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In Games Workshop's Warhammer Fantasy fictional universe, the Dwarfs are a race of short, stout humanoids very similar to the dwarves of Middle-earth and those of ''Dungeons & Dragons''. Dwarfs in the Warhammer setting are proud warriors highly driven by honor and the making of oaths. ==History== ''(This is the in-game history of the Dwarf race)'' The Beginning There are no written records of the earliest years of the Dwarfs history, though legend states that the first Dwarfs migrated northwards from their southern ancestral homes along the World Edge Mountains, following open veins of ore and tunnelling into the mountains in search of gold, iron and gemstones. As they progressed, many clans built fortified settlements and mines called ''holds'' around the richest deposits. Eventually they reached the northern most edge of the mountains - the majority turned back, while some ventured north-west into the lands that would become Norsca and others turned east and crossed the Great Skull Land (these would eventually become the Chaos Dwarves during the Coming of Chaos). It was written in the Great Book of Grudges that a time of great calamity fell when the storms of Chaos erupted across the Old World from the far north, colouring the sky, splitting the earth and tearing apart the mountains themselves. It was also in this period that the great Ancestor Gods emerged - Grungni, Grimnir and Valaya - who helped lead the Dwarfs to safety by leading them to dig deep under the mountains to escape the storm ravaging the world above. After the catastrophe of the Coming of Chaos, the Dwarfs emerged to find their world changed and warped. Mutated Beastmen roamed freely throughout the land, slaying everyone in their path. Warriors of the Chaos Gods murdered and pillaged at will, and Daemons created nightmare realms, enslaving entire tribes and peoples. The sheer power of Chaos threatened the entire world with eventual destruction. To battle against such enemies, Grungni forged the first weapons and armour, while teaching the Dwarfs the skills of metalworking, smelting and mining. He also forged the first magical runes, capturing the wild winds of magic and harnessing their power into them, creating even more potent weapons, axes and hammers, as well as runes that gave runic protection into armour and talismans. He armed Grimnir with two mighty axes and armour harder than the bones of mountains, and he and his first Runesmiths armed the rest of the Dwarf race. Soon after, they marched forth from their stronghold and battled against Chaos, where Grimnir slew many deamons and Valaya protected them from the dark magics of their foes. Though they could not fully destroy the forces against them, they drove them from their mountain homes and defended them from further onslaught. Soon after their re-emergence and battles with Chaos, the Dwarfs encountered the High Elves of Ulthuan. An army led by Grimnir, as they were chasing a marauder warband into the lowlands, met a fleet of Elven warships led by the mage Caledor Dragontamer, who had been blown off course while searching the Old World for clues as to the source of Chaos. Though uncertain of each other, the armies combined to defeat a fresh onslaught by Chaos forces, the spells of Caledor working in conjunction with the axe-work of Grimnir. During the aftermath, the Dwarves learnt from the Elves of the wars in their homeland and their vast struggle against the magic of Chaos, while the Elves learnt of the great storm that erupted from north. Realising that a Chaos Gate had opened at the polar north, Caledor began to devise a plan to trap the power of Chaos in a vast vortex, and returned to Ulthuan to plan his endeavour. Grimnir, upon learning of the Chaos Gate from Caledor, decided to journey northwards and close the gate himself. Though Grungni and Valaya warned him such an endeavour might not succeed and he would surely die, Grimnir replied it was worth the risk. Shaving his hair and beard except for a mohawk, he gave one of his mighty axes to his son Morgrim and journeyed northwards to close the Gate. He was never seen again and his fate remains unknown, even as Caledor's plan succeeded in trapping the power of Chaos and banishing it to the dark corners of the world. Soon after this victory, Grungni and Valaya vanished, with many saying they had returned to the mountains awaiting the day the dwarf race would need them most. With the defeat of Chaos, the Dwarfs prospered and expanded all across the World Edge Mountains, establishing mighty strongholds and vast passageways beneath the earth. As the Elves returned to the Old World and established their colonies along the coast and in the forests, trade flowed between the two races and strong bonds of friendship grew between them. The War of Vengeance The War of Vengeance was the Dwarf name given to cataclysmic war that erupted between the Dwarfs and the High Elves. Though the two races had enjoyed peace and prosperity with each other for over a thousand years, the elves increasing colonisation of the Old World, in conjunction with apprehensions and mistrust amongst several of the dwarf kings and leaders, began to create tensions between the two civilisations, though many endeavoured to maintain the alliance. The first sparks of the war were begun when Dark Elves, under the orders of Malekith, began attacking Dwarf colonies and trading parties in disguise as High Elves, culminating in the slaughter of Agrin Fireheart, one of the most ancient Runelords of the Dwarf race and the Runelord of Barak Varr. High King Gotrek Starbreaker, though a strong proponent of continuing friendship with the Elves, soon exhausted all attempts at peace and reconciliation both with the elves and amongst the more warlike of his fellow kings (including his own son Snorri Halfhand). As a final act to prevent conflict, he sent his most skilled ambassadors to demand recompenses from the High Elves for the attacks and losses the dwarfs had suffered, but the arrogant Phoenix King Caledor II, after hearing news of the destruction of the city of Kor Vanaeth by Snorri Halfhand (acting against his father Gotrek and in conjunction with the kings of Barak Varr and Zhufbar) seized the ambassadors and shaved off their beards in anger. To lose one's beard is the ultimate insult and shame to a Dwarf - thus the war that followed was known as the War of the Beard to the Elves while the Dwarves, not to take such things lightly, called it the War of Vengeance. After 437 years of continuous battle, the war culminated in the seventeenth and final siege of the Elf city of Tor Alessi. After several hours of fighting in single combat, High King Gotrek Starbreaker killed Caledor II, thus ending the war. He took the Phoenix Crown as recompense, where it remains in Karaz-a-Karak. As the remaining High Elves prepared to launch a suicidal attack on the Karaz Ankor, news reached them that the Dark Elves had attacked their homeland, thus forcing them to withdraw and shattering the Elven empire in the Old World. Those elves who chose to remain became the Wood Elves. The Time of Woes The Time of the Goblin Wars The Birth of the Empire The Present Day (Imperial Year 2523) 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Dwarf (Warhammer)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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