Dwarven Cosmology and the Origin of Hal Moldihr

Therratum, the Origin of Ore

Domain - All Minerals, Ingenuity, Creativity, Crafting
Symbol - A sparkling hammer, with a falling star behind it.
Form- A massive Dwarf made out of therratumite, which is essentially an amalgamation of every metal that ever was and ever could be. It is hard yet soft, shining yet dull, and it shines with infinite colors when viewed from every angle. His beard is magnificent, setting the standard for all Dwarves to come. It, along with his hair, all grow outwards in the form of crystals. He wears magnificently crafted armors of his own design, a great helm, and his forge hammer is always at his side.

The Creator of Hal Moldihr and the Patriarch of the Dwarven Pantheon. Therratum is a very serious and unyielding figure, far from the more easy going and party-loving nature of his Dwarves. He loves his creations nonetheless, and gives them ample chances to succeed despite all the hardship he puts them through. He also doesn't ignore those who ask him for favors and provide him offerings. He considers himself a fair and just God, but he is still a God and can be very out of touch with his mortals. Still, he does his best, which is a lot more than can be said of the creator deities of certain other Realms.

Above all else, Therratum believes in learning through adversity. To gain knowledge is to start from a place of ignorance and to fight with everything you have in order to gain a greater understanding. So he tests his children, sends threats their way, makes Hal Moldihr a dangerous place so that Dwarves will band together and conquer it as one united people. Over the years he has become somewhat jaded regarding how greedy and selfish the Dwarves have become, specifically those on levels four and five, but due to his intense stubbornness he refuses to offer them any more spiritual guidance than he already has.

Unlike a great deal of other creator deities, he welcomed the possibility of Realm travel as it only gives his Dwarves chances to grow and develop further rather than seeing unwelcome visitors to their sandbox. He is rather annoyed when Dwarves leave Hal Moldihr and join different religions, but due to the complex way that souls are handled in this universe, Therratum has much better things to do than open up disputes with the Karnallian Twin Goddesses or whoever every time a Dwarf converts.

He is beloved by his wife and children, the Gods of metals and stone, each of which he created from parts of his own makeup. The Pantheon is very tight-knit in general, and there is little infighting or bickering, even if many of them are more sympathetic to the disgraced Dwarves and believe Therratum's punishment was too harsh. As long as they don't interfere too much, Therratum allows his children to aid the Dwarves however they wish.

The Creation of Hal Moldihr, the Star-Fallen Mountain

In the beginning, Therratum awoke into the starry blackness of space and time. From the starlight he shimmered with the light of a thousand gemstones and where there was nothing, Therratum declared that there should be something. He reached out into himself and pulled out enough material to fashion himself from his own body a godly hammer, and with its unimaginable power he struck down a single star from the sky. This star settled before him, and Therratum continued to work upon it for ages unknown until he declared it finished. In his majesty, he crafted a realm consisting of a single, gigantic mountain known as Hal Moldihr. He descended onto the newly created Realm and burrowed to its heart, then turned the core into the same mineral he himself is made out of, therratumite.

Therratum fashioned himself creating a wondrous palace using his hammer, his chisel, and all the rest of his divine tools. He toiled for many days and many nights, until finally his new home was complete. To top it all off, he forged a throne of magnanimous splendor with which he could sit and ponder, but as Therratum sat upon this throne for the first time, he realized there was still work to do and immediately got up with renewed vigor. He figured that with such a wonderful palace, it would be a shame if there were no one share it with.

Therratum isolated the purest and strongest parts of his makeup and created from them the Goddess of Orichalcum, Orphomera, to be his bride. For a while this soothed the God's stony heart, but Therratum is not one to be so easily sated. This was not enough for him. Luckily, his newly created wife shared his loneliness and asked for him for children. Together, they created Bhasolim, the God of Mithril, as their first born son and then continued toiling and crafting until the two had countless children who represented every type of metal, mineral, jewel, and rock there is.

