147
edits
Difference between revisions of "Dwarf"
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
no edit summary
| Line 6: | Line 6: | ||
Starting [[Statpack]]: Healthy | Starting [[Statpack]]: Healthy | ||
==The Origins of the Dwarves== | |||
As told by Tordahl: | |||
It was the time of the great unknowing. Having only instincts to rely upon, | |||
mortals just understood enough to form tribes, little different from packs or | |||
herds. They huddled together for warmth in the night, and kept each other safer | |||
from the animals that would prey upon them. Where food was scarce, and children | |||
plenty, they became territorial as any other creature in duress. | |||
Two such groups lived in the high mountains, where little more than grass grows | |||
and those that survive must be strong of heart and will. With the goats did | |||
they dwell, and lightly did they sleep, in fear of the prowling lions of night. | |||
When summer began to fade to autumn, bringing with it the smell of snow and | |||
death, the two groups could not coexist. There was not enough to eat, and both | |||
groups had women with swollen, heavy bellies. Neither could leave. They did not | |||
quite comprehend the problem, and its complexities, but they knew the end was | |||
close. | |||
Like sheep did one group huddle for warmth, searching desperately for the | |||
smallest leaves and grubs to devour and sate their hunger. And like wolves did | |||
the other group fall upon them, teeth flashing and growling with hunger. The | |||
first group was entirely slain. The bodies, half-eaten, gave of their blood and | |||
meat to the earth, mingling with the snow and sharing that which the second | |||
group did not devour. | |||
Their competitors disposed of, the second group still barely survived the harsh | |||
winter that followed. As the ice melted, the ground that had been seeded with | |||
the flesh of the fallen flourished and grew green with beauty. The mortals, | |||
still ignorant of what they had done, gazed at the vegetation without | |||
understanding. Yet through the sprouts and buds murmured a voice. | |||
"You have given to Me nourishment, and glory," said the Voice with pleasure, | |||
murmuring from the very mountains themselves. "Come, little ones, you have | |||
suffered long enough under wind and water. Like pearls from sand you come. I | |||
shall protect you when you cannot protect yourselves, and long shall we sup | |||
together." | |||
Soon we realized that the Divine, the spirit of stone and strength, had made us | |||
different from the others. More enduring, and without the unsightly gangly legs | |||
of others. So it was that our people, then called the Dowaf, lived in the | |||
tunnels and sanctuaries of the Earth, in seasons both green and cold. In the | |||
mountains were we born, and to the mountains shall we ever return. | |||