<h4>Chapter 895 - History Teaches Us...</h4>


    In Ancient Times, like before the gods had descended upon the Mortal World, the first generation Dwarves were born into the world, crawling out of the 8,500m tall ’Mother Mountain’. Unlike other races, who had prospered on the surface, the Dwarves hade into existence in a cold and unforgiving environment with few natural resources. Though they had ess to the sea, this was a time when aquatic monsters rampaged about freely, capsizing any ship that dared venture out into the murky waters. As a result, the Dwarves had been forced to dig into the earth, both out of necessity and an unrelenting resolve to tame their world.


    Though it had taken them hundreds of years, the Dwarves had cleared out the surface of their homnd,pletely wiping out all monsters in the surroundings. While other surface dwellers were desperately fighting against the waves of monsters that would emerge from the Dungeon, the Dwarves had already reimed the surface while also conquering whaty below. They had built massive underground cities and structures, showing a natural understanding of mechanical engineering, stonemasonry, and construction. This,bined with their powerful physical might, had allowed them to create hundreds of kilometers of underground tunnels while, at the very heart of the Iron Hills, there was a massive cavern that spanned more than 50km in diameter, coiling down into the earth nearly 20km.


    True to the nature of this massive cavern, and therge fortress-like City built into it, the Dwarves had named this sacrednd as ’Ironheart’, serving as the exact center of their budding culture. The founding family of the City even took the name upon themselves, bing the first High Dwarven Noble Family, the Ironhearts. Later, simr cities would be built into the subsurface afterrge mines were stripped away and converted into simrly sized caverns. Now, fast forwarding to the present, there were eight such cities, each presided over by a powerful Dwarven Noble family of their own. After the Ironheart family, who had be the most influential family amongst the Dwarves, these were the Alderfist, Hammerforge, Stoneborne, Firebeard, Goldbrew, Deepsbane, and, nearly rising up to the same position as the Ironhearts, the Stormwright n.


    During the time when other races were fighting tooth and nail to survive, the Dwarves had already mastered theirnds, expanding outwards into their very own Mother Mountain. Out of respect for the site, it was decreed that the mountain was an invible ce where mining and resource harvesting was strictly regted. This was the ancestralnds where most Dwarves wereid to rest, the interior filled with several expansive mausoleums and masterful works of art representing aplished and heroic men and women from the past. Once you got beyond the mountain, however, things changed rather quickly...


    On the southern face, the Dwarves once again encountered powerful monsters after a very long period of civil infighting and industrial expansion. They received a harsh reminder that the world outside of the Iron Hills could be cruel and unforgiving, as their probes into thesends had nearly spelled their doom. Using the very same system of tunnels they had developed over centuries, hordes of monsters tried to make the Mother Mountain their home after breaking through the unprepared defensive line. It took decades to once again reim the mountain but, once they had, the Dwarves converted the southern face into thergest and most powerful fortress against the monster tides, ckstone. The Dwarves had pioneered forging technique rted to Damascus, making powerful Damascus Steel ramparts that lined the bottom face of the mountain, stretching nearly a thousand kilometers with only massive towers breaking the flow.


    The construction of ckstone had been a monstrous effort that cost thousands of Dwarves their lives over the course of 187 years. Even so, they never ceased in their efforts until their homnd was truly secure from the monster hordes. Then, as if it were a matter of pride, the Dwarves didn’t rest on their aplishment and instead began reiming the forest and surroundingnd from the monsters’ control. The valley on the northern side of the Mother Mountain was inhospitable with arge circr air current that brought in heavy volumes of salt from the sea. To the south, however, there were verdant forests and ins, fertilend which the Dwarves had desperately sought out.


    Unfortunately, thesends had been the Ancestral Forests of the High Elves, who acted decisively to prevent the Dwarves from clearing out their forests to create farnd. From this encounter, the Dwarves learned of the wider world, including the various races that inhabited it. Then, instead of trying topromise and seek peace, the Dwarves became jaded at the idea that these longears had so many resources avable to them. Unlike the stout and hardy Dwarves, the Elves were frail and weak, ’spoiled’ by the avability of food and fresh water, unlike the tenacious Dwarves who had struggled for centuries to master their home environment.


    Unable tomunicate with each other, the Dwarves began attacking the Elves in earnest, fully believing they had a greater right to thend than the Elves who had upied it for millennia. In order to drive back the Elves, they set fire to the forests and, using their technological prowess and mechanical might, the Dwarves quickly cleared away arge section of the forest after a few decisive skirmishes. It was under such circ.u.mstances, drunk on the taste of victory, even as their lungs filled with the smoldering ashes of the burnt forests, that the Dwarves were introduced to Magic.


