The History of Clyan

 

Part 1: The creatures of Clyan

 

To begin with, no real history exists. Whatever we assumed when we arrived back – God knows how long ago now – was wrong.

We called the small planet Tbor – based on the location in space and the records of survey ship sent here in the first century designed to probe the area for possible colonization.

Our records show the ship self-destructed for some reason, no one cared to follow up on.

We lost such ships routinely in those years.

Our coming was pure coincidence part of an unrelated scientific expedition.

Years later, I did come upon remnants of information to suggest some of the original crew survived. But it is difficult – no – impossible to determine if they had any influence on what we found when we arrived.

Right from the start we all knew the planet was a fluke, with distinctive features we had never encountered anywhere else in space.

For one thing, normal laws of science didn’t apply.

This was a world completely ruled by magic – at least – that’s what we thought at the time, and I still believe, though because we have some infected the evidence since, it is not possible to prove it.

With a pack of overeager scientists like us, we were bound to fight over whether or not to plunge ourselves into the society we saw to find out more.

We divided into two schools: the observers and the interventionists.

At first, we observers held sway and we were able to convince the others to conduct experiments that would be done without interfering or getting involved in the society at all. But the more we saw, the more hungry some of us became, so that eventually, even the staunchest of the observers could not keep the interventionists from plunging into the planet and intermingling with its society.

Once that happened, observers like myself had to also go down into that world and try to minimize the impact of the invasion.

As it turned out, this proved equally impossible as former objective scientists became advocates for one side or another in local dispute and worse, because the purveyors of new more powerful magic, we had brought down to the planet with us.

Half of why I am writing this is to document what was there when we arrived and how it changed, in order to preserve some of its original foundations before the perversion twist into shapes no mere mortal can untangle.

Since I was there at the beginning and kept some notes on what I saw or thought I saw, I can at least document our early findings, and then get into some of the research into how these things might have come about.

Many of these early observations proved totally inaccurate, But I set them down in my notes in order to have some foundation.

Reality on Tbor or Clyan (I later learned its real name according to most local authorities) tended to change depending on where you stood or who was making the observation. So what we saw from the outside was distorted somewhat by the fact that we did not know what was really going on. We were like trying to gauge the habits of fish by staring down into a pool of water. Half of what we saw was the reflection of our own prejudices and presumptions.

Anyway, having said that, let me detail what we thought we saw here during our first observations.

Our survey crew did their best to lighten up the matter when they named the four faces we believed then as the only examples of hire intelligence: elves, dwarves, giants and trolls. We were later to discover how vastly we under estimated the number of intelligence species and how limited our definition of intelligence was.

These observations, remember,  were external, mostly taken from orbit from stealth observations on the ground that gave us now real contact with the creatures we were observing.

We also failed to understand even after that when we began to interview various cultures, how each spices vision of reality differed – no, how reality itself differed from spices to species. We could never imagine a species itself changing totally from moment to moment, let along age to age, but that comes as a later matter.

We ourselves could not agree on what we saw, and eventually broke down the plant into three basic categories: intelligent, sub-intelligent, and a level of intelligence we might equate with most animals on earth.

The same jokers who named the intelligent species came up with Gnomes, Goblins, Demons, borrels, Brakets, pixies and fairies as names for some of the sun-intelligent spices.

I won’t go into any extensive of what we found since a large amount of it proved inaccurate to start and grew less and less accurate as time went on. Most of the records from our research are long gone with only my hastily handwritten notebooks from the time as a sketched reminder of our pitiful efforts.

The high race – we sometimes even called them angels or elves – looked very much what each of us pictured as an elf out of mythology, tall, graceful, eloquent – capable of darting away at a moment much like deer on earth. While we calculated that they had a significantly high level of intelligence, our own sympathies endowed them with morality they perhaps never deserved.

Physically they were gaunt with faces that more resembled early felines than deer, almond eyes, and skin olive-colored – though this last varied depending on location. Some southern strands had a darker, more walnut completion and differed in other aspects, too. But since we saw the olive skinned variety first that became our standard. Most elves of any variety walked on two feet and were generally taller than other two-legged creatures with the notable except of trolls and giants (but since these at times reverted to four feet especially during combat, we can discount them). Elves sometimes reached a mean height of seven foot two inches. But they were like willow limbs, which may account for the development of vary light armor and weaponry, more built for flexibility than brute force.

