"It is true son, for now our border is safe, and we take many feasts and hunts as we please. It is a time of plenty, to be sure. But we cannot grow lazy like the halflings of the plains. By the time you pass on to the halls of our fathers, dozens of their kind will have come and gone from the glass palace. Prepare during peace, and you shall take all comers in war."

-Defender of the Great Northern Pass, Elgrim Noskar X

Broagan Culture

The Adamantine Dwarves

In the latter years of the Sixth Ginealach, a group of colonists moved to the towering mountains in the southern lands. There, they founded the third Underkingdom, founded on top of the largest adamantium deposit in Adra. At the time, the dwarves sought out the adamantium to form armor which dragon-breath could not destroy, however, the towering mountains, the largest and fiercest in the world it seemed, captivated and enthralled the adventurers. Rather than simply build a mine, they took to the task given to their cousins in the Wandering Mountains; they built a new underkingdom. The independent spirit of the Broagans, blazing their own path with no regard for their parent city, would seed itself in the psyche of the cultural descendants. The early history of the Broagans was marked by intense conflict with dragons and dragonkin. At that time, many of the dragons had collected themselves in the fearsome mountains of the Wretched Spine, establishing dragon-fortresses to launch their raids on other races, but more importantly, from which to defend themselves from attacks from the aboleth. For every new settlement or mine that needed carving out, usually a dragon or family of dragons had to be attacked, scattered, and possibly slaughtered. The Broagans built armored battle wagons, and patrolled their new homes aggressively. The war claimed countless lives, but the tenacity and numbers of the dwarves eventually won out, and the Dragon-Broag wars helped to precipitate a collapse in the dragon's numbers. After this, an extended era of peace reigned, in which the Broagans made massive profits from trade and commerce, both between the other dwarvish kingdoms, and with the developing nations of non-dwarves in the plains of the world. While wealth and glory poured in, the Broagans found themselves damned on more than one occasion by their frivolous trade. Their goods, mostly adamantine, would often eventually find its way into the hands of their enemies. Nascent tribes of humans, comically armed with the priceless metal, which they either stole or purchased, battled and raided vulnerable Broagan mines and roads. The problem would continue to pester them, for the only resource which could properly prepare someone against fine dwarven steel was adamantine armor. Due to this, the dwarves naturally found themselves constantly fighting forces armed with their own precious metal. This problem meant the dwarves either had to find safe and reliable trade partners, or cease trading the metal all together: the losses from fighting forces armed with it was too humiliating to bear. For sometime, the dwarves ceased trading the metal with non-dwarves, and did not reopen trade of their most valuable resources until the rise of the Great Jungle Kingdom of Yongara. Here, in the massive jungle to their south, rose a great and powerful human nation, the first of its kind. With these civilized people, the dwarves began to cultivate a relationship of trust and patronage. The humans would cultivate great surpluses of their crops, or take in more than was expected from hunting parties, and used these resources to trade for fine metals with the Broagans. The Broagans took an active role of guidance and security with the fledgling nation, and helped safeguard its prosperity. This gave them not only a profitable trade partner, but also ensured they would not simply be handing their greatest resources to those that would use them against them. While the Broagans pioneered this form of patronage, it eventually led to naught. Great Black Dragons, long rivals of the Broagans, moved to conquer their fortress of Broagdoor. Unable to conquer the indomitable fortress (one specifically designed to resist dragon sieges), the dragons lashed out at their vulnerable client to the south. They razed the kingdom, ending its cohesion, and even rent the land in their wake barren and unprofitable. Not only was their alliance destroyed, but in the ashes of the once great kingdom, scavengers and vagabonds used the adamantine and metals once more in ways that proved hazardous to the Broagans. Since then, the Broagans have grown more insular and paranoid, fearing that trade with non-dwarves is usually disastrous, if not today, then one day. There hasn't been a wide-scale raid of Broagan territory in many years, and yet, modern Broagans merely chalk it up to their isolation, proof they shouldn't change their ways.

          Broagans, as all dwarves, have a rich and complex history which informs their modern day culture. Due to their long and trying history with outsiders, the Broagans are deeply skeptical of outsiders, and rarely interact with non-dwarves; even still, they interact with non-Broagan dwarves to a much lesser degree than is true of other dwarven cultures. Whereas most dwarves are often enthusiastic about taking part in the world of human affairs, Broagans generally avoid such commitments. This is ironic, given that the Broagans once pioneered dwarf-human patronage. Due to their reticence to trade, it is absolutely necessary that the Broagans farm diligently. Therefore, Broagan life is far more agricultural than most dwarvish cultures, with many Broagans, rather than becoming craftsmen, miners, or warriors, instead become livestock herders, mushroom farmers, and hunters. The Wretched Spine Mountains are an extremely harsh mountain range, far higher and more jagged than most. Even the valleys in the mountains are generally unforgiving, and therefore, the dwarves which inhabit it are hardened and hearty folk, imbued with both a deep love and respect of the wilderness. In fact, young Broagan dwarves are not considered fully fledged adults until they can survive on their own for a fortnight in the wilds. Broagans, with their most sturdy of metal resources, are apt to construct many of their buildings and settlements out of metal, rather than stone. Therefore, metallurgy, an art common to all dwarf-kind, is especially sophisticated among the Broagans. Broagans tend to favor simple utilitarian buildings, furnishings, and organizations. Therefore, great art, culture, and luxury are rarely found anywhere among the Broagans, even among the wealthiest of them. Wealth tends to be measured by how much empty space one can keep, rather than by how one fills that space. Broagans have a martial culture of course, as all dwarves do. Broagans take the dwarven obsession with heavy infantry to the extreme, valuing the super-heavy infantry, weighed down with adamantine armor. There are mountain rangers however which travel light, relying on speed and stealth to carry them into battle. Overall, the Broagan perspective is an insular one. The Wretched Spine Mountains stand between two great and powerful empires, and yet, rarely sees visitors from either, except under exceptional circumstances.

          The Broagan people are most highly concentrated in the Wretched Spine Mountains, though can be found in many of the communities in the Arissian Empire and Kelior as masons, miners, smiths, and warriors. The predominate race of the Broagans are dwarves, but a sizeable minority of Gnomes exist among them as well. The most popular gods among the Broagans are Gökotta, Melteos, Sindra, The Old Ones, Dramirus, and Sorthal. Of course, despite his death, Oerack remains the patron god of all dwarvish settlements. Broagans tend to industrious, crafty, and resourceful. They also tend to be insular, unartistic, and homogenous. The dominant language among the Broagans is Dwarvish.

If you choose Broagan Culture, you gain the following:

~Either a +1 to your Constitution score or a +1 to your Strength score~

~A -1 to your Charisma score~

~As a known language, Dwarvish~

~A Sub-Discipline in every knowledge skill on checks relating to Broagan Culture~

Back to Cultures of the Seven Underkingdoms

Back to Culture

Back to Expanded Backgrounds

Back to Adra - 3rd Era World Guide