Prelude – Mora

Mora Ironwright was born in the year IC 2221 in the dwarf hold of Zhufbar, a mountainous city renowned as the center of metalwork for Karak Ankor and home to the main shrine of the Engineers Guild. At fifty-five years old—equivalent to the mid-twenties in dwarf years—she had lived a life marked by exile and the struggle for acceptance. Her parents were progressive traders and merchants who dealt openly with other races, making them outcasts in the conservative dwarf community that jealously guarded their technological secrets. When her parents shared technology with halflings, they were exiled rather than executed, and in IC 2246, the family was forced to leave Zhufbar for the human town of Talagaad. Mora resented this exile deeply, having endured a childhood of being called a bearded halfling and half-blood, and she blamed her parents’ progressive beliefs for tearing her away from her friends and extended family.

Upon arriving in Talagaad, Mora moved into the insular Dwarven District, known as Basecamp Gritlok, while her parents and her middle sister Pushka chose to live outside it, refusing to embrace the separatist attitudes of their fellow dwarves. Pushka even opened her own merchant shop away from the district, further distancing herself from traditional dwarven society. Mora’s oldest sister, Hara, had gone even further off the reservation, becoming a hippie-dippy tree-hugger who worshipped Velaya, the goddess of hearth and motherhood, rather than the gods of the forge. Determined to prove she was not like her family, Mora threw herself into traditional dwarven culture, joining nationalist groups and practicing with black powder weapons. She sought acceptance among the dwarves who still remembered her parents’ betrayal, hoping to shed the stigma that clung to her name.

In IC 2271, five years before the present, the political landscape shifted dramatically when Durak Stonebrand became the new Forge Master of Zhufbar. Durak was a hardline conservative who had previously argued for the execution of Mora’s parents rather than exile, and his rise to power signaled a more aggressive stance toward protecting dwarven technology. The dwarven engineering guild in Talagaad maintained control over black powder and certain materials through taxation, bribes, and intimidation of human competitors, muscling out engineers from the Imperial Engineer School of Nuln who tried to open shops. The one exception was Alabaster von Schwarzwalden, a retired human engineer and former teacher who ran the only non-dwarven legal engineer shop in Talagaad. His prosperous establishment hired engineers from various races and traditions, and his success had long been a source of resentment among the dwarves.

With Durak’s ascension, a new guild master named Bornier Blackbellows arrived in Talagaad, fresh from Zhufbar with orders to deal with Alabaster’s shop. Bornier approached Mora, acknowledging that he had been present at her parents’ trial and noting that they had been willing to give away dwarven secrets to outsiders. He challenged her to prove she was not like them by participating in a nighttime mission, and Mora, desperate for acceptance, agreed. A group of seven dwarves, including Bornier and Mora, set out under cover of darkness wearing dark cloaks, infiltrating Alabaster’s large, sprawling forge and engineer shop through a back door where coal was normally loaded.

Inside, the dwarves began gathering barrels of black powder from downstairs and stacking them in preparation for a massive explosion. They moved wood and furniture to create a pyre around the black powder, intending to cause a fire that would spread to surrounding buildings. Mora realized the amount of black powder being used was excessive and could cause significant collateral damage to nearby shops and homes, many of which had families living above their businesses. She attempted to convince her friend Dirtak to use less powder, but he was too intimidated by Bornier and urged her to be cool and not mess things up. When a light came on from the stairs and an older voice called out asking who was there, Bornier walked up to confront the intruder, and sounds of a scuffle and someone being knocked down echoed through the building.

Bornier returned with a bloodthirsty grin and a subtle red glow under his eyes, along with a scent of sulfur that made Mora’s skin crawl. He dismissed her concerns about the excessive black powder, insisting they needed to make an example of the humans, and led the group out of the shop after setting the fuses. A few minutes later the building erupted in a blinding fireball. The explosion rocked the ground, shooting flames through the top of the building and blowing out the walls in all directions, sending debris flying everywhere and starting fires across the area. People began scrambling and calling for the fire brigade, attempting to form a bucket line to fight the spreading flames.

Bornier led the dwarves to the town well and positioned them at the corners of the street to block access, standing in front of the well with his arms crossed and a smile on his face. When humans approached with buckets to start a fire brigade by drawing water from the well, he physically grabbed one and threw them back, while the other dwarves prevented anyone from getting water to fight the fire. Mora became increasingly disturbed by the moral corruption of their actions, recognizing that blocking the fire brigade violated both local laws and basic decency. She pulled the other dwarves aside and argued that their actions were breaking countless laws and causing unnecessary destruction, urging them to look around at the spreading fire affecting more than just their target. Some of the dwarves began to waver, looking unsure as they glanced between Mora and Bornier.

Bornier yelled at them to get back in position, but Mora stood her ground, telling them not to let grudges make them stupid. Enraged, Bornier called her a human lover, grabbed her by the scruff, and physically threw her back. The other dwarves, emboldened by Mora’s defiance, backed off from their positions enough to allow people through to start a fire line. Seeing it was too late to stop the fire brigade, Bornier gathered the remaining dwarves and headed back toward the Dwarven District, but before leaving, he told Mora to find somewhere else to live with her friends. That night marked Mora’s exile from the Dwarven District, and she was forced to move in with her sister Pushka. Despite the exile, her actions were not forgotten, and she gained a reputation among some dwarves who were also troubled by Bornier’s cruelty, though she would not be allowed to return to the district as long as Bornier remained the leader of the dwarves in Talagaad. She continued working as a Roadwarden for Talagaad, focusing on her duty, and justice, and trying to stay out of the politics that had taken her away from her morals.