Ages of Lingusia: Dwarves in the Empire Era

Dwarves in the Empire Era

   Like elves and eladrin there are several breeds of dwarf in Lingusia, though the only ones commonly encountered are the maddendur (iron dwarves) and suethendur (silver dwarves).

Iron Dwarves (Maddendur)

   The iron dwarves dominate within their kingdom in the deep south, along the peninsula encompassing the domain of their home in the Iron Mountains. Here, the dwarves rule, and men and elf are the rare exception. Iron dwarves can be found abroad throughout the Middle Kingdoms, however for in addition to being sturdy warriors, craftsmen and miners they are also shrewd merchants and businessmen.

   Iron dwarves are known for their crude personalities. The typical maddendur is dour, taciturn, and prone to anger, but also tends to be very, very good in battle. Most iron dwarves live life with a certain gusto, embracing notions of greed, good hard living, territorialism and selfishness to an extreme. Nonetheless they are also very communal and will protect their own; the dwarven sense of community is powerful.

   Iron Dwarves hail from many other regions of Lingusia besides the Iron Mountains, including the Angarak Mountains in Amech, as well as the deep northern kingdoms scattered in the mountains of Zued, Hettanar and Caelernin in the north. Throughout all these locations iron dwarves can be found, dwelling in busy mountain homes, carving deep in to their mountains to create wondrous underground citadels. They are perpetually at war with the chaos-kin, giants, and endless denizens of the Underworld.

   The most famous city of the iron dwarves can be found in their southern kingdom in the Iron Mountains: the capitol of Shillmarane is considered the largest inhabited (friendly) underworld city in Lingusia.

Personality and Appearance: Iron Dwarves are, as mentioned, a dour, taciturn and angry lot. They revere war, profit, and crafting above all other pursuits, and are single minded almost to a fault in such matters. Iron Dwarves can be reclusive isolationists, so are rarer on the surface than Silver Dwarves, but make their presence felt when necessary.

   Iron dwarves are usually around 4 feet in height, burly and bearded, and even the women are said to grow beards, though the truth of this is unknown to most humans since dwarven women are rarely ever seen. Their hair and eyes are of all colors and types, but they have a ruddy bronze quality to their skin. Iron Dwarves of the deep Northlands tend to be fair in skin, and more blonde.

Relations: Iron Dwarves respect the kingdoms of man, and they have relations and treaties with the Hyrkanian Empire and the Creteans. Those merchant dwarves who travel by sea have relations as far away as Zued and Octzel. Dwarves get along only intermittently with silver elves, and are driven nuts by sylvan elves. They are annoyed by halfing syleni, and confused by gnomes. They hate the darendur, ashtarth, and all chaoskin.

Religion: Iron Dwarves revere Hargameth for war, Ashturak for trade and crafting, Elesin for seamanship, and The Nameless One for being honest about death. Dwarven women revere Kishar and Khovaris.

Language: Iron Dwarves learn dwarvish, and usually take the Middle Tongue or Eastern Tongue as trade languages.

Names: Iron Dwarves like good, sturdy first names, and have lengthy and hard to pronounce last names, which follow a mantra-like code that connects their male lineage. There are dozens and dozens of clans, and often as many as ten to twelve clans within a city.

Male: Borin, Damior, Golin, Dwaelor, Ulan, Vailor, Gunrish, Daelin, Gimmel.

Female: Kamael, Dunir, Vimara, Loris, Tenera, Aspiel, Minhara, Ulara.

Adventurers: Iron Dwarves often join fraternal orders of knights, and one of the duties of such orders is to quest and seek out the enemies of dwarves. Merchant orders will likewise expect an iron dwarf to seek out perfection in his mercantile or crafting skills. Many iron dwarves will become singularly obsessed with a deed or quest that can only be accomplished over long periods of time on the surface world, and so venture forth to fulfill their obsession.

   Some of the more adventurous Maddendur include the Magendur, a powerful clan of dwarves that have actually entered the realms of Mitra’s Forest to begin a new war to drive out the orcs and other chaos-kin of that land. Magendur are a most adventurous lot.

Maddendur Characters

   Iron dwarves are just like standard dwarves in the PHB, with no unusual rules modifications.

Silver Dwarves (Suethendur)

   Silver dwarves are a diaspora of dwarves, a subculture of the larger group that were originally situated out of the Silver Mountains in the eastern expanses of Yllmar and Drai’in, but were driven out a century ago by the invading hordes of the dreaded necromancer king Anharak.