The second group on our so-called high intelligence list were the dwarves and be comparison they were everything the elves were not: short, stout, and the most tastes except perhaps their own, ugly.

Like the mythological creatures, our dwarfs grew rarely above five-feet high, were covered with mats of coarse hair, and seemed as durable as the most modern space alloy. They even had beards, although these along with their eyes seemed more modeled after earth goats than creatures of fantasy.

Although nearly as large as the earth, Clyan’s life seems to almost totally exist in a u-shaped continent around a body of water that I learned later was called the Gulf of Qar. I learned later that life did exist elsewhere and would likely move again to those remote regions, but most of what I heard or saw or learned involved this particular area.

Dwarves inevitably occuppied the northern more colder reaches of the area, they did wander south when inspired. This was particularly true of an area long the eastern Spine of the Uhat Mountains. But I’ll report more on that later.

Dwarves were much more social than the elves in ways that we would recognize. For instance they loved cities and vast gatherings, often building huge stone monuments to their particular tribes which they occuppied by the many thousands. Even smaller wandering clans tended to cluster, so that when they settled, they built settlements others might have seen a permanent.

Not so with the elves. Even though at their most numerous, they had only a fraction of the number of other spices, and tended towards small groupings that rarely stayed in one place long – except those that made up the highest families. But even these seemed always on the brink of extinction, each generation struggling produce enough off spring to allow that bloodline to continue. Warfare often destroyed whole family lines.

While dwarves built stone or wooden cities, elves wandered from familiar place to familiar place, holy grounds that some deeper compulsion forced them to seek out with the changing seasons.

We saw little of elves even during our initial studies, and learned more of them later when we unearth archives of their sacred writings. Of all races, Elves took most to letters, but not in the way human kind has. Their scrolls merely preserved a portion of the much vaster array of knowledge they knew through tales and songs.

While Dwarves wrote more – often engraving these in stone – they had far less significantly important things to say.

The giants were dull-witted, but not mean spirited.

They were a lot like large dwarves except they weren’t hairy or particularly social. They did not build cities nor gather in large groups. The largest regular gatherings we observed was that of a family unit – no more than ten, expect when it came to a war or other conflict – or in the case of their one great city in the south, which legend called Dexr. At one time, Giants ruled the world but were clearly now a race on the road to extinction. During their height, they apparently had built other great cities, but as their number dwindled they abandoned those cities to the much less desirable trolls.

The trolls made us all shudder, even from the safety of space, a vulgar disgusting race, and devious. Some of us compared the giants to bears back on earth, and trolls of wolves – though in truth, I would rather meet a wolf in the woods than any troll.

Trolls and giants tended to travel on all fours than upright, but Trolls seemed more natural all fours, more balance, and therefore more dangerous.

They could run very fast on all four and often did in pursuit of the one thing they loved most, meat.

Trolls didn’t build. They tended to take over what others built. But they did living in clans more like Dwarves than Giants, and often held large meetings of various clans especially in time of war.

Of the four higher races, the dwarves did most in the manufacturing of weapons, often selling their wares to whatever race was willing to pay, or trading metal workings for various foods Giants tended to grow bests.

Since trolls delved in dark holes they often came upon treasures dwarves craved, so they always had plenty of arms.

Troll armies swept across the country side usually undefeated, and if occupying a place, could not be driven from it.

The dwarves along in mass appear to be the only power cable of pushing back a determine horde of trolls.

Trolls tribes often fought among each other, or formed allegiances with other races.

The elves had no part of these, and may explain some of the historic hatred Trolls had for elves.

It is very difficult to be sure what the balance was between these races at the time when we arrived, since we could only learn very limited amount from observation, and once we got involved, we altered the natural state in such way it could never go back.

Yet long before we made contact, the elves, especially those of the prominent families, became aware of us.

A long time later, I came realize that among their powers was the ability to recognize a change in their environment. But with the highest technology on the planet at the time no greater than 10th Century earth, I still don’t understand how they calculated our being in orbit.

Eventually, word got around to even the lowest orders that something was amiss and our period of pure untainted fact gathering came to an end, and the dispute we had put off at the beginning, against savaged our small scientific community with more of our numbers shifting over to the side of those who wanted to go down and mingle with the masses. But by a thin margin, we managed to contain this urge for additional time since we had plenty of data to evaluate – and even some of those seeking to mingle wanted to learn more about the culture and language use before they made their attempt.

