D&D 5E (2014) Feywild Analog for Dwarves?

[CapnZapp]

Feywild Analog for Dwarves?

How about redcaps?

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[Ancalagon]

I strongly recommend that you read "The Elves and the Otterskin" which has fey-like dwarves (and is quite entertaining a read) and very strong Norse influences.

 

[TheCosmicKid]

I can't think of a good name for it along the lines of Feywild and Underdark... anyone got any suggestions?

I'm confused. Do you want a name for it along the lines of Feywild and Underdark, or do you want a good name?

 

[Imaculata]

Some other ideas for names:

The Basalt Cistern
The Endless Abyss
The Mountain's Heart
The Marble Grove
The Forlorn Mine

 

[Mephista]

Same for the Underdark, weird pocket dimension.

Now I want something similar for the Dwarves, a realm of endless mines and mountains and such... but I can't think of a good name for it along the lines of Feywild and Underdark... anyone got any suggestions?

I dunno, I think of the Underdark in a different way...

D&D has traditionally put dwarves at the highest levels of the Underdark. They often run into dangers of the underdark by mining too deeply - this ties back to Tolkein and the Mines of Moria, where they woke up sleeping demonic beings hidden in the dark. Its kind of informed dwarf stories as a whole - I can't count the number of D&D stories that have some variation of "recover lost home, now filled with monsters." Even in the Underdark campaign, you basically stop off at dwarven kingdoms as the rest spots of goodly folk.

Well, there's the outer plane that's just to the Neutral side of Mount Celestial, but I don't know anyone that's ever done anything with Moradin's home plane. And I know a few that put Moradin inside of Mount Celestia's peaks.

Anyways, here's my question. How do you see the underdark in the first place, if not a realm of endless caves and caverns? That's what I always thought it was.

 

[CapnZapp]

Tolkien

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[DEFCON 1]

At one point I was putting together an inner planes cosmology for myself that had four elemental mirror planes just like the Feywild was the Positive Energy mirror plane of the Prime and the Shadowfell was the Negative Energy mirror plane. I think I named them the Eartholm, the Seascape, the Firelands, and the Skyvast.

And like how Elves and Gnomes were descendants from ancestral Feywild natives, Dwarves and Goliaths were descendants from ancestral Eartholm natives. Humans and Halflings were the only player races native to the Prime.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

I'd go with the Korred from Volo's. They are small fey with a strong affinity for earth and stone who can smell minerals, gain herculean strength from standing on bare stone, have hairs strong as stone, yet flexible so they can weave it, can shape earth and minerals with natural elementalist gifts. Have dwarves be the prime plane descendants of Korred who have ''climb out'' of their plane, much like elves are the prime descendants of the Feywild-native Eladrins.

Their home plane could be a wondrous underworld land of living gems and crystal, where the stone itself is alive. Have a emerald grove, a lake of mercury etc. Hannis Hags, Galed dhurr, Flail Snail, Boggle are all creatures that could be creatures that have a earth element theme while being ''fantastic'' enough to be fey-inspired.

 

[MostlyHarmless42]

The problem you will quickly run into is that dwarves from a folklore standpoint started out in an ambiguous fashion. They started out in Norse mythology and other similar mythologies as a fey like spirit of earth. They dwell in another realm known Dwarfheim and were known for being master craftsmen. They made most of the gods weapons and armor, including Thor's hammer Mjolnir, and in one legend one crafted a magic ring of great power. This particular legend is the one that went on to inspire both Wagner to write his opera the Nibilungenlied, or "The ring of the Nibilung" and Tolkien with the Lord of the Rings. The problem was, pre-Tolkien, who more or less standardized the modern Dwarf, the terms dwarf, elf, and gnomes were often used interchangeablely, and were basically just all lumped as the same creatures (and debatedly a racial slur for Jewish people, though that is a whole other conversation). Elves were more those that lived in the woods, while gnomes were spirits of earth, and the term dwarf often got used for both.

The issue you run into is that while d&d is great for terminology, sometimes they use different lore or terms for things from traditional folklore. Gnomes basically ARE the "fey dwarves" you seek. Wild gnomes have a more traditional folklore feel, but either rock gnomes or (especially) Svirfneblin (they are in the monster manual and racial stats are in the sword coast guide) are what you should look too.

That said, as others have pointed out, letting the dwarves live in the underarm is not a bad idea as well. Do not belittle the races ability to live entirely underground for most or all of their lives. Alternatively, if you still wish for a more alien extraplaner type thing, take the idea of the elemental earth plane and look up Dwarfheim in Norse mythology. I'd populate it with dwarves, gnomes, and earth elementals, as well as other creatures that fit thematically (purple worms should be their alpha predator type thing). Honestly anything that is underdark works.