The Archei Clans are a collection of Dwarven clans in the mountain range Archei in the plane Khyorgan. Because Archei is also the largest dwarf civilization in Khyorgan, many often associate Archei traditions as characteristic of all dwarfs even though numerous, smaller sub-cultures exist all throughout the world and the rest of Erudite.
Cities in Archei[]
- Dharak-Karzum: The city that is being considered as the capital of the Clans.
- Athlanikha - Now known as Namastar, Avalania was a city that was conquered by the Valkyriis during the Mountain Wars.
Participating Clans[]
- Draghkan Clan: The biggest clan, they have a strong military and are funded by the Karzum Clan for protection, they mostly deal with Great Cavern Spiders who roam the currently deepest mines.
- Karzum Clan: The second biggest clan, they have access to most of the minerals and the largest deposits. Their central location in the Archei mountain range made them an economically strong clan.
- Thaladar Clan - The Thaladar Clan inhabits the Archei Isles, mountain peaks at sea level. They are not particularly rich, but their location makes them naturally specialized in the trade of goods across the ocean.
Government[]
The Archei Clans have a representative democracy as each clan has a leader, lieutenant and spokesman/woman who participates in the clan meetings.
Culture[]
Conformity and ancient tradition are all incredibly important to Archei culture. As most of Archei civilization is underground, being a miner is considered a position of great respect and political power. Mining clans such as the economic powerhouse of Karzum have the most influence.
In Archei society, male dwarves are often bald and grow thick facial hair sometimes used to display social status. It is a common misconception that female dwarves also do this, who instead braid their long hair. This hair is often dark in hue, though blond or red hair is not too uncommon. Many dwarves take the care of beards to an extreme, carefully oiling and grooming it, and in some cases even dwarven females grow beards.
Dwarves highly value the ties between family members and friends, weaving tightly knit clans. Dwarves particularly respect elders, from whom they expect sound leadership and the wisdom of experience, as well as ancestral heroes or clan founders. This idea carries on to relations with other races and dwarves are deferential even to the elders of another, non-dwarven race.
At one point, the Archei Dwarves turned to the gods for guidance and protection very frequently. Most dwarves looked to the divine for comfort and inspiration, while the wicked ones look to other evil beings for methods through which to obtain power over others. However, the times have change, and openly practicing religion or worshiping any sort of gods have been banned due to past conflicts.
Most dwarven societies are divided into clans built along family ties and political allegiances. These clans are usually led by hereditary rulers, often monarchs of a sort and descended from the founder of the clan. Dwarves strongly value loyalty to these rulers and to the clan as a whole and even objective dwarves tend to side primarily with their kin over other races or communities.
Because the mining industry is the path to political influence, many dwarven clans focus on one or two kinds of crafting, such as blacksmithing, jewelry, engineering, or masonry. Despite this, it is customary to expose dwarfs to other fields of work. Other Archei Clans send their youth to other clans to become apprentices to foster better relations.
Unfortunately, racism is a significant problem in the Archei Clans which are heavily rooted on past relationships. Demons, Orcs and other hellish races for example are often shunned due to their past involvement in the War of Khyorgan. Relations have begun to improve since the Interplanar Era though past wrongdoings are not forgiven easily.
Military[]
Each Clan contributes to the total military power, they are able to keep a part of their soldiers for the protection of their city but must donate a (big) part to the Clan Alliance due to the treaty. While they fight as one there is still rivalry among the Clans, this can be seen by the colours of their armour and seals they carry with them.
Technology[]
Because of how profitable the mining business is for Archei, most of their technology is specifically designed for mining. Archei possesses advanced metallurgy techniques such as the forging of unique mithril alloys, and TNT is used for the construction of tunnels. The Archei Clans were also among the first civilizations in Khyorgan to discover the steam engine allowing them to build complex mining mechanisms as well as subways.
Conflicts[]
- Cavern Skirmishes: The United Clans fight with Great Cavern Spiders roaming in the deepest mines in Archei, while they are easy to kill their numbers are still plenty.
Language[]
Dwarfs have a language of which they do not like to share with others, while over the decades scientists have studied and translated the Archei language.
History[]
WIP
Notable members[]
- Bjeurn Storckens: Captain of the Guard of the Draghkan Clan in Archei.