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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Composer99" data-source="post: 8824369" data-attributes="member: 7030042">So I'm re-launching a D&D group with family friends after a preliminary session last night. The campaign went on an extended hiatus after my wife passed away in the summer of 2021 (she was one of the players). We're going to start afresh, and discussed some character ideas.The other characters bring a much darker tone to things, so I am taking all their backstories and riffing off them/iterating on them to come up with a setting.Setting implications from the characters backstories:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">There is a cruel, tyrannical tiefling empire (probably a proto-totalitarian one)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">A plague, probably on the scale of the Black Death in magnitude, devastated the land about half a century before the present day.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Some dwarves, at least, are hidebound traditionalists.</li> </ul>This post/thread is focusing on the dwarves of the setting. Anyone have any cool iterations on this, do feel free to come up with something.One of the players will be playing a dwarf rogue who is rebelling against his paternal family's wishes for him - that he carry on the family tradition of brewing (generations of his patrilineal line were and are brewers).New posts in this thread with more lore:Tieflings: Chosen of Asmodeus (<a href="https://www.enworld.org/threads/homebrew-setting-tieflings-chosen-of-asmodeus.693095/post-8826743" target="_blank">post</a>)[HR][/HR]Dwarves: Children of the Stone-Father[SPOILER="Mood Music"][MEDIA=youtube]C9IXUwqxIao[/MEDIA][/SPOILER]The dwarves believe themselves to be a dwindling people, though as the lands rebound from the Wracking Plague, some see hope on the horizon.In the Elder Times, dwarven steadings and fastnesses delved into many a mountain, and the greatest of these had Deeping Ways connecting them. But then came the Long Wearing, as civil war and calamity in the lands beyond their bounds eroded their power, followed by enemies of the dwarves and forces devoted to the Powers of Chaos, which overthrow their fastnesses. Those dwarves who survived these disasters and defeats fled, whether traveling to such mountain halls as survived the Long Wearing or settling in the lands of the Younger Folk, as they call humans.Most of the dwarves in the Free City of Parneth (of which more below) are descended from dwarves who fled the fall of the ancient halls of Arad Kor and Arad Hin, to the north, or from the mountain fastness of Wœceleth (on the island of the same name in the Inner Sea), seized by the Great Wyrm Glondauthor. The former disasters are now beyond the memory of living dwarves, while only the oldest dwarf gaffers and gammers recall the flight from Wœceleth.The Stone-FatherTo learned humans, the Stone-Father is thought to be one of the Ancients of Law. To the dwarves, the Stone-Father is the Creator - of dwarfkind if not the entire world. Dwarven myth has it that the Stone-Father fashioned the first dwarves out of stone in the First Days.During the Elder Times, the dwarves reckon that the Stone-Father bestowed decrees upon them. The Four Decrees of the Stone-Father are the foundation of traditional dwarven life, and they are inscribed (in stone) at the entrance of any dwarf mountain-hall, as well as above the thrones of dwarven thegns or in prominent places in the council-halls of clan elders. Many dwarven clans and families possess small (stone) carvings of the Decrees, which they usually keep near the entrances of their homes, for all who enter to see.In the dwarven mountain-halls, a great body of dwarven jurisprudence has grown around interpreting the Decrees and applying them as the foundation of law. In the lands of the Younger Folk, dwarves live by whatever precepts they feel best represent the spirit of the Decrees amongst themselves, while (usually) obeying the laws of the lands they live in. Traditionally-minded dwarves, for instance, endeavour to live as much by the laws of their forebears as possible.Common Dwarf-ismsSome common dwarf sayings:"Glondauthor's gales take you!" (May you be beset with troubles)"By Glondauthor's fangs!""Stone-Father's beard!""Alberich took the Deeping Ways to the Stone-Father" (Alberich passed away, probably of natural causes/old age)"Patient as the Younger Folk" (recklessly impatient)"False as a Fathomless" (despicable; an inveterate and evil liar - to describe a dwarf thusly is to pick a fight with that dwarf)The Free City of Parneth[SPOILER='"Meta" note']The game will likely be set mostly in and around this Free City.[/SPOILER]The Free City of Parneth is one of a string of city-states along the northern shores of the Inner Sea. It is part of the large swathe of Northern Marches that act as borderlands between the tiefling-ruled Empire of Bal Kaeroth, the expanse of steppeland known as The Vast, and the Shattered Kingdoms across the Inner Sea.Some notable features of the Free City:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Like many grand cities, it is built upon the ruins of the past. Much of these ruins now lie beneath the earth, where they collect unwholesome residents.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">It is one of the few cities in the Northern Marches with a sizeable enclave of tiefling refugees from Bal Kaeroth.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The Free City is ostensibly ruled by a First Speaker, who is appointed by an Assembly of wealthy aristocrats and guildleaders, and whose role is to defend the city from outside danger, maintain order within, and occasionally arbitrate disagreements or conflicts among the city's elites. In some years, the First Speaker can truly be said to be a leader or ruler; in others, they might be a puppet of particular Old Families (the "old money" aristocrats) or guild interests. The First Speaker usually governs for life once appointed, but can be removed by a supermajority vote in the Assembly.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">It is the home of the Collegium Arcana, which might be the only formally-established scholarly institute for the study of arcane magic and wizardry on the north shores of the Inner Sea.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Most of the city is made from locally-quarried limestones. Some of the homes of the wealthiest are made from a mixture of granites and (usually exotic/imported) hardwood, while cheaper wooden clapboard is more common for the boarding houses and multifamily dwellings of poorer parts of town.</li> </ul>The Dwarves of ParnethParneth doesn't have the largest enclave of dwarves living in the lands of the Younger Folk, but it is sizeable. Most dwarves live in Old Quarry, a community built out of what was once the quarry for the city centre. One dwarf family, the Aldcutters, is established enough to be considered among the city's Old Families. (Considering some dwarves have lived as long as several generations of Old Family folk, there are dwarves who are somewhat disgruntled at this state of affairs.)Some notable features of Parnethian dwarves:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">There are a handful of dwarves, known as Radicals, who reject the Decrees of the Stonefather.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">There is a dwarven "mafia" for lack of a better term that controls the flow of illicit goods into and out of Old Quarry (and might even have contacts with criminal networks in Bal Keroth).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Many dwarves sponsor expeditions to fallen dwarf fastnesses, whether the famous ones noted above or not, whether out of a desire to see if they can be recovered and resettled, or with a view to recovering relics or treasures.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">They usually frequent their own pubs, where they can count on fine dwarven brews being served, rather than Younger Folk drink (which they tend to disdain, deservedly or not).</li> </ul></blockquote>

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