Alter Aeon The Great Library

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Note - as with any topic, researchers should question the reliability
and veracity of these texts.  The library's aim is to preserve
documents, not verify accuracy.

AABN:  13153
Title: a book titled "The Mountain of Faith"

The Mountain of Faith, by Dujam Ironbar, Priest of Reorx

Long ago, when the world was young, there was neither Dwarf nor Man.
Fairies strode in from the Otherworld, leaving their progeny across the
land. Dragons ruled the skies, before the founding of their Empire in the
south. And the fathers of the fathers of giants built their great mounds
and pyramids of earth and stone. The surface world was a tumult as these
ancient beings strove with one another for long years.

Near the end of the Age of Creation, Dentin the Creator founded Ralnoth and
bred the race of Man. Reorx, god of war, was amazed. He also wished a
people to call his own, for while giants and fair folk would call on him
for aid in battle, they drew upon their brute strength or arcane cunning
instead of properly learning the art of war.

It was from stone that Reorx hewed the first dwarves. He made them in his
own image, broad and tough, with strong hearts and sturdy frames. Dentin
saw Reorx fashioning the dwarves, and aided him. This came with a cost:
Dentin bade Reorx that his people should not dwell above the ground, lest
they compete with his creation, humanity. So Reorx made the dwarves short
in stature, so they could walk comfortably in the low places beneath hill
and mount. And Dentin dug precious ores from the World Navel under Ralnoth,
and crushed them into powder, and sprinkled it upon them, and they awoke.

The dwarves took on the nature of the gods that made them. From Reorx, they
took delight in combat, and were renowned for their courage and
steadfastness in battle. They developed their own martial disciplines, and
built their cities as fortresses in the heart of the Ash Mountains. From
Dentin came a love for fashioning stone and metal into all manner of tools,
weapons, rainment and adornment. They became great craftsman, and mastered
other arts they learned from Men and Elves. Amongst the races of the world,
any item that is "dwarf-made" is held in high esteem, from the famed
emperal armor and weapons from Moria to the impenetrable dwarf-masks they
made to battle dragons.

And so dwarves to this day honor Reorx and Dentin chief above all in the
High Pantheon, as their forefathers and teachers. While they make few
outward signs of piety, they make records for their Halls of Remembrance,
hewn in stone as they once were, to outlast the hills, in gratitude for the
gifts of life and reason they were given.