Ashduar

The Ashduar survived slavery, the Reclamation, and the cold by binding themselves to the Oath, the Forlorn, and Ar. Those choices still keep Pyre alive inside Grungred, but the Burrowers’ power costs lives, becoming Forlorn takes pieces of emotion and personality, and Ish remains close. The Oath still points them toward revenge against humanity.

Key Characteristics¶

Ethos: Stoicism and necromantic duty
Government: Mokdath governs as Warden. Ashduar laws are written in symbols.
Religion: The Religion of the Depth and the Oath bind the Ashduar together. The Oath formed when the Ashduar had to survive in the cold. The Oath charges the Oathwarden with keeping Ar in Pyre and calls for revenge against humanity. The Oathwarden must marry the Older Sister but may retain a previous wife.
Heritage: The Old Stock, the dwarven ancestry from which the Ashduar descend.
Language: Tugrän
Traditions: Only the Strong Survive, Reborn in Service, Winter Borne, and Forbearing

Society and Daily Life¶

In General¶

Cuisine: Extreme cold makes food scarce. The Ashduar coordinate foraging and share knowledge of food sources, relying mainly on fungi, mosses, and cave insects. They also eat ground Vine, a vegetable, honey from underground bees, and a tamed variety of Myrmaran, ant-like creatures.

Stone channels carry warm, mineral-rich water beneath vegetables and herbs, whose roots hang into the flow. Mushrooms grow near geothermal vents, while crickets and mealworms are raised for protein. Volcanic heat supports cave ecosystems and is used for cooking and preserving food.

Arts and Culture:
Heft: The Ashduar have no term for art. A Heft is an “object of heavy weight,” valued for its meaning rather than its craftsmanship. Its weight is moral, though many Hefts are physically heavy.
Art is used to assert dominance. It can only show the great ancestors winning.
Dramaturg - Forgenmelt: A sentient book central to Ashduar religion and their knowledge of necromancy.
Brab Michɑ (Out of the Cage): A prisoner’s book about escape and revenge against humans, symbolizing mental freedom. It describes the mind as a crystal cage: transparent walls are hard to see, alluring walls hard to abandon. Revenge, too, can fade from sight if the Ashduar stop looking for it.
Clothing and Attire: Near Pyre, the Ashduar wear sleeveless tunics woven from the Vine and patched rat- or mole-hide aprons. Farther from the fire, they add felted underfur combed from tunnel moles, hoods lined with buzzard or roc feathers, and ash-glass lenses against ash, snow glare, and sunlight. Horn-beetle shell is used for clasps. Steel or Ironmound fastenings mark important garments. Dwarves accustomed to the deepest tunnels suffer sun sickness when they reach the surface. They cover their eyes and expose themselves to daylight gradually, but most never fully adapt.
Cultural Outlook:
Only the Strong Survive: Strength and resilience are highly valued.
Reborn in Service: Forlorn are integrated into society.
Winter Borne: Acceptance of cold as part of existence.
Forbearing: Patience and restraint in the face of adversity.

Necromancy and the Forlorn: Necromancy, once widespread, survives in a changed form only among the Ashduar. They learned it through the Forgenmelt and its resident entities. Ordinary necromancy works mostly underground and requires constant effort from the necromancer. Military necromancers convert death energy to sustain the Weight's protection of Pyre. This work must never stop, making necromancy an office of the Oath.

Forlorn are people who have passed through a change akin to death, emerging with parts of their emotion and personality missing. Their transformation can save lives, and the Ashduar believe they should serve the living. Guard duty is often given to Forlorn.

Industry and Technology:
Rat Breeding and Training: Rats are bred to detect dangers in tunnels (e.g., gases, crevasses, demons, maladies).
Ironmound: A light, strong, flexible, corrosion-resistant metal obtained from lava crust. It must be worked quickly and rapidly cooled with ice. Ashduar equipment combines Ironmound shafts or armor cores with steel tips, heads, blades, or plates. Ironmound provides lightness, balance, and durability, while steel supplies cutting edges that stay sharp and additional protection.
Shielded Forging: Deep vents in Grungred release an air that neither burns nor feeds flame. The Ashduar channel it into sealed forges to keep ordinary air from spoiling the metal.
Geothermal Energy: Harnessed for warmth, energy, and melting glacier ice.
Some creatures need no sun or prey. They gather around old stone that dies grain by grain and drink the warmth it releases.
The dwarves have moles to help with tunnels.
Golems were used in large numbers in the past, but they exist no more.
Vrain Dust: Dust from rocs or demons that causes illusions.
Breath of the Mountain: The wind through Grungred follows known cycles. The Ashduar use its changes to judge when tunnels are safe, when cold is coming, and when the deep air has turned dangerous.