Ease dropping electronically gave us a lot of information about the language and culture of the least migratory people: the dwarves – some of which only made our name even more relevant. The dwarfs seem to love previous metals of any kind, and much of their magic came through various metals. Gold and silver had particular power. Silver, for instance, could be used to manipulate weather such as snow, rain, wind, fire, causing floods or stopping them.

Gold, however, seemed to allow the dwarves to control other living beings, their own as well as other species.

Amulets, weapons, charms of all sorts were generally crafted for a purpose using a balance of metals with particularly properties. Some were primitive, but the great artists were also the great magicians and were often called upon to create works for very specific purposes, many of which were so subtly blended that they remain objects of desire and great fortune for generations afterwards.

But artists and warlords were very careful to make very few of the truly power icons, as if creating too many would diminish what they already have. An artist might make many lesser objects in learning his or her craft, but would create only one masterpiece in a life time of centuries, and even this might be a lesser effort to the handful of icons that became the true symbolic power pieces of their people.

Families and tribes rose to great power and wealth based on these skills and often passed down knowledge to the younger family members at their legacy, since even the least works of these great families far exceeded most of the work hammered out by lesser talented.

Once we became aware of the icons, nothing could stop the others from mounting an expedition to the surface to see if we could obtain one or more minor ones – for study.

This began the incursion, although some of us still believed we could control the situation and keep this and the inevitable following missions to material and information gathering, not full contact.

The landing proved very successful in adding to out base of knowledge as well as our collection of minor magic objects. (But at the same time, contact with the magic proved our undoing since even I did not believe we could fall victim it the way the local did. Too late did I realize how wrong I was).

We learned that the dwarves were largely comprised of seven major mountain tribes and two wondering tribes.

The two wandering tribes – we called the Volos and the Bolos for our inability to comprehend their true names – were considered roughly equal and both formed the lowest base of the drawf social order.

We soon learned that their silverworks tended to have very little influence over the environment, possibly powerful enough to stir up a wisp of wind or bring about brief rain shower over a very limited geography. Such icons could melt a frozen pond or freeze it over. Their gold did little more than alter a person’s mood, making a troll, giant or even an unwary elf feel sad or afraid or even happy. Bolos and Volos were often referred to as the happy people for the love of simple magic and simple things.

I should have taken the great disappointment by some of our team as a warning sign when they discovered these trinkets did so little, but alas, I did not.

So, of course, we needed to make expeditions that explored tribes among the higher, more powerful dwarves.

The Khrinos were called the fort people, because they tended to build fortifications in mountain passes.

Some of these tribes were evil or at least vindictive in that they charge significant fees for passage. But most were benevolent, acting as safe havens against storm and the more nefarious characters that tended to prey on travelers.

What intrigued our staff was a slightly more powerful magic their crafts provided them, giving them control of larger storms and significant movement of the earth. A well crafted piece of silver might allow the wearers to bring on a snow storm, landslide or flash flood – or if slightly more powerful – prevent them.

Some of their gold ornaments even allows a dwarf to control a person or beast in his presence, although would not allow the dwarf to inflict hard through the spell or force the controlled soul to inflict harm on another.

These mountain pieces were harder for our crews to collect mostly because they were so valued by their owners, and kept close watch upon. But we managed to get a few for study – but again produced only more disappointment among our more ambitious explorers.

The name Poros or mining dwarves is a little disingenuous since all dwarves in one sense or another mine. The poros, however, burrow deep into mountain sides and live mainly in the heart of mountains. Even those who do not live in or near mountains live underground. They build cities which are primarily underground with small projections at their top. Their silver magic was even more disappointing to our researchers partly because in some ways it was even more simplistic than the Khinos in that things simply happened in their vicinity. A good charm can make a tunnel collapse or bridge fall, flood start, or more importantly, can prevent these things.

Their gold, however, tended to give them powers similar to the elves, providing the wielder with foresight of things that are about to happen. So that the owner can take action to avoid possible disaster. But even these curious trinkets lacked the thing our researchers were most anxious to find, amulets with real power to protect the owner.

At this point, I began to realize that many of my colleagues had interests that were no longer of scientific value, but had become obsessed with obtaining access to and perhaps gaining control over aspects of this planet’s magical properties.

