Editing Kulmorost Divided (section)

=== Dwarvish ===
====Of Human Corsairs====
Excerpt from ''“On Corsairs – A Study of Piracy in the Modern Age”'' written by Zul-Far-Kun, 717 MA.

The book is widely considered alarmist, overly reactionary, and a satirical piece due to an absence of academic language. Nevertheless, it has formed a shared cultural image amongst the Dwarves of the blood thirsty human pirate.

“It is of no question that Men thrive on raiding and piracy. Left without sufficient agriculture and rich neighbors to their south, the race of Men is famous for their exploits of violence and hatred. Nowhere else is this more personified then by the many piratical clans roaming either the western Val Ocean, or the Eastern Straits of Tahalaca.

“Festooned in iron, steel and whalebone, they reave through settlements great and minor in search of bodies, wealth, and blood sport. These activities are always carried out with the primary, almost myopic intent, of causing fear.

“Some pirates conduct themselves in complete silence, leaving only the sounds of their swords and spears cutting through sinew to carry their message. Others, often from further north, ingest psychedelic substances and chant in garbled tongues while enraptured in combat and slaughter. Different ships, different clans, different methodologies, but almost always with the same result – death and carrion.

“Woe to those who hire such creatures to do their bidding. Many a foolish Elven prince, or princess, have found themselves cornered within their own palaces, cowering in fear, as the Men they hired turn on their former masters for the smallest slight, or perceived breach of contract, or betrayal. Seemingly fickle, but in truth constant, these pirates value one form of currency above all others: blood.” 

====A Scholarly Dwarven Treatise on the Kobold====
"The Kobolds are a particularly prolific Beastmen race that have managed to spread across the Eastern Coats, (especially the swamps) in large numbers.

They speak an incomprehensible garbled babbling language and don't have the vocal cords or intelligence necessary to pronounce any more than the most basic words of or more advanced languages. Kobolds are extremely energetic, and are very good at expressing themselves through pointing, exagerated body language, and mostly harmless spontaneous magic.

Kobolds stand at one third the average height of a Human, and weigh anywhere from 30-50 pounds. To get an idea of what a Kobold looks like, imagine if someone took a small puppy, a tomcat, a salamander, and a rabbit, combined them all into an unnatural abomination, made the abomination anthropomorphic, made it look endearingly adorable, and gave it all the intelligence of the sun sum of its parts, along with a difficult to control but extremely powerful magical potential, and a burning lust for valuable obejects.

That is a Kobold, and many wise scholars theorize that in ancient times a particularly twisted Goblin did just that. Kobolds live for only a decade, a decade and a half at most, and reproduce absurdly quickly, by both laying eggs, and giving birth to live young annually. Many scholars have puzzled over this biological impossibility, the humble author theorizes that egg layers and birth givers are simply two nearly identical subspecies that live with one another, but the truth may never be known. A breeding pair of Kobolds can produce well over 200 within five decades, it is for this reason Kobold nests are destroyed whenever found.

Alone, Kobolds are cowardly and flee from danger, but in large numbers, they become fearless, and use swarm tactics in battle. Kobold hordes are a minor danger, but are a pressing one nontheless.

Kobolds are reknown for their impressive arcane abilities. Fortunately, only 1 in 50 Kobolds is capable of using magic, these gifted Kobolds lead their society. Kobold mages are incapable of subtlety and precision, instead, they recklessly, (and often self-destructively) wield extremely powerful lightning, wind, water, and fire magic, capable of destroying entire small armies on their own.

Fortunately, Kobold mages are very predictable, and a skilled practitioner of the arcane arts can easily counter even the strongest Kobold mages, though large groups may prove to be overwhelming, and they often distract mages from the hordes of nonmagical Kobolds.

Kobolds are carnivorous, and are able and more than willing to consume and subsist off of anything even vaguely meat-like. They can consume bones as well, and many Kobolds find enchanted bones to be extremely delectable. It is for this reason, their extremely low intelligence, prodigious birthrate, and their vandalising, kleptomaniacal tendencies, that Kobolds are regarded as pests by most civilized peoples, and are to be destroyed if this world is to reach perfection in the eyes of Our Maker."

- Urist Woodgut, Year 453 Of Our Maker.