   Silver dwarves believe they are directly descended from the blood of the god Ashturak, and for this reason feel they are gifted with an almost preternatural talent for craftsmanship and smithing. Most all silver dwarves are professionals of one trade or another, engaging in such practices with an almost unnatural gusto.

   The armor, weapons, ships and chariots manufactured by silver dwarves are unnaturally strong and always of the highest quality. Many silver dwarves have learned to enchant magical devices and have become exceptionally talented at artificing. Some of the most amazing inventions of these dwarves include fantastic inflatable air ships-dirgibiles by any other name-of which a handful presently operate in the empire of Hyrkania, three having been given by the legendary smith Nerabad to the Emperor a few years ago as gifts from his clan.

   While Silver Dwarves have the smallest population as dwarves go, they are seemingly more numerous as their diaspora is spread out among the kingdoms of man. Silver Dwarves have found homes within small mountainous enclaves throughout the Middle Kingdoms and the north, but none can quite recover from the loss of their most splendid and seemingly endless subterranean city within the Silver Mountains. Several silver dwarf clans remain dedicated to purging their home mountains of the taint of Anharak and his hordes of undead and orcs, though.

Personality and Appearance: Silver Dwarves are more outgoing and gregarious than their dour Iron kin. They are as diplomatic as they are mechanically skilled, and value the insight of other races as well as their own.

   Silver Dwarves are also around four feet, and save for their ancient heritage from the Silver Mountains, are not easily differed from their Iron kin. Most Silver Dwarves have fair skin, however, and tend to have more blonde and gray in their hair. Many are blue eyed, a rare trait among Iron Dwarves.

Relations: Silver Dwarves get along with everyone, perhaps save for the chaos-kin, and even then they’re willing to accept a good being of an evil race. They are remarkably diplomatic, although just as prone to angry moodiness at times as their Iron kin.

Religion: Silver Dwarves are reverent to Ashturak, the creator god. It is said in the myths of the dwarves that Ashturak first created the Iron Dwarves, but as they were his first creation, they were flawed and a little ugly, so he created their brothers, the Silver Dwarves, and got it right the second time, by modeling them after his own image. This might be vanity, but oddly enough the Iron Dwarves do not deny it, and let the Silver Dwarves carry on.

   Silver dwarves also revere Khovaris and Kishar, both of whom have primarily female priesthoods.

Worship of Khovairs began in the north, but has progressed rapidly throughout the suethendur enclaves in the Middle Kingdoms. Khovaris is regarded as a goddess of fortune and luck among male dwarves, and among fertility and clan success among female dwarves.

Language: Silver Dwarves know their own dialect of dwarvish, which is still effectively the same language, and the language of their closest human kin (usually the Middle Tongue).

Names: Silver Dwarves adopt many names, and will often choose first names from amongst the local cultures in which they dwell, but they always prefer  to have a middle or last name connected to their old clan names.

Male: Aurangabad, Gamerland, Deimos, Ashamar, Hegroth, Gemanahar, Vovoron.

Female: Dulim, Meris, Enneri, Vohiris, Quirin, Lari, Missada, Venderlyn.

Adventurers: Silver Dwarves, as a result of their diaspora throughout the Middle Kingdoms, travel often, and adventure even more. Some Silver Dwarves see themselves are traveling scholars and antiquarians, discovering the lost subterranean past of their people. Others seek to find master artificers who can teach them new tricks and techniques.

Suethendur Characters

   Silver dwarves are generated using the standard dwarf rules in 4E, with the following modifications:

Artificers and Crafters: All Suethendur are excellent craftsmen and inventors by nature, and gain a free bonus feat, which must be chosen from either the Alchemy, Ritual Magic or Practiced Mastery feats.

Darendur, Dark Dwarves     

   Like the Ashtarth, some dwarves in the War of the Gods were swayed to serve Chaos, and were marked with a dusky, death-like gray skin, as if they were filled with the darkness of their subterranean kingdoms. They dwell beneath the surface of the world only, and are rarely ever seen in daylight.