Artifacts¶

The Weight: An artifact that keeps the Fire Primeval in Pyre and protects the city.
Bone Throne: A throne made from the bones of the Chammy, old magic creatures. It was stolen from the Aelves and placed in an Ashduar fortress. Years later, it was discovered to have belonged to an ancient vampire queen.

Ashduar fortresses are crowded with ancestral Hefts and artifacts captured in ancient raids. Displaying these trophies asserts dominance rather than wealth.

Oathwarden: The traditional ruler of the Ashduar, bound by the Oath. There is currently no recognized Oathwarden.
Warden: Mokdath exercises the authority traditionally held by the Oathwarden, but he never swore the Oath and is not recognized as one.
The Sisters and Brothers: The three Sisters hold religious authority, while the Brothers administer the faith's necessary work. The Hammerer is one of the Brothers and judges serious disputes and crimes. Their full hierarchy is described by the Religion of the Depth.

Names¶

Mokdath, Tein, Kragun, Baug, Twub, Drauvin, Drudt, Lorvath, Mafren, Maddra, Oinwa, Drugar, Wu bi

Usual Way of Saying¶

Ember: A name used to communicate resilience. It refers to the survivors.
Motto: "Death is my companion"
When this is done, guard my bones from the moles.
Any place is better. I must press on.
Dwarves living near the lava pool call one another "ash bastards."
He was left in the cold: Abandoned.
Unfreezer: Someone who can resist the cold.
Battle wish: "Fortune in battle."

Festivals and Celebrations¶

Night of No Flame: An annual observance during which Ar’s pillar dims and the Ashduar extinguish the city’s other fires. They walk the darkened passages together, reflecting on their dependence on his fire. When the pillar brightens again, they relight their fires.
Shadow March: A silent procession through dark tunnels, held throughout the year for all Ashduar.
Trial of Chains: A young Ashduar’s once-in-a-lifetime endurance test, held at the end of a Shadow March. Participants carry heavy chains through treacherous paths.
Forge-Binding Ceremony: Rite of passage where a young Ashduar makes their first Heft in the communal forges. The ceremony recalls the First Forge Legend, which tells of the crafting of the Weight and embodies the civilization's resilience.
Ancestor Veneration: Honoring forebears by inscribing names and deeds on family anvils.
Circle of Embers: Ritual combat arena for resolving disputes over the Weight and interpreting the fire's will.
Ashen Rites: Rituals that involve scattering ash to symbolize the cycle of life and death, reflecting the Ashduar's acceptance of their environment's harsh realities.

Army and Martial Customs¶

Both men and women serve in war. Before battle, Ashduar clash their weapons and make guttural sounds to set their war rhythm.

History and Heritage¶

Historical Events¶

Enslavement and the Reclamation¶

The Ashduar were the only dwarves enslaved by the Keeper. He bred them for obedience and skill and used them as workers across several mountains. They never joined the dwarf rebellion.

During the Reclamation, the Keeper betrayed and butchered the other dwarven clans. The Ashduar survived inside Pyre because they kept Ar, but survival required harsh and inhuman rules. Keeping Ar, the Fire Primeval, angered the Ice Primeval.

The Undead Dwarves¶

The alliance against the Keeper included dwarves who surrendered their lives and returned as undead warriors. The Ashduar took no part in this sacrifice.

Words and Writing¶

The Ogre Maguls restricted words to prevent the species from organizing and revolting. Only a few words were permitted. The Aelves could use only magical words, which tied their early language to magic.

The Aelves led the revolt against the Ogre Magul, and the dwarves learned words and writing from them.

The War from the Deep¶

A dark entity came out of the depths and warred against the dwarves for two centuries. Its name and nature were erased during the fighting. The Ashduar won, but many deep tunnels have remained closed ever since.

Drugar and Mokdath¶

During the Keeper's final years, Drugar, an undead dwarf, was chosen for an experiment intended to create a dwarf mage. Whether it succeeded is not recorded.

Drugar, the Long King, ruled for centuries as the first Oathwarden. During a visit to Mokdath, he and his necromancer wife slept in a room built in his honour. Mokdath sealed it and flooded it with lava through a hidden channel, killing them both. He took control as Warden.

Notable Factions¶

Burrowers: A caste of miners who can become powerful terraforgers only in the deepest reaches. The more they use this power, the more Burrowers die.
Watermans: Maintain the aqueducts and the safe rooms that can release water onto fires.
Crawlers: Soldiers who specialize in fighting in the deep.
Outwalkers: Warriors and scouts sent beyond Grungred into the eternal blizzard. Those who return carry reports of distant peoples, strange tracks, and beings seen only through the snow.
Necromancers: Usually the only Ashduar to receive advanced education. Outside the military and the Older Sister’s religious duties, necromancy requires Mokdath’s approval.

Notable People¶

Drugar: A former Oathwarden who ruled for centuries before Mokdath killed him and his necromancer wife.
Mokdath the Oathless: The current Warden.

Notable Settlements¶

Main City: Pyre