Dwarves

Dwarves are a short, stocky people, rarely surpassing 150cm in height, but with strength far exceeding that of most humans.

Once, the dwarves resided in their mountain realms under the Worldspine, far to the east of the Empire, across the Red Waste. In the 530s, dwarves began to arrive to the Empire in large numbers, fleeing some calamity that had befallen their homes. Nobody in the Empire quite knows the nature of that calamity and the dwarves have not been even remotely forthcoming. They rarely share much about their business with anyone, and questions about what prompted the exodus are invariably met with assertions that it is their own business and nobody else's. A few expeditions have made the hazardous trip across the Red Waste to try to enter dwarven holds. None are known to have succeeded, and indeed the majority do not return at all. Those who do report goblins infesting the mountain foothills.

Most dwarves settled in Dyria or in Hana. In Dyria, the main concentrations are in House Karalis' home, in the ancient fortress of Wayguard, and otherwise in the Dyrian capital, Elis, held by House Kournis. They are generally more dispersed in Hana. Elsewhere, they are relatively uncommon sights.

Dwarves are best known in the Empire for the fine goods of all sorts that they produce. Their metal and stonework are particularly superb. Those with a good eye for detail might well realise that none of the goods produced since the exodus can match the quality of those from when the dwarves yet dwelled in the Worldspine. Dwarves are reputed to have fine builders and engineers among their number, but none are known to offer their services in the Empire, other than at Wayguard. Similarly, while they make fine armaments, they keep them among their own folk. In places where they have a major concentration, dwarves have led to something of a decline in the number of human craftsmen resident, but not displaced them entirely; dwarves do not hurry about their work, and sometimes a person might just want to buy a farming implement, rather than a farming implement that has gone through whatever process the dwarves conduct, no matter how sturdy it is.

The dwarves as a whole generally refuse to swear fealty to a human monarch. They have modest regard for the places in which they live, but it is not clear that they would, for example, defend a human settlement, which is a bit of a sore point for Dyrians in particular, who regard service to one's hometown as a key duty. Still, the oddity is tolerated, because the dwarves have generally enriched the places in which they settled and cause no trouble.

Since 631, small bands of dwarves have departed the empire, apparently bound for the Worldspine, though their business remains a secret.