MOUNTAIN
DWARVES
AD&D: Complete Guide to
Dwarves used for this page
These dwarves live beneath the mountains. Their strongholds are usually isolated and they have little contact with other races. Mountain dwarves tend to like their privacy and actively discourage visitors to their strongholds. There are five strongholds that the outside world knows of, each of which holds important strategic and mining locations for the good of their people. The High King of the Mountain Dwarves is selected by the acquisition of the Earth Hammer, the implement with which Collinius is said to have created the earth. Any dwarf within one of the citadels, as long as he is of pure blood, may become High King on the death of his predecessor, as long as he is accepted by the Hammer as the rightful recipient (it is unknown how the Hammer chooses it's bearers).
A typical mountain dwarf is, on average, 4'2 feet tall and weighs about 170 pounds. His hair is a lighter shade than his hill cousin's, and his skin is slightly more red in color.
Mountain dwarves claim that they are the first dwarves and all other dwarves are descended from them. They are wary of hill dwarves because of their closer dealings with humans, elves, and other races. They are clannish and keep to themselves. Their claims could be true, although the passage of time has rendered the argument unsolvable unless dramatic new discoveries are made in the field of literary archaeology.
