As enduring as the earth from which they were shaped, the Stout Folk once ruled empires that sprawled on and beneath the surface of Faerûn. After centuries of decline, most dwarven kingdoms are gone, but the fruits of their labors survive, unbowed by the passage of time. In recent years, the Thunder Blessing has sparked a dwarven renaissance that might one day restore the Stout Folk to their former glory.
Racial History
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 or 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 descendents 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 the 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.
Dwarf Regions Most of Faerûn's dwarves hail from one of these following areas.
Region Common Subraces Automatic Languages Bonus Languages Favored Deities Chult Wild dwarf Chultan, Dwarven Draconic, Goblin, Ignan, Shaaran, Tashlan Thard Harr The Galena Mountains Shield dwarf Damaran, Dwarven Chondathan, Giant, Goblin, Orc, Undercommon Dwarven pantheon The Great Glacier Arctic dwarf, shield dwarf Dwarven, Uluik Aquan, Auran, Damaran, Draconic, Giant Talos, Ulutiu The Great Rift Gold dwarf Dwarven Giant, Gnome, Goblin, Shaaran, Terran, Untheric Moradin, dwarven pantheon The Smoking Mountains Gold dwarf Dwarven Chessentan, Goblin, Mulhorandi, Undercommon, Untheric Dwarven pantheon The Spine of the World Arctic dwarf, shield dwarf Dwarven Chondathan, Draconic, Giant, Goblin, Illuskan, Orc Dwarven pantheon The Sword Coast Shield dwarf Dwarven, Illuskan Chondathan, Elven, Giant, Gnome, Orc Dumathoin, Marthammor Duin, Moradin Turmish Gold dwarf, shield dwarf Dwarven, Turmic Chondathan, Elven, Giant, Gnome Halfling Dwarven pantheon Underdark (Darklands) Gray dwarf Dwarven, Undercommon Aquan, Chondathan, Draconic, Giant, Goblin Deep Duerra Underdark (Northdark) Gray dwarf Dwarven, Undercommon Draconic, Giant, Goblin, Orc, Terran Laduguer Underdark (Old Shanatar) Shield dwarf Dwarven, Undercommon Aquan, Draconic, Elven, Gnome, Terran Dumathoin Waterdeep Shield dwarf Dwarven Alzhedo, Chondathan, Elven, Halfling, Illuskan, Orc Dwarven pantheon
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