In the West hemisphere of Nirath, two kingdoms—a race of arcane-blooded Dwarves, called the Atten, and a long-living race of Elves, called the Das—collided during their expansion. The magics of these two kingdoms was great, and they saw the opportunity to benefit from joining their powers. Rather than war or diplomacy, opportunity presented itself, and the new kingdom of the Atten'Das peoples was born. The great halls of stone below met with the ancient tree above.
Their kingdom was prosperous and focused its energy on research, seeking to continue the expansion of their power. They cherished history, nature, and the arcane. Of particular interest to these peoples was an ancient language etched on freestanding monuments and written on fragments of crumbling paper and broken stone. This language belonged to a race—lost in time—with knowledge so great, the Atten'Das believe, that they could unleash the divine might of creation itself.
Their language was often accompanied by intricate runes which sealed this peoples magic. The Atten'Das studied these runes and began to manipulate them. But were it not for their other discovery, their efforts would have been all for naught.
The greatest standing sign of their former existence were strange pools of something not quite water—colloquially they called the liquid Mana, for it was raw, liquid arcane energy—and they reaped their strength and knowledge from altar-like temples left behind which contained the missing people's reservoirs of this liquid: the Mana Pools. They developed potent spells from the pools. They drank the water and their blood was altered, and with their new capacity, they unlocked the runes of the ancients'.
The Material Plane and their pursuit of the arcane led them to the Astral Sea. They built the Atten'Das Astral Port—where great ships borne on the air sailed through floating structures and a great portal into the Astral Sea. And so, to fuel a drying thirst for ever-more expansive knowledge, the Atten'Das expanded their borders to a kingdom of the multiverse.
Their enemies, primarily a kingdom of shamanistic orcs, were fearful and lusting for their power. The orcs attacked them relentlessly. Their wars were long and drawn out, but only after major defeats would the orcs' attacks subside.
In their quest, the Attenarn Dwarves and the Dasian Elves sailed on their magically flying ships East, across the Seas of Nirath, over the Nuxil'Kar Ocean—for their historians had spoken of peoples there—and settled on a peninsula in a land called Feldour.
They began to learn more magics from the kingdoms around them. The Atten'Das were loathe to share their secrets—for each that the people of Feldour shared paled in comparison to the treasures of the Atten'Das. And so the peoples of Feldour turned on the Atten'Das; out of jealousy, envy, and hate they turned against them. They no longer shared their secrets. They picked up steel and slaughtered the Atten'Das in the Wrelt Lands.
Though this betrayal was great, the people of Feldour fled the Wrelt Lands when another foe, whose kingdoms were hidden below the surface, rose up and broke through the earth. Their magic disrupted the Atten'Das people's efforts. These were the Aberrations of the Wrelt Lands.
And so the Atten'Das built a wall with their magic across the border between their homelands and the Wrelt Lands and sealed themselves inside. They fought tooth and nail, magic and psionic, with these Aberrations, until their conflict was pulled underground to the chambers of the Aberrations. But the Aberrations had slaves far-reaching beyond their underdark kingdom. They unleashed the goblin hordes of Feldour on the Atten'Das and commanded the Orcs of the Frostpaw and Magmattar clans to assault the Dwarves and Elves.
In their attempts to bring their Dwarven cousins of the East to their aid, the possibility of the tie was severed, and now they are in Dwarven Civil War. Though no blood has been shed as of yet, the time is coming.
To this day, the Atten'Das have not opened their lands again to outsiders. To this day, they have not made another trade agreement. To this day, they fight beneath the foundations of Nirath, for survival. Their arrogance keeps them from fleeing back to the West. Their pride prevents them from giving up and asking for help. And their lack of communication and allies stops them from winning against the Aberrations. And their greed keeps them from surrendering.One of the Dwarves traditions is to use Purple Worm related monstrosities to dig their tunnels for them. Their close connection with the large wriggling creatures is one like farmer and cattle, and like man and horse, and dwarf and iron. The worms provide food, transport and work, and a resource from which to build armor. They craft art and decorations from the beasts. This tradition they brought from the West. As a consequence of time, they introduced this species to their new eastern providence whenever one escaped and populated the lands of Atten'Das and the Wrelt Lands. They never were able to tame the worms of Feldour.
