Dvergar - The Land of Stone and Iron

From the wretches of primordial nature we have carved paradise. Have forged order where chaos reigned and built this bastion of civilization in a savage world. Without us, there would be nothing.

— Tarvid Ironfist, Aran of Censor Olmor

From the sky-piercing peaks of the World's End Wall to the stormy blue waters of the Ostmaar the lands of Dvergar stretch. Home to millions, it is the beating heart of the world and the only remnant of what could have been paradies. Under the watchful eye of the Dvergari the people prosper, safe from the Shadow.

Along the Shining Sea

by Raphael Lacoste

From the foam-topped waves of the Ostmaar, the continent rises a band of green, brown and grey more than a thousand miles in length. What from a distance may seem like a single coastline is nothing but a myriad of islands, however. These are the Tolganri, the "Wavebreakers", created when the gods shaped the world and fought over how it was to be.
They protect the lands of Dvergar from the various dangers of the Ostmaar and are home to a great number of people. Seafolk are the most numerous, but members of every species, aside from Dwarves, can be found here. Most often those escaping the ties and rules of the continental realms.
Beyond their protective embrace comes the true coast of Dvergar. In the far south, were the Bosh Erla stretch, it is a line of sheer cliffs and jagged rocks, a rare bay allowing easy landing. Only north of where the mighty river Janur falls over a hundred meters into the sea, do the cliffs turn to flat coastal plain, long beaches of white sand accompanying it. It forms the coasts of Amanra, Lithian and Veturis before turning into a repellent wall of stone again north of the river Shimory.

Piercing the Skies

Towering above all of central Dvergar are three massive mountain ranges. They separate the coastal plains and highlands of the interior, serving as the origin for many a river that makes the land so fertile.

Iron Peaks

Furthest to the north lie the Temiri. Not as tall or steep as their southern siblings, they are home to the largest iron deposits in all of Dvergar. Being situated at the civilized world's northern border means that its occupants, the Dwarves of Quirok Temir, are in constant conflict with the Roje Kingdoms and can be counted among their kind's fiercest warriors.

Well of Power

At the very center of Dvergar, lie the Tarani Mountains. Tallest of all ranges, save for the Ajory Devor, they lack the oppulent deposits of minerals and gems found in their siblings. Instead they hold the key to the success of the New Order itself. It is for this reason that the High Kingdom of Dvergar has its capital, main armory and archive within these peaks.

Glimmering Halls

Southernmost and by all accounts unfriendliest of them all are the Ordini. Jagged fissures, brittle ground and endless ravines make them a treacherous massive to climb. Within they hold vast quantities of gems and gold, making the Dwarves of Quirok Ordin the richest of their kind and one of the more powerful factions within the High Kingdom.

In the Shadow

by Paul Canavan

Beneath the high peaks lie vast stretches of flat plain, softly rolling hills and luscious forests. From the coast onwards, it begins to slowly rise, a soft incline eventually ending up in the highlands near the World's End Wall, nearly two thousand meters above sea level. Watered by a myriad of rivers and under mild climate, it is the most fertile region in the known world and home to tens of millions of beings.
The Atenarri dominate here, their settlements doting the land in the thousands. Home to some of the most ancient and beautiful cities in existence, the land of Elves is all civilization could hope to be. Like the Dwarves, the Elves are not a united nation, but an array of eleven realms, each with their own rulers and laws, but all subservient to the will of the High Kingdom and the iron fist of its stunted rulers.

Beauty? Civilization? Its a monument to arrogance. Nature chained by Magic and Steel. A flimsy blanket that shields them from Mother's Wrath!

— Takalne, Roje Shaman

Beyond the Known World

For most of history, the boundaries of the known world were marked by four landmarks: the rivers Shimory and Janur in north and south respectively, the Ostmaar in the east and the Ajory Devor in the west. Now, two of these are being steadily pushed back, opening new lands to settlement and discovery.

