Mountain Dwarves of Aranath

Origins and Homeland: The Fortress-City of Rak’nar   Once nestled deep in the southwestern highlands of the Cythrian Empire, the mountain fortress-city of Rak’nar stood as a bastion of dwarven strength, tradition, and craftsmanship. Hewn into the very bones of the mountain that shares its name, Rak’nar was more than just a home, it was the sacred heart of the Mountain Dwarves. Its vast stone halls echoed with the clang of forge hammers, the chants of priests to Rak’danar the Warrior, and the proud steps of a people shaped by stone and steel.   Though isolationist in policy, Rak’nar welcomed outsiders within its walls, so long as they came in peace. The city was a marvel of dwarven ingenuity: spiraling forges powered by deep-vented steam, gem-lit tunnels carved with divine geometry, and ancestral halls layered with runes older than the Empire itself.   That grandeur came to a bitter end just a century ago.     The Fall of Rak’nar and the Fifty Year War   Approximately 150 years ago, dark elves began surfacing in the lower caverns, claiming the deepest mines and natural tunnels as their ancient domain. The dwarves, proud and unmoved, rebuffed their claims with laughter and steel. What followed was a bitter conflict known as the Fifty Year War, a slow, grinding, and horrific battle for supremacy beneath the mountain.   The dark elves brought with them unspeakable monstrosities, twisted creatures forged in shadow and malice. For five decades, the dwarves held the line, fighting tooth and nail for every corridor and gate. Eventually, attrition, dark sorcery, and treachery from within led to the fall of Rak’nar. The dwarves, those who survived, were cast out of their ancestral halls and scattered to the winds.   A decade after their exile, an ill-fated attempt was made by the elder clans to reclaim the city. It ended in tragedy, with the last royal campaign broken in the black tunnels before the outer gate. The mountain has remained in enemy hands ever since.     The Diaspora and Changing Ways   The exile from Rak’nar transformed the Mountain Dwarves utterly. Once isolationist and inward-facing, they were now a people without a home, forced to integrate, migrate, and adapt. They became traders, mercenaries, artisans, and emissaries, their once-cloistered culture carried across the lands of Aranath like fragments of a shattered relic.   This new openness birthed a surprising progressivism. Younger generations have grown up in foreign cities, learned new tongues, and embraced change. Even so, the soul of the Mountain Dwarves endures, etched into every tattooed line, every whispered blessing to Rak’danar, and every blade carried at the hip.     Culture and Values   Honor, Family, and Heirlooms   These are the three pillars of Mountain Dwarven identity. A dwarf’s word is their bond, oaths are sacred, and to break one is to disgrace one’s ancestors. That said, a promise that endangers one’s family, personal honor, or an ancestral heirloom can be rightfully broken. The dwarves are fiercely loyal to kin and lineage, and they carry with them tokens of the past, be it a chipped axe, a scroll of lineage, or a gem once mined in Rak’nar.   Weapon Training   Every dwarf, regardless of trade or gender, learns to fight. From childhood, they are trained in axes, hammers, and swords. Even in exile, martial skill is a rite of passage. Dwarves do not forget the war.   Tattoo Tradition   Line tattoos, often in bold reds, blues, or greens, cover the bodies of many Mountain Dwarves. These are more than decoration, they represent familial lineages, battles fought, personal vows, and religious devotion. Each one tells a story etched in ink and pride.     Religion and Belief   The Mountain Dwarves follow the ancient dwarven pantheon, with the warrior-god Rak’danar taking preeminence. Rak’danar embodies the ideals of honor, martial strength, and the sacredness of oaths. His temples are both shrines and armories, his priests clad in chainmail and robes of crimson or black. Every dwarf offers prayers to Rak’danar before battle and at the forging of any weapon.   Other deities exist, gods of stone, hearth, memory, and craft, but Rak’danar stands at the center of the Mountain Dwarves’ cosmology, especially after their exile.       Relations with Others   Hill Dwarves of Belthrond The Mountain Dwarves maintain generally positive relations with their hill-dwelling cousins. However, a quiet resentment festers, many Mountain Dwarves feel abandoned by the Belthronders, who offered little aid during the Fifty Year War and made no real attempt to help reclaim Rak’nar. Still, kin is kin, and the bond holds.   The Empire Their relationship with the southern Cythrian Empire is tenuous. Mountain Dwarves live across its borders now, some serving as smiths, mercenaries, or even scholars. Loyalty to the Empire, however, is highly individual. Many dwarves see the Empire as a necessary evil, useful for trade, but not to be trusted.   Elves While dark elves are universally loathed, seen as murderers and defilers, Mountain Dwarves do not extend this hatred to other elven races. Wood Elves and High Elves may be seen as strange or aloof, but respect and friendship are possible, especially if they assist in reclaiming lost relics or show understanding of dwarven customs.     The Royal Line and Tradition   Though Rak’nar lies in enemy hands, the royal bloodline endures. The kings of Rak’nar are now kings without a throne, wandering lords of a broken nation. They still serve ceremonial roles: ruling on disputes, overseeing marriages and funerals, and awarding honors. Their words are heavy with the weight of memory and myth.       Recent History and Living Memory   The Fifty Year War is not ancient history, it is living memory. Elders still bear the scars of those battles. Heroes of that war are revered: not as distant legends, but as tangible examples of dwarven resilience and valor. Some still live, wandering as battle-scarred veterans, passing down the old ways.   Meanwhile, younger dwarves look ahead. They dream not just of the mountain, but of a new kind of dwarven greatness, one built from stone and memory, but also from new alliances and broader horizons.   Identity in Exile   To be a Mountain Dwarf of Aranath is to carry a paradox in the soul. You are born of stone, but you walk among wood and water. Your home lies behind you, lost to shadow, but your heart beats for the future. You remember the sound of war drums in the deep halls, the warmth of forge-fire, and the chill of broken oaths.   Even in exile, the dwarves of Rak’nar endure, unbent, unbroken, and unyielding.