DUERGAR2

Battered and broken from their centuries on centuries of mistreatment, the
remnants of Clan Ranidon staggered out of their pens and escaped the Elder
Earth, retreating to the empty ruins of Gal Ranidon, which they began to
rebuild.
 
This traumatic experience changed the duergar race profoundly. They had been
physically transformed by their ordeal, becoming weaker and less hardy than
the surface dwarves, yes, but even greater was their mental transformation.
Their minds twisted by their torment, they became crueler, distrustful,
and more violent. They had become treacherous and backstabbing, and their
encounters with the new power in the Underdark which had sprung up in their
absence, the foul drow, made them even more so. The duergar had to fend off
many drow raiding parties in the early days, often getting the worst of it,
until finally an unequal peace treaty was signed between the two civilizations
where the duergar would annually send the drow a gift of many precious
treasures as well as provide stonemasons who would help decorate and shape
drow Houses.
 
At peace at last, in time Gal Ranidon grew to be a great city once more, rich
and wondrousbut neither it, nor its inhabitants, were ever the same, and both
the city and its people became dark and cruel.
 
Usual Height: 
Roughly the same as a dwarf, but much less stocky.
 
Hometown: 
Gal Ranidon
 
Religion: 
An old joke states that the only thing which duergar worship is treasure.
While there is more than a little truth in the joke, it is not entirely
accurate. Although they have by and large abandoned the worship of the
dwarven gods, duergar do worship a number of other religions; Bryntryst, an
ancient god of Chaos, is particularly popular amongst the residents of Gal
Ranidon. After their tortured experiences of the past, many duergar have
decided that if anything should be worshipped, it should be chaos, since chaos
clearly ruled the world, not justness or order or fairness.
 
Nonetheless, by and large, and as a society, duergar do indeed worship wealth
above all other things. That part of Clan Ranidon, at least, the illithid were
never able to change.
 
Physical Features: 
Duergar look like thinner, less stocky versions of the surface dwarves. This
is due to their torment at the hands of the illithid; however, due to their
smaller frame, they have become more nimble and dexterous as a result. Their
skin is often swarthier due to their living conditions. Although their eyes
look much the same, observers often say that there is a cruel, calculating
light in them which give their eyes a malicious cast. Much like dwarves,
duergar grow exceptionally long beards which they are proud of. The length
of the beard denotes the bearer's age, and the way in which it is arranged
signifies the duergar's rank. Female duergar are bearded as well, and indeed,
many non-dwarves find it difficult to differentiate from the two genders.
 
Duergar possess many similar attributes to surface dwarves. Both are highly
resistant to all forms of magic, which stood the duergar in good stead during
their centuries of torment. This is speculated to be due to fact that dwarves
have an innate connection with the earth and the stone of the world itself,
which provide them some protection. They retain the dwarven ability to view
the infrared spectrum, borne from long centuries spent underground. They also
share the dwarven aversion towards large bodies of water, which are not
present in their preferred terrain. Consequently, they are not skilled at
fighting on boats or in water, and when they are forced to, do not perform as
well as they normally might. In addition, they are more vulnerable than most
to water-based attacks, be it magical water-based weapons or the spells of
invokers.
 
Society:
The duergar emulated old dwarven customs as the remnants of Clan Ranidon
split into many different clans, who jointly share control of the city, with
each clan having power proportional to its wealth. Distrustful in general and
especially of kings after the actions of dwarf-king Graven Stonebeard, Gal
Ranidon has one of the few democracies, in that the clans elect a Mayor, who
presides over the duergarsmoot of clans when they come together to make an
agreement that will affect the duergar clans as a whole. Outside of this,
however, each clan manages its own affairs, and the word of each clan lord is
absolute law to the duergar within the clan.
 
SEE ALSO: HELP DUERGAR3