardhouses along the King’s Roads, and established new embassies in foreign nations.
King Barin Grayfell wishes to take the dwarves out of their traditional subterranean isolation, and into a prosperous future among the peoples of the surface. He has greatly expanded the surface section of the dwarven capital, and five years ago he partially abandoned the old royal castle in favor of a new one on the surface. While conservative dwarves were shocked, many powerful merchants welcomed the move.
Barin’s closest friend is Knut Blood-of-Thargal, a young noble who was the king’s childhood friend, and who now serves as his chief advisor, and as the commander of his armies. Knut is tall for a dwarf, standing close to 170 cm. tall; he is pale as a shroud, and his long, raven-black hair and beard are kept in place by beautiful brass braiding. Unlike his king, Knut is a feared warrior, who always carries his ancestral axe with him.
The current Royal Mastersmith, Erik Jernhand, who served Barin’s father before him, vehemently opposed the king’s move to the surface, and he still spends most of his time in the forges of the old castle. Erik is in his late sixties, and his once-brown beard has long-since turned gray, but he is still considered one of the finest smiths in the land, and his position is traditionally one of great power. It is not much of a secret that King Barin is trying to limit the power of the Royal Mastersmiths in general, and Erik in particular.
The Royal Army
Gray Vale, Ymir’s Tear, Tanglewood, the four King’s Roads, and all border keeps are under the jurisdiction of Barin Grayfell. The Royal Army of Dvergheim patrols these areas, and no fighting is tolerated within them. Grayfell’s soldiers attack transgressors on sight.
Dvergheim’s soldiers are highly skilled and equipped with the finest quality weapons, items and armour. During the past few years, Barin has reduced the size of the army somewhat, while striving to improve the effectiveness of the remaining troops. While this policy has caused protest among officers and soldiers alike, the army has remained loyal.
Allies and enemies
While the dwarves grow mushrooms and edible mosses underground, they nonetheless need the produce of surface farms. Reluctant farmers themselves, they prefer to leave this task to the gnomes, a race which has lived in Dvergheim since time immemorial, thriving on the fertile soil of the mountain kingdom.
In return for selling their produce at reasonable prices, the gnomish farmers are under the protection of dwarven arms. Gnomes are a peaceful and physically unintimidating people, who have never taken well to the arts of combat or warfare. Without the protection of the dwarves, it is doubtful whether they could have survived in a violent world such as Agon.
Gnomes seldom stand taller than 110 cm, but their bodies are robustly built, and well suited to the hard work of stone-clearing, plowing and tilling the mountain-fields of Dvergheim. Like dwarves, they are known for their endurance, effortlessly working all day without pause.
Gnomes build their villages in steep river-valleys where they grow hardy crops on the fertile valley floor, while sending cows and sheep to graze on mountain-plains and valley-sides.
The wooden, thatched houses of the gnomes seem embedded in the sloping valley-sides. They are round, and dominated by soft and round shapes in every aspect of their architecture, including windows and doors. Being a friendly people, gnomes welcome all non-evil visitors to their villages.
The children of Heimar
Five hundred years under Heimar’s rule have changed the svartdvergir, but they remain ardent enemies of the Dvergheim dwarves. They have built many cities and fastnesses within Agon’s depths, and have grown prosperous through selling weapons and armour to other, often evil races.
A grown svartdvergir is approximately the same height as Dvergheim dwarf. They are less stocky than their cousins, however, and do not share their prodigious strength. Svartdvergir bodies are sinewy, resilient, and well suited to a hard-working lifestyle.
Svartdvergir have pale, thick skin and raven black hair. They tattoo their hands and faces with shapes and sigils sacred to their god.
The svartdvergir live austere, hard-working lives, and believe that laughter, beauty and all forms of entertainment are evils to be shunned. This belief originates with Heimar and his priests.
In areas where svartdvergir and dwarves are neighbours, wars of annihilation are inevitable. Even though the svartdvergir are almost universally disliked, their gold regularly buys them allies in these wars against the dwarves. Units of gray ork or hobgoblin mercenaries are particularly common.
In addition to posing a military threat, the svartdvergir constantly seek to destabilize Dvergheim in other, more devious ways. Putting their gold to good use, they constantly seek new allies within Dvergheim society, particularly among its merchants, who can sometimes be tempted with bribes and trading rights.
