History of the Dwarves

The dwarves slowly expanded to the east. The forces of the giants and dragons were still too strong to take on, but due to the nimbleness of the dwarves, they were able to slip by certain borders. Infiltrating hostile territory, the dwarves settle in left cities of giants or dragons and rebuilt and reinforced potential ruins. The size of these ruins was much larger than the size of the usual dwarven cities, which allowed the dwarves to house many people.

Around 11900 b. BF, the Ironhelms finally sought to expand. The north was guarded by armies of giants and the southern mountains were filled with monsters. The best alternative was heading towards the east, taking advantage of the war of giants and dragons. One of the most common fighting approaches of dwarves was to scout out enemy forces and wait for them to clash with a hostile force. That way, the dwarves were able to clean up the remaining weakened forces.

Dwarven history reports mention tribes of elves, settling in the northern ephean flatlands. Those elves were involved in fighting the armies of dragons too and due to this common enemy, negotiations between dwarves and elves started. The dwarves learned, that the elves once were enemies of the giants. Seeing that giants and dragons were common enemies, both races agreed on some kind of a loose alliance and made trade agreements.

Deep in the mines of the dwarves in 10897 b. BF., Adamantine was discovered. An extremely rare, hard metal. It was very hard to process further but turned out to be a very effective weapon against giants and dragons.

Around 10100 b. BF, the elves decide to support the dwarves actively in the war against the giants. Both parties plan a mutual attack on a giant camp on the Bloodshed Shore. The camp was sieged and dwarven pioneers dug tunnels to attack the camp from the mountainside. In 10093 b. BF, the elves retreated their troops from the front, afraid of the casualties, and the siege was overrun, resulting in a massacre of the dwarven army. Clan Willowgart, the leading clan in this siege was nearly annihilated and had to be integrated into the Ironhelms to survive. The elvish retreat was seen as an act of cowardness and hasn't been forgiven by the dwarves. Until today, it is one of the main reasons of the lack of cooperation between elves and dwarves.

The confederation of dwarves was as powerful and secure as never before. The forces of dragons were easily held back at the borders of the mountain ranges and the giants retreated from the offensive warfare, leaving the central mountains to the dwarves. The monsters in the southern mountains didn't look to expand. However, in 9981 b. BF., a new foe appeared. The orcs were fighting the monsters in the southern mountain regions and conquered their territory. Not planning to stop there, they looked to advance further, eventually reaching the borders of the dwarven clans, resulting in yet another war.

Rondra, the ruler of humans sends scouts and delegations towards the territory of the dwarves, looking to make allies. The dwarves were very cautious about this, still remembering the betrayal of their earlier allies, the elves, but eventually, they agreed on a defensive alliance and profitable trade agreements, because humans and dwarves had orcs and dragons as common enemies.

The strength of the orcs was rising. In 9600 b. BF, they decided to attack the mountain ranges in Drakthirr. They were aware of the dwarven's strength, but were able to attack from multiple sides, wielded magic, and used goblins as cheap meatshields. Eventually, the dwarves had to retreat to avoid casualties, leaving the mountains of Drakthir to the orcs.

The Empire and the dwarves negotiate a ceasefire. Both forces were unable to achieve major victories over each other and didn't get any profits out of the fights. However, a peace treaty was negotiated just about 900 years later by King Lawrence Brimstone.

The Quartzeaters discovered a substance called gunpowder. It is a really rare substance and it took time to process it further. Soon other clans found gunpowder as well and started to produce firearms and canons, which were meant to reform the current military and technology.