Dwarves

Most nondwarven scholars believe that the Stout Folk are an

interloper race, not native to Abeir-Toril, who arrived so long

ago that they have become one with the earth and stone of

Faerûn. However, the collective dwarven racial memory holds

that their ancestors sprang fully formed from the heart of the

world itself, fashioned of iron and mithral in the Soulforge,

shaped by the All-Father’s hammer, and then given life by the

breath of Moradin. The oldest myths claim that the first

dwarves fought their way up from the world’s core to the mountains

above, overcoming many dangers along the way through

strength, skill, and force of arms.

The first dwarven settlements appeared in the great mountain

range known as the Yehimal, which lies at the juncture of

the three great continents of Faerûn, Kara-Tur, and Zakhara.

From there, the earliest dwarves migrated into all three lands.

Those who came to Faerûn settled beneath modern-day Semphar

before spreading westward, founding innumerable settlements

along the way. One isolated branch of this great

migration settled amid the isolated peaks of the Novularond,

and eventually became known as the arctic dwarves.

The first great kingdom of the dwarves of Faerûn was centered

in the great cavern of Bhaerynden deep beneath the

Shaar. The first great schism of the dwarves of Bhaerynden

began more than twelve thousand years ago when Taark Shanat

the Crusader led a great westward migration. These emigrants

eventually became known as shield dwarves and established the

great empire of Shanatar beneath the lands of Amn, Tethyr,

Calimshan, and the Lake of Steam. From their number, Dumathoin created the urdunnir, who moved into the depths

and became creatures of legend. Meanwhile, Bhaerynden fell to

the drow after the elven Crown Wars and the descent of the

dark elves, and the dwarves of southern Faerûn were driven

into exile.

In the millennia that followed, new divisions appeared

among the Stout Folk. The mind flayers of Oryndoll, deep

beneath the Shining Plains, enslaved the shield dwarves of Clan

Duergar. Their descendants became known as gray dwarves

after throwing off the shackles of their illithid masters and

spreading throughout the Underdark. Some dwarves who fled

Bhaerynden’s collapse reached the Jungles of Chult, where they

abandoned their subterranean homes. Members of this isolated

branch eventually became known as wild dwarves. After the

first drow kingdom of Telantiwar tore itself apart in civil war,

the great cavern of Bhaerynden collapsed to form the Great

Rift. Those dwarves who resettled the caverns of the Deep

Realm surrounding the Great Rift eventually became known as

gold dwarves. As Shanatar declined, the shield dwarves

migrated north to settle the great kingdoms of the North and

eventually migrated eastward along the shores of the Moonsea

and into the mountains of north-central Faerûn.

Today, dwarves are found all across Faerûn, although the

greatest concentrations are found in the North, the Cold Lands,

the Great Rift, and the Underdark. Although the Stout Folk

are easily segregated into distinct subraces with distinct racial

traits, such distinctions by no means reflect the entirety of

dwarven diversity. Numerous cultural, historical, political,

and social divisions remain even within the ranks of a specific

dwarven subrace.

This chapter details six dwarven subraces dwelling above and

below the surface of Faerûn, whose cultural, linguistic, physical,

and religious traits predominate in large regions of the land.

The Dwarven race is generally divided into six accepted subraces. The three major subraces are the shield, gold, and gray dwarf, while the three minor subraces are the arctic, urdunnir, and wild dwarf.

Arctic Dwarf Gold Dwarf Gray Dwarf Shield Dwarf Urdunnir Dwarf Wild Dwarf