    Though there were only a few a High Elven lineage that could use the Magic of the Spirits, those that possessed such capabilities held awesome power. Initially, the Elves hadn’t shied away from trying to seek dialogue with the Dwarves but every attempt to do so was met with bolts and des. After that, their primary concern had simply been protected the forest, as the Dwarves were using machines that spoiled thend while indiscriminately cutting down trees that had stood the test of time for centuries. Now that the Dwarves had thrown all decency aside, burning the very forest and resources they sought to im, the High Elves were forced to take action, even though they had been a very peaceful people that provided aid to the other races.


    Shortly after the Dwarves had once again started to clear sections of the forest, three High Elves had rallied together, including the then Queen of the Elves, a heavenly beauty named Arie. The three used powerful nature magic topletely devastate the Dwarven machinery and, to ensure they would not arbitrarily decide to attack again, Arie made the rare exception to attack the fortress of ckstone directly. The proud and majestic physical barriers that the Dwarves had spent nearly two hundred years constructing were powerless against the mighty magic spells which, with the help of the Spirits, was far stronger than most modern magic.


    Being that they were not a violent race, at least at the time, the High Elves pulled back after doing a substantial amount of damage. Then, as the Dwarves began repairing the mighty fortress, the Elves had erected tall wooden towers along the northern border of their forest, both to serve as a reminder to the Dwarves while also acting as a lookout. The Dwarves, however, were undaunted by the presence of the Elves and, just as they had conquered their homnd in the ancient past, they were determined to im the resources that ought to be theirs. However, they weren’t fools who would attack without nning a proper strategy and, just as they had dedicated nearly two hundred years just to build a fortress, the Dwarves began researching countermeasures to magic.


    As the decades passed, tensions between the Dwarves and the Elves steadily increased until, rather unexpectedly, Arie hade with several envoys to broker peace and trade with the Dwarven people. This didn’t end well, however, as the pride and arrogance of the Dwarves had been cultivated over centuries of internal strife and istion from other races. Using their newly researchedposite alloy, Magisteel, the Dwarves attacked the peaceful envoys, managing to kill Arie and the majority of her escorts. The few survivors were then captured by the Dwarves, both as a means to study magic and as a ’punishment’ for the Elves’ audacity to oppose them.


    Using their ill-gotten victory as a catalyst, the Dwarves began arge invasion into the Elven forests, killing and capturing as many Elves as possible. They didn’t believe that the Elves had many people capable of using the powerful magic used by Arie and her twopanions. At the same time, with their powerful equipment to protect them, the Dwarves rapidly cleared out arge section of the forest which wouldter be one of theyered defensive lines of the Iron Hills. With their invasion sessful, and no major response from the Elves, the Dwarves thought themselves victorious and began reiming thend on the inside of their perimeter, turning it into thousands of acres of farnd.


    What the Dwarves did no take into consideration was the longevity and patience of the Elves who, after the death of their Queen, entered a long period of observation as they groomed Arie’s sessor. Now that things had reached this point, the Elves believed the Dwarves to be an errant and warmongering species who, unlike the other races struggling to reim the surface, turned their weapons against what should be their allies. The fact the Dwarves had attacked a peaceful delegation had wounded the hearts of the High Elves who, at the time, served as the guardians and protectors of the forests while providing aid to almost every other race. Even the Goliaths, who scorned the Elves for their magic, had never slighted them in such a grievous and dishonorable manner...


    By the time the new Elven Queen had been elected, the Dwarves had spent nearly twenty years cultivating thend they had stolen from the Elves. Now, after discovering other races seeking asylum in the forests, the Dwarves had started capturing groups of refugees en masse. Instead of toiling hard in the mines, they had realized it was much easier to make the ’lesser’ species of the surface work in their stead. This was the catalyst for the propagation of very within the Iron Hills and the start of the ’wastrel’ like lifestyle of the Dwarves.


    With actual farnd providing for their rather small poption, many Dwarves had be rathercent over a short period of time. Now that they didn’t have to toil away in the mines, many Dwarves had a lot of free time on their hands to master the art of forging and craftsmanship, all while other recreational hobbies began emerging. The Goldbrew n had already be a powerful family after learning how to ferment wheat and hops to produce various types of ales. Now that there was so much agriculturalnd to work with, the production of alcohol had greatly increased while the variety of alcoholic beverages practically exploded, especially with the various fruit orchards and herbal gardens that now existed. Instead of being a grain supplement that could be enjoyed rarely, drinking became one of the favorite pastimes of the Dwarves in a very short period of time...


    Overall, things were going exceptionally well for the Dwarves and, confident they could im even morend, a second invasion into the Elven forests was nned. Before this n could be implemented, however, the new Elven Queen had made her appearance, this time with a total of ten powerful High Elves at her side. With hundreds of other Elves as support, the new Elven Queen, Valrhona,pletely devastated the defensive line of the Dwarves. They used powerful magic to reim the ill-gottennd before staging a counteroffensive against ckstone. After a battle thatsted more than two months, during which time thend stolen by the Dwarves had beenpletely reimed, the Elves finally retreated back into their forests.


