Dwarves of Khadin
Rough Draft
Dwarves. Ancient like the elves, their origin is a thing of varying myth and legend. The dwarves of the great underground kingdom of Olmon were the descendants of the forgotten nation who had helped build the Lance of Kanith. When people speak of dwarves, it is the Olmon that they are talking about. The Olmon were a efficient people, who loved their systems, be it legal, financial, crafts - they excelled at them all. The largest bank in the land was the Bank of Olmon and the greatest craftsmen and lawyers were dwarves. Traders of all nations and races were traditionally led by dwarven teamsters, equipped with bankers, lawyers & other helpful professions. The dwarves were devoted to the gods, particularly the guardian god Tol and his sister Karas the Smith, who's symbols, the shield & anvil are the symbol of the city of Olmon.
Tragedy struck the dwarves three centuries ago when a terrible plague broke out in Olmon, called the Shiver due to the prevalent symptom from onset to death in a couple of days. The plague spread quickly through the dwarven people and when it began to spread through the dwarven & human population in the town beyond the underground city gates, the High Commander of Gir ordered that the town be contained and burned and that the gates of Olmon be sealed from the outside so as to protect the other nations from the plague. The Commander's dislike for dwarves was well known and this incident was a wonderful justification for him to essentially commit genocide. The gates were sealed through magic and ingenuity and guarded to dispel any attempt to open the gates or escape. Time passed and eventually no further attempts to escape or open the gates were made. It was assumed that the dwarves had perished, but due to the threat of lingering plague, the gates remained sealed. Through divination, the High Commander confirmed that the underground gateway city was populated solely by the dead. Powerful wards against undeath were established around the gates and they were abandoned. Relations between Gir and the other nations became strained after this event with outright enmity between them and the priests of Kanith who condemned their actions as genocide and murder of the good & faithful of the gods.
Even before the death of the Olmon, the dwarves of Nir had also vanished from the world. Not much is known about the Nir. They were close friends with the elves of Sedas. They were dark skinned and taller than the dwarves of Olmon with bright reflective eyes. The Olmon and Nir were friendly to each other, but the Olmon were always suspicious, stating that the Nir were not actually dwarves & not native to this world. The Nir would simply smile at such allegations and neither agree nor refute them. Something happened one night long ago, and the entire Nir race vanished from the world without a trace, leaving their holdings abandoned.
Lastly there are the dwarves of Shel. Few know of them and little is known about them by those who do. They had parted ways with the forgotten nation long before the Lance had been constructed. They built great ships and departed from the port of the great & ancient city of Al-Lorin on the southern shores of the continent. Their ancient holdings would eventually be claimed by both the Olmon & Nir or else undiscovered or claimed by other races. The Shel send a great vessel once every 72 years to trade with their ancient homeland and an ambassador who visits with the heads of Al-Lorin and the resident representatives from other nations to discuss the next visit and touch base on events in their ancient homelands. The Shel were known to have worshiped the greater gods that had fallen when the Lance destroyed heaven and broken & scattered their gods remains in the mortal world. They still have little more than abhorrence for the modern priesthoods. This enmity leaves their ambassador and the representatives of Kanith with very little to say to each other. This tradition came to an abrupt end nearly two centuries ago when Al-Lorin was destroyed during the civil war between the Alfar ruling faction and their rivals, the Ree, an assembly of scholars & wizards. The war culminated in a terrible disaster when a Ree wizard had attempted to transform a powerful healing artifact into a weapon by inverting the positive energy in the device into negative energy. A terrible blast exploded from the artifact that negated all life for miles. The following night, the thousands of dead all rose as wraiths. Only the Ree who had been within their magically shielded compound had survived. They fled the city to the north and were never heard of again. Al-Lorin in a single day & night had been transformed from one of the greatest cities in the world to a city of death. The next Shel ship had come to the city, seen the devastation & horrors & attempted to flee. The wraiths surged over the surface of the water and consumed the ship. The Shel perished and their ship crashed into the city where it remains to this day. Many brave & foolish adventurers have attempted to reach the ship and the fabled treasures of the Shel within only to have joined the ranks of the restless wraiths of Al-Lorin. She Shel have never sent another ship since the one that had been claimed by the wraiths.
Reports of small clans of dwarves of Olmon descent have been recorded from time to time. Descendants of dwarves who had been abroad on the surface when the Shiver Plague had struck their kin. The government of Gir continues to stand on their commandment that the dwarves of Olmon are a continued threat to all humanity, that they are unclean & prone to spreading disease as well as a threat to Gir, as any survivors of Olmon should surely wish to seek revenge against Olmos for the justice they had performed in destroying Olmos and the Plague bearers. So dwarves are to be executed on sight and the Gir military will often will travel great distances to investigate reports of dwarves where they are executed upon discovery. The nations of Kanith and Hana will not allow these Gir hunters within their lands if they can stop them & will protect and take in any dwarven survivors that they find. There is a well known dwarven conclave called The Hill located in Kanith.
