Sverden

"Praise to the warrior, who defends his homeland dear; praise to the architect, who adorns her homeland with great monuments; and a blessing to the child, who looks upon the endless mountains and decides that he shall be kind to them." - From the Sverden Creeds

The Sverden were a Dwarven people who traditionally occupied the upper reaches of the Makovai Mountains as well as some lands east of them, Sverdenland.

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The origin of the Sverden was said to began in The Lands Beyond. According to Sverden mythology, the first Sverden cities were built on the wing of a giant, sedentary bird named Allegia- the most prized possession of the Sverden creator-goddess, Astridere. The Sverden lived in peace for centuries, until King Payru, a greedy man unsatisfied by his already enormous wealth, instructed his subjects to mine into the "ground" below them. Astridere, enraged by the mining activity which was harming Allegia, commanded the bird to take off and fly to Beurum, dropping any Sverden that were still alive into the Northern Seas. Only five hundred of these individuals survived the fall and the subsequent drifting in icy water. This group would go on to found the ancient Sverden mountain city of Iciclatom, and all living Sverden were said to be descendants of this group.
Over time, the Sverden expanded eastward from Iciclatom following the Sommerval, a river flowing down from the Makovai Mountains into the Ether, the vast arctic sea north of Beurum. At the time, this region was occupied by a subset by a group of wood elves known as the Erend. Though the Sverden did not outright go to war with the group, individual groups that moved out to the land often viewed the Erend as invaders upon their home and inflicted violence on them. Because they were far less in number than the Sverden, the Erend were unable to mount an effective resistance and were driven to near-extinction.
The Sverden rose to prominence in the Third Era following their decision to remain neutral in the First Dwarven War. During the Imperial War they were able to hold their ground against the invaders of the Kantaran Empire, and later established a dominant trading network with them. This new influx of wealth allowed the Sverden to make themselves famous for their engineering ability, which reached its peak at this time. Sverden engineers who lived in the mountains built massive cities among the peaks, reputable for rarely ever breaking down due to poor construction. This type of building was unique among dwarven groups, who usually lived at lower elevations or in massive underground cave systems. The Sverden that inhabited Sverdenland also built technologically complex cities, as well as a system of canals that ran through the entire area. The greatest of these cities was Halvaderom, a city built from various hanging structures stretched across the tall spires of the central region of the land. Finally, the Rerek Jorgsynth ("Millenium Waterway"), a system of canals, made the region among the most technologically advanced places in Beurum.
Despite the great leaps made by the Sverden during this period, some debated calling it a golden age. A major reason for this hesitation was a massive amount of income inequality among the people. Nowhere was this more evident than the city of Havaderom, which was constructed specifically to keep rich and poor individuals separate.
Following the breakdown of trade with the exodus of Kantaran rulers, the Sverden suffered a steady decline that lasted through the Fifth Era. This decline was worsened dramatically when the Vrelheim, an unfinished dam on the Sommerval River, inadvertently flooded much of Sverdenland, including the lower portions of Halvaderom. Unable to repair the city or maintain their endless infrastructure, large swaths of the region were abandoned or left sparsely occupied as more and more of the dwarves moved west to the mountains to find work in the more economically secure areas of the mountains. Other groups, including Trebai and Alois individuals, made attempts to claim this land, which increased tensions between them. Some suspected these tensions were made worse by explicit Daphnea interference. This would be a key factor that led to the Twenty-Year War.
The Sverden, under the leadership of their state, the Sverden Dominion, joined the Four Kingdoms of the Makovai. Together, they formed the Five Dwarven Kingdoms, and in 8026 they declared war on the High Kingdom of Beurum. During the Twenty-Year War, the Sverden would make up around a third of total dwarven forces, forming almost the entirety of the Third Spear Army. They were crucial to Dwarven campaigns in the northern parts of Beurum. Despite their numbers, the Five Dwarven Kingdoms would eventually lose the war due to an inability to secure a foothold on the key Trebai city of Redoran.
Like many other dwarven groups after the war, the Sverden would fracture into several disgruntled kingdoms. Though weakened, many of these kingdoms made individuals attempts to hold on to their territory in the Sverdenland, to varying degrees of success. Trebai and Alois attempts to claim the region were put on the backburner as each group tried to control their home territories first.

Culture

Art & Architecture

Sverden society was based around a love for the world around them, which stemmed from their creation mythology, and a love for building. Though these values declined with the rise of Sverden cities, architecture still incorporated countless elements inspired by nature. The ultimate goal among Sverden thought was to build as great as possible while changing the land as little as possible.
Unlike nearly every other cultural group, Sverden individuals generally detested jewelry, and to wear jewelry in Sverden society would almost certainly result in shaming. For them, jewelry was a symbol of greed. Rather, Sverdens decorated themselves with tattoos and elaborate hairstyles.
Sverden buildings were often highly decorated with organic material such as colorful trees and vines.

Ideals

Gender Ideals

Architecture, in Sverden culture, was a chiefly feminine pursuit, while warfare was a masculine one. Most other occupations were gender-neutral. The femininity of architecture stemmed from ancient Sverden thought revolving around the idea of "giving birth" as an essential component to architecture- to establish a building, one would have to raise it like an infant.
However, after the Third Era, these values became less established among the Sverden. The reason for this was that few new building projects occurred during this time of economic stagnation, decreasing the demand for great architectural feats and lessening their importance. Additionally, the Sverden became more open to warfare as contentions for land with groups such as the Trebai and Alois became increasingly common.