Date: Year 0060 of the Firmament Era
Location: The Underkingdoms of Kael'Drunn
Prologue
"We do not pray.
We shape.
We do not kneel.
We endure.
The gods may sleep, but the stone remembers."
—Inscription above the Gate of Twelve Hands, Kael'Durûn
1. From the Forge of the Earth
When Terrum, god of stone and pressure, laid his hand upon the bones of the world, he gave no speech. He sang no lullaby. He did not smile. He pressed his palm deep into the land and willed it to hold.
And from that will, the Dwarves were born.
They rose not in meadows, nor sunlight, nor under stars. They awoke in the Deeps, their eyes opening to glowing walls of magma-lit halls, their breath filled with dust and heat.
They were not beautiful. They were not agile. But they were whole—solid of body, dense of bone, and carved with the intent to last.
Their first word was spoken in a tongue no mortal race has ever fully mastered: Kharrum-dhur, which means "I am still."
2. The Founding of Kael'Drunn
The first dwarven clans settled deep beneath the Ironspine Mountains, in a region where molten rivers ran like veins through black obsidian bedrock. They called their first city Kael'Drunn, the "Root of the Maker."
It was not carved. It was released—built by heating raw stone until it cracked open into caverns of impossible symmetry. The dwarves did not see the mountain as obstacle, but as canvas. Their tools were shaped from their own bodies—hammers made from volcanic bones, chisels of crystal grown from living rock.
At the city's heart stood the Stone Flame, a slow-burning, eternal forge said to contain the last spark of Terrum's Authority. Its flame was silver and blue, and no known fire ever matched its purity.
3. The Twelve Clans
As the dwarves multiplied and spread, they formed into Twelve Great Clans, each descending from one of the Twelve Forged Fathers—the first dwarves shaped directly by Terrum's hand.
Each clan claimed a domain of craft:
Clan Barhaz – Smiths of war-iron, masters of weaponry.
Clan Dûmmrak – Masons and architects of the Deepholds.
Clan Orhûn – Crafters of runes and keepers of the Old Tongue.
Clan Vezzrim – Miners of gems and precious ores.
Clan Molgrun – Engineers of mechanisms, gears, and hidden doors.
Clan Hûrdak – Brewers and alchemists.
Clan Norzan – Builders of bridges and roads that span chasms.
Clan Azdûn – Shieldsmiths, armor-forgers of unmatched art.
Clan Vundrak – Guardians of history and memory, keepers of stone records.
Clan Thûrmor – Flame-binders, those who control magma and stone-magic.
Clan Ghazrin – Explorers of the surface world.
Clan Darrkul – Keepers of the Forgeflame, priest-smiths of Terrum's memory.
Each clan ruled a Stonehold, a fortress city carved into a separate part of the Ironspine chain, all connected by the Deep Roads—a labyrinthine tunnel system that stretched hundreds of miles beneath the world.
4. The King Under Stone
The Dwarves did not believe in monarchy the way humans did.
Their first true leader, Khazûl Varn-Thul, was chosen not by bloodline or blade, but by his ability to craft. He created the Stone Crown, a circlet made not of gold or jewel, but of a single continuous piece of volcanic glass, carved to resemble mountain peaks. It was said no tool could cut it, and no fire could melt it.
Khazûl was crowned not with song, but with silence. He said only this:
"So long as I remember, we do not fall."
He ruled for 312 years. His tomb lies beneath Kael'Drunn, guarded by golems that move only when his name is defiled.
5. Religion Without Worship
Unlike other races, the dwarves do not pray to Terrum. They do not call his name aloud or ask for miracles. They believe that the god already gave his gift: stone, endurance, memory.
The dwarves believe their work is their worship. Every carved wall is a hymn. Every forged blade a verse. The Forgeflame Priests of Clan Darrkul tend the Anvil Shrines, not with incense or chant, but with heat and metal.
"Terrum does not speak," said Master Dûrm of the Fourth Era. "But the earth still holds his breath."
6. The War Beneath the World
By the year 0057, as the Ashmarked movement rose on the surface, the Dwarves began to notice something stranger: earthquakes with no epicenter, heat pulses beneath sealed caverns, and shadows moving through solid stone.
In the deeps beyond Kar'murûn, a mining team of Clan Vezzrim uncovered a black vein—a slick, oil-colored mineral that shimmered wrong in torchlight.
When one of the miners touched it, he began to weep blood and carve glyphs into the stone with his teeth.
The Dwarves sealed the mine. They called the place Dur'ghûl—The Hollow That Hungers.
Master Deepwatcher Gromvel Thrak, of Clan Vundrak, wrote:
"Something stirs beneath the old roots. A memory not ours. A pressure without name. The stone is still—but it does not sleep."
7. Conflict with the Ashmarked
In the south, trade with human caravans ceased. Emissaries from Virek's Hollow came with strange skin and quieter voices. They offered corrupted silver and glowing steel—tools that worked without flame.
High Lord Thain Dûrzan, descendant of Khazûl, rejected their offer.
"We take no gifts from mouths that do not honor their own dead."
Three days later, a Dwarven roadwatch at Tharnhold Gate vanished.
No bodies. No signs of battle.
Only a sigil etched into the stone: a downward spiral, weeping flame.
8. The Grand Forging
Fearing the return of old evils, the Twelve Clans convened the Grand Forging—a ritual of unity, only held once every age.
Deep in the Vault of Stoneblood, the High Lords laid their clan-blades upon the Anvil of Memory and reforged them into a single weapon: Varram-Thûl, the Last Hammer.
Its purpose was not to lead war, but to decide when war was needed.
It now rests in the hands of the Thane-Judge, a neutral arbiter chosen by vote: Beldra Stormvein, of Clan Molgrun—the first female Thane in dwarven history.
9. The Future Unshaped
The Dwarves now watch the world shift.
They feel it in the cracking of their oldest halls.
They hear it in the change of echoes through ancient stone.
They know something deeper than roots is awakening.
And while they do not panic…
They sharpen their chisels.
They reinforce their forges.
They remember.
For when gods fall silent,
and men forget themselves,
the stone endures.