    Though they were incensed, the Dwarves now realized that their efforts needed to be more meticulous and, regardless of how powerful they were, there were some forces that simply couldn’t be resisted through normal means. This time, they didn’t have the luxury of the Elven Queening to them to seek peace and, after a long period of rebuilding their damaged fortress, it was the Elder Council,prised of the various patriarchs of the High Dwarven Noble Houses who stepped forward. They sent envoys who had studied the Elvennguage from the ves that had been captured in the past, entering into a long period of negotiations with the Elves.


    Using the bartering and trade techniques they had honed against each other over centuries, the Dwarves eventually managed to reim their once-seizednd by creating various pieces of equipment for the Elves to use. At the same time, arge-scale ’breeding’ effort had been underway, both for the Dwarves and their ever-increasing poption of ves. After their failures to break into the outside world, which they knew very little of, the Dwarven policy became more of an istionist doctrine that focused on defense. The fortifications of their territory gradually increased over the centuries as their poption slowly reached a bottleneck. In order to deal with this issue, the Elder Council began sending groups of Dwarves out into the world atrge, both as explorers and merchants.


    Slowly but surely, the Dwarves grew beyond their homnd of the Iron Hills, primarily through their exchanges with other races. It was extremely profitable to sell equipment and defensive weaponry in the world that was still fighting against the monster hordes on a daily basis. They were also able to use their technological prowess and natural talent for construction to earn the ’respect’ and admiration of various races. The Dwarves helped to design and construct powerful fortress cities that became the bastions of the surface world, all while increasing the wealth of their own country. As a result, the arrogance of the Dwarves actually continued to rise and, over the course of several millennia, they had slowly be the wealthiest people in thend...


    With this explosion of wealth, thecency and wastrel-like behavior of the Dwarves only grew in intensity, to the point that any respect they had earned from other races had morphed into scorn. Dwarven merchants became known for their greed and, with their physical prowess, forck of a better term, ’dwarfing’ almost every other race, their pride went unchecked by all but the Goliath people and the High Elves. Now, in modern times, the Dwarves had be a people known for their propensity to exploit everyone, including each other. Infighting between brothers and sisters was extremelymon, especially when it came to business transactions, while many Dwarves spent their days simply forging, crafting, and putting on airs. Because of their mastery in these pursuits, the technology of the Dwarves had reached an extreme, making their lives easy while the ves that made up the very foundation of their society toiled tirelessly to their deaths...


    The once proud Dwarves that fought tooth and nail to survive in their inhospitable homnd were now nowhere to be seen. They had been reced by a group of people who profiteered off the misery of others, sold weapons without any care for how they would be used, and sought every possible advantage they could get out of a situation. Their arrogance and overconfidence had grown to an extreme and, before the Alliance had disrupted their businesses, they had ruled over the markets of almost every country.


    Now that the Alliance had dominated the market of Orario, the most prosperous City on the continent, in their ce, the Dwarves were extremely dissatisfied. However, to most, this was just a mild inconvenience and, fully confident there would be no major repercussions, the Elder Council didn’t mind antagonizing the Alliance. Though they did fear the power of Fafnir, to an extent, there were several weapons they had kept concealed for a long period of time. Even with war being dered, they simply had to stay on the defensive and, when Vahn and his dragons appeared near their fortress, they would shoot the tyrannical creatures out of the sky.


    It was believed that, without his Dragons, Vahn wasn’t considered to be terribly dangerous and, even if they were unable to trade within Orario for a few years, it wasn’t too difficult to turn a profit in other countries. Eventually, just as it had always been, they would one day be able to develop countermeasures that allowed them to deal with the Alliance, even if it took hundreds of years. This was the general belief of even themon Dwarven citizenry, even when the Alliance sent a message iming their Mother Mountain would be shattered within three days. They believed this to be simple nonsense and considered it an example of Vahn’s hubris, all the way up until the morning of the third day when, long before the sun had risen, a green ’sun’ had emerged against the backdrop of the Mother Mountain. When it had vanished, to the horror of every Dwarf that drew in the cold morning air of the Iron Hills, the upper half of their Ancestral Mountain had now vanished in its entirety...then, as they stared on with horror, several hundred million tons of stones and debris began raining down on the surroundings like a meteor shower...


    (A/N: Alternate Titles: ’An inhospitable people from an inhospitable terrain...’,’Those That Fail to Learn from History are Doomed to Repeat it...’,’Some lessons are learned harder than others...’)


    bit.ly/2XBzAYu <-(p.atreon link)


    paypal.me/Einlion


    Discord Invite: discord.gg/mn5xMbE