The villages of the svartdvergir are found throughout the subterranean lands of Agon, but they are especially numerous in Dvergheim, where they also live on the surface. Surrounded by tall and thick stone walls, svartdvergir settlements are formidable bastions against the many enemies of the cruel svartdvergir.
Heimar’s dwarves
Though this fact has been much obscured by dwarven chroniclers, the svartdverg clan didn’t fight the civil war alone. Many non-svartdverg individuals, families and communities flocked to the rebel banner after falling under Heimar’s spell. After the war, many of these non-svartdverg rebels were exiled along with their allies. Others, who professed remorse and renounced Heimar, were allowed to stay.
In secret, many of these dwarves continued to worship the god of the svartdvergir, claiming that Ymir is leading the dwarves astray. They claim that dwarves were meant to live ascetic, pious lives, and that Heimar is showing them the true path.
Those Dvergheim dwarves who worship Heimar do so in shrines that are hidden away in remote caverns, or in secret rooms inside dwellings. They maintain a loose cooperative network, and many of them are in contact with nearby svartdvergir settlements. In some cases, the svartdvergir finance the temples and activities of nearby dwarven worshippers of Heimar.
Religion and magic
Approximately 20 000 years ago, the god Ymir arrived among the dwarves of central Agon. He taught them secrets of stone and metal, such as runecasting and magesmithing, and advanced techniques of mining and engineering. He told them that metals of power can be found among the roots of mountains, and that many other secrets lie hidden in Agon’s depths. Ymir asked the dwarves to seek out these secrets, and to strive for perfection in all skills of stone and metal.
Ymir promised to return to the dwarves when he deems them ready for one final task. Upon its completion, he promised, the dwarves of Dvergheim will rise to prominence among the peoples of Agon.
Worship
While the dwarves offer praise to Ymir and seek inspiration in his temples, they do not pray to him or worship him in any conventional sense. Instead, they honour him by trying to better themselves as individuals and as a civilization.
Their goal is to earn the right to Ymir’s challenge, through which the dwarven race will achieve perfection. Some claim that, if all goes to Ymir’s plan, dwarvenkind will one day rule the world with their god as emperor.
Temples to Ymir are places of quiet contemplation, where dwarves seek inspiration within themselves. The temples are austere and simple, with little to distract from the inner quests of the visitors.
Dwarven temples are also libraries, where all the achievements of a settlement or clan are chronicled. The priests pore obsessively over the annals of their clan, seeking ways to improve upon the management of its mines, smithies and mushroom patches. Most dwarven libraries also contain a large section of books on dwarven history, while information on foreign lands tends to be limited.
The heart of dwarven spirituality is the Rock of Creation in Ymir’s Tear, which lies on the exact location where Ymir taught the dwarves, 20 000 years ago. Here, exhaustive records of all dwarven achievements are kept in a vast archive of books and stone tablets, to bear witness before their god, and to remind new generations of the progress made by their ancestors.
The Priests of Ymir
Uniquely among the races of Darkfall, the dwarves claim that they were given an epic mission of exploration and self-improvement by their god, who then withdrew to await his people’s growth. They view history as a sacred chronicle of how they went about reaching the goals Ymir set for them, and they fully expect the chronicle to have a final chapter, which tells of the ultimate triumph or failure of their race.
Priests, therefore, are the keepers of the history of Dvergheim and the dwarven race, and they spend much time writing and studying the annals of their clan. They wear robes that are of simple design, made from heavy brown cloth. The robes are hoodless and very long, almost reaching the floor.
While they do not lead others in prayer, priests regularly lead their communities in ceremonies that commemorate great dwarven achievements. In doing this, the dwarves are honouring their ancestors, as well as their god and taskmaster.
Art and architecture
Dwarven houses appear squat and solid. No more than a single floor is ever built aboveground, or on the surface level of a cavern, and the largest part of a building is hidden from view. The dwarven instinct is to dig downward, rather than build upward.
The aboveground part of a dwarven house is square-shaped, largely unadorned, and made from large blocks of stone. Dwarves take great pride in their stonecrafting skills, and even on the poorest of dwarf-residences, the blocks are evenly carved and seamlessly fitted together.
On many buildings, including warehouses and lower class dwellings, the windows are small and iron-barred. Those on the houses of the wealthy, however, are made of coloured glass and illuminated from the inside by oil torches. Battlements run along the roof of many important buildings, as well as the houses of the rich. On battlemented homes, flags with clan symbols often fly from rooftops.
