THE BLACK DWARVES

During the period known as Outertime, apart from the draconic races, the most magically gifted race on Orlantia was the Black Dwarves. They actually bear little resemblance to modern dwarves except in some superficial ways, but they are the progenitors of the dwarven people.

In reality, the Black Dwarves, let us say, forged the Duergar during the period of Outertime, but this race was never widely spread nor ever above ground, and no firm records indicate it was the Duergar that eventually spawned the Mountain Dwarves, who themselves latter spawned the hill dwarves as well as the Derro. And in the natural course of time, it was the hill dwarves who beget the race of sea dwarves.

Though the Duergar began to widely populate the world sometime around 10,000 B.A.E., this makes it look like they have a common origin as man, who was transplanted to Orlantia by Prometheus (the Titan) around that time. Contemporary dwarven scholars feel both the Duergar and the Derro are degenerate offshoots from the Mountain Dwarves, and though this is true of the Derro, they have it backwards as far as the Duergar issue goes.

Like their creation the Duergar, the Black Dwarves tended toward a lawful evil nature. Thus, ultimately, the dwarven people have a less than virtuous beginning than they would like, and this helps contribute to the false notion the Duergar are degenerate Mountain Dwarves, but no one really knows this for a fact so it's not like they are deliberately concealing their true origins just as a matter of pride. In may be of interest to know that since the Mountain Dwarves are so highly respected, as a matter of world wide opinion, even the Duergar believe on some level they are an offshoot of the Mountain Dwarves, though they'd never claim they were degenerate so much as a clear improvement, especially in the area of magical sophistication.

The Black Dwarves took magic to incredible heights of sophistication, spanning the Gimarian Solar System, though confined within the event horizon. Even today many artifacts of unknown origin owe their existence to the Black Dwarves.

As a race, the Black Dwarves were squat, like modern dwarves, but with coal black skin. Their skeletal structure, however, was nearly pure runic iron, and though I must confess one or two remnants of these skeletons have been found here and there, they have always been taken as some manufactured facsimile of life instead of what they truly were, the remains of a living creature. Part of the reason for the lack of remains was the small population, but most of it was simply because their own skeletons, upon death, made excellent materials from which to manufacture certain "items" of power. Mention will be made, here and there, to such items and who made them, but little will be said as to why they were manufactured. Like most artifacts, their true origins remain a mystery, and their true purpose can only be guessed at.

As the Black Dwarves evolved from lesser beginnings, being seeded on Orlantia at the beginning, they have had a million years evolution to come by their powers and knowledge rather naturally. But it wasn't until the end of Outertime that they had full access to a never before dreamed universe. Thus, their race (though always small and numbering less than 5,000, despite being of fantastic longevity, their birth rate was practically nil), really began to take off from 20,000 B.A.E. to about 15,000 B.A.E. In that short 5,000 year period, they all but destroyed themselves, those few surviving having left Orlantia behind as quite beneath them. Their children, the Duergar, and their descendants, however, remain, as well as many artifacts spanning the entire solar system and not just the planet of Orlantia.

There is a mark, however, that was often placed upon their items of power. Such a mark may be seen with True Seeing or even Detect Magic, but what it is other than a signature of sorts has never been discovered, nor will it, as that is essentially all it is. However, it does indicate an item of this origin. The mark resembles a simple triangle that has inscribed within it what might be taken as the small Greek letter beta. Or perhaps this is a capital Delta (and not a simple triangle). Thus, the initials D and B, or more properly perhaps BD might stand for Black Dwarves, but to suggest this is so is to claim the DM is making some joke. Oh well.