History
The dwarves were created alongside the other races of the Conclave. They fought against the goblins in the Goblin War the same as the others. Unlike the others, from the beginning the dwarves were led by Karnafaust, First High King of the Dwarves. As the humans progressed they copied the dwarves governmental structure and one of their own became king of the humans. King Karnafaust and this new King Drolofo argued about the course of the Goblin War. Their disagreements grew until Karnafaust could take it no more. He led the dwarven people in seceding from the Conclave. The dwarves left to found their own kingdom.
Karnafaust built a new kingdom with the city of Fangaroot as its capital. A few years of cool weather reduced crop yields across Cimmeria soon after the city’s construction. Tempers heated within the Conclave and soon the dwarves fought their previous allies. This war was finished by a duel between Karnafaust and the human leader Drolofo. Karnafaust was slain, but the dwarves petitioned Hades for relief. Thus the resurrection pact was established, allowing anybody to return to life with the proper expenditure of magical power and diamonds. Karnfaust was also gifted the Fierce Axe of Dwarvish Lords by Hephaestus. The Axe became a symbol of the High King of Dwarves’ right to rule.
Fangaroot’s fate led it to be the unhappy trumpet sound at the start of the Age of Monsters. The city was conquered by Kenderax and his kobold army. Karnafaust died a second and final time during the assault. His heir and nephew, Cogard, was born during the dwarven flight from the city. Until his came of age a council of regents was appointed to rule. The council formed a new capital in the city of Dalleer, but their ineffective leadership led to problems. Most dwarves abandoned the central location and spread across Cimmeria.
When Prince Cogard came of age he went on a tour of the disparate dwarves. Through meeting with them and personally helping with whatever their current troubles were, Cogard rebuilt the dwarven nation. He reunited all the dwarves save those who lived within the Dominarie Mountains. The Dominarie Dwarves remained loyal to their Queen, Shortrastor. Cogard accepted Queen Shortrastor’s independence. He constructed a new capital for himself at Jord.
King Cogard’s wife gave birth to quadruplet sons which foretold the end of dwarven unity. The sons fought alongside each other during the Dragon War, but constantly quarreled over resources to oppose the dragons with. Cogard’s presence kept his sons peaceful, but civil war broke out as soon as he died. The great Dwarven Kingdom was split into four parts and the Fierce Axe, symbol of the High King, was lost. Alongside this deterioration, the Dominarie Kingdom fared worse. They suffered under the return of Bavastatner and then were utterly obliterated by the campaigns of Kruk-Ma-Kali. The only remaining Dominarie Dwarves are ghosts.
In more recent years dwarven fortunes have improved. Fangaroot was retaken from the kobolds and renamed Balin’s Holt after the dwarven general that led the expedition. The Fierce Axe was found once more by Atreides during the First Alliance War. It was taken by the Xorians but reclaimed by Torin. A Kingsmoot of the four royal descendants of Cogard bestowed the Fierce Axe to Torngar of the Mountain Dwarves. He now rules as High King of the Dwarves.
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