We’re still marching along on development for Desiderium. I feel as if I have my murren (ratfolk) in a good place, so I’m changing gears and taking a good look at my dwarves. To date, they’ve been somewhat of a nebulous concept in my mind. I’m here to settle a few things and clarify their identity. They’re the children of Kol-Tin, an entity they don’t understand. They’re the keepers of the song. They’re the chant of the rock.

The Backstory

The dwarves know the song of the mountain. It’s a song they’ve known since birth—since before the first story-songs were written. They keep an oral history through music. They chant as they walk down the street. Their buildings have “Chanting stones” that echo their voices and amplify their powers. They’re intrinsically linked to music in a way that no other race we’ve created is.

Their access to magic is linked to their chanting and music. While they do have mages who understand magic like the mages of other factions, they also have lesser mages that cast spells through song. They don’t quite understand magic the way a normal mage does, but instead use the echo of Kol-Tin to cast supporting spells.

They’re bards. I’m not clever.

We do not know who sings below,
Nor who carved the stone;
But when we sing, the echoes grow—
We never sing alone.

Kol-Tin is their deity. It’s a mysterious figure the dwarves themselves don’t understand or really seek to understand. They hear its voice clearest underground in the mountain, but can still hear it even as they explore the world. It comes forward as something subconscious: a song or a chant they’re all aware of. It makes them a very internally stable society. Disagreement between two dwarves strikes discord in the song, and they’re inherently quick to fix it. That song is the lifeblood of their society, and when you face the dwarves in battle, it becomes a chant that can be felt from miles off. To stand against the dwarves is to stand against a sheer wall of song.

That music has given them so much. They’ve found a way to bestow life to the stone itself through the song. The sounds reverberate through the stone until eventually it takes shape: forming children of stone that help the dwarves build their homes as well as defend them.

It’s also allowed them to commune with the creatures inside the mountain. They’ve found wormlike creatures they can tame and keep as pets. These very same creatures will follow them into battle.

It’s not a ton to go on, but the above forms the core of the dwarves in my vision. To help flesh it out, let’s look at their units.

The Units

1. Chantguard – Basic soldiers, wielding spear/axe and shield. The bulk of the force. Sturdy, with great endurance.
2. Stoneguard – Elite soldiers. Sturdier.
3. Boltwardens – Crossbowmen who serve as the backbone of their shooting force.
4. Delvers – Pickaxe-wielding pioneers. Faster moving, able to throw explosive charges and then charge in. Fragile.
5. Chorusbound – The above-mentioned golems. Intended to be slow, heavy hitters.
6. Songwrights – Mages
7. Cantors – The chant amplifiers. They can carry instruments or just use their voice.
8. Rockmaws – Worm units with lots of models, intended to bog down enemy units but die easily.
9. Gravetone – Their cannons, which serve as very slow, hard-hitting ranged units.
10. Stonefall Mortar – Artillery intended to be able to fire over troops, but stationary.

Their combat leaders are given more normal titles, like “Captain” or “Warden.”

The Faction Rule

We are aiming for every faction to have a passive and an active. I haven’t focused on the dwarves yet, so take the following with serious grains of salt.

Passive: The Mountain’s Song

Each unit within 6″ of a Cantor at the start of a turn gains one chant token. All units gain a “Chant” action which allows them to generate a chant token on any unit (including self) within 6″.

Active: Chorus of Kol-Tin

After a unit makes an attack or defense roll, spend one chant token to reroll up to two failed dice.

This is the sketch. I want the chant to be ever-present and to reward the player for keeping their dwarves working together in song. I envision an army full of Cantors holding instruments or singing boisterously while the dwarves bear down on their enemy. It’s delightful!

I have more thoughts here but I need to get more games in to really settle them. I’ve been back and forth on giving the dwarves advanced technology for a while now, but I finally decided it didn’t quite fit for me. As I think more about the musical theme, I want to see if anything else really comes to mind. I’m happy with this initial unit list: I think it builds a force that works together and can leverage some strong shooting or strong melee. They’re flexible, if slow. The worms and shooting are meant to make up for their inability to really scoot across the board. We’ll see if that survives playtesting.

May the voice of Kol-Tin guide you, dear reader. Or, more importantly, may it guide my dice.

AI Disclosure: The title image of this post was made by AI. It was intended as a “mood” piece and will not make it into the final game in any manner. I was playing around with visualizing what these stones might be and I liked this shot.