Dwarves began to appear in the western mountain ranges of Berla some time after the unification of the Kith, their numbers few and scattered. Legend tells that they fled a paradise destroyed by an apocalyptic disaster, and in a desperate bid for safety, they tunneled into the very roots of the mountains for protection. In this escape, the story goes, they abandoned their old pantheon for gods that shielded and supported them in their hour of need; Mother Mountain and her five elemental children, Breath, Stream, Heat, Stone, and Ore, who to this day influence the iconic work dwarves are known for across Berla. The majority of dwarves still live in citadels- engineering marvels consisting of one or more aboveground fortresses set atop an extensive subterranean metropolis- and those who live out in the wider world tend to build ostentatious group homes with workshops included. One can tell a dwarf by stature, and can often tell much else about a dwarf by the way they wear their beard; depending on the region and what the dwarf chooses to display, you might see anything from their home citadel's crest to a central ornament showing how many years they've been married.
At their hearts, all dwarves are artists, which to them means mastery. Anything can be an art if one pursues it to truly elevate the craft, and much of their social structure- everything from coming of age, to duels, to determining if a leader's heir is worthy- revolves around this drive. Dwarves are frequently competitive in and amongst groups, and in tandem with love of their work, this may lead to feuding. To circumvent nepotism and infighting, a system of guilds emerged to regulate craft standards, trade, and worker protections across both Vrol Kosm and Enga Kosm, the west and east mountains respectively. This network operated so efficiently that as dwarven goods passed from guilds to foreign markets, the outside world began to adopt their standards & practices for sheer convenience; in fact, current day Ethalia relies heavily on the support of the guilds to manage imperial commerce.
Of all the work that comes from the citadels, the art of rune smithing is the most iconic. The knowledge of this craft is said to have been gifted to the dwarves while Mother Mountain sheltered them, a way to directly call upon her children for aid by symbolically instilling their essences within tools. Anyone training to become a certified rune smith must be both an arms expert as well as a qualified arcanist, then approved for independent practice by their mentor, and finally assessed by a clergyperson of the Mother's cloth. Rune knights, while alternative students of the same art, have not received the intensive training that teaches more dangerous and powerful secrets, and are therefore not held to the same scrutiny as the smiths. Dwarves view smithing as a closed practice and choose trainees from outside their citadels with great care, but are more than happy to train rune knights from all walks of life.
The unique methodology of rune smithing is more similar to the ancient magic of artifact treasures than it is to Berla's academic and mystic schools. Naturally, dwarves delved into this study as well, in time founding institutional research headquarters in the citadel of Du Cragolm to decipher these mysteries and perhaps someday, to replicate them. This drew attention from everyone in Berla, of course, but especially that scrappy little war band making such a fuss in the lowland territories- they kept pestering the council, something about digging up that cursed weapon the humans and elves buried in Du Cragolm these thousand years past and washed their hands of. Stupid idea, really, probably just some superstitious nonsense meant to bolster their soldiers' spirits.
Ethalia's fixation on artifacts has been both a distraction and a powerful advantage since its very inception. Entrenched as all citadels are, bristling with anti-monster defenses and harboring built-in sustenance & stores, it's no wonder that even with all the forces of the lowland territories united under the dual star, the imperial capture of the west mountains was grueling. Once the dwarves of Enga Kosm and the Kith joined the fray, the upstart empire nearly crumbled under the weight of its fool king's hubris. Then Lord Aeschere took power, and the tides changed. Du Cragolm broke under his tactics, and as his court mages combed the depths of the enormous citadel, he bartered and sieged until the final citadel swore allegiance to Ethalia. Victorious, he returned to claim his prize and finish the fight.
Description: You’ve been born with a higher than average constitution and gain 1 extra hit.
Description: Your age has given you wisdom. You have -1 hit, but +2 runes.
Description: Either your advancing age, or all consuming focus on the arcane has left your body frail, but given you access to additional runic energy. You have -2 hits, but +4 runes.
Description: You may add an extra 10 seconds to the incant time of any spell to decrease its rune cost by 1. You cannot lower a spell's cost below 1 rune with this ability. You can only use this ability once per cast of a spell.
Description: You are immune to the Knockback effect. Additionally, if you are channeling a spell, Knockbacks do not break your incantation.
Description: You are resistant to poisons. You can ignore any basic poison effects applied to you.
Description: You can use 1 less material when crafting items. Cannot reduce the material cost to less than 1.
Description: You have a special bond with your shield. Any shield you wield has +1 cleave point.
Description: You have a special bond with your armor. At the start of each event you can choose +2 armor points or +1 cleave for plate armor. This benefit lasts for the whole event.
Description: You gain 1 extra Stamina Point.