The Duergar Under Empires

Structure

The Goverments of these small, indsutrial workshop citiy states is typically oligarchical, with a cadre of Sorrcer Prophets rulings as part of a great Conclave over the city. Much like the Drow, there is backstabbing and scheming abound within these conclaves as Duergar society hardly breeds trust. Under them are hordes of nobles and other officals, most tupically being magic casters, demonsmiths, or psionic masters.

Culture

The Duergar are not a kind people, make no mistake of that. Though of course with any evil group, this is more cultural rather than inherit, no matter what some fo the stories say. However, it is undisputed fact that Duergar have less sympathy for others, a trait seemingly partly learned from the Drow who are a notoriously distrusting and paranoid people. Even after the Underdark Cataclysm, Duergar culture has changed little, where ones power makes them right. They are in some respects, the dark reflection of Dwarven society, with three core concepts forming the basis of their society. These concepts are:

• Our Hordes are Never Full
• With Power comes Strength
• Our Fight Never Ends

They have a desire for wealth, but unlike typicall Dwarven society where its a yearning for pretty things, for the Duergar it is a means to an end. That end being more power, but with more power and prestige, this brings enemies at every turn. So one must be strong, and realize that everyday is a struggle with enemies within and without. They are a far more martially focused people than their mountain kin, but also seem to have widely adopted sorrcery and magic far more than their mountain kin. In fact, some theorize if the intial war with the Duergar is what has made Dwarves more cautious with magic ever since than, having been tramutised by the magic the Duergar use. This magic is typically either warped and damned psionis, or infernal magic granted and learned from devils and demons. Indeed finding a Duergar city can be like stepping into hell, where hell is a smog choked land of pollution and uncaring architecture.
Being from the Dwarven race, they are excellent blacksmiths and crafters, however they do not care for beauty like their surface kin, and instead the brutal efficency of industry unchecked. They have made incredible strides in strange technology using steam from the burning corpses of their countless slaves, and minerals found from hell. What's worse, many of their constructs have a ritual preformed to force and trap demons in these war machines, resulting in horrifying fushions of flesh and steel. Some of their kind even fuse themselves into suits of metal, their flesh constantly being torn and hurt in their quest for power. These infernal machines have their own sentience, and are shackled with runes and countless other spells for the demonsmiths of the Duergar to bend to their will. This has resulted in lots of demonic blood to run in their viens, and many Duergar take a more practical or even revverant look to the hells and the demons and devils from them.
To be a Duergar is to be paranoid of others, even your closest companions. IN this way, it can be rather lonely as one is always at least partially cautious about their close kin mates, the only thing that keeps Duergar from this horrifc lonliness is faith in their gods and the greatness of their people. Their gods grant them strength and power, and for this they are the chosen of the world. They are more mighty than any one else, so is it only right to enslave their "lessers" to work in their camps. The fatality rate of Duergar slaves is utterly shocking and horrific, and the dead are simply thrown into furnaces to power their unending industry. For this reason they quite regurarly had conflicts with the Drow for slave caravans, though nowadays they are some of the few of the Underdark Exile Races to be a major power down there.
It is also for this reason that Duergar activity has increased slowly but surely, with a worrying concern being a full on invasion of the surface world. However, just as many Duergar exiles also find their way to the surface, being the main source of Duergar adventuers, as these exiles are typically either criminals or social outcasts of some kind. Some Duergar simply cant cope with the life of uncaring, unfeeling grinding gears of their cities factories and just run for the surface, though with the reputation of their kind they tend to keep to themselves even when on the surface. The corruption of their demonic herritage wars with their noble Dwarven blood, and for this the Duergar are both an intresting if terrifying people.

