Dwarf, Ellebore

Appearance

Bold and hardy, dwarves are known as skilled warriors, miners, and workers of stone and metal. Though they stand well under 5 feet tall, dwarves are so broad and compact that they can weigh as much as a human standing nearly two feet taller. Their courage and endurance are also easily a match for any of the larger folk.

Dwarven skin ranges from deep brown to a paler hue tinged with red, but the most common shades are light brown or deep tan, like certain tones of earth. Their hair, worn long but in simple styles, is usually black, gray, or brown, though paler dwarves often have red hair. Male dwarves value their beards highly and groom them carefully.

Dwarves are solid and enduring like the mountains they love, weathering the passage of centuries with stoic stubbornness and slow to change. They respect the traditions of their clans, tracing their ancestry back to the founding of their most ancient strongholds in the youth of the world, and don’t abandon those traditions lightly. Part of those traditions is devotion to Moradin, who uphold the dwarven ideals of industrious labor, skill in battle, and devotion to the forge.

Individual dwarves are determined and loyal, true to their word and decisive in action, sometimes to the point of stubbornness. Many dwarves have a strong sense of justice, and they are slow to forget wrongs they have suffered. A wrong done to one dwarf is a wrong done to the dwarf’s entire clan, so what begins as one dwarf’s hunt for vengeance can become a full-blown clan feud.

Average Characteristics

• Age: Considered adults at 40, the average lifespan is 250 years
• Size: Dwarves stand between 4 and 5 feet tall and average about 150 pounds
• Language: Dwarvish

Locations

The dwarves are spread across Ellebore and can be found in every mountain range on the continent. While each range is claimed by at least one clan, all recognize the Scone of Stone in Bel Dorahl as the seat of dwarfdom Law.

History

The dwarves had lived in Ellebore for years, content within their mountains, when the elves, humans, and halflings came from the southern continent. At first these races were greeted with cheer as new trading partners and welcomed.

When Ollamaas raised his death tyrant army and went to war against the Tamed Lands of Ellebore, the dwarves answered the call and fought on the side of the Bright Shiners. Many were lost in the War of the Undead and in the aftermath they retreated to their mountains. Still open to trading with the other races, they were somewhat distrustful of humans in particular.

During the Second Age several groups of dwarves migrated to Umberfell and found new things to mine. Over time the differences between Ellebore dwarves and their southern cousins continued to grow. This has also caused bad blood, with the Low King Blaargist Goldhammer declaring the Umberfell clans undwarfish.

When the mad mage Kelveren began his conquest in the War of the Mad the dwarves chose to withdraw into their mountains and underground halls. With more apparent targets, they were left relatively untouched, at least until the Cataclysm. The violent energies of the mage storms wreaked many of the mines and quite a few of the dwarven mages were driven insane by the destruction of the magical weave.

In the aftermath, Low Queen Velerio Deepdelver declared that a new dwarven capital, Bel Dorahl, would be built in the ancestral mountains of Amesgar Mountains on the site of that enemy's defeat. Since that founding the city has grown to be a jewel with a magnificently carved facade representing dwarven strength and crafting.