Dwarves

Dwarves
Dwarves in Myradon are divided into clans based on family ancestry with 95% of all individuals belonging to the two largest groups: the conservative Kharzhak, and the worldly Numbhar. Of these two, the Kharzhaks are in the clear majority, having about twice the population of the Numbhar. These two families of dwarves are bitterly divided in a way that no other group is, to the point of on-sight violence between individuals being the norm, and the threat of war between the groups as a whole being constant.

Kharzhak Dwarves


Stodgy and stiff, even by dwarvin standards, the Kharzhak dwarves cling to their proud history like a drowning man to a piece of driftwood. At their best, they are proud, loyal, noble, and just, but at their worst, they are arrogant, closed-minded, stubborn, and mean. The Kharzhaks are living in declining wealth and influence in a remote mountain stronghold now, having been forcibly expelled from their ancestral home by outside forces, and they blame the Numbhar clan for this humiliating military defeat. Prior to that, their elite always made up the High Thanes and royalty of the combined dwarvin society, and they viewed interaction with the outside world of Men and Elves as a distasteful task best left to petty merchants and spineless diplomats. Theirs was the clan of tradition Dwarvin pursuits, like metallurgy, armoring, blacksmithing, record-keeping, religion, and military leadership.

Numbhar Dwarves


Historically, the Numbhar clan were the merchants, travelers, bankers, farmers and artists of the ancient dwarvin society. They were worldly, adaptable to change (compared to Kharzhak Dwarves anyway), and knew the ways of the surface world. It was this clan that was sent on trading trips or diplomatic missions to human kingdoms on the surface world. They did not seem to mind playing second fiddle to the ruling Kharzhaks, but after the tragic military lose of the ancestral dwarvin kingdom beneath the Kharos Mountains, they were blamed by the Kharzhaks, and expelled from the dwarvin society. Forced to fend for themselves, this group was scattered for a period, but has now re-grouped in the cold Iron-Sea Desert. At their best, they are an adaptable, agreeable people, but at their worst, they can be cold, aloof, and pessimistic of other races.

Other Dwarves
Very small clans of other dwarves do exist, but none in numbers large enough to be a force. A few minority clans live among the Kharzhaks still, perhaps accounting for less than 5% of the total population, and a tiny, ancient clan of dwarves called the Bharzhashars live isolated lives in the southern portion of the Shara-Noc Mountain Range.