   Most darendur encountered on the surface or near it are to be found in the western end of the Slithotendan Mountains, where they have two dominant surface cities: Darkholm, not far from the Monastery of Senempar, and Sadrys, a small port dominated by the Gharadagh Clan. The curious poltical and cultural mix of the region proved to be a lucrative market for some of the tribes of the deep, and these Darendur have taken the mountains in that region as their own. It is often noted by adventurers visiting the region that the darendur are the only dwarves to be found in the region; the fairer skinned dwarves have left the region entirely to their deep dwelling cousins.

   Physically darendur are not unlike iron and silver dwarves, but they are marked in much the same manner as the ashtarth by the taint of chaos, with dusky grey skin, hair that ranges from white to red and black in coloration, and deep, liquid opal eyes that reflect their keen vision in total darkness.

   Darendur are similar to regular dwarves, with some differences:

Darendur Characters

Average Height: 3’6” to 4’8”

Average Weight: 125-225 lbs.

Languages: Deep Speech, plus one other (usually Tradespeak or Giantish)

Ability Scores: +2 Constitution and either  +2 Strength or +2 Charisma

Size: medium

Speed: 6 squares

Vision: dark vision (special, below)

Skill Bonuses: +2 Arcana, +2 Dungeoneering

Magical Sensitivity: All darendur have a curious innate ability to tell what sort of magic an item is, much as if they had the Arcana skill. Darendur may identify magic items and their properties in this manner merely by touch (they don’t even need to study them visually). The darendur must still make an Arcana check, but can do so even if he has not trained in the skill.

Dark Vision: Darendur have Darkvision of 120 feet, being atuned to the lightless depths of their subterranean homes. They need no light source to see in a series of black and white shades, able to rely on a form of infrared to see.

Light Sensitive: All darendur are light-sensitive, and experience blindness for one round if exposed to a sudden daylight-like effect (such as a spell or unexpected sunlight). In such situations the darendur grants combat advantage until the end of the next turn from which he was exposed to the bright light source, or until he takes a second wind (which removes the penalty immediately).

Magic Resistance: Darendur have a strange resilience against magic, and gain the following daily racial power in place of the standard dwarven second wind ability:

Magic Resistance                   Darendur Racial Power

Daily – Personal – Immediate Reaction

Trigger: you are targeted and hit by an arcane, primal or divine spell.

Effect: you may negate the effect that just hit you.

Item Disruption: Finally, the spell resistance of darendur is also overwhelming to magical items. Every time a darendur seeks to activate a magical device, he must make a saving roll (10+). If he fails, then the device has no effect on him or does not trigger. This applies to both beneficial and detrimental items as arbitrated by the DM. There is only one exception: illusory psychic effects always work on or for the Darendur.

   Items which do not affect the Darendur do not lose their charge unless the situation would suggest it (i.e. a wand fired at a Darendur simply recovers its power charge, but a potion, once drunk, may be lost).

Ages of Lingusia: The Kindred of the Empire Era

   Unless otherwise indicated, all of the following races will use the base stats assigned by the core rules. Likewise, all races are eligible for whatever classes or roles are considered normal for the rules, and will likewise apply here as well.

   All character classes in have their place somewhere within the world of Lingusia. While a great majority of characters will come from the “core classes” (cleric, fighter, rogue, wizard) there are plenty of all other classes to be found, and for player characters at least there are no specific class restrictions when making their choices on what to play (the idea being that all characters are the exception to any rule). That said, if the GM does not want the player group to contain six ashtarth dark elf rangers, he is well within his rights to request that the PCs diversify a bit.

   Each racial entry will include relevant data on the race for the setting, as well as advice or rules necessary to run the race in 4E. Some additional lesser races are also referenced, with enough data to get interested players going.

Summary of the Races of Lingusia:

The Lawful Races

Eladrin/Silver Elves (Suethenurien): fair skinned and tall, these elves dwell in the ancient woodland empire of Sylvias.

Wood Elves (Sylvanurien): The free spirited and much shorted woodland elves are found throughout the world and are distinctively mischievous.

Humans: The most populace and successful of all the lawful races, humans are found everywhere, and are believed to be the favored progeny of the gods.

Iron Dwarves (Maddendur): The iron dwarves are a rough mountain breed of dwarf with a nose for minerals and and in insatiable desire to dig deep for hidden veins of gold and other precious metals in the mountains of the world.

Silver Dwarves (Suethendur): The silver dwarves are a mechanically inclined lot, dwelling mostly in human lands due to an ancient exile from their own mountains, and famous for their talent with anvil and hammer.

