The Dwarves

A subterranean species that developed into a society that dug tunnels around the world slowly but surely and erected gigantic towers (some of which are not actually gigantic, and some of which have fallen down), and influenced much of the world by producing the magic rock stuff I haven't named.     Dwarf culture is not a monolith anymore, but it remained intact for quite a long time after its initial exposures to other peoples, and even as Dwarf Culture evolved, it only developed new versions of Dwarf Culture for another few thousand years. The trend usually breaks when the Surface Dwarves leave or lose their towers and don't bother reuniting with their Tunnel.     The first culture of the Dwarves was founded largely upon technological development and exploration at its heart, with most of its development happening on its own continent.     The first Dwarf Tower opened the eyes of its many inhabitants and builders, who had not previously known of the surface world, and had thought that digging up anywhere else would be fatal to them all. Being within eyeshot of another landmass, the Dwarves quickly sent out investigative teams and explorers. The tunnels developed as a follow-up from there, though the directions to go in were hard to choose, and this was the start of the first rift in the Dwarves that would eventually result in a group that went on to form the Scribes' first rendition, another that would go on to explore and connect other peoples, and a third that would eventually forget what it was planning when it runs into the fae and the biggest vein of magic stone stuff they've ever seen.     I need to come up with more, but it's complicated and I have to start cross-referencing my shit.