| From: | Jonathan Wright <jwrigh01@********.ca> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Not so Stupid Dwarf Questions |
| Date: | Sat, 28 Sep 1996 15:32:06 -0400 (EDT) |
> Ok, stupid question time, once again. Gather round, boyz and girlz as Bull
> asks yet another dumb question: (2, actually)
>
> 1. What do you all think about D's gift and comment to an ork about the
> Elves not being the only race to have an anciant language...?
The Ork Scorchers from Earthdawn had quite the nomadic raiding society in
place. Perhaps this Ork could rediscover this heritage and form the next
Mongolian Horde (this time composed of Orks) and decimate the elven empires.
Would be fun, don't you think? :)
> Now the bigger question...
> 2. Ok, Dwarves have been on the scene as long as the Elves (not counting
> the Immortrals, and possibly the Spikes. I still think that I read
> somewhere about Dwarf Spike Babies). Anyways, if they've been around so
> long,why isn't their a dwarven society set up? It would probably be
> underground, since that's always been the traditional home of the dwarves.
>
> Ok, I realize that the elf countries were really set up by Immortal Elves,
> but why not Immortal Dwarves? It stands to reason... Well, I was just
> wondering about that. Cee Ya...:)
In Earthdawn the Dwarven kingdoms were always being hit with horrific
diseases (like the withering of infants), and political assassinations
galore (how many of the Barsaive's dwarven kings were murdered during the
Scourge?). The only problem the Elves had was thorns growing out of
their skin, and that kept the Horrors off their backs (for the most
part). I don't know what happened to the Shosaran Elves during the
Scourge, but it probably wasn't that horrific because it has never really
been mentioned. (Ew, yuck sorry about that pun in the last line there...)
To truly understand the crap the Dwarves have been through one merely has
to look at the population inversion that has occurred during the down
cycle between the last two Ages of Magic. ED era dwarves were something
like 70% of the population, SR era they make up a measily 15% (if that).
Something blew their gene pool out of the water so to speak during the
down cycle.
This leads me to believe one of two theories.
1) The Dwarven immortals, who were hurt much worse during the Fourth
Age, have never managed to recover to keep pace with the Elven Illuminati
and their evil machinations.
2) The Elven Illuminati are responsible in part (or wholly) for the
hardships the Dwarves of Barsaive suffered during the Fourth Age (Therans
come to mind as not really being a big help). By suppressing the other
major race during the Fourth Age and then making sure not to many of
their prodigy survive the down cycle, the Elven Illuminati have assured
themselves a dominant position in the Sixth World's scheme of things.
This theory is further strengthened by the fact that the Elves are
already known for the down cycle hunting of the Dragons, another race
they don't really enjoy sharing the world with.
