Dwarves and magic don't usually go together. When you imagine a dwarf you'll probably think of the gruff fighter or the devout cleric or paladin, smiting the enemies of the clan. There is nothing in the rules to discourage magic using dwarfs, and I thought the idea was interesting. And so, I present to you, Realgar Grabthar.
Image by Wei Wang from ArtStation
Realgar Grabthar was born in 1425, 70 years ago. He was born to Clan Grabthar residing in Citadel Adbar, in the north east of the sword coast.
Although the Shield Dwaves used to rule vast kingdoms, they have been in decline for centuries. Their birth rate has always been much slower than that of their mortal enemies, the goblinoid races (kobolds, orcs, goblins, hobgoblins etc’). In this past century however, something happened to bring about a spike in births. It used to be rare to get more than a single child at birth but now twins were far more common. With the blessing of Moradin, Realgar has a twin sister, Riswynn.
Realgar and Riswynn’s father is Thoradin Grabthar, a master smith for the clan and their mother is Ilda, a priestess of Dumathoin. Since Thoradin and Ilda were very devout, their children grew up venerating all the old gods. Realgar’s favorites were Moradin, the
All-Father, Dumathoin, the Keeper of Secrets under the Mountain and Dugmaren Brightmantle, called the Wandering Tinker or the Gleam in the Eye.
Realgar had a pretty standard dwarvish upbringing. He loved to listen to stories about the old dwarf heroes and kingdoms. Of particular interest were the fabled magical items they wielded – Dáinsleif, the sword who’s wounds didn’t heal, Gungnir, the spear that always found its mark, Skofnung, the hammer that called forth clan ancestors to fight at your side, and many others.
Since he watched his father at the forge from a young age it wasn’t a surprise when he chose to apprentice under him. Thoradin had many apprentices, as befitting a master of his craft. He didn’t play any favorites, but it was soon cleat that Realgar had a unique talent at the forge. Although not as strong as his father or most of the apprentices, he made up for it with technique. Not only did he quickly master all the usual secrets of the craft, he also managed to display some of the more advanced aspects of smithing in his work. He knew how to temper, and heat-treat a blade, when is the right time to quench and how to use canisters and folding to build a beautiful layered Damascus. But no matter how good he got he still felt there was something missing.
Where were the magical secrets? The ways of forging those special weapons he heard and read so much about? The weapons and armor coming from his father’s shop were all first-rate items, beautiful, practical and worth their weight in gold. But they were all mundane. When he tried to pry in deeper, his father told him that the art for forging magical items has been lost for millennia. His master didn’t know it and neither did his master’s master or his master before him. These days dwarves were a bit distrustful of arcane magic, preferring to put their trust in steel, stone and divine magic.
That wasn’t good enough for Realgar. He was always a perfectionist and he wanted to create a magical weapon. He spent more and more time at the forge trying to mix rare and unusual reagents into his steel. When that yielded no results, he augmented his blacksmiths' skills with those of a jeweler. Since most magical items he heard about usually had gold and gems worked into them, he thought maybe that art could lend him the knowledge he sought. His creations grew ever more beautiful and inventive, but it was still not enough. He realized he had to do proper research and moved his focus to the clan’s archives. He read and researched for a long time.
He learned that when Moradin the All-Father first breathed life into his children, the dwarves, and brought them forth from the stone, he also gave them 7 secrets of mastery over the earth, a token of his love, trust and the covenant between the God and his people.
One of he promises made for those secrets was to keep them only for the dwarves. The dwarven people grew prosperous with the use of the secrets, forging mighty kingdoms. Slowly the belief in the gods declined until a dwarven king named Duergon decided to forge a lasting peace with the elves by sharing the first secret, the working of metal, with them. Rather quickly after that the dwarven people went into decline. Their kingdoms were overrun, and large portions of the population were subjugated by giants.
