Dumathoin
| Dumathoin | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Aliases | Keeper of Secrets Under the Mountain, the Mountain Shield, the Silent Keeper | |
| Alignment | True Neutral | |
| Divine Rank | Intermediate God 1E: Greater God |
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| Pantheon | Morndinsamman (Dwarf) | |
| Portfolio | 2E: Keeper of Metals and Other Buried Wealth, The Earth's Riches, Ores, Gems, Minerals, Mining, Exploration, Mountain Dwarves, Guardian of the Dead 3E: Buried Wealth, Ores, Gems, Mining, Exploration, Mountain Dwarves, Guardian of the Dead 5E: Buried Secrets |
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| Domains | 2E: All, Creation, Combat, Elemental (Earth, Fire), Healing, Necromancy, Protection, Wards, minor Divination, Guardian, Travelers 3E: Cavern, Craft, Dwarf, Earth, Knowledge, Metal, Protection 5E: Death (SCAG), Grave (MToF), Knowledge |
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| Home Plane | 2E: Dwarven Mountain (Outlands) 3E: Dwarfhome |
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| Worshippers | Miners and Smiths, especially Dwarf ones | |
| Favoured Weapon | Magmahammer (Mattock/Maul) | |
Dumathoin is the Dwarf God of Mining, Gems and the Underground in Dungeons & Dragons. He is one of the oldest gods in the pantheon after Moradin himself, having appeared in the first iteration of that pantheon in the hoary pages of Dragon Magazine #58. He shares this honor with Abbathor, Berronar Truesilver, Clangeddin Silverbeard and Vergadain.
1st Edition[edit | edit source]
Detailed, as mentioned above, in Dragon Magazine #58, Dumathoin is the protector of the mountains, the earth, and all its secrets; metals and gemstones are his gift to the world. He is a silent, unspeaking god, reserving his wisdom for himself.
He is considered the protector of the mountain dwarves subrace, a position which led to the downfall of Abbathor and which he didn't exactly like at first. As a matter of fact, he was pissed off when he saw the dwarves start to "destroy" the mountains he had created for them, but his rage was soothed and changed to admiration when he saw the beautiful objects they crafted from the metal they had mined. Thus, he became the patron god of mining... but, whilst he does not object to tunneling, mining, or keeping treasures underground, he does object to those who plunder the earth's riches and take them away for unfair or selfish purposes. And dwarves are not exempt from this displeasure.
For this reason, Dumathoin does maintain friendly relations with a few non-dwarven deities, mostly connected to metalcraft and earth. As such, his mortal followers are sometimes involved in business ventures based around selling metals, ores and stone.
Dumathoin appears as a dwarf whose skin is earth brown, whose eyes are silver fire, and whose hair and beard are made of gray stone. He wields a two-handed mattock of solidified magma.
2nd Edition[edit | edit source]
Like most demihuman deities, AD&D 2nd edition saw Dumathoin's lore relegated to a Forgotten Realms splatbook, the simply named "Demihuman Deities". For the most part, it reiterates and expands upon that comparatively sparse lore from 1st edition.
One way this source expanded upon his original magazine lore was by stating some of the things that really tick him off. Firstly, clumsy/crude rock-cutting efforts; if it doesn't smooth the earth, follow the natural flows, and highlight the individual features of the rocks, it bugs him. But cutting that causes cavern collapses and floodings are even less to his liking.
Dumathoin is described as patient, stolid and tolerant, even around non-dwarves, but he makes for an implacable foe. Most who offend Dumathoin and realize what they have done set at once to loudly and ferverently praying for his forgiveness, typically offering to make amends by bringing back gems and metal treasures to the place where they offended him, either immediately or by a specified time. He will usually be appeased if they keep their promise, but if they don't...
There are four ways that Dumathoin may manifest; two helpful, two harmful. Unlike his fellows in the Morndinsamman, he doesn't discriminate by race, and will manifest in such a way for dwarves and non-dwarves alike.
On the "helpful" end, when people are lost underground (especially if their light sources have gone out), Dumathoin may guide them to safety by causing rock crystals exposed in the stone walls to sparkle or wink in sequence, beckoning them and outlining a route to lead them to safety - if there are no such crystals, he may cause the bare rock to glow instead. He may also cause wedged boulded or rubble blockages to spontaneously shift, granting access to unexplored tunnels or freeing the trapped.
On the "harmful" end, rumblings in the deep and other earth tremors, particularly when a cavern is first entered or a rockface first struck with pick or hammer, are known as "the warnings of Dumathoin", as they presage cave-ins. If truly angered, Dumathoin may cause a spontaneous cave-in (or the collapse of a cliff-face, if the unfortunate is outside) to smite his enemy.
Dumathoin demonstrates his favor through the discovery of veins of precious ore and gems of all types - bar octel, shandon, sphene and rock crystal, as these are sacred to Berronar Truesilver instead. His displeasure results in once-rich veins quickly playing out, the discovery of pyrite, and uncut gems shattering into worthless fragments when touched by a gemcutter's tools.
