Dwarves and Duergar - Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes

Dwarves and Duergar. To impartial observers, the tale of the ancient war between dwarves and duergar is at its heart a tragedy, the story of a people turned against each other by bitterness and resentment. Once the dwarves were unified in their worship of Moradin, the deity who crafted the first dwarves from metal and fire. Today, the race is splintered into those who still embrace him as their father and creator-and those who have sworn to topple him from his divine throne. While the dwarves loyal to Moradin take joy in the art of crafting and form strong family bonds, the duergar are joyless, hateful creatures who create their works out of an urge to build and acquire. They come closest to feeling true joy when they raid dwarven strongholds to satisfy their lust for blood and treasure. The Deep Roots of War Take this message to your doddering fool of a god. His turn is coming, Laduguer willing. The conflict began in ages past, when the world was new. Almost all the dwarves were more than content to make their homes inside the mountains and hills that were filled with ore and other valuables, not digging too far beneath the surface. The dwarves of clan Duergar, however, became obsessed with delving deep into the Underdark. The clan's miners continually insisted that a great trove of gold and iron lay just beyond where the clan had explored. The next strike of a pick, they said, could reveal wealth beyond imagining. This obsession took root and spread throughout the clan. Soon, all other activity in the community ceased; the forges grew cold, and the temples to Moradin stood empty. Every dwarf old enough to hold a pick or shovel worked the mines. The dwarves relentlessly dug, hacked, and tunneled. The weakest among them fell dead from exhaustion, the rest pausing only long enough to push the corpses aside so they could continue the digging. Only the hardiest and most iron-willed individuals of the clan survived this brutal campaign. When their delving finally bro...