My fellow dwarves, as the sun sets on another long day in the mines, I find myself reflecting on our people’s rich history and the challenges we’ve overcome. Once, long ago, we dwelled simply as clans of rockbreakers sturdy folk who spent our days delving ever deeper for gemstones and veins of precious ore. It was grueling work, but we were a strong and hardy bunch who drew pride and purpose from the earth.
Of course, living underground also meant we faced threats that crawled in the darkness. Small annoyances at first, like troggs and creepers. But over time, darker things stirred creatures of cold iron and foul magic. Their incursions grew bolder, putting our villages in danger. It was then that our elders saw we needed a new means of defense. And so our smiths set to work learning the mysteries of smelting and forging, fueled by their discovery of rich iron deposits.
Many blistered hands and sleepless nights followed as we experimented. But slowly, piece by piece, our first suits of armor and sturdy arms came together. What joy we felt holding those tools of steel knowing that from that point, we need no longer feel like moles to be hunted, but could stand and fight as equals to any foe! Since then, of course, our craft has only grown finer. But I think often of those rough beginnings, and am proud of how far our skill and heart have brought us as a race. Where once we delved in stone, now we are masters of metal as well!
Let that story of perseverance and ingenuity that brought us from pickaxe to platemail continue to inspire us all. Our ancestors’ toughness and intellect live on in every rivet and sword we make. And so long as we remember their example, no darkness can overcome dwarven steel or dwarven souls!
Our elders often spoke fondly of the old days spent solely in the mines, before steel called us to also work the forge. Back then, the long shifts hacking at stone were challenging enough. But life held a simpler rhythym we’d rise at dawn, break our fasts together by lamplight, then descend as a clan to work side by side until dusk. There was comfort in the close company and camaraderie of our miners’ routines.
Yet things began changing as the first smiths started experimenting. Some of our number felt the call to aid in forging our defenses, leaving our subterranean villages emptier each day. For those left mining, it was a strange adjustment missing our friends at the hearths, and feeling envious of the sparks flying above ground. At the same time, we took secret pride in the rumors of what marvelous weapons and armor were being shaped from the riches of our labor.
Eventually, the forges grew too big for just a few hands, and more of us joined the above ground work. What an experience that first blaze of heat was, standing at the smithy doorway! It was dazzling after lives spent in cooler caverns. And working the metals ourselves gave new insight into why they mattered. While life split our clans in two ways, in truth it only made our bonds stronger uniting miners and smiths alike in our mission to secure our futures through pick and hammer.
These days, few dwarfholds have clean divisions like that. We all share in delving and crafting as needed. But I hope the old timers still remember fondly that pioneering spirit that first sparked our mastery over steel. It started us on the path to becoming the well rounded race of warriors, craftsdwarves and burghers we are today.