Grumling
Grumlings are a short dark race of green humanoids who live below ground and are about as tall as Dwarves. Grumlings are rarely seen above ground and cannot stand the light of day. Many consider Grumlings the dark flipside of Dwarves as Dark Elves are to Elves, since both races live underground and traditionally grow tremendously long beards. However, Grumling beards are thinner, but often far longer, coiling all the way down to their toes. Grumlings are the sworn enemies of Dwarves.
Not much is known by surface-dwellers about Grumling culture, except what can be gleaned off the grumbling of Dwarves. Grumlings are known for trap-making including setting pit traps on the surface and undermining to trap surface-dwellers, pillaging goods and even caving in entire cities to loot and scavenge. Doljinaar used to pay Dwarven headhunters well to hunt down and control Grumling populations to prevent them from undermining human cities, but as a lasting peace has settled over most of the West, men have seen less need to pay such bounties.
Unbeknownst to most of the surface world, a great subterranean war rages between Dwarves and Grumlings deep in the Underrealms. In fact, the Grumling underground kingdom of Grundawold is said to encompass all the deep caverns beneath mighty Doljinaar, although the pride of men would never admit to such a thing. Dwarves boast the safety of all Doljinaar is bought underground every day by the blood of the Dwarves, who have developed several deep strongholds beneath southern Doljinaar to push back the power of the Grumlings, else all the great cities of Dojinaar would be undermined and dropped into the Underealms or so the Dwarves claim.
Grumlings are excellent machine builders and also draw power from dark forbidden crystals, through which channelers can draw magic power. Some Grumlings have claimed they have discovered a great sentient spirit of Darkness, deep in the belly of Covent, which has granted them power and visions of the future prophesying the fall of all day mortals, including the Dwarven kingdom of Gildron and the supposedly invincible superpower of mighty Doljinaar, the kingdom of men, which reigns over much of the surface world far above.
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Image by J. L. Ficks
Origin/Ancestry
Night Mortal
Art by Nestor Cruz
