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Dwarven Madness II

Writing a Background

Writing a background for dwarfs. OK, so what’s the fuss with this?

Well, we all want a good piece of history to our army, right? If we are not those power-gamers only in there for the first place in the tournaments.

So, we all know how a dwarf comes to lead an army, right? His grandfather was this noble guy. And so was his great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather too.

But you want THIS dwarf to be special. How? Well, there are two ways; the traditional way of losing his father, avenging him, gaining a following of dwarves, fighting himself to a place in a great stronghold. Or, the radical way: The dwarf was banished from his karak for unfitting behaviour, sold his axe for money, hired mercenaries to carve out a kingdom and recruited more dubious dwarves to bolster the ranks. Here is an example of a radical dwarf, the story of Drakk Hazgal Thagi:

Drakk was born in the stronghold of Karaz-a-Karak, as the son of one of the mightier clans. At his birth, a great red dragon flew over the dwarven capital. Taken as a great omen, the child was named Drakk. At early age, Drakk proved to be a fiery young warrior, who could drink ale by the wagonload, but also a somewhat treacherous and disrespecting person. So his few friends started to call him Hazgal Thagi, meaning "treacherous fiery young warrior". Drakk did of course dislike it, so he left. But not before taking some good weapons and armour in the treasure horde of his father. Drakk wandered the World’s Edge Mountains, and finally met like-minded dwarves. The dwarves of Karak Gazan welcomed him to them, and he has served them faithfully, eventually becoming a hammerer.

The Fights

Fights are always likely to occur in a background. You can either have the dwarf backed up by fellow dwarves, and fighting for their honour, or, you can have him backed up by brigands and sell-swords and fight for money. Either way around, make it an exciting battle and let the dwarf perform heroic deeds. If you meet Dogs of War, let him slaughter their paymaster and take their money, or kill their general and rout their army.

It can also be fun to let him battle such things as norscans or hobgoblins. Maybe even visiting Albion.

The other bits

A background also needs other bits, like forbidden romance (falling in love with a human), recruiting soldiers, building a fortress or encountering a rich ore. Let the dwarf have a past. Was he a ranger, or was he an Ironbreaker? Or perhaps even the son of the king.

Here is another short example of a background for a Runelord:

Bjorn was born in Karak Azgal, a city famed for it’s metal and weapons. With a father who was a smith, that was naturally Bjorn’s first choice. But fate would have it differently. A runesmith who was down visiting the apprentices noticed Bjorn and saw him craft weapons that would challenge some of the better smiths, and recognising his potential, he took him with him and had him his apprentice. Bjorn learnt quickly, and became a runesmith early.

But, accursed with immense lust for adventure, he left on a pilgrimage to the south, to recover lost artefacts. This led him and his small party to an orcish ambush, but, luckily for Bjorn and his fellows, Karak Gazan’s rangers were nearby, and the orcs were ambushed in turn. A fierce battle erupted, but in the end, the dwarves were victorious. Bjorn and his fellows settled in Karak Gazan, and Bjorn was to be their first runelord.

This is a semi-traditional story, Bjorn was ambushed, and he got a grudge against orcs. But, he was also a zaki.

The main thing with background is to let it reflect you. If you get an idea, think what would I do there? The above pieces are for my army, and I wrote them to how I am. Not really the average dwarf.

//Warlord Ogrob aka Bagrin Garinsson

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Page Updated Sat Jun 30, 2001 11:29am EDT