Since the elves seem capable of avoiding our forays onto the planet, and indeed, became more and more aware of when some of our kind landed, the dwarves and other darker creatures became the focus of our studies.

I argued with my colleagues about this diversion, especially when one particular leader among their group, called Ranson. But it was clear they had strayed and would not stray back into more high minded pursuits.

Still I had hope we would eventually come together again, little realizing that we had already crossed a threshold and that things would only deteriorate more after this.

But the studies went on, and we began to look closely at the Nikos and the Knos, two families of mountaintop dwarves. They built great castles on the topes of the mountains and mined into the mountains beneath them. Their silver magic was apparently capable of moving specific things, and some had some potency. A small charm in one case allowed the owner to move people, a boulder even a small hill. I don’t mean destroy the hill, I mean relocate it. Oddly enough the magic these two families weaved into their gold allowed the masters to make other things immobile. They could freeze a stream or shut permanently a door. They could even hold back a landslide – a least for a short interval. Often those who possesses such gold because guardians, dwarves that often spread out among other families and served roles as guardians for them.

All these, of course, are members of what this world called lesser or playful dwarves. We knew of but had not yet come close to any of the three great families that made up the higher order of dwarves, which ruled the northern hemisphere to keep if free of those races dwarves considered their most hated enemies: trolls, giants and most importantly, Elves.

These were the families that Ranson and his crew found most fascinating and made the most effort to investigate, and found most frustrating since these dwarves tended to be the most paranoid – not of us, but of everything, and took elaborate measures to keep safe and secret.

The Thiro – the least of the three great families – were sometimes called “creators” because they loved to build roads and cities, for their own small numbers in the mountain valleys, but they also hired out their services to other tribes of lesser dwarves.

All of their creations had some magical properties, a kind of special ness that allowed them to defy time, often remaining little changed after centuries when other constructions turned to dust. But their truly magical creations, their silver and gold, tended to help with creation. Silver amulets, rings and such often gave the owner a particular creative talent. While gold ornaments tended to give a person’s creations permanence. These two magical elements often worked in conjunction, thus making monuments built by Thiro crafts people last almost forever. There are several great statues in the foot of the northern mountains testifying to these gifts. While the monuments could be found, Thiro kept their gold and silver hidden very well, making it almost impossible to obtain except as heirlooms passed down from family member to family member.

Despite being an intelligent man, I still hadn’t fully come to comprehend the motivations of Ranson and his followers, making the dreadful mistake a believing they were still in the pursuit of knowledge for the benefit of human kind. Had I been wiser at this point, I might have brought the others together in time to halt what would later become one of the great tragedies.

But in truth, I was as consumed with the flow of information as they were, each new discovery setting sparks off inside of me.

Short of the high elves, the Lorkos, the thinking dwarves, thrilled me most.

This clan often acted as advisors to other greater and lesser dwarves.

Although considered a great family, the Lorkos rarely gathered as a family or tribe, except in one great and mysterious city in the north called Arta.

No other species of dwarf, elf or other being was supposed to set foot in this place, and even Lorkos themselves rarely returned except in great emergencies, starting out there in their youth where they are educated in the ways of their people, then cast out to take their lessons into the greater world.

Few kinds of any dwarf family could be considered great unless they had a Lorko dwarf as a counselor – though Lorkos were often found in the company of magicians, wizard and witches as well.

Like all dwarves, their magic was fixed in previous metals and stones, which they sometimes gave as gifts to lesser people as reward or sign of alliance. Silver objects tended to give the owner the power of knowledge, often the ability to know things of practical value, how to maneuver great armies in war, how to solve some great social problem among the people.

But gold amulets gave the owner real wisdom – and for this reason, was rarely given as a gift except to those great leaders who already had an ample amount of their own wisdom.

In reflecting back, I realized that I hungered for some Lorkos gold as much as Ranson ached for any of the great powers, and that this ambition to perhaps some day uncover this gold blinded me to the events that would change this world forever.

The truth of the matter, of course, came soon after when one of Ranson’s expeditions returned to our platform in great glee, they had captured their first living specimen – a living, breathing member of the Lorkos tribe.

I’ll go into that more fully later, but should outline some of what we learned about the other races first in order to give you a full picture of the planet as we found it – even though as I later learned – this was only a snap shot of a society that had already changed much from what it once was, and, in fact, some of what we learned was skewed.