The dwarves were vassals for the Giants for centuries until they managed a coordinated revolt that finally bought them their freedom. A lot of knowledge was lost during these centuries of subjugation. Of the 7 secrets, many were completely forgotten to the point where even their names were absent from the stories. The greatest loss was the forging of magic. In the old days a dwarf could forge magic like a smith forged a blade or a mason chiseled a statue – but no more. Many of the texts he perused were written in giant and the fact that the language itself utilized dwarven runes lent some credibility to the stories.
As far as Realgar could determine the subjugation took place more than 10 millennia ago, a long time even by dwarven records. It was a wonder any written records were saved at all. It was a new time for dwarves though, and the renewed birth rate brought hope that Moradin’s displeasure was finally abating. With a larger population many dwarves began to go out of the old strongholds and explore, looking for their ancestor’s homes and secrets.
One of those ancient halls restored was the fabled Gauntlgrym, the dwarven capitol of the kingdom of Delzoun, rediscovered under the human city of Neverwinter. Realgar came to learn that in Gauntlgrym there was one dwarf wizard laboring on uncovering the ancient secrets and he traveled there to see if he could help and learn.
When he arrived, he found the dwarf wizard, Æsir, sitting in his room facing an unlit candle, seemingly contemplating it. after a few minutes of silence, he cleared his throat. Æsir looked up at him and smiled. “I knew you would come. Follow me. I’ll show you to your room. You have much to learn.” As they walked Æsir conjured a small light that hovered next to them. He led Realgar to a small study, all set up with a small desk and a made bed.
“How did you know I would come? Did you use magic?” asked Realgar. Æsir laughed. “No young one. I got a message from the guards at the gate. Magic is a wonderful tool but do not forget there are many mundane ways to achieve your goals. It is dangerous to become over dependent on magic. We’ll talk more tomorrow”.
What followed was 10 years of study and experimentation. Æsir knew many things but he wasn’t an Archmagi. No dwarf has achieved such a rank in thousands of years. There were many secrets to discover in Gauntlgrym but much was lost to time and neglect.
Realgar did come to master some magic, mostly the magic of Abjuration, defense, but he also came to realize that no single place that he knew of held the secrets he sought. If he truly wanted to bring back to the dwarves the secrets of old, he would have to go out into the world, adventure and accumulate more knowledge. Perhaps the secret still lay buried in some forgotten tomb or keep. If the knowledge was out there than Realgar was determined to find it.
Before he left, Æsir gave him a candle. The same one he remembered seeing on his desk every night. “This candle cannot be lit. It was given to me by my master and I have been trying to master the magic to light it for decades. I know how to create light and flame, you do too – it’s one of the first things I thought you, but this is different. There is a sort of block, a wall… something you must get through. Practice. If you ever manage to do it, let me know how. It’ll keep your skills in use and your focus sharp. Good luck out there. Be careful and try to come back”. Realgar really hoped he’ll be able to come back and impress his Master someday.
Appearance – Realgar is a typical dwarf, short, stocky and solid. His hair is red and his eyes blue-gray. He isn’t as strong as some dwarves, but he isn’t a weakling either. Years of work at the anvil has given him a solid frame. Realgar wears a breastplate of his own forging and carries with him his first hammer. One of the first tests for a master smith is to forge his own hammer since it is such an essential tool of the craft. Since he wanted to compensate for his lack of strength, Realgar’s hammer is very well balanced and could be swung continually for hours. Realgar has learned in his travels how dangerous the world outside can be so one of his first priorities is to defend himself. He loves the utility of the rituals he knows, and he’ll gladly use a ritual instead of a spell. For example, one of the first rituals he learned was Comprehend Languages, a ritual he used extensively in his research.
Realgar is methodical, logical and a perfectionist. He usually likes to consider things before he acts but there are things that would break through this facade and get him as excited as a young dwarf getting his first axe. The possibility of gaining knowledge, particularly knowledge about the dwarven secrets or the crafting of magical weapons, are some of those things.
I hope you've enjoyed learning about Realgar. Feel free to drop him into your game at any time – I think he’ll make an interesting NPC.
I'll tell you all about his twin sister, Riswynn, at a different time.
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