History

There is a empire, deep below the rock and dirt of this world. It is one that has endured the vengenace of their mountain kin, and the great flood of the Underdark Cataclysm, and the world is far worse for it. They are a shame upon the Dwarven people to this day, and they most certinely loathe talking about it. The tale of the Duergar is one of sin, corruption, and mallice made manifest, and of digging far too deep. The tale begins long ago, predicted to be around the year 1345EC, where an expiditon was to be founded to follow viens no Dwarf had mined before. Hearing the whispers of the Underdark, one Ghazdor Benhark proposed to the at the time High King Tymond Hazzun to delve into the Underdark, and go even deeper then the rumored Drow reside to find the rarest gems and minerals known to the world. While apprehensive at first, High King Tymond was convinced and authorized the expiditon, allowing Ghazdor to take with him his clan and a few others that volunteered to delve down into the deep.
So it was that the eager Dwarves develeped deep, finding the Underdark through a mixture of their own mining and already existing cavern system. The cost was great, but indeed when develing lower and lower, even past most of the drow cities, they found minerals and metals never seen before. Work began immedaitly and celebrations were had as Ghazdor had a temporary outpost made to oversee the eventual transportin of these rare ores.  However, with the sheer distance between the surface and them, it would take some time to get back regardless. However, a strange feeling kept pulling out Ghazdor, urging him to go down a long forgotten tunnel. He is said to have found a strange effigy of the skulls of both dwarves and bulls, and a disturbing yet enticing pull. As he apporached the effigy, all that is known is he discovered a powerful devil lord called Dagrund. It was then that all went dark...
No one knows what happened after this, as the expiditon just went entirely silent. All that is known is at some point these dwarves were corrupted into the Duergar, and even hunted several Mindflayers to harness and mutate their species with psionics and hellish magics. Their skin turned dull gray, and their hearts grew colder and more harsh. For a while there was nothing, but High King Tymond, long having since assumed and mourned that Ghazdor likely died with the expiditon, heard a few rangers report that they had heard Drow tell of strange figures in the outskirts of the Underdark and spreading rapidly. Thinking this may be the lost expiditon, High King Tymond sent a war throng led by King Khakem Richcrest to investigate. When they arrived near the last known sightings of these figures, they were shocked to fine a large industrial city fortress, with great pillars of smoke and fire bellowing into the air, and rivers of sludge flowing from it. They met with Ghazdor, who renamed himself to High Prophet Gazhoan Zhazurth, and he revealed that they had long forsaken the Ancestor Gods of the Dwarves and embraced their new demonic god of Dagrund. He then attacked the throng, and scant few of the throng were able to escape the Duergar onslaught, with King Khakem Richcrest falling in battle as he bought his warriors time to escape. It is said that nothing could scare a Dwarf, but when the survivors relayed what had happened to High King Tymond, the entire hold simply stood in primal, palpable dread and terror.
Thus the War of Vengeance was launched, however little is known about this event. All that is known is the fighting was some of the most devestating the Dwarves had seen since the War of Woes, and entire clans and holds were scoured and wiped off the map. Horrid weapons of war screeched and grinded across the Underdark and even the Drow were at times caught in the crossfire. However all that is known is eventually a band of 100 elite Dwarven Warriors managed to fight into the heart of the dreaded Duergar city of Alzurgrund and set off a massive explosion with a volcano bomb that reduced the entire city to slag. So it was the war ended as the Dwarves retreated to their holds, and High King Tymond declared that this was to be the great shame of the Dwarves, and that none should talk about it lightly, for it wounds their people so. If only it had ended there, for while the Dwarves do not like to admit, the Duergar survived, and remained deep in the Underdark eversense. Even after the cataclysm of the Underdark, the Duergar stubbornly survived and to this day still survive, though their numbers have fallen since the cataclysm. While they no longer populate the Underdark, they are deep underground, scatterted around Nilush and apparently have a base set up in the Forbidden Lands. There is some worry that they are seeking to tunnel into the Underdark and return to their origins, and find some artifacts of power, much to the annoyance and rage of the Drow Exiles and the Dwarves. Woe betide any who encounter the choking smog fueled march of the Duergar, for they bring only horror and death.

Demography and Population

Rather mixed, though obviously primarily Duergar population. However most of this mixed population demographic comes from the fact that they like to lauch occasional slave raids on their neighborhs or the surface, and have aqquired a wide varity of slaves.

Religion

Dagrund is the chief god of the Duergar, being the Demonic God of Darkness, Conquest, Labor, and Slavery. However since their birth, the Duergar have adopted a few minor demonic deities in their faiths, forming their own sort of cults within society. These demonic minor gods being mainly:

• Olral: God of Madness, Hate, Psionics, and the creatore of the Derro (insanity fueld mutant Duergar sometimes used as beserker warriors and shamans)
• Kizakar: God of Shadow, Death, Inevitability, and Fire
• Azoth: God of Strength, the Pursuit of Power, and Wealth

This hateful brotherhood of the 4 demon gods is terrible indeed, and the prophets of these cults are fanatical to the extreme, and many Duergar warriors can be heart chanting Dagrund or the others names at their enemies.

Foreign Relations

Understandably, with most of the other nations of the world that are even aware of their existance, it is largely negative. However, they have been known to make deals with the Warriors pledged to hells pantheons, even if the Duergar themselves are seen as strange amongst the followers of Hell. These deals are largely supplying weapons and armor on occasion to the warriors in exchange for something, ussually slaves or artifacts. With the Dwarves, they know nothing but war, and the Dwarves return this hatred in full, to an even larger degree than goblins.

"Dagrund! Dagrund!"

Founding Date

1345EC

Alternative Names

The Exiled Kin, The Shame, The Infernal Dwarves

Government System

Oligarchy