Southern Silence

Bosh Erla is a fitting name for the vast expanse of grassland and steppe that stretches south of the river Janur. Outside of animals, most notably wild horses, kereki and boar, the land has no inhabitants. Combined with the fact that it is ideal land for settlement, even if it is drier than the verdant lands of central Dvergar, this has made the Bosh Erla the ideal solution to an age old problem: overpopulation. Centuries of peace and prosperity have seen the Atenarri population explode and massed colonization of the south has become a valve to lessen the pressure in the heartlands.

Northern Savagery

Where in the south the hoe serves as the tool for Dvergar's expansion, it is the sword in the north. Here, in a land of rugged hills, deep dark pine forests and colder climate, is where the Orcs dwell. Staunchly opposed to the Dvergari, whose rampant industrialization and ordering of the land they view as a violation of their mother goddess, they have been in a constant state of conflict with the inhabitants of Dvergar. Its rough nature makes the north an ideal hiding spot for those not fitting into the Dvergari order, such as Trolls, Gnomes and worse in the vile area known as the Twilight Glade

The Withered Heath

by Toby Lewin

Beyond the World's Edge Wall, the people of Dvergar will only find death. There lies the Suur Turmandu, the Withered Land, a place hostile to any normal form of life. A vast plain covered in dust and ashes, petrified trees and ruins of ancient cities the only signs that this was once a lively place. Duststorms regularly wash over the land and even cross into Dvergar, serving to mark the change of seasons there.
Life, by all known laws of nature, should be impossible there. And it is more terrifying than any nightmare. Long thought extinct after the Age of Discord, the Tarakan re-emerged in ancient past, driving the Elves into Dvergar and turned the land to the wasteland it is today. And seem to thrive. Again and again, they throw themselves against Timur's Gate and only might of the Dvergari can keep them in check.

I don't want to know what lurks beyond those mountains that has even the Stunties on the defence. Short they are. Greedy without a doubt. Weak? They are the furthest from that.

— Kalios, King of Hebara

by Darkseid

Type

Continent

Owning Organization

High Kingdom of Dvergar

Contested By

• Roje Kingdoms
• Sanethari Covenant
• Shadow of the West

Inhabiting Species

• Dvergari - Iron Lords of the New Order
• Raclann - Whisperers in the Woods

New Order

Name for the current age of the world and its most present feature: the pact of Atenarri and Dvergari and the resulting High Kingdom of Dvergar.
Of the other races, most are also part of the realm, although Seafolk and Giants live both inside and outside of its borders.
Orcs reject it wholesale and Goblins have been reduced to slave status for crimes in the distant past.

Righting the World

Another aspect of the NR is what is known as the Second Ordering. For the better part of four millennia, Dvergari Magic has kept the world in balance.
Rivers are forced into their beds, storms mitigated, rain directed were it is needed, winter's worst excesses calmed; many things, both small and large, are steered toward the benefit of mortals.
Although it does cause tensions with those of a stronger faith, there is no denying that the Dvergari order has served the people well over the millennia.

Aeons in the future, when all earth and stone are washed away...Herion will rise into the sky once more...and Dvergar will wither under his wings.

— Hukuri Belief

Broken Coast

Out of the myriad of Tolganri off Dvergar's coast, two will stand out on any map. The first is Herion's Corpse. Once the most powerful of the Adjari, he was flung out of the sky in the waning days of the Age of Discord, his body now covered by earth and his bones now the spine of mountains.
Like most northern lands, the island is subject to cold winds and harsh winters. Its exposed position off the coast makes it vulnerable to the Ostmaar's wrath and older sources claim that it has lost over half of its former size.
In the far south, a series of elongated, almost string-like islands form a near-continuous band from the coast of Amanra to the Horns of Galika.
Known as Southern Sisters they are home to the Hukuri, a tribe of Elves that reject the order of the High Kingdom and have formed their own society, partially in cooperation with the Seafolk.

by Nele Diel