====THE BASIS OF THE CULT OF THE MAKER'S THEOLOGY====
The universe is made up of three substances :
#The Essence of the Architect, his Realm, the "soul" of the Maker and the souls of the dwarves.
#The Higher Substance, the substance of the higher region of the world and of the "body" of the Maker.
#The Lower Substance, the substance of the lower region of the world and the souls of the non-dwarves.

These substances are perfectly separated with the exception of the Maker (Essence in the Higher Region of the World) and the souls of the Dwarves.(Essence in the Lower Region in the World)
But the Maker and the Dwarves will ascend to the Realm of the Architect when their task will be done, establishing a true total separation.

Beings have an essence and a hypostasis (personhood)
The Architect, Maker and Dwarves share the same essence, but are different persons even if they will be in perfect communion in the Realm of the Architect.
Non-dwarves have the same essence (the lower substance), and are all different persons.
There is an hypothetical category of beings who exist in the upper region of the world and have its essence.

The existence of Evil and the flaws in the world are caused by its imperfection as the world is not wholly finished until the dwarves have completed their task.
The Dwarves thus believe they are progressing towards the completion of the world by developing their civilization, quite litteraly thinking they are the final touch in the creation process.
They believe they are always going in the right direction in the long term because they are guided by the Maker but they don't reject responsability and the possibility of decadence in the short and mid time.
The elimination of the imperfection of the world is seen as a spiritual process completly unrelated to magic whose effects on the world are not gradual : the world will become perfect and the dwarves will ascend in a single and sudden event caused by the dwarves's efforts.

====Of Different Human Tribes====
Excerpt from, ''“On the different tribes of Men.”'' (Dra-Bul-Naz, 818 ME)
Published by the University of Valkenburg Print Press.

"Of all of the erroneous assumptions made in anthropology in the last 300 years, none has been more pervasive than the conceptualization of humanity as a single ethnic race. This could not be farther than the truth. In human tribes, there exist four distinct elements: economic, political, ethnic, and religious. Different tribes subscribe to different mixes of these elements, sometimes tolerating multiply ideologies at once.

"It is a theory of the author that Humanity as it exists now did not prior to the expulsion of men from the south. If anything, what little archaeological progress has been made in recent decades has revealed that different Mannish civilizations expressed wildly different architectures, scripts, art, and cultures. Indeed, a convergence only appears towards the beginning their exodus north.

"It is with the above in mind that one must understand that a common Mannish tongue, an amalgamation of seemingly incongruent linguistic features, has not (and will not truly exist). Linguistic differences, although seemingly split amongst ethnic lines, are the primary divider of tribes. Although some level of mutual intelligibility does exist, more often there would be difficulty in communications between two humans born on different coasts of the Northern Wastes.

"Consider the Valkgarians: a centralized tribe eking out an existence on what little green coast of the Northern Wastes there is remaining. Medium to tall of stature, with a wide variety of hair color, and with a gambit of eye colors; this tribe speaks a dialect of Mannish that does not posses grammatical cases. Nor does it have tonality. Intonal, with little inflection, their tongue relies heavily on auxiliary verbs and word order to convey meaning.

"Contrast the Vends people, possessing the same stature and similar hair to the Valkgarians, but with primarily darker eye colors and hair. Their tongue has six-to-seven cases and features complex consonant clusters.

"Theoretically, if you sat down a Vend and a Valkgarian, the two would be able to understand a word or there, but would otherwise have trouble maintaining a conversation.

"Linguistic drift is not a uniquely human phenomenon. Mankind, however, exhibits this tendency alarmingly often – more so than any other peoples."

====Hunted====
He had seen them, no doubt of it. They were still on his tracks.

Months ago the group left home with all the honors the Kingdom could give. A ceremony was held to receive the Overking's blessings, even. The last thing they saw was a cheering crowd of their family, friends and fellow countrymen, waving them goodbye into uncertainty. They knew it was going to be dangerous, and fear slowly turned to excitement at the prospect of going so far beyond any civilized lands. Without heavy support from a certain Senator the ordeal would have been inconceivable, fame and greatness wouldn't be theirs, and many lives would have been spared.