The history of Clyan changed dispending on whose view you took, and so that what was considered unalterable truth by one race was often completely discredited by the stories told by another.
We shall get into that a little later when I delved in the archives of the great elves, upon whom I put the greatest faith – though even though this may not be as accurate as I might believe.

 

Prior to actually interviewing beings on the surface, we determined that the elves had three families, all of whom were considered great, Each family had powers of military might, foresight and wisdom. But each of these gifts came in differing degrees to each family.

It is this unequal distribution of powers that often made the families hate each other more than what we might call their more natural enemies.

Much of what we learned, Ranson got out of the dwarf he captured, so it was difficult for us to determine how accurate the information was. Ranson’s methods remain among the most deplorable of our entire mission, equating to torture. He insisted that dwarves, elves and others did not have the same rights we gave to human, and felt free to grill the dwarf hour after hour, even when it became clear the dwarf had started to die.

Since we knew nothing of elves at the time – because they remained too elusive – Ranson’s tainted information became the basis for our studies of elves, even though some of the information proved less than accurate.

The dwarf told us that the Bahia were the most powerful family of elves, who had settled into cities in the southerly most portion of the world. Some of the cities had been constructed by giants, and drive out to make way for the elves. But some of the cities the Bahia constructed for themselves – or were contracted out to have the Thiro and Khino dwarves do the construction, in those early days when dwarves and elves were still on friendly terms. The Bahia are known as the warrior elves, and it is largely their watch along the southern barriers that kept trolls and other dark forces from the middle forest of the world from wandering north and causing havoc.

Ranson was particularly interested in the Veidmas, the elf family who significantly excelled in foresight, although like most elves they could fight and they had wisdom enough in most cases to know when and when not to fight.

The Veidman were less numerous than the Bhaia, but more numerous than the third elf, family, the Nuerdas.

The Veidmas tended to live in the woodlands in and at the center of the world, a roving people that disliked being rooted. They lived in camps rather than castle., and often fled ahead of danger rather than confront it. But they could ambush and kill at need.

The Nuerdas are wisest creatures in this world. They are the elf equivalent to the dwarf Lorkos, and like the Lorkos tend to be a scattered race, acting as advisors to other elves. Unlike the Lorkos, however, the Nuerdas shun other races and offer them no guidance – except in some very rare instances when some might connect with Lorkos and magicians. But the need for such councils need be very great.

The Nuerdas originate from a single village located on the Isle of Myr, which is protected by a powerful magic unknown to the other races, even the other families of elves. None may enter Myr and return, except for Nuerdas.

There are two notable exceptions to this. Myt, who chose to leave (he was actually a mixed breed, half human, half elf) and Kroton (who chose to denounce the elves and fled to the Isle of Snaldrop from which he intended to conquer the world. Kroton was also a half breed, but between Elvin races, weaving together the strong military abilities of the Biaha and the wisdom of the Nuerda. But Kroton became evil, and later influence the even greater evil of Concor.

The dwarf could not tell us where Concor came from. Even later research tended to paint him as a legend with little hard evidence to suggest he really existed.

Concor is often called the great evil, and is said to not only have immortality, but the power to grant. Some legends claim he has all of the powers of all of the dwarves and elves combined, plus powers they do not have.

Concor controls others. Even at a great distance, Concor can darken hearts of those who have no powers of their own to resist him.

If he exists, few have seen him. Kroton always serves as Concor’s ambassador. Some believe that without Kroton Concor’s influence in the world would be lost. And for this reason, many young elf warriors set their life’s goal to destroy Kroton.

It is said that Kroton instigates the wars in the south, although some research suggests the wars would take place there anyway, and that it is man kind that creates many of the

problems, and mankind that is responsible for the darkness in Kroton’s heart.

Mankind, of course, is a bit of a problem in our studies, for we can find little very early record to justify its existence.

Some of our staff believe human kind arrived with the first survey ship, and the survivors spread quickly, soon become an element and perhaps a distraction in this world’s development.

Some believe the humans here are merely some aspect of the race of giants.

The giants were easy for us to study at a distance. They were clumsy and slow, and would have perished from the planet if not their great strength.

They were strong and enduring, and tended to be extremely loyal to their personal tribe, and their personal king or queen.

