Of all the known races, dwarves are considered by many to be the least religious. With their backbreaking work ethic, spartan culture and, some would say, lack of any sense of passion, the dwarves certainly do not seem to be a spiritual people to outside observers. In truth, the dwarves are almost certainly the most uniformly devout of all the races. All dwarves are schooled in the dwarven religion, and within dwarven society, their faith touches every aspect of their culture. Due to the races near-xenophobic isolationist attitude, their lack of any proselytizing, and due to the very nature of their religion, the nature and depth of the dwarven faith is nearly unknown to outside societies.

          All dwarves worship Moradhin.¹ Moradhin is also known as Govannan to the Flan. His name is often corrupted into “Moradin” by speakers of the common tongue. The dwarves are monotheistic, while there are other supernatural figures within the dwarven mythology, Moradhin is the only deity. According to the dwarven faith, Moradhin created the nine fathers of the dwarven race from adamantium figures, heating them to life within Moridananzul,² the great forge in the center of Anzulbelegost.³ The God created the dwarves to assist him in the creation of the World. He made them in his own image: strong, unyielding and proud.

          The dwarves assisted Moradhin in the Creation, and also in the making of many fabulous works, such as the stars. The dwarves, led by Moradhin’s greatest servant, Melethrandhin,⁴ taught the skills of metal working and stonecraft to the Fey and the Elves. The dwarves fell from grace when, consumed with greed and pride, they schemed to create the Arkenstone, a gem of such perfect beauty that it obsessed all who beheld it. Stealing the Arkenstone from Moradhin and attempting to flee Anzulbelegost, they were attacked at the gates of Heaven by a host of Fey, Elves and Irda, all of whom conspired to obtain the stone.⁵ When Moradhin appeared at the scene, the dwarves, believing that their Maker intended to steal the stone from them, turned upon him. Moradhin shattered the lower slopes of Heaven, casting the armies into the World.

          The dwarves were scattered into the World, abandoned by their Creator. The Arkenstone was lost in the fall, and most of the peoples of the World were turned against them because of their greed and usurious treatment of others. Melethrandhin deserted his fellow exiles. It was at point,  their lowest point, that a schism occurred within the dwarves. Many dwarves desired to find the Arkenstone, and use it to bend the wills of their enemies. Others, recognizing their fall from grace, endeavored to return to Moradhin’s teachings. The first group left and scoured the World for the stone. The dwarves name the descendants of these dwarven lords the Derro.⁶ The remaining dwarves gathered together and built strongholds to protect themselves. Within, they sought to devote themselves to Moradhin’s work, and regain his favor.

          The dwarves believe that if they live by Moradhin’s teachings, upon their death they will return to Anzulbelegost to forever work beside their lord.⁷ Of course, the more virtuous a dwarf is in life, the more responsibility that dwarf will be assigned in Anzulbelegost. As the creation of Moradhin, only dwarves are admitted into Anzulbelegost. It is this insular belief system that shields much of dwarven religion from outside cultures. There is no need for dwarves to seek to convert non-dwarves.

          Even among those familiar with the basic tenets of dwarven religion, ignorance abounds about the remainder of the faith; namely, what happens to those dwarves who do not live by Moradhin’s ethics?

          Anzulmandhar

          Those dwarves who reject Moradhin’s teachings, or who give into greed, pride and avarice are condemned to Anzulmandhar,⁸ the Hell of dwarven mythology. Anzulmandhar is connected in some way to Anzulbelegost, but it is contained in the freezing depths of that place, far from the heat and activity of the Forge of Heaven. Anzulmandhar is a pitch-black maze of twisting catacombs and flooded chambers. Those lost souls who come here spend eternity wandering through the icy maze. Dwarven myths hold that the stone here is mined out, there are no materials to work from. Even if tools can be made, they will shatter against the frozen rock. The condemned will spend forever in a state of idle wander.⁹

          There are three prime sins that will condemn a dwarf to an even greater punishment than Anzulmandhar alone: greed, pride and dishonor. All dwarves are susceptible to greed, it was their lust for material wealth that led to their exile from Heaven. The dwarven religion teaches that the sight of the Arkenstone permanently instilled greed in the hearts of all the descendants of the Fathers. Those who give in to greed, and toil in life only to increase their material wealth, are doomed to return as Tappers. Tappers are unknown outside of dwarven society. Within the society, they are routinely used to frighten children. Tappers are condemned to toil fruitlessly in the bowels of Anzulmandhar. Stripped naked in the freezing depths, they forever mine for stones and metals that the dead earth of Hell will never provide. Tappers hate the living, and envy, from beyond death, the wealth and material possessions of the World. It is said that they sometimes return to the World, and secretly mine in abandoned depths. The haunting tapping from their picks, arising from long-unused tunnels, terrifying the living.

          Those who give in to the sin of pride face a far worse fate. They are condemned to be among the Tunnelers Below. These immaterial shades are damned to wander the lightless vaults in the deepest portions of Anzulmandhar, endlessly toiling to expand the already infinite maze of tunnels. It is an unending punishment, for the Tunnelers have no substance, and their touch passes through the stone. It is said that some Tunnelers return to the World, and secretly carve tunnels just below the halls of the living. There, they gather, shadowing the movements of those above them, waiting to burst forth and steal the unwary soul down to Anzulmandhar with them. As much as dwarves fear the Tappers, the mention of the Tunnelers Below will send a dwarf into paroxysms of fear.