Still in the planning phase, through the many connections he'd built over the years, word came to Rut of GRON about the plans to explore the Northern Wastelands. After so many years of idleness and yearning for his days of adventuring, the sudden call to action seemed like a well-deserved rest from crowded urban life. He was gladly taken in. It was set: 40 brave dwarves would challenge the Northern Wastelands, land of the Haumics, to find their fortunes and glory for their land.

He kept running. They weren't far. He could practically smell the stench and see the horrid crude animal skins, taste the bitter metal with awful vividness. The only thing he couldn't perceive was their sound. The land was on their favor. The snow muffled their steps and the chilly wind whipped the little vigor out of the dwarf's body.

There was a higher aim for the expedition, as the Senator eagerly told them. If the information in the map was accurate and the soil in that frozen hell really hid that many mineral riches, then the Kingdom would have to put a foothold in the Wastelands. The land could be healed, he said, purged from the oblivious devils that had so far been its only inhabitants. By taming one more bit of wilderness, the world would creep towards perfection, and Dwarfkind a bit closer to fulfilling their holy task.

That was the thought of the naive Senator, who was deeply religious and idealistic to a fault. He went as far as trusting the Traders of the Mist and their strange treasures with the lives of 40 good dwarves, sent into a suicide mission for the slim chance of success in the name of a distant greater good. So deep were his faith and anxiety to see the world shaped by dwarven hands.

Rut took a moment to remember how very far away he was from home. His body screamed for rest, and his mind was already giving up. It had been stupid to go.

This had been a 3-day chase. His arm was wounded. It was frozen and lifeless, but at least no longer bled. Equally, he missed seeing blood. He yearned for color.

Their silent march continued; snowflakes fluttered and danced all around him, cold as iron, white as death, as they pricked his face and sucked the warmth off his body. The indistinguishable landscape after him went on and on - could it be endless?

Deep down, he knew it was a pointless struggle, one last attempt to preserve his pride, feigned bravery before his legs inevitably lost their strength and the snow swallowed him alive. Realistically, he could not flee. He didn't even know if there was any place to flee to. If nothing else, it could be worthwhile to keep it up to spite the bloodthirsty bastards. Or so he told himself, as his muscles threatened to snap and his face twisted into a grimace of pain.

If he was not so tired, he would weep for his companions. Nobody deserves that end. These particular humans had a terrifying hunger for magical flesh, and Rut guessed at least 39 of the 40 brave dwarves would be used to sate it. Not long ago they had caught the only other survivor who'd kept up with him nearly this far. Rut heard him screaming and bawling like a baby, until it suddenly stopped.

Sooner or later, the tall wights of the North, the dreadful iron revenants, they would find him. Then the ugly iron masks would come off, and he would have no rest.

====Note from Goblinoid Trader====
Not even the proud Lesian race dares set foot on their neighboring island, the "Everliving Isle", while trading with the Lesians as an envoy the Goblinoid city VRON l was sent to acquire items from the Lesians homeland, items others may see as.... distasteful. After giving the Lesians the goods we had agreed on (mostly small amounts of silver and a small collection of outdated Dwarven texts on the races of Kulmorost) and loading my goods in kind, l inquired about the so called "Isle of the Everliving". The Lesians eyed each other and reverted back to their lower tongue speaking among themselves for a time. then l got my answer. ''"do not land on isle, long-ear. nothing of worth, queen takes men minds, brings the dead. better left be"''

Perhaps the Lesians are simply superstitious, l will put forward that we should mount an expedition once l return to the VRON mages, there we may find some help to our ongoing experiments.

====Of Necromancy====
Excerpt from Dwarven ''"Val-Embor Brumgaurd's fun with magic volume 3"''

"Although some may tell you the act of reanimating the dead is an impossible task, in my own studies l have proved otherwise, although l'll tell you necromancy, while possible is somewhat impractical as the amount of magical energy one must use to keep a deceased body animated much outweighs the usefulness of the dead body. Such foolish proposals of an "army of the dead" is utter nonsense.

all of my experiments are conducted on (mostly) healthy human males captured during a raid on Dwarvish settlements in the northern mountains as well as a few recently dead human corpses 