In addition to the worms, runic magic (which they write, replicate, and tattoo), mana pools, and Astral Sea ports, the Atten'Das also have an order of knights called the Arcane Templar—a group of Atten'Das who seek out artifacts, lost arcana, and secrets, fight against aberrations and those who would wantonly abuse the arcane, who wield magic like a sword, and magnify the use of arcane for any and all purposes. They are no secret to the Atten'Das peoples. They catalog all they acquire and guard that which may be utilized later, whether for prosperity, war, or knowledge.
Who are the dwarven cousins to the east?
Why was their potential tie severed?
Who is in the dwarven civil war, and why?
[October 29, 2015 at 10:53 pm]
There are several Dwarven kingdoms of the East. The five main ones are:
the Rar’Ilan Clan of Elz’Kadon, led by Thane Raran Hilan, Orcsbane
the Ivundarn Clan of Ivundarn, led by Thane Yisholv Ivund, Lord of the Great Stone Forge
the Warrior’s Gouge (sometimes also called the Fornarrn) Clan of Undowaul, led by Thane Fornarr, the Mighty
the Grishneln Clan of Grishneln, led by Thane Ovrak Grishnauln
the Attenarn Clan of East Atten’Das, led by Thane Harent Atten
Other clans of Nirath include:
the Desert Dwarves of the Mountains of Iperia, Lasad, and Roheim (several clans)
the Yogazian clans
and there is Aaron’s campaign’s clan
there is also technically the Dwarves of the North as well
There may be more Dwarves, particularly I am looking for an evil clan. I don’t know what Yogaz’s dwarves are like, but perhaps they’d be a fit.
[October 30, 2015 at 12:06 am]
The cause of the Dwarven Civil War is one of politics, trade, and alliance. The Thanes of the Five have not been seeing eye to eye on all matters, and the need for help is great. Thus it also only the Thanes of the Five who are in the war. Thankfully, they are spread far and wide across Nirath and actual bloodshed has not begun, but they no longer trade nor communicate.
Rar’Ilan has just evicted all goblinkind from Elz’Kadon.
Grishneln is under siege by the Undead
Atten’Das faces foes of the Underdark and continued isolationism
The people of Ivundarn are far away.
The Fornarrn clan has been dealing with orcs and dragons for some time
The dwarves of Iperia, Lasad, and Roheim are not concerned much with the Five’s politics
The dwarves of the North are forgotten.
and the dwarves of Yogaz…?
[October 30, 2015 at 12:11 am]
I haven’t given too much thought to the non-human races of Yogaz. I know I’ve got a small clan of dwarves in Kuvera, and there’s a lot of potential for dwarves in Nasr.
Perhaps the Kuveran dwarves would be a good fit for evil dwarves.
The Confluence really didn’t have much of a lingering effect on the average human, but what’s to say that it didn’t affect the average dwarves, and the underdark of Kuvera, in an adverse way?
Dolkahn Murdinthal is technically from Kuvera. Maybe that could give us a good starting point
[October 30, 2015 at 1:53 am]
There you go! But that is the case with the dwarves as is. I haven’t invested much into evil nations so far, besides Sovilar and Mor’Rahk.
[October 30, 2015 at 5:48 pm]
But that is the case with the dwarves as is
What is the case with dwarves as a race?
I meant that what I posted is the story of the dwarf peoples of Nirath at the given point in the campaign’s story.
[October 30, 2015 at 9:57 pm]
So when the Atten’Das sought to connect with the “dwarves of the East”, was it referring to all 4 other major clans, or just the Grishneln Kingdom? I haven’t been able to locate the Warrior’s Gouge on the world map, but I did find the Fornarrn Bay.
How do the other dwarven clans view the Atten’Das?
Are the Atten’Das still a communal people of dwarves and elves?
The Warrior’s Gouge is in the same area. Those three clans are all near each other. The Warrior’s Gouge is a massive cliff and valley formation, supposed to look like the tip of a spear. It is also an underdark kingdom, as is most of the Grishneln kingdom.
It was referring to all four.
They view them as kind of the weird uncle, due to their elven allegiance, their obsession with magic, and their strange western ways.
Yes, they are communal.
[October 31, 2015 at 12:08 am]