The Chronicles of Dwarves
by Ohad ShahamCreation
1 It was in the days of the beginning of the world, and the land is empty and sealed, and the sea rages and gnaws at it. And on the land walk spirits and beasts and monsters and plants all evil wandering aimlessly.
2 Came the artisan Kagyar and saw the land thirsts for life.
3 And the artisan took a dozen stones and he chiselled and fashioned them and he poured life into them and gave them the name of dwarf.
4 And a king he set on them to conduct them into the land. The name of the king Denwarf. Great was he with skin of granite and blood of lava. And his eyes see through dark and rock.
Gifts
5 Kagyar bestowed gifts upon the dwarves.
6 to Duta gave the loon for weaving and sawing fur and leather and linen. And the secret of flame gave her also to warm the stone caves.
7 To Ula gave the song: great voice, to chant her peoples records till the end of days.
8 To Bunga gave the goat and the dog and the donkey and the lizard: good beasts.
9 To Purtha gave the forge of iron to smelt and cast dagger and axe of masterwork
10 To Gonga gave a piton and mallet and writing in stone and she wrote the stories of the people: preserved for eternity.
11 To Burta gave the bundle of mushrooms: lore of that which grows and that which rots, and she kept healing secrets aplenty.
12 To Bongo gave the axe of iron: blade of truth, and taught him war and so became he the guardian of his people and second to the king.
13 To Bolfo gave the cauldron of cookery and the pitcher of ale and the glass of wine to fill the hearts of dwarves with merriment.
14 To Borin gave the pick to form in the mountain tunnels and mines and great halls.
15 To Thouin gave the goldsmithy to work in gold: first of metals.
16 To Dorgin gave the horn and the drum to play in times of peace and war.
17 And with Aulin he entailed the work of sanctitude: bond custom and prophecy.
Nation
18 And the dwarves mated in pairs: male and female.
19 The females bore children, and the dwarves multiplied and proliferated in the mountain and valley.
20 At the time when their number was two and forty and seven hundreds their king left them and left to the depths from which he came.
21 They breathed for a very long time and grew old and died and their sons and daughters in their stead remember the gifts bestowed to them by the artisan.
Races
22 Saddened were the dwarves for their king has left them. And the artisan saw that they are sad and so he opened a vain of mercury, from rock it flowed.
23 From the vain sprang the gnomes. The name of the first Garal.
24 Small and sharp-witted they were and full of jest, coveters of gems and craftsmanship.
25 The gnomes lived among the dwarves who did not harm them.
26 Came to the land in ships of wood tall people sons of man. And like the wood, they floated on water and did not drown.
27 The dwarves taught man secrets of creation and craft which were given to them by the artisan and only work of sanctitude did not teach them for man is foolish and fickle and empty.
28 The dwarves pitied men and did not live among them.
29 Giants lived in the land big as mountains, devourers of dwarf and man and wielders of magic and strength. And the dwarves waged war with the giants and vanquished them.
30 And the bowls of the land infested with goblins children of demons, creatures of hate. For many generations did the dwarves battled the goblins and did not defeat them, for the evil of the world nourishes them and revives them again without end.
Some interpretations:
1 This of course relates to when the new dwarven race came to be and not the creation of Mystara.
3 Actually, in the DMs version I would say that Kagyar took several dozens to create a genetically stable population. And of course these were original Kogolor dwarves, not stones.
4 could be a hint of Denwarf's golemish nature
8 I figured that "good beasts" means the animals that the dwarves tamed successfully in prehistoric times.
10 note the parallel between song and writing (7) this is not by chance.
17 I made the holy work obscure enough, but it involves the link between a dwarf and his people, the dwarven "proper" way of life and a connection to the spiritual world.
18 The text always keeps male and female equal and whilst the females are mentioned first in the "gifts" part , here the males are first. Also I presume that the first dwarves included the 12 mentioned earlier and a spouse + child for each one and not that 6 pairs were made.
23-25 this explains the long lasting alliance between gnome and dwarf (and why gnomes don't get on dwarves' nerves) note that the true Garal was not a gnome but a Kogolor dwarf although all modern races believe him to be a gnome.
26 The first humans that the dwarves encountered where northerners (the Nithians were not so widespread yet and the spell of oblivion would have erased anything else anyway). I thought that dwarves would find the human sailing and swimming abilities impressive.
29 There are still some giants alive around Rockhome to the dwarves dismay.
30. This is a hint to Hel's plot with the beastmen.