Editing Dwarfs (Warhammer Fantasy) (section)

===Prehistory (Golden Age before Chaos)===
In the beginning of the Warhammer World (named "Mallus" in Age of Sigmar for its solid core, because "The Warhammer World" is a cumbersome and rather uncreative name for a planet) a race of beings from another place and/or time called the [[Old Ones]] descended on a primitive world (which as of the [[End Times]] was revealed to already have [[Isha]], [[Asuryan]], [[Kurnous]], and [[Ereth Khial]] among unknown other Elf gods on it thanks to them surviving the end of the preceding universe). The Old Ones discovered there were primitive races on the verge of sapience, and began experimenting on them to create a race capable of defeating Chaos. To achieve this end they created the [[Lizardmen]] as assistants and built the [[Warp Gates]] to draw magic and use as tools (accidentally drawing the very attention of Chaos they were trying to avoid). They first made the races civilized and planted the seeds of their culture, placed them in an environment perfectly formed to aid their development, and put them in proximity to fight Chaos.

First uplifted were the [[High Elves (Warhammer Fantasy)|Elves]], gifted in magic and longevity. But the Elves were too frail, too corruptible. Chaos could tug at their emotions and draw them into conflict with themselves, lure them to its side with promises of power and pride, and were loyal to themselves before their race and their race before anything else.

So the Old Ones took the Dwarfs and uplifted them, tweaking the formula to still have long life but making the Dwarfs entirely unable to be corrupted by Chaos ([[Chaos Dwarfs|in theory because it didn't work in practice]]) by making their bodies resist magic and giving them personalities that Chaos could not twist. While Elves are arrogant and act on emotion, Dwarfs are prideful but act on duty before all else. Inherent loyalty to each other prevents them from being manipulated into infighting easily, but the Dwarfs have a cultural emphasis on Oaths and pursuit of gold which allows them to deal with other races fairly. Refusal to allow insult and sleight lie unavenged make them more than willing to fight any threat, although Dwarfs lack the desire for war and bloodlust that lay deep in the hearts the Elves. Dwarfs were able to improve on the superior techniques of creating objects with their obsessive nature and a race-wide perfect photographic memory. Sadly, the Old Ones rejected the Dwarfs due to their easily predictable nature and the inability to use magic being a disadvantage more than a strength. So the Old Ones moved on, creating the human race next then the Halflings, Giants, and finally Ogres with miscellaneous races inbetween.

Dwarfs remember their history differently however. They claim to have been born from the stone of the first mountains, a story that doesn't involve Elves or Lizardmen or any other race. They believe the first Dwarfs to be their gods, the Ancestor Gods. [[Valaya]] was the first queen, who invented almost all aspects of Dwarf culture. Her husbands were [[Grungni]] and [[Grimnir]], with Grungni taking the language his wife created and inventing the ability to forge them into objects using specific rituals to trap magic inside without the corruption or destruction inherent to magic. Grimnir on the other hand became a war god, destroying the enemies of the Dwarfs. In reality, these three were only the leaders of the first Dwarfs that were given gifts by the Old Ones, guided by the hands of the mysterious beings (its not clear if seen or unseen, although since the [[Slann]] directly taught magic to the Elves its possibly the first three royals were guided by the Old Ones themselves). The three did indeed become gods, possibly through the Old Ones or possibly through other means.
Dwarfs claim that Valaya invented all aspects of Dwarf culture from Grudge-keeping to brewing to the language of the Dwarfs (called "Khazalid"), while the lore that isn't told through the Dwarf perspective claims these were the gifts of the Old Ones meaning that Valaya likely just spread the knowledge and as a goddess was the patron rather than was the inventor. What is true is that Valaya was the one who established the primary Dwarf Holds (called "Karaks" or [[Dwarf Fortress|Fortress]]) including Karaz-a-Karak which became her holy city and the capital of the Dwarf race, although she left her sons in charge of each Karak and Dwarfs consider said sons as the first ruler of each.
[[File:Classic Dwarfs.png|thumb|right|400px|Early Warhammer Dwarfs (meta, not fluff).]]
By Dwarf reckoning the first stone gave birth to the three, then the three created the others from it; thus making the three the "parents" of all Dwarfs. But Valaya gave birth to children of both of her husbands, and the lineage of many Dwarfs can be traced directly to them which lends them legitimacy and credence in society, which is why the same lore can have a Dwarf say they are all sons of Valaya while their king is considered a direct son of Valaya.

Grungni one day made a prophesy that a great disaster would befall the Dwarfs. He and Valaya created a special rune, her own rune, that protected from magic and Chaos while Grimnir prepared for a great war by slaying the monsters already in the world including "Urmskaladrak" AKA the father of all Dragons (according to the Elves, this dragon was a benevolent being killed by one of their own gods who's body formed [[Ulthuan]] meaning which story is true is unknown).