Highland Dwarves
The highland dwarves1 are one of the main groups that make up the dwarven population in Borgalor, the other one being the more widespread Lowland Dwarves. The vast majority of highland dwarves inhabit the different countries up in the Qug Mountains of central Jælondis, with the rest forming communities in the jælondic lowlands (notably in Orgoll, western and central Örkraz and the region of Rúþría in the Southlands.
While their influence has long reached the peoples outside the mountains to some extent, highland dwarven countries such as T'üllma to the south and Eimpfiq'elía to the east have become among the most powerful in Jælondis since the Fell Wars forty years ago, which greatly reduced human and elven influence on the continent.
During the neolithic and beyond, different dwarven groups migrated to the lowlands of Jælondis, particularly to the east and south, where they developed into lowland dwarven cultures. Millennia later, some countries attempted to conquer parts of Jútrilía, Fúmsis and Maralon Steppe to the west of the mountains to secure trade routes leading to the sea or gain direct access to certain resources, but these conquests rarely lasted for long aside from the country of Orgoll, where the majority of its territory extents to the lowlands.
While initially neutral in the Fell Wars, seeing it just another conflict on the steppes, certain highland dwarven countries became active participants in the war, sending both troops and materials to the league against The Tetrarchy of liches and their undead hordes, and today both Iriq'ann and Orgoll in particular continue aiding the various organizations trying to rid the desolate land of Amþax of the being created during the war.
While their influence has long reached the peoples outside the mountains to some extent, highland dwarven countries such as T'üllma to the south and Eimpfiq'elía to the east have become among the most powerful in Jælondis since the Fell Wars forty years ago, which greatly reduced human and elven influence on the continent.
History
The Qug Mountains are considered the cradle of all dwarfkind, as it was this environment that caused their ancient ancestors to split from those of humans, and all but one prehistoric dwarven species were endemic to the mountains, save for one that roamed the Þjan Tundra until it was wiped out by a combination of a brief but unusually warm period and competition with early elven tundra hunters.During the neolithic and beyond, different dwarven groups migrated to the lowlands of Jælondis, particularly to the east and south, where they developed into lowland dwarven cultures. Millennia later, some countries attempted to conquer parts of Jútrilía, Fúmsis and Maralon Steppe to the west of the mountains to secure trade routes leading to the sea or gain direct access to certain resources, but these conquests rarely lasted for long aside from the country of Orgoll, where the majority of its territory extents to the lowlands.
While initially neutral in the Fell Wars, seeing it just another conflict on the steppes, certain highland dwarven countries became active participants in the war, sending both troops and materials to the league against The Tetrarchy of liches and their undead hordes, and today both Iriq'ann and Orgoll in particular continue aiding the various organizations trying to rid the desolate land of Amþax of the being created during the war.
Culture
While they are divided into several distinct cultures, extensive contact and shared environment over the millennia have contributed to highland dwarves to share a number of features in terms of language, customs and religious traditions, to the point that outsiders often conflate different ethnic groups due to similarities on the surface, much to the locals' chagrin.1Original icelandic: Hálandadvergar, singular: Hálandadvergur.
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