Yet, even as his halls filled with Gods and Goddesses of his own making, Therratum again felt his work was far from over. He loved his children, but they were born perfect and could not develop that much further on their own. Iron will always be iron, Gold is only Gold, and so on and so forth. Therratum wanted to create a lesser race as an experiment. An empty race that could learn, grow, and change throughout the ages with endless potential. Rather than harvesting his own body for the materials once more, Therratum took handfuls of the earth straight out of the mountains and without the aid of his wife or any of his children, the mighty God forged the first Dwarves, ten men and ten women.

With these innocent and naive creatures, Therratum and the rest of the Pantheon imparted their wisdom and knowledge into their blissfully ignorant minds. For three hundred years, things went well and the Dwarves flourished in the halls of the Therratumite Palace while . They learned creativity, crafting, and the power of the forge all under the watchful eye of their loving Father. Yet the Dwarves were imperfect in many aspects, as was their design. Their hearts proved easy to manipulate, one particular God was able to light a fire of irrational desire within them that would alter the fate of the Dwarves forever more.

Sarmur, God of Coal and by his own measure the least respected member of the Pantheon, was jealous of his father's love for his mortal children and tempted them toward darkness. Although the Dwarves were allowed to use any metal they could ever dream of, Therratum made it well known that creating works made of therratumite is something only he is allowed to do- not even the other Gods are permitted to wield its perfect splendor. Sarmur's treachery was simple, yet effective. He tempted the Dwarves into asking why.

Despite Therratum's patience in explaining his one and only demand to his children, no answer was good enough for the Dwarves. It was only to be expected, since they were taught to be curious and inquisitive. In secret, the Dwarves began experimenting to try and synthesize therratumite. Therratum knew immediately, but he gave them ample time to come to their senses. In their hubris, the Dwarves didn't take the chance to back off and reconsider their path, and instead doubled down their research. This only casted themselves further into the fiery forges of heresy.

After he came to terms with all that had occured, Therratum's fury came down like a hammer on the Dwarves and on Sarmur, whose role in this treachery did not escape the great, divine forge master. The Dwarves were taken from paradise and brought to the surface of the mountain. He told his children that if they wished to ever regain his favor then they must dig and dig until they finally reach the Therratumite Palace. Only those who prove themselves worthy may once again bask in its brilliance and sit amongst the Gods. The only problem is that the deeper one digs into the mountain, the more perilous it becomes.

In the nearly four millennia since their exile to the surface, Only a handful of Dwarves have ever made it back to the palace. The few who prove themselves worthy enough and make it there are granted with the status of a lesser God. These Dwarves often make their success known to the denizens of Hal Moldihr, but for the most part they keep to the palace unless prayed to. Thanks to their confirmation, though, the dream of reuniting with their creator still burns bright for many Dwarves. It's been proven to be possible, after all.

Sarmur, too, was cast out from the Palace. Therratum sentenced him to forever dwell in the deepest and darkest pits of Hal Moldihr, just above the Palace. The knowledge of being so close yet so far from paradise tortures him so, making him burn with jealousy ever more.

Dwarven Afterlife

Therratum truly does care for his creations, thus no matter what happens to Dwarf's soul, there is always the chance for salvation.

When a Dwarf who worships the Hal Moldihr pantheon dies, their soul is turned into a crystal and examined for imperfections by Fofral, God of Mercury. Those who have lived an average or good life have their soul crystal sent to Thistarlun, a Heavenly Realm where Dwarves are free to craft, fight and drink for all eternity if they so choose. Few stay forever. Thistarlun, as peaceful as it may be compared to the toils and pain of the mountain, is said to only be a candle compared to the roaring flames of the Therratumite Palace. Thus, Dwarves are free to reincarnate and attempt to dig deeper into the mountain in their next life. Those who lived good lives by helping other Dwarves and their communities are reborn into lower levels where reaching the Palace may theoretically be easier, while average Dwarves are reincarnated to higher levels further away from the palace.

However, if Fofral deems a soul crystal to be far too corrupted by the imperfections of sin or heresy, then that soul is cast into the depths of the mountain where Sarmur's influence begins to warp it into a monstrous mimicry of what that Dwarf looked like in life. Only now they are made entirely of coal, and their eyes, mouths and cracks glow with a heretical fire from within. They are known as the Sarmurals, and they relentlessly ascend Hal Moldihr seeking Dwarves to attack and consume in their flames. A Sarmural is immortal and when defeated it will continually piece itself back together until a sacred rite of purification is performed, which then reincarnates the Sarmural to the highest level of Hal Moldihr just below the surface.