One of my first experiments was whether one could force the soul of recently deceased man back into his body, though the humans resisted interrogation of other Dwarven mages while alive l thought l might be able to gain some insight after bringing them back. l resolved that the sooner l could bring back the spirit to the body the better my chances of success would be, after suffocating one of the human males in a contraption of my own design, l complete the rituals making a number of animal sacrifices and life essence transferals l was successful in my endeavor, the humans eyes started moving about once more as life returned to the body, though the eyes still looked like that of a dead man l was assured he could see as l waved my hand in front of his face. After the humans initial response of great confusion and discomfort l decided to start the questioning. l was unsuccessful in my efforts of exacting information, l told the human if he answered my questions l would return him to the dead, instead of acting reasonable he instead decided to scream in what could be described perhaps as "spiritual agony" cursing my race and my family before fading back into death after a number of hours. this is not much more than l should have expected from these barbarians "

"in my second series of tests l found that returning the body of the recently dead to life was the easy part, getting the dead to perform intricate tasks was the tricky part. One way l found was by carving instructive runes into the sternum of the dead, either descriptive of a specific task like "protect this one from danger" or a much broader one like "follow instruction"

using these runes on two different bodies l had one with "protect this one from danger" and the name of my then assistant Bal-goran Runemar and then gave instruction to the other once dead man to kill him. the instruction given to the second was successful, perhaps too successful, although the dead seem to increase in strength they lack all skill in their fighting, preferring to randomly tear at the flesh and disembowel the target as opposed to ending their life quickly and mercifully, as Bal-goran found out first hand when the second dead broke through the defenses of the first, completing its given task. My assistants untimely death, though saddening had provided me with another body to experiment on (perfectly legal as he had signed his bodily rights to me for experiment purposes long before his death). using the method described in the previous log l brought back my assistant and asked him of the events that had transpired, he described it as being "quite unfortunate" and "less than ideal" before mirroring that which l described in my first experiment, a kind of "spiritual agony" before fading back to the other side while sobbing and crying out for his mother 

"continuing with my task l invited my other less experienced second assistant (whom l thought wouldn't be needed for these experiments) into the workshop to help with my work. As one could expect he looked somewhat concerned with the current state of my workshop, a number of animal carcasses now littered the workshop floor along with the still twitching bodies of dead and then for a short time not quite as dead human specimens, oh and one cannot forget the disembowel corpse of my deceased first assistant, but l digress. My now first assistant saying nothing of the horrors (or his very recent promotion to my first assistant), was happy enough to help out with further experiments. 

The third and final trial may have been the most successful albeit the most mentally and physically taxing of the three. This time combining parts of previous experiments, l sacrificed the lives and essence of a few beasts, carved runes into the deceased l wished to bring back and then most importantly l gave some of my own life energy to the body, in short binding my own will to that of the dead. l used only small amount as not to dramatically reduce my own lifespan, l calculated l could give the body around 5 hours of animation with all of these processes combined. SUCCESS!! lthe body rose this time, without screaming nor showing any signs of incredible stress. After questioning how the body about recent human activities he was quite cooperative, telling me all that l wanted to know and speaking only when told to. After a time l decided to perform a few simple tasks, l had him collect some of the entrails and generally rearrange a few things in the workshop. After this l decided to take him and my now first assistant for a celebratory drink at the local tavern and let me tell you people at first were quite alarmed to see an undead human wobbling around the streets, but they became calm after l showed them he was entirely bent to my will by having him..."

"Dance to my assistants wonderful flute musings, garnering a few stares and many, many laughs from onlooking Dwarfs. After arriving at the pub my assistant and l partook in some of the finest wines and spoke to some fine Dwarven maidens, though l must admit we lost track of the time and soon enough the spell had worn off. we were alerted to this when the undead man started screaming and clawing at his eyes in a most uncivilized manner before slumping to the floor. We had the owner of the fine establishment keep the body in one of the backrooms ensuring him we would be back for the body the next day when sober and rewarded him a gold coin for his troubles. 

In all regards l wholeheartedly enjoyed my time with necromancy and will return to the subject every once in a while when l think of more experiments. As l stated in the beginning of this chapter necromancy is entirely possible, but somewhat impractical, one would need an almost unlimited about of life essence to keep even a single undead bound to his will for an extended amount of time, making notions of an "undead army" quite impracticable. 

The incarnations, spells, runes and other misc items l used for these experiments as well as diagrams can be found on the next page. Always be careful around humans, alive or dead. Have fun and stay safe!!" - (Val-Embor Brumgaurd's fun with magic volume 3)