This is the first part of a series about the Dwarves of Loaerth, one of the three Races of Men found in the upcoming adventure setting Loaerth & Feywyrd for the Savage Worlds Roleplaying Game.
Introduction
The dwarves of Loaerth are staunch folk. Quick to anger, dependable and clever too. Most of the new “coalcraft” gizmos and wonders that have been made in the last century or so were invented by dwarven machinists, coalcrafters, or fuelsmiths. They came to Loaerth to help rebuild the city after the Helfay and wars that followed it were over. They brought with them a now infamous material, dvergarkol, and knowledge of how to burn it and shape it into something useful or terrifying. The science of Coalcraft has since changed society and the future of Mankind.
Physical Appearance
Male Dwarf Concept Art, by Paul King
Dwarf men and women are shoulder height compared to most humans, reaching five feet at the extreme. They are often maligned as being fat or grossly rotund in stature, but in truth they are only slightly more stocky than humans. They have thicker bones per length than humans, another reason for their squat stance. Like the other races of Loaerth, there is a large amount of physical variation between the various tribes of dwarves.
Dwarf skin ranges in color from charcoal black to bone white. The majority of dwarves, however, have skin the color of charcoal. Less often, in warmer climes, individuals with lighter shades of grey and ash are seen. Coalscars, a type of tattoo worn by both dwarven men and women, are common. Since the return of the Fey, some dwarven fuelsmiths have been able to create Coalscar Runes which glimmer with faint light or hold a captured magical effect.
Dwarven men are capable of growing beards that reach their feet in a matter of months. Depending on the work they do, they are frequently braiding, trimming, or even shaving their beards. To a dwarf, a beard is equally a nuisance as it is a fashion statement. They are almost never used as a status symbol like those by male Trolls.
Female dwarves are slightly smaller than the males in size and stature, and do not grow beards. They frequently braid their hair in long ropes and weave into them filaments of fine wire, dust from dwarven coal, and rust brown clay-powder. Once properly fixed, their hair often resembles beautiful veins of gold, copper and iron laying across their shoulders.
History & Discovery of Dwarven Coal
By Charles Dickey
In most places in the Known World, dwarves were used as slaves, servants or serfs before the Helfay. They were under the “care” of the elven overlords and kingdoms of the day. Being smaller than humans, but a bit hardier, they were often put to work in mines, shipyards, factories and other hazardous places the elves avoided. This led dwarves to become natural miners since they are able to work well even in the harshest of environments with limited light or air. Pounding away at the the Known World’s foundation for centuries brought about the idiosyncrasies of dwarven culture, their tendancy for ground-living, and their all-too-common caelumphobia. Nonetheless, the plight of the dwarves eventually led to what was likely the single most important discovery in history. What’s more is this discovery was able to be kept a secret for generations. They called it dvergarkol (“dwarven coal” in the common tongue), and today it is the principle driving force behind the entire Loaerthian economy.
The Loaerthians are about physics, science, reason, math, chemistry, alchemy, biology, technology and innovation. Magic is the thing of legend and myth to most Loaerthians. Up until five years ago (when The Island was discovered), elves were no more real than the bogey man. Magic was dead, relagated to saying grace at supper and prayers before nightfall. Nothing magical existed in Loaerth. Why a few, rare feytrolls continued to live on after the Helfay is a mystery (most did vanish, as did all the other fey creatures along their magic). Most people didn’t believe Felix Sundown even existed; those that saw him speculated he was merely a grossly disfigured dwarf or a troll’s baby.
Dvergarkol, “dwarven coal” or simply DC, is the source of Loaerthians power. Today in Loaerth, many of life’s convienciences would be impossible without DC. Some might even say that it is something they needed to even live. It is the thing that drives most Loaerthian discoveries, and that fuels their growing hunger and expansionist rule. It leads them out into the now vacant wildes of the Known World to find more; and until now, they have never needed to look back.
But now the Fey have returned, and the future is strangely uncertain…
In the next post in this series, you’ll learn more about the backstory of the dwarves of Loaerth and see some more concept art! Stay tuned!
Written by Jonathan Jacobs
Edited by Cassey Toi
It seems like, with all this coalcraft, that Loaerth would be extremely grim. To get an idea what that might look like and get some inspiration for that gritty type of steampunk/coalpunk/victorian ingenuity, check out the book The Great Stink. It’s about the creation of the London sewer system and gives vivid pictures of what that industrialization would look like.
Hey Jim, thanks for the book recommendation! I love delving into the nasty bits of history. Charles Stross recently took up the issue of the “hard edge” of steampunk in this article: –well worth the read. I would imagine that The Great Stink will be a great resource for developing the grit and shit of Loaerth.
Yes – that’s what we are shooting for. L&F is not your fancy schmancy glitzy steampunk victoriana setting. It’s more like a gritty, dirty and dark world where fantasy means gremlins, boogie men, and homeless trolls living in the ghettos, and steampunk means polluted railway stations and strange malachrome gaurd dogs that eat your face off. Loaerth City is the “light of civilization” – but truthfully the sunlight is easier to see about 20 miles out of town…
OK, So I see two possibilities. 1) the Dwarves are a race of Fey, or 2) Dwarves are a race descended from prehumans who were enslaved by the Elves. If the former, they have Glamour, if not, then they are for practical purposes human…
Now Coalcraft is a good idea, though it rather reminds me of the Deadlands setting.
Presumably many items were made in the early days by smelting Dvergarkol directly into the metal in much the way carbon is sometimes smelted into steel, before the concept of using the combustion directly as a power source was thought up. This might be the source of many legendary magical blades…