Any Dwarf who proves themselves by actually reaching the Therramite Palace is granted the status of lesser godhood, and is welcomed with open arms by Therratum as a new son or daughter.

Deity Hierarchy

The Pantheon of Hal Moldihr is very structured and goes as follows,

Therratum
-
Orphomera of Orichalcum
-
Magic Metal Gods
-
Metal Gods
-
Jewel Gods
-
Stone Gods
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Lesser Gods
The Dwarves who make it to the Therrumite Palace
-
Sarmur, God of Coal, formerly counted among the Stone Gods before his betrayal

Sarmur, the Smoldering Coalscorge

Domain - Coal, Fire, Entropy, Hate, Jealousy
Symbol - A broken piece of coal, fire burning within its cracks
Appearance - Originally a tall, robust Dwarf coal for skin, a mane and beard of flames. A small orb of fire for eyes set in empty sockets which constantly expunge smoke. Cracks all over his body where fire and smoke continually erupts out of. Over the thousands of years since his banishment, he has grown more and more monstrous but no one can agree on how. The Dwarves unlucky enough to meet him face to face often don't live to tell the tale.

The great betrayer of the Dwarven pantheon, Sarmur is a name only spoken with the highest disdain. He started life the same as most of his brethren, Therratum isolated coal from his own body and hammered life into it, giving it a name and a godly soul. Even from the moment he first opened his smoking eyes, he viewed the world around him with resentment. His father was perfection, and even among his other siblings who are formed of baser stone he found himself to be the ugliest and least impressive of all- let alone his siblings made of metal and jewels.

Sensing his child's disappointment, Therratum taught Sarmur that he played an invaluable role in the grander scheme of things. Coal exists so that it might light the fires of a forge. Well, isn't that just grand? Sarmur didn't take kindly to knowing his only purpose was to help shape his brothers and sisters into different wondrous shapes. Still, Sarmur kept his innermost thoughts to himself and in those early days he spent his time searching for meaning in the depths of Hal Moldihr. He never found the understanding he hoped for. Instead, every visit to the Therratumite Palace made him that much more bitter and hateful.

And then Therratum made the Dwarves.

Sarmur was disgusted by these baser beings of flesh and blood, even if they were created from the earth itself. He saw them as stupid creatures with empty heads who had to be taught every little thing and couldn't think for themselves. Even so, the Dwarves revered Sarmur for keeping the fires of the Forge alight and they prayed to him just as any other God. Of course, he misused this trust and led the fledgling race astray in the end. Tempting the Dwarves into trying to synthesize Therratumite led to his ultimate downfall, and Sarmur was expelled from the palace forever to wander the lowest levels of Hal Moldihr.

This was almost 4,000 years ago, and ever since then Sarmur has been stewing in his hatred and morphing into an unthinkable monster the likes of which are truly unimaginable. He is always there in the dark, whispering to Dwarves in the lonely caves in his hushed tones when no one else is listening. He envelops them in smoke and lies, inspiring them to act on the jealousy and greed in their hearts so that he may corrupt yet another soul into his ever growing army of Sarmurals.

Many times since his banishment, Sarmur has assaulted the palace gates with incredible fury. These events cause disastrous earthquakes throughout the mountain, wreaking devastation on each level until his desperation overcomes his anger and he leaves. No matter how powerful Sarmur becomes, coal cannot overpower the power of therratumite. If ever an opportunity were to come his way to invade the palace and somehow kill the Gods who lie within, though, it is said that all of Hal Moldihr will fall to pieces and become enveloped in smoke and fire.

Other Gods

This document is just the basics of Dwarven cosmology, and the only two that are massively relevant at this point in time are Therratum and Sarmur. Adding details on other Gods isn't necessary at this point in time, especially considering their pantheon has literally hundreds of Gods who represent each metal, jewel and stone.