Valkauna

The Valkauna, like all Dwarven women, were once daughters of stone and hearth, the women of Dun Dynkyr. Besieged by giants, they followed the command of their queen Mya, who, deceived by Karon (god of the giants in disguise), ordered them to surrender their bodies in a mass sacrifice to the Aeniresa of that place. The Dwarven women believed their deaths would fortify their husbands, fathers, and sons in the redoubt. Instead, their lives were cruelly squandered in a trick designed to break Dwarven will.

Yet the plan was thwarted. Baere, the Glorious Woman, took pity upon their spirits as they drifted in despair. To foil Karon’s deceit, she gathered them into her keeping, imbuing them with a portion of her divine grace, and losing her own claim to eternal life. The women of the Dwarves were changed into the Spirit Wives of the Dwarves -- a subject no Dwarf will discuss outside of their own societies.

The Valkauna were the bravest and most noble of the Spirit Wives. They were transformed into eternal beings with new bodies, who walk Erenth as guardians, psychopomps, and heralds of heroic fate.

The Valkauna descend upon battlefields where Dwarves fight against impossible odds. Those who die heroically are taken from Negwh, the Shadow realm of the dead, and borne by swan ship to Morenth, rather than by the Ferryman. 

The Valkauna despise the children of Karon. On rare occasions, they manifest visibly, their axes gleaming with cold fire, to rally Dwarves in wars against the Stoneborn’s ancient enemies.

The Valkauna are described as radiant shield-maidens in armor, their visages shining with sorrow and glory alike. They bear both hammer and axe, the traditional weapons of their kind, and fight with the strength taught to them by Nimdar, Baere’s ally who trained them in the ways of war. Their voices are said to echo like the ringing of anvils when they call out the names of the fallen.