Duergar

Long ago, all dwarves were as one race. They mined, they developed technologies like their magnificent stoneships, they explored and traded. But over time, something changed. The influence of the primordial magics deep under the surface of Fulcrum and natural selection slowly pushed the dwarven race in two directions. The populations that stayed above ground to sail and trade became the surface dwarves we know today, and the populations that stayed underground to mine and smith became the duergar.

The duergar are superficially very similar to their surface cousins, but where surface dwarves tend to be outgoing, curious, and adventurous, duergar tend to be reserved, thoughtful, and cautious. However, leaders of both races don't see this as a problem: the strengths of one cover the weaknesses of the other. Today the races coexist in a (mostly) harmonious partnership, with the surface dwarves trading the ores and manufactured metal goods that the duergar mine and smith.

While duergar are present on all the islands of the Iron Archipelago large enough to have a mine, most live under the largest mountain in the islands, Khotrun's Spear.

"For every dwarf you see, there are two duergar you don't."

anonymous human trader