Dwarves
"Dwarf secrets are buried deeper than gold"
History
When Myrakka, Goddess of Darkness created the Drow, Golorrath, God of the Abyss did not want to be left behind. As the second born God, it would not do if another were to create life before him. And so he toiled, and created the second true Kin: the Dwarves.
The dwarves, like their related God Kin the Seaborne, are attracted to their God's domain. They are secretive, distant and seclude themselves naturally. They are also attracted to the deepest recesses of the earth, and strive to find their God's boons by digging further and further down. To further their goal of having ever expanding cities that tunnel into abysses, they are also resilient and ingenious. Dwarves are masters at working the earth and the material they mine from it, and creating machines to help them in their mining and construction. Due to their closeness and affection for mountains, Ignar, Goddess of Fire also favored them and gave them their skills in the forge, and fondness for fire and magma. As Ignar cares more about destruction than creation, it is common for her to give gifts to the creations of the other gods, as she has no Kin to call her own.
During the Titan wars, they were less combatants and more engineers of war. With the help of the gods, they built massive siege engines and mystical weapons that have never been replicated to this day. During the Heavenly Clash, like usual, the dwarves tried to play both sides and keep themselves neutral and locked away in their mountain city of Deepstone. As it became obvious the new gods would win however, they started to favor the forces of the north continent and provided them with their metals and weapons.
Sometime after the civil war ended, a mass exodus of dwarves from Deepstone occurred. These dwarves spread out amongst other cities, but most ended up settling in Bastion. To this day, no one knows why these dwarves left their ancestral home, as the only reason they will give when asked is 'my reasons are my own'.
When the Sundering happened, Deepfort closed their doors for close to two centuries, further dividing the dwarves there from the ones who had settled on the surface. Over time the surface dwarves, or sun dwarves in some communities, started to branch off significantly from the deep dwarves. It is not known which dwarf changed more from the pre Sundering dwarves, as there is no consensus as to what the ancient dwarves looked like.
The sun dwarves have light tanned skinned, silky beards and pointed ears, and look closer to what you would call a short, stocky human. A deep dwarf however, is almost always heavily armored and little can be seen from their actual body, and is even wider and shorther than the surface dwarves. Between the gaps in the armor you can make out their thick scaly dark skin, along with their extremely coarse beard and hair. Their eyes have also further adapted to the darkness of deep caves, having the whites of the eyes almost black and their irises a grey so clear you can only see white light reflected from it. The deep dwarves are even more reclusive than their cousins, and their dialect has further shifted to a raspy and coarse speech, often described as if rocks sliding down a cliff were an actual language.
A typical sundwarf has light skin and clear grey eyes, with slightly pointy ears
Now
Sun dwarves are valued members in the communities they reside in. While they like to keep to themselves, and usually build their own insular communities, they still provide valuable services to whatever settlement houses them. They are usually the best smiths and craftsman around, and while treated like "the other" they are also respected and significantly compensated for their expertise.
Deep dwarves only come out of Deepstone in the most dire circumstances. The only times they interact with other Kin are in cases of diplomacy or trade, and they do not take kindly to strangers meddling in their own business. Their ways and wants are still seen as a mystery by any non dwarven Kin, but it is known that they divide themselves in several sects or clans, and usually emboss the symbol of their clan in a prominent place in their amor.
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