The Founding of Karm Lema

The Dwarves’ first city is their only city, but it is the largest city in Myrnia. Of course, even the great metropolis of Karm Lema did not start out filled with monuments and grand walls. The first gathering of Dwarves was in a large grotto by a spring that emerged from the base of a rocky bluff. It had shelter from the elements, a source of water, and the land around it was rich with game and forage.

We can speculate that these prehistoric Dwarves dug into the wall from which the spring emerged to widen its flow, or else we can guess they have always had the itch to dig. They kept no records to tell us their reasons, but rather than spreading into the valley below the settlement widened and deepened the grotto, building into the side of the bluff.

Karm Lema lies in the older portion of the Gatakenak Mountains—scholars can see from the lay of the land and stone that these were once tall peaks that ice, wind, and time ground into dimpled hills. The rock is ruddy and easily crumbles into sand. From their digging, the Dwarves learned that these rocks held many ores and gems, and it was easy to dig deep to find more.

So they dug, and they learned how to craft these materials into beautiful tools and jewelry. They traded with other cities. They were invaded, and sometimes lived under the yoke of one of the Halfling empires, but during these times they moved most of their population underground in their growing mines. They expanded these tunnels, and their individual mines became connected into one large complex. They made houses, storerooms, even great halls and markets underground out of reach of whatever power occupied the surface.

Crops do not grow in caves, and so the Dwarves still needed contact with the surface. They dealt with other races, kept farms, harvested timber, and kept activity above ground. Still, most other races vastly underestimated the population of the Dwarves, as well as their riches and power.