Races

Kaal`Kor (Kaalian Dwarves) - by T.A. Saunders ©1997 v2.2

Racial Articles The Last Stand of Am-Shei and Beyond

The Dwarves at this point had to make a choice; either stand with the Elves, whom they believed ultimately responsible for the Humans learning magic and becoming slaves to chaos or preserve their own kind and prepare to fight them on their own terms. So it was in 4499 BF the High Thanes decided to mount a rescue effort to save their kin trapped in Am-Shei, then seal off the one and only way into the Great Below, so if the Xosians wished to do battle, they would be forced through a choke-point with so many devious and lethal traps that no army of living or dead could ever hope to take the passage without being brought to absolute ruin. The very day the Prince enacted the power of the portal to Imarel, the Dwarven armies mounted their rescue effort and plowed through the Xosian siege of Am-Shei to rescue their kin. As one last act of alliance, the Dwarves stood with the Sivanoshei that remained in Am-Shei and fought off wave after wave of vampires, blood-slaves and all manner of undead until the last of their civilians had made it through.

The casualties had been high however, with an army of fifteen thousand Dwarves being reduced to one of only fourteen hundred. Those that remained delivered the bitter will of the High Thanes and departed for the Great Below, content to leave the Elves to their fate now that they had done the right thing. With any luck, the ones that escaped to the Asyndi-controlled Imarel would fair better and be wiser for the foolishness of their kin. Four two years, the Dwarves remained locked away in the safety of the Great Below, while the Sivanoshei fought tooth and nail to survive against the undead armies of Xos. The Xosians made one attempt and one only, against the First Tunnel and the path to the Great Below in those two years; the army of eight thousand was destroyed utterly and no other was sent to test the might of the Dwarvish defenses.

In 4497 BF this posture of isolationism would be altered by divine command from Kaal himself, who is said to have appeared in the Hall of Thanes, where the three High Thanes were meeting. In this most rare and unusual address, Kaal gave the Dwarves the task of building a great and impenetrable wall around Am-Shei, separating the Elves from the Humans and the Chaos Wastes created by the great detonation of conflicting divine powers of the Prince of the Sivanoshei and Khavos. Furthermore, Kaal charged the Dwarves with keeping the peace between the Sivanoshei and the Xosian Humans, even so far as to kill one or the other should they cross the wall.

This divine mandate stood for over five thousand years, till 1320 AC with Khavos' focus turning away from Ishaela and towards Imarel brought about revolt within Xos. This rebellion through the Theocracy in Sengaard into turmoil and set the stage for the re-emergence of the Sivanoshei as a power. The Dwarves, who had become battle-hardened with fighting powerful vampire armies in the Chaos Wastes had at first scoffed at the notion that Xosians would reject Khavos' control after been put under his boot for so long. With word coming from Imarel about the vampire Ko and the civil war in Sundown to overthrow her traveling to Am-Shei and Kaalarn, the stance on these affairs changed. After much prayer to Kaal and great debate amongst the High Thanes, the Dwarves once more marched alongside the Elves and aided those Humans who rejected Khavos' ways. Still more Dwarves joined the peace-keeping forces sent to Imarel, to help secure the freehold of Sundown, many of whom would end up staying on Imarel to learn of the ways of people there.

The Dwarves of today are still largely distrusting of Elves and only moderately less of Humans, save the Northlanders of Zoda, whom they consider lost kinsman. While few live on Imarel, there are contingents of Clan Hammerspark in Zoda, Clan Glantheel in Windsong, Clan Kuergan in Farwind and more than a few Dwarves of Clan Dunathyn in the Grand Duchy of Brookshire. While sparse in the overall picture of things on Imarel, Dwarves have been branching out and exploring the world that has been largely unknown to them till fairly recently in their history and are generally willing to share a few pints of brew and tell a tale or two about their land and way.