          The very worst of all dwarves are those who dishonor themselves. If a dwarf goes back on his word, lies, breaks and oath or forsakes his honor, he is condemned to the very worst of all damnations. Those dwarves, and they are very rare for dwarves value their honor above even minthril, are cast into Anzulmandhar. There, they are hunted through the frigid stygian maze by Urdlen (See IV, Supra). The damned made hide and evade that awful being for Ages, but eventually they will be found and torn asunder. Death will not be theirs. They will rise again and again, only to be endlessly hunted down and devoured by He Who Crawls Below. These damned, the Karach Angren,¹⁰ are sometimes able to flee into the World. They are the most awful kind of monster, ghastly to behold, and hungry for the blood of the living. Dwarves shudder at the mention of these awful things.

          The Denizens of Anzulmadhar

          Although it is true that Moradhin is the only god of the dwarves, other entities exist within the pantheon. There are three mythic figures central to Anzulmadhar: Abbathor, Balthar and Urdlen.¹¹ Whether these beings are “divine,” or are merely devils or other such entities is unknown.

          Abbathor is the patron of greed. Of all the denizens of Anzulmandhar, he is the most powerful, for greed is the greatest sin for dwarves to overcome.¹² Abbathor is rarely pictured, often he is represented by a cloud of flies or dust. His face is never depicted when pictured in human form, it is often covered with a cloth.¹³ Abbathor tempts dwarves from the icy bowels of Anzulmandhar with visions of wealth and power. Many times, it is said, he has used the rumor of the Arkenstone to corrupt dwarves from Moradhin’s path. Abbathor is truly wicked, like Melethrandhin before him, he abandons those who follow his lies deep into the black frozen heart of Anzulmandhar.

          Balthar represents the sin of Pride. He is represented as a tall, powerful dwarven lord. His beard is made of blue flames, of burning coldness. He is said to wear a great suit of adamantium plate armor, set with the most precious of gems. His allure is a great deception. No light shines in Anzulmandhar, his gems do not sparkle, his armor cannot gleam. Those who join his host march in silence in the black wormholes of hell.

          Urdlen is far and away the worst of the denizens of Anzulmandhar. He lures dwarves into breaking their word, oaths and honor. He appears, when depicted, as a ghastly skeletal dwarf, shorn of beard, and with dead-white skin and night-black eyes. His teeth and nails are made of adamantium. More a monster than a quasi-deity, it is he who carves the winding tunnels beneath Anzulbelegost, burrowing Hell ever deeper, chewing and clawing through the frozen stone. To the dwarves, personal honor is everything. Betraying one’s oaths and ethics is the gravest of all sins. Dwarves never mention Urdlen by name, instead referring to him as “He Who Crawls Below.” The merest mention of this entity is enough to unnerve any dwarf.

          Dwarves, like all other cultures, have a rich and detailed religion. Like many cultures, their conception of Hell reveals a great deal about culture. Unlike most religions, The Cold Forges are noticeably lacking in affirmative means of punishment, suffering or toil. Indeed, the dwarven race thrives on adversity, hostile environments and hard work. For a dwarf, the boredom, idleness and nothingness of Anzulmandhar are enough for most to endeavor to prove themselves worthy of Moradhin’s teachings.

     ¹ (D. “The One Smith”); MOHR-ah-DEEN. Note that the dwarves name themselves the moradha (D. “Children of the Smith”); MOHR-ah-DAH.

     ² (D. “Forge of Creation”); MORR-id-DANN-ahn-ZOOL.

     ³ (D. “Smithy of Creation”); ahn-ZOOL-bell-ah-GOST. The dwarven “Heaven.”

     ⁴ (D. “One of Skill”); MELL-ee-THRAN-deen. The dwarven religion maintains that Melethrandhin and the mythic figure Belaiden (F. “Maker of Good Works”), from the Fey and Elven pantheons are one and the same being. As both the Fey and the Elves maintain that Belaiden is now known as Iuz (S. “The Old”), it appears that the dwarves trace their fall to The Enemy. Although this contradicts many myths, it should be noted that the dwarven religion is far and away the most internally consistent religion ever documented.

     ⁵ Interestingly enough, although both the Fey and the Elves dispute the account that they assailed Moradhin’s smithy, the Arkenstone appears in the myths of both, and it first appears in the hands of the fathers of the dwarves. According to the Fey, the stone was stolen from Anzulbelegost by the wily Fey Kurell. The Elves recount that the stone was taken by force from the helm of a dwarven lord who led a force against the fortress of the elven Lord Solonor Thelandira. In any event, in both myths the stone sows chaos and disaster in its wake.

     ⁶ (D. “Searchers”). The Derro take this name for themselves as well.

     ⁷ Many commentators have noted that only the dwarves would envision a heaven where eternal toil was the ultimate reward.

     ⁸ (D. “The Cold Forges”); ahn-ZOOL-mann-DARR.

     ⁹ Again, it is typical of the race that, in Hell, there is nothing to do; boredom and idleness being the anthithesis of dwarven culture.

     ¹⁰ (D. “Eaters of the Dead”); kayr-AWCK ang-GREN. The equivalent of vampires in the dwarven mythos.

     ¹¹ Other mythic figures exist unconnected with Anzulmandhar. These include Klannedhin Silverbeard, a heroic figure; Vergadain, a demi-god of wealth and luck; Dumathoin, the Keeper of Secrets; and Berronar, a matron of love and marriage.

     ¹² Abbathor is the patron diety of the Derro.

     ¹³ Perhaps to represent blind greed.