Gnomes: Commonly mistaken for true fey, gnomes are earthly beings more at home in the elemental realms of earth, and are found hidden deep within the remote forests and mountains of the world. They suffer from a strange corruption in the presence of civilization and technology.

Halflings (Syleni): An even rarer breed of fey, the diminutive Halflings are suspected to have been the product of an ancient union between a tribe of fey and dwarf or men, though none know for sure.

Amazons: An ancient race of warrior women who are sworn to an eastern god of war, Vishannu, and received the gift of immortality for their dedication.

The Chaos Races

Dark Elves (Ashtarth): Members of the renegade sorcerer clan of the silver elves, these chaos-tainted dark elves have evolved a sophisticated culture of demon worship.

Orcs (Anyu): The orcs come in many varieties, from the civilized but still brutal grey orcs to the malicious chaos-tainted blue and red orcs and the xenophobic fell manorg of the north. They are a threat to all humankind, and few of their number are civil enough to interact with other races.

Naga: An aquatic race of evil beings who have risen to power and now aspire to conquer the dry lands of the world.

Gnolls: The gnolls are a demonic race that seeks to overcome the dominance of the orcs in the underworld races and to establish themselves as the principle legions of chaos.

Sherigras: These chaos-tainted beings were once human, and long ago their kind descended in to chaos and madness, pursuing the dark arts and worshipping the dread gods of the Abyss. Marked by skeletal, gaunt features, the Sherigras exist where they are allowed, on the fringes of society.

Ghuls: The flesh-eaters of Lingusia are half-undead survivors of undead plagues who retained their wits if not their sanity and formed a new race of deformed beings, many of whom serve Orcus and other demon gods.

Deep Dwarves (Darendur): The deep dwarves were once a chaos-tainted race themselves, though many of their kind have emerged from the deepest regions of the Lower Dark and renounced the chaos gods. Some still adhere to the old ways, though, and regardless of their affiliation, the deep dwarves are still marked by chaos.

Trolls (Thargonids, Mihidir): The trolls are an ancient race, and while the thargonids are horribly corrupted by chaos, the mihidir still retain a trace of their ancient, proud lineage.

The Neutral Races

Dragonborn: Dragonborn of Lingusia are a servitor race of the dragon lords, destined for slavery due to their draconic heritage, and often seeking to rebel.

Faeries: The faerie kin are true fey, born out of the Weirding and driven by curiosity to enter the mortal realm.

Goblins: Goblins are a deviant underworld race of deformed unseelie fey who have long ago sought to make a home for themselves in the mortal plane.

Terkithyi Lizard Men: A brutal race of fierce alligator-headed warriors who pride strength and fierceness as key traits.

Haikyndyr Lizard Men: A desert-dwelling race of lizard men who are swift and cunning, defending their southern lands with poisoned arrows and traps.

Serpent Men (Setites): The dark race of serpent men owe their existence to the dark god Set, considered to be the great deceiver and lord of maliciousness. The serpent men seek to espouse their dark god’s ideals and secretive goals.

Ogres: A race of brutal killers and mercenaries who dwell in the forestlands of Lingusia and will work for whoever offers the best loot and largest meals.

Minotaurs (Mishrag): From deeply religious cults to fierce warrior tribes, the minotaurs are a god-touched races of men who are born with bull’s heads.

Devas: The spiritual-servitors and immortals from the higher planes, devas are enigmatic halfbreeds who seek to attain a higher purpose.

Tieflings: Touched by infernal and abyssal blood, the taint of the tieflings is evident in their appearance and often also their behavior.

Living Constructs: Extremely rare products of sorcery and arcanists, the living constructs of Lingusia are very rare, self-aware golems.

Marlacks: The winged dragonmen of Lingusia are an ancient, fiercely loyal race that has become more populous in recent centuries. Dedicated to their dragon lords, the Marlacks are determined to prove their worth so that they may ascend the ranks of dragonhkind.

Satyrs: The mysterious satyrs are native to the Weirding Realm, but they cross over more and more frequently in to the mortal plane, obsessed with its delights and hedonistic possibilities.

Werebloods: These shifters are a rare but known race of those who have the taint of the beast within their lineage.

   There are many other races that inhabit Lingusia, and many more yet to come to light, but the above are the most likely to be found as adventurers in the greater lands of the Middle Kingdoms and beyond.