Hello everyone,
today is, once again, Saturday.
As always I'd like to remind you that this ".5" blogs are focusing just on the lore of the game.
If you are not interested, come next week to discover a new enemy type!
With that out of the way, let's start!
Here in Italy, summer has slammed the closing doors of spring, and as such... it's damn hot outside!
That's the reason for the choice of this devblog, in which I'll tell you something about people that hate hot temperatures... Dwarves!
Map: The Dwarven Skaldom
The Origins
The roots of the dwarven people are cloaked in mystery.
The only surviving account of their ancient history comes from the Manual of Western Races, written by an anonymous monk of the Eastern Thunder Order:
- “Long ago, Dwarves were grotesque beings born deep beneath the earth, shaped from blood and mud by the will of a forgotten god. All they knew was battle. When that god vanished, leaving behind only strange remnants scattered across the world, the Elves had already become a powerful and advanced race. Yet even they were caught off guard by the relentless advance of a mysterious bearded folk, who began landing on their shores shortly after the god's disappearance.”
Sadly, elven records were lost to time, and this passage is all that the greatest scholars of the East have managed to recover from the few surviving documents spared by the Living Hell.
Modern History
Before the rise of Skal the Immortal, the dwarves lived in isolated mountain clans.
Each clan ruled its own mountain, and serious conflict only broke out in the gravest of disputes.
Everything changed when a young dwarf, whose name would one day become legend, discovered an ancient arcane tome at the base of Mount Sumnia.
Some believe this book predates even the formation of dwarven civilization, written when they were still muddy, shapeless creatures, but no one knows for sure.
Skal has never allowed a single soul, not even his own offspring, to lay eyes on it.
What is known is this: Skal grew older, fathered countless children with countless dwarf-women... and outlived them all.
Indeed, Skal has buried every one of his children, 24 generations of dwarves have come and gone.
That’s several millennia, by dwarven standards.
In time, Skal became something greater than a ruler.
He is now revered more than the ancient gods, those remembered and those long lost.
To all dwarves, he is the one true sovereign. Hence, the monarch of the Dwarven Skaldom.
He led his people beyond the mountains, founding thriving cities throughout the Coldlands and the Wallwoods.
It might sound like the tale of a wise and ageless king.
And it is.
But that’s only part of the truth...
Skal the Mindbender
Skal exercises direct mental control over every dwarf in his realm.
Only a rare few manage to resist his influence, and those who do are hunted down like beasts.
Refugees speak of an overwhelming compulsion to return to their homeland, haunted by a single, obsessive thought before breaking free:
Serve Skal.
Moments of Freedom
According to scholars who study mind control, Skal may be using an ancient elven spell, once described in texts now lost to the Living Hell.
Escaped dwarves, however, insist in saying the true source of his power is the book, Skal’s book.
According to them, it also... "suggests" to him ancient sacrificing rituals to extend his life.
(Some say that Skal kills his own offspring to live eternally, but it has never been witnessed.)
Interestingly, the mind control isn’t constant.
There are moments when his grip weakens, especially in two notable situations:
The High Jump Tournament
Skal is a passionate fan of high jump competitions.
For a dwarf, he is said to be exceptionally tall, and this might explain his unusual fascination with the sport.
Despite his incredible age, Skal always ranks first.
His score is in the thousands.
For perspective: each tournament grants the winner just one point.
And they’re held once per year.
Considering the average dwarf lives around 350 years... it’s practically impossible to reach such numbers, unless, of course, you’re Skal.
When a tournament is held, however, Skal control isn't as strong as the rest of the year, maybe because he is too busy focusing on the sport.
The Beardserkers
There exists a special group of dwarves who are almost entirely free from Skal’s mental hold:
the Beardserkers, elite dwarven warriors trained in the arcane art of teleportation (the only form of magic allowed in the Skaldom).
Every newborn is personally examined by Skal for signs of magical potential.
If any is detected, the child is taken from their family and sent to train in the Beardserkers’ Pines.
There, from the age of one, they undergo brutal daily training: plunging into icy waters, lifting impossible weights, and harmonizing with nature, all to master the teleportation art for warfare.
Dwarves are typically slow and sturdy.
Beardserkers are the exception.
They’re as fast as lightning (by dwarven standards), teleporting behind enemy lines to strike with lethal precision.
They also serve as Skal’s preferred invasion force, and also as collectors of debts.
(As Gnomia learned firsthand during the reign of King Shorty.)
Sworn Enemies of the Dwarves
For generations, the Dwarven Skaldom ruled the western lands under Skal’s iron mind.
That era ended with the sudden invasion of the Fishmen from the North.
The attack came without warning, not even Skal’s prophetic abilities foresaw it.
Caught unprepared, he was forced to redirect the full might of his armies northward, ultimately abandoning many vassal kingdoms.
The Miningdom of Coboldia and The Molearchy were lost.
Skal attempted to hold onto Gnomia, considered a strategically vital location, but, well... we all know how that ended.
(And if you don’t, go and read Devblog #2.5)
To this day, the Fishmen remain a real threat.
Though the borders are now stable, their strength lies in their diversity: each fishman is unique, with its own abilities and traits.
This makes it extremely difficult for Skal to devise a single, effective offensive strategy.
Business Sense
Still, war is no excuse to neglect the economy. Skal knows this well.
Dwarves are master artisans of Runesmithing and Stonecrafting.
Any respectable ruler hires dwarves when there’s stonework to be done.
Shorty, or rather, his aunt, might have a thing or two to say about that...
But I’ll let you uncover that story on your own directly in game!
That’s all for now
Have a nice day and may your jumps reach ever higher!
-Giuseppe