The Kindred

Mythology & Lore

Long ago in times immemorial, there was nothing but the starry sky, barren rock and endless ocean in the world. Then one day, two stars fell: These were the first Dwarves and they called themselves Aros and Gondos. Aros was clever and brash, whilst Gondos was cautious and somewhat of a numbskull. But being Dwarves and beings from the stars at that, they were both skilled craftsmen and they soon set to work. They first looked upon the barren rock of the land and wanted to make it into a place of beauty and so they dug into the earth, striking it so hard with their tools that it turned into dirt before them. They dug and dug and as they struck harder and harder, the sparks from their tools became more than mere flickers of light, landing in cracks and crevices and forming the seeds that would eventually grow into mines of rich ore. Finally, their hard work was rewarded: the earth parted to reveal the largest, most brilliant and most beautiful gem they had ever set eyes on. So baffled where they by this, that they wanted to see it wherefer they went and so they heaved it onto their backs and carried it up to the surface, were they then threw it into the sky; thus, the sun was born. By this time, the dirt they had created covered the entire world and plants were growing wildly. But they felt they were still missing something. They returned to the cavern they had dug and searched throughout the earth until they once more stumbled upon a rock containing millions of beautiful red gems. Deciding that this was to be the foundation for their life, they returned to the surface. And so they created the first smithy in the world, spending an entire year creating different moulds for what would become their perfect creation. But by the end of the year, the twins looked upon the pile of moulds and felt that they had gotten nowhere. Aros spoke to his brother with consternation. "Gondos, my kin. We have worked for an entire year, yet our work feels like it still only beginning. Why?" Gondos pondered this for a moment. "Well, perhaps we have not created our perfect being because we got it right the first time. As far as i can see, none of our molds have any flaws." Then it dawned on Aros. They were all perfect, in their own unique way. Aros went into his work with a new vigour, with the brothers spending another year casting all the beings out of living bronze, with a beating red jewel placed inside them to give them life. And so, the brothers had created the world and the life in it.

Worship

The Kindred is like a fair number of other faiths in Kontinent, a religion that lacks a particularly strong central authority. As a dualistic religion, most adherents worship either Aros or Gondos as individual gods or choose to worship both in their capacity as a bond or a manifestation of spiritual balance. Most major settlements have one of the two as a relevant patron god (a city famous for say, its mercenaries would likely choose the adventurous Aros), but there are no clear religous divides as both are worshipped for individual reasons. A courier may for example choose Gondos as their patron god because of their association with swiftness, but the local blacksmith most likely worships Aros for his association with things like precision and hardiness. characteristics which are valued in his profession. Apart from those storytellers who endulge in the myths of old, there is one dwarven profession dedicated to religion; the Steelseers. The Steelseers are more attuned than most to the minds of Aros and Gondos and therefore perform a number of duties. The important of these are as custodians of religious festivals, but they are also commonly called upon to read omens, which they can discern from things as different as the trajectory of flying sparks to the patterns of ore veins and are said to be able to induce a state of trance when listening to the divine song formed by the intertwining sounds of industry.