Contrary to some beliefs, giants are not stupid, and what gives them significant power is their ability to appear and disappear at will, a power they frequently use to capture the unwary traveler.

Unlike giants, trolls are mean, and significantly smaller. Trolls usually travel in small bands, but rarely more than three or four at a time. Legend suggests that a slightly larger band of trolls once inhabited the Forest of Ash when the woods was still unpossessed.

Trolls like giants tend to like the northern climates, but are driven south into warmer places by the dwarves, who are their sworn enemies. Once in the south, the elves tend to drive them back north.

Trolls, however, are clever, and manage to sneak back to places they have been drive from. But they have some inner compulsion to go north.

But not into the mountains. They live in dread of the mountains, and tend to settle at the foot of mountain chains. On Amlor – which is sometimes called the Isle of Dexr, trolls are rare, but not non-existent.

As crafty and evil as most thought trolls, even our captive admitted that the race of trolls was on an order as high as dwarves, if not elves.

But many less wise races often mistook the subhuman spices for trolls, such a goblins and demons, races often associated with trolls and with whom trolls often make alliances. Trolls have free will, Goblins lack some essential element that keeps them largely defined as a crafty animal. They tend to be something like overgrown lizard with rough scaly skin. In the south, they are more often called Terrets, in the north, Tors. But in truth, these are two different families. The tor tends to be larger, often walking on two legs with a lizard like head. He is a head or so taller than the average mount dwarf, and extremely durable. He is used to cold weather and in fact likes it, often taking possession of abandoned Dwarf castles and mines as breeding grounds. Violence is common between Tors and Dwarves, and wars often wind up as stalemates after much blood has been shed. These wars become somewhat notorious and the prospect of a tor invasion often drives less war-like races to make alliances with elves and giants.

Terrets are weaker goblins and reside most of the time in south. While they look very much like their tor cousins, they are smaller in size – about the same size as an average dwarf. They are pale green in color, while Tors are nearly pine green.. Tors and Terrets hate each other and frequently fight when they meet. Although it is said that the dark powers of Concor can unit them if called to war by his emissary, Kroton.

Terrets hat the cold. They are a coastal animal, found of mountains that lie near the sea. They rarely come out of the mountain expect to sack a village, farm or city. Even these exploits are rare. Terrets are not nearly as good with crafting stone or metal as the Tors, but have been known to ride horses which is unheard of among the tors. Tors tend to ride wolves, although they also are capable of running quickly on all fours if necessary. Tors can fight on the plains or in the mountains, while Terrets tend to fight in the mountains generally setting ambush.

Not all the sub humans are evil.

Gnomes or hermits as they are most frequently called, are little elves with the same almond eyes and the same slim features. But unlike elves, Hermits cannot speak. They often communicate with their eyes after a fashion, although only elves understand what hermits are trying to say.

Hermits often act as spies for the elves and have the power to appear and disappear. Some say they are magical in other ways. Being adopted by a hermit, for instance, is said to bring you permanent good fortune. It is for this reason that the Lesser Gods attempted to enslave the Hermits. This effort largely failed because of the hermits’ ability to escape.

Borrel are a small creature, too, but sturdy, much like the dwarf in many ways, except no where near as stubborn or intelligence. Generally, borrels have red or rusty colored fur, and they are furry all over. The dwarf, a head or two taller is bearded by tends to have a face largely free of hair otherwise Borrels also have long snake like tails which they often use as an additional limb. The dwarf has no tail. Borrels also have whiskers which are wire like and clearly, and spout from under their noses in all directions. Their eyes are somewhat almond shaped like an elf. Borrels are working creatures and generally will engage in anything from farming to sheep and cattle raising. They rarely fight, except as a last resort, preferring to flee an enemy. They are often found in the company of men, working where men work.

Brackets are winged men. But they lack the intelligence of men, and generally live in the mountain tops beyond even the reach of dwarves or trolls. Brakets are rare, and breed once or twice in a life time. They have huge wings on their backs and claws for hands. Yet they also have legs upon which tot walk. They are not aggressive until provoked and then they are furious. They hate the Tor and will attack tors without provocation. But they are not particularly found of any creature, man, elf or dwarf, and tend to avoid all in an endless pursuit of peace. On occasion brackets have gone to war with dwarves, when dwarves draw to close to what brakets called sacred ground.