The doors of all dwarven buildings are large, solid and made from fire-hardened oak. Black iron bands run along the edges of the roof, extending 30 cm. in both directions, onto the roof and down the side of the wall. Similar black bands run down the four corners of the building, from ground to roof. Narrower bands, 10 cm broad, cover the outside doorframe.
On most buildings, the cast iron bands edge-bands are decorated by dwarven runes that cover their entire length. On the houses of common dwarves, the runes are etched in kvitjarn or raudstaal, while wealthy dwarves prefer rare metals such as mithril or ymirsmerke.
Oil torches are attached on each side of the main entrance to dwarven houses. In general, the glass on the end pieces of these torches is plain and colourless. In underground locales, the torches are kept burning at all times.
The single aboveground level of dwarven buildings tends to be smaller in floor-space than the lower floors, but to have enough ceiling-height to comfortably accommodate even the tallest races of Agon. In all dwarven buildings, the stairs leading down from surface level may be closed using a heavy double trapdoor, which is wide open during peaceful times. The trapdoor is made of ironbound oak, and it may be barred from below using planks that fit into recesses in the sides of the stairwell.
The aboveground level of dwarven buildings tends to be sparsely furnished, and to have few adornments on the walls, ceilings and floors. Most of the floor space is taken by storage areas, kitchens, servant quarters, and other rooms that see little family life. Bedrooms, kitchens living rooms and dining rooms are all found on the lower floors.
Dwarven Art and Symbols
All dwarven families claim descent from one of six original founder-clans. A large rendition of this clan’s symbol is often carved into wall just inside the front door of a dwarven dwelling, as well as in its living room. All trace has been removed of a seventh founding clan, Svartdverg,
The clans and their symbols are: Vrangesund (twin silver throwing axes on black), Ambolt (five gold coins in two rows over black anvil), Steinhjelm (gray war-helmet on white), Grayfell (a snow-capped silver mountain), Stordverg (battleaxe-head over row of three anvils) and Nidkvad (horizontal warhammer over open chest with gold-glimmer).
Dwarven artists use strong lines and colours, and prefer bas-reliefs and rock-carvings to other art forms. Dwarves distrust abstractions and subtlety, and prefer simple symbolism and clear messages, forcefully expressed. Their art revolves around dwarven deeds and achievements, and their pieces nearly always include a dwarven figure performing some inherently or symbolically important action. Commonly, the art is accompanied by a simple message, expressed in the rune-like, angular script of the dwarves.
Traditionally, dwarven artists stick to recreating great scenes from Dvergheim’s history, often on a large scale. After the rock-carvers have finished their work, the pieces are often coloured by deft-handed gnomes.
The most common of all motifs shows Ymir teaching the dwarves inside the Rock of Creation. Ymir is always depicted as the archetypal dwarven patriarch, with long, gray beard decorated by rune-covered brass braids. Attentively listening dwarves are gathered in a half-circle around him.
Another popular motif shows Ymir commanding his children to go forth and explore the secrets of the mountain. In these pieces, Ymir is generally shown holding a mithril-bearing ore-stone in one hand while his other hand points into a dark tunnel.
Dwarven warriors defeating their enemies is another important motif. The warriors are commonly shown wielding the archetypal warhammers preferred by dwarven warriors. Their enemies include alfar, gray orks and svartdvergir.
The symbol of Ymir is an unadorned, vertical smith’s hammer with the head pointing downwards. Along the length of the head, three button-like embossments rise: one of white mithril, one of red raudstaal and one of sky-blue ymirsmerke. No matter where Ymir’s symbol is depicted – as a holy symbol, a shield decoration or a mural – the embossments are always made of the genuine metals. Their surfaces are always polished and smooth, and light has a tendency to catch and dance upon them.
Oil Torches
Wood is a relatively scarce commodity in the underground lands. As a result, wooden torches are a rare in Dvergheim, and oil-fuelled lamps provide most illumination.
These contraptions give off more light than wooden torches, despite burning oil at a relatively slow rate. Shaped like torches and made of stone covered by brass, they are equipped with beautifully crafted glass end pieces that resemble stylized flames. Some end pieces are crafted so that their facets distribute light in a decorative way while other end pieces are coloured.
