Invection
The history of our people is one of overcoming betrayal. The key to understanding both our history and our future is to understand that the world and all that is in it was taken from us and now stands as it will until the Eighth Age -- arrayed against us. For each time we have given faith to those who claimed to befriend our people, we have been repaid with treachery. Each time we have extended the right hand, we have been brought to shame. From the dawn of time we number Seven Great Betrayals which we have had to endure and the humiliations of which we have been forced to carry. As Mya and the Valkauna bear witness, we are not victims. For more than any other, ours is a story of survival and of overcoming great adversity. Just as raw ore has been heated and then beaten into fine second metals, so too are the hearts of our people. It is because we have suffered, that we are strong. It is because we are strong, that we will survive. So then, it has come to us as a sacred obligation, mandated by the fact of our continued existence, that we have a duty to thrive in this, the most hostile of all possible worlds. By right of this obligation we will live until we have heard the Grand Apologies, and until we have seen the Setting of Right, and until we have known the Coming of Order which is inevitably ours -- all others be damned! We are the Stoneborn!
The First Betrayal
In the beginning of time, there was only chaos and disorganization among the many races. Some argued that the growing things ruled under Berronar their Mistress, who is a handmaiden of the Ere of All, and the sister to Moradin the Lord. But the growing things cannot reason so that is folly. Others argue that the Urok ruled under the Nameless One, an apostate of the Ere of All. But as the Urok know only destruction, and have no craft save to take that which is not theirs, this also is folly. Still others maintain that the Little Ones ruled under their wee Lords, who were the minor servants of the Ere of All. But these Little Ones have laws without reason and know nothing of scheduling or of great works. So this also is folly. The unmistakable conclusion is that Chaos itself was Regn, for Law had not yet come. There were many wars in those days and battles without ceasing. Also the Stoneborn could not feel the bite of the death and inevitably many of their number made names for themselves among the other peoples. The greatness of these Stoneborn has never been forgotten and though they strived to toil humbly, they lived instead with great acclaim from those who were not worthy to comb their beards.
All the world trembled for the Chaos that then was, and for the strife that everywhere was the foundation of all things.When the Stoneborn saw the Crown of Creation was claimed by none, they took it upon themselves to assume leadership for the good of all. So rose Clangeddin, Greatest of the Regns, to lead all people to the Law and into the greatness that followed.
This undertaking was blessed by Moradin the Lord, who is the greatest among the servants of the Ere of All. But Moradin is also capricious and unreliable. He does not speak plainly to his people. Ever they serve him well, but he hides his face and is mute as stone. So, despite their devotion to Law, and despite all that his Stoneborn had made and all of the excellent things that they had fashioned, he was still discontent. To this day he is sometimes called Molgolnahr or “Lord of Poor Faith” and the betrayer of his own. Because of his silence, the Stoneborn right to rule was eventually handed to the Fairies, who constantly imagine themselves greater than they ought and whose subsequent failure could not have been more stark.
The Second Betrayal
The second of the Great Betrayals was Stoneborn upon Stoneborn and ended in the Dun Wars. Little is said of this time and the causes of it, save that it was the work of Roknar the Deceiver. Before the Second Betrayal there were seven sons of Clangeddin and when its last course had been lain, none at all remained. So Dumathoin, brother of Clangeddin succeeded him as Regn of All.The Third Betrayal
It was the cursable pride of the Fairies which caused them to make Majk and to play with powers they did not then, and could never ever, fully understand. Untold evil and certain destruction loomed over the world because of the Fairies. So, in their great wisdom the Stoneborn hid from the threat of these new lords and the new lords’ experimentation. The Stoneborn sought solace and privacy from the chaos of the Fairy Warlocks. To protect their civilization from decay, the Duns of old were located deep in the shafts of mountains and beneath the mighty hills. There the Duns became places of unsurpassed beauty and craftsmanship. But the Fairies could not bear it when the Stoneborn would not partake of their decadence and they grew jealous of the beauty that the Stoneborn had created. When their jealousy had reached its peak, the Fairies sent some of their number to lay siege to the Duns and compel the Stoneborn to return to the surface, lest they be starved. But we are a stubborn people and so deeper still our ancestors went into the very heart of Erenth. There they learned under Dunseath to take sustenance from the depths and in the farming of things which need not sunlight to grow.
This great achievement only angered the Fairies who sent hunters after them and many were needlessly killed before the madness of the Fairies was abated by the Short Peace. To this day, the Fairies do not take responsibility for their actions. They claim that every lord and tribe only did as they thought right. They say that only those who actually killed Stoneborn could be made responsible. For this reason, the Short Peace, and every peace of the Fairies, has failed.
The Fourth Betrayal
Despite the unfaithfulness of the Fairies, the Stoneborn were not allowed to resume their natural place as the keepers of the Crown of Creation. Instead of pleading the case of his people, Moradin Molgolnahr kept his stony silence before the Ere of All. So then the Wyrms, the forebears of the cruel dragons were allowed to take charge. It was they that invented the Wyrmgeld – the law of taxation that emptied the Duns of their great wealth and left many Stoneborn in lowly estate. Far from worthy lords, the Wyrms proved themselves capable of naught but hostility, bitter divisions and wars without ceasing. The Fifth Betrayal
When the greatest of these Wars had come to an end, it was believed by many that Moradin would apologize to the Stoneborn and allow them to take charge once again. But he was ever silent and no apology ever came. In his silence, the Young Race has risen upon Erenth. Some hold that the Young Race are a new people made by the Ere of All, but others with longer memories and great knowledge insist that they are just the other offspring of the Children of Berronar and have no right to rule. On this matter, the failure of Moradin to adjudicate suprises few. The Sixth Betrayal
The Short Peace was betrayed by the Fairies who again sought to dominate and subject the Stoneborn by their use of Majk. The Regn of Dun Duergar was assassinated by the Witch of the Fairies under a flag of truce and so began a century of brutal bloodshed that covered the face of Erenth. During this time, great depredations of Majk were also visited upon the Derro and their nation has never recovered. Ever they roam the dark taken in permanent madness and an everlasting testament to the unsurpassed cruelty of the Elf. The Seventh Betrayal
A Millenial Truce was finally crafted between the Fairies and the Stoneborn, but a new treachery arose when the Gnummor and the Old Ones sought to empty the Duns, and enslave the people. They sought the Bright Ore and knew that it had been found by the greatest of the Stoneborn Delvesmen. This new treachery could not be defeated by our ancestors alone so under the Truce of Breslon they sought the aid of the Fairies, but should have known better. The Fairies did indeed help, but it was only a pretext for the Fairy Witch Llothean to gain access to the Bright Ore. Her treachery was eventually the cause of a great conflict between the Fairies which the Stoneborn were happy to ignore. At the end of the Fairy War, some of their Warlocks came to our ancestors to ask a boon. They had banished the Fairy Witch and her evil minions to a distant land, but since their own Majk made them vulnerable to her machinations, they desired others to supervise her imprisonment. So it was that the Duergar were tasked with observing the Fairy Witch and her kind.
The Benediction
Ever the last age of Erenth looms, and ever the Dwarves wait for the resoration of all things. Justice will prevail for the Children of Moradin and the rightful heirs of Erenth. For we are the Stoneborn!
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