As you might guess, Dumathoin is very popular with dwarves who mine or work with metal & gems (which is to say virtually all of them). Even other races who have an interest in those fields have been known to offer him respect.
Temples to Dumathoin are always constructed in deep underground caves; the presence of veins of precious ore or an abundance of gems in the rock is desireable, but not necessary. Each temple's heart is its simple altar, a large block of stone or a natural boulder, and its adornment takes the form of statues of Dumathoin lining the walls.
Specialist clerics of Dumathoin are called Delvesonns ("Dumathoin's Hidden Gifts"). Like all specialist priests of the Morndinsamman, they cannot turn undead until 7th level, and suffer a -4 level penalty when trying, but gain a +2 bonus to attack & damage rols against the undead.
The delvesonns seek to uncover the earth's buried wealth without being greedy or marring the beauty of what lies beneath. They often supervise mining operations, where they both maintain underground safety & security and work to beautify what the miners do - cleaning up rubble, growing & placing luminous fungi & edible deep-mosses, and directing water to form underground rivers and aquifers. They're always hunting for new veins of ore, new sources & species of useful fungi, and new delves or underways never explored before. They also try to identify encountered dangers, so they can determine strategies to deal with them, and bargain with non-hostile races of the underground to avoid the over-exploitation of resources.
This admittedly doesn't sound very useful to adventurers at first glance, but it really pays off; there are few who can match a delvesonn when it comes to guiding others safely through the underways, especially if you need to find fresh water and food as you go.
The noviates of Dumathoin's faithful are called the Uncut; full-fledged priests are the Keepers of the Shield, who progress in rank from Agate through Onyx, Amethyst, Jargoon, Garnet, Topax, Opal, Sapphire and Diamond. Collectively, the most high-ranked priests of Dumathoin are known as the Beljurils, though they take individual titles for themselves.
The holy days of Dumathoin's faith are the Deepstone Triat - the night of the new moon, and the day directly preceding and following it. Additionally, High Old Ones of the delvesonns can declare other days to be holy - Splendarrsonn - when dwarves discover a major new lode, a lost subterranean treasure cache or delve, or some other great treasure below the earth.
On the holy days, gems are offered to Dumathoin in sacrifice, crushed to a powder and mixed with certain herbs and fungal secretions to form an acrid, purple-and-green fibrous paste. This noxious-looking gunk serves to make rock porous, helps plant matter adhere to the rock, and provides nourishment for plants in contact with it. Delvesonns use this to encourage the growth of underground fungi and plants, both for beautification and for practical purposes, such as establishing edible crops or using these plants to conceal doors or making redirecting watercourses easier.
One unusual aspect of the delvesonns is that Dumathoin's portfolio also makes them the primary protector of the dead. Rather like Anubis in Egypt, Dumathoin and his faithful are the morticians and tomb-builders of the dwarven race.
There are three primary precepts to burial, as practiced by the delvesonns: the body is washed and three or more stone burial tokens - the corpse's personal mark, the clan's mark, and Dumathoin's mark - are braided into its beard or hair. Secondly, the corpse is clothed in armor (its own if it had it, or else a suit of light mail). Finally, the priest presiding over the burial creates a song honoring the dead dwarf's life and deeds, which is carved into the lid of their coffin or sacrophagus (or onto the back of a mausoleum seal, a plaque or a marker, as the case may be). This song is never sung out loud, to honor Dumathoin's own silence. Indeed, the faith holds that speaking or singing the song aloud will invoke a curse, perhaps even wrenching the desecrated corpse back to unlife to smite whoever did so.
Individual clans may change some details, and certain kinds of burial change the formula; these are the most common cases:
- A priest's funeral incorporates aspects of their patron god. For example, priests of Clangeddin Silverbeard are often interred with the remains of their greatest conquered enemy, to provide an afterlife of grand battle. Spells are used heavily in such funerals, to protect the remains (and, some hint, to prevent the gods from calling on their servants after their time has passed).
- Non-dwarves who fall in battle defending dwarven allies, a dwarf tomb, or a place sacred to Dumathoin can be granted the honor of being buried by the delvesonns.
- Delvesonns bury wizards in robes of woven silver and sealed in either solid silver sarcophagi or a burial creche lined with silver; this is due to an ancient myth that Dumathoin paid Mystra his weight in silver to garner his faithful protection from magics that disturb the sleep of the dead. Most don't actually believe this, but the custom remains.
- Dwarf outcasts are rarely honored with burial by a delvesonn, but if a priest of Dumathoin relents to such a task, they always leave out the token bearing the outcast's former clan mark. They may also incorporate a broken or marred clan symbol into the outcast's coffin or burial place marker.
Dumatoin's clergy favor leather garments, be it armor or mining gear, as their priestly vestments - in battle, though, they grab the most effective armor possible - and wear earth-brown cloaks and over-robes on top of this. They keep their heads bare and allow their hair and beards to grow long and untamed. The holy symbol of the faith is a miniature silver pick, and they tend to prefer picks, hammers and other mining tools as weapons.
The dogma of the Mountain Shield reads thus: Walk the deep and silent ways