FATEsy Heartbreaker: The Duara

The Duara are the first people. They were created in order to further creation. They are children born of the mind of a dead god. They fought in the dawn war against the barbarous giants and drove them back to the heights from whence they had come. Then came the debate , and the divide. Then came the Naming Wars. What was once a single people with a single purpose is now two peoples. Each believes the other has gone astray. The other races do not know the sublime tongue. They butcher the truth of names. They call them Dwarves. Yet even after all that has befallen them, they remain Duara.

Before the beginning, in the valley between Vikai(ice) and Haospel(fire), was Dvarton(darkness) and Hsione(emptiness), they came together and formed Ymric(earth) and Asdrit(air). Ymric the Asdrit rebelled against their parents and from that war the world was made. Asdrit killed his father Dvarton, but in so doing also died. Ymric seeing her brother fall wept the great oceans(Okea, Gjoll, Aelvakar, Srild, and Laugar the sweet) into being. Asdrit eventually imprisoned Hsione deep within a prison of the bones of Dvarton. Seeing the barren world she formed the winds(Vadruf, Aep, Durfnaa, and Hvidu) from the body of her brother, and plants and animals from his blood. Then she create Duara from his dreams. He dreamt of a people like him, with eyes to see even in the dark places, with hands to shape and create, with minds to comprehend what they saw, and a tongue to give voice to the wonders of the world. This was the birth of the Duara, the name givers. Born for peace, in the shadow of war. Every Duara knows that it is only a matter of time until Hsione breaks free and destroys the world. Everyday they see her minions Brjalla(decay), Mjodgut(chaos), and Heihke(death) seek to tear down the pillars of the earth and release their queen. The day she is released will be Kragdrakro(the end of all), when the heroes of all Duara history will fight in a final battle and fall, though whether they will save the world or fail is not known.

During the Great Debate, which led to the Naming Wars the Duara were split on how to defeat Hsione's minions. The traditionalists stuck with focusing on inanimate objects over the living world. Those that focused on the living became the G'no Ma Duara(Namers of flesh) often called the hill dwarves or gnomes by outsiders with no knack for the sublime tongue. They live in the lowlands where there is more life and more things to experiment on and study. They are the dwarves that most non-dwarves know of. They seek to defeat entropy through controlling living things. If you can create longer lived and better breeding people and animals then you can defeat entropy simply by ensuring a higher birthrate than death rate. They are ruled by the Rao Rei(living council), which decides on the direction of all their society, though most towns are run by a village council or the like. They have one great shame as a people, they create the G'nol(hunger), during the Ael War. They unleashed the G'nol on the world and won the war. However they lost control of them and now they are a problem for the whole world.

Those that focused on the inanimate became the Treugh Duara(True Name Givers) often called Mountain dwarves or troglodytes(derogatory). They make things that last with the goal of eventually defeating entropy entirely. They are decentralized with each community as a law unto itself. This is a lesson they have learned in their nearly constant war against the Giants. If every location is self sufficient then there is no one location for the giants to attack. The isolation mixed with the dwarven tendency to not change leads to many small idiosyncrasies from city to city, while still maintaining the dwarven culture as a whole. During the Naming War it was the Mountain dwarves who forced the Hill dwarves into the lowlands. The archetecture of the Mountain dwarves is vast, dark, and cold. There are great buttresses of stone holding up massive stone walls and windows of drab Muscovite This is contrasted with the warmth and cheer of the dwarven Signa Haas(Story Hall). Every night dwarves come from all over the city to sit in these halls and hear and tell stories. Some of them are new and some of them are older than the city itself. Dwarves live for word play and story telling, You have not lived until you have heard the comedic epic Torfulsigna at night in a dwarven Signa Haas.

Things that are always true about your dwarven aspect:

• Dwarves live a long time. Even the Mountain Dwarves, who did not go down the path of living things, live for centuries. The Hill Dwarves live even longer due to their breeding programs and genetic magics.
• Dwarves can see in the darkness.
• Natural diseases do not affect the dwarven peoples.

Things that can be invoked:

• Dwarves are masters of language. Invoke to instantly know any ancient or obscure language.
• Dwarves are master crafters. Invoke when creating something that will last.
• Dwarves do not change. Invoke to resist outside influences.

Things that can be compelled:

• Dwarves are inherently superior to other races. Compel when looking down on non-dwarves would be a hidrance.
• Dwarves are perfectionists. Compel when something is not done just right for the dwarf to sulk and blame others for their failings.
• Dwarves are greedy. Compel when the dwarf must try and get more than his share.

Dwarven Stunts
Rune Magic: Many non-dwarves believe that the dwarves have no magical ability. This is because the dwarves do not generally practice spell magic as other races understand it. Instead they become Rune Casters, or Name Mages. They get the a number of true names equal to their intelligence score. These names act as aspects you can use to invoke only with a roll. You can gain new Names by rolling to create advantage and rather than gaining a free use of the advantage you spend a fate point to add that name to your list of Runic names. there are several kinds of names you can get: Names of Forces(momentum, heat, gravity, that sort of thing), Names of Types(this covers whole groups of beings, like bears, goblins, elves, and the like), names of materials(rocks, metals, water), and names of individuals(this is really powerful and difficult. The difficulty to place a free invoke on one of your names is good(+3), however when you use an invoke it gives a bonus of 3 to your rolls.
Sky Blood: You are far more connected to Asdrit than to Ymric for some reason. Your blood calls to the open places. Gain a +1 to any roll to resist or survive a sky based threat or attack(lightning, snowstorms, and the like)
Entropist: You follow the heretical belief that growth can only come through destruction. gain a +1 to any overcome roll to break something using strength or Intelligence(for more complicated devices).
Dwarven Poetry: You are a renowned wordsmith, steeped in every nuance of words and language. Gain a +1 to charisma rolls involving creating an advantage through word play.
Stone Bones: You are deeply connected to Ymric. When you have skin contact with the earth you gain a +1 to strength create advantage and overcome rolls.

And that is it for the Dwarves. The next post will be on the Elves. I hope This is as fun for you to read as it is for me to write. As always I am very interested in any feedback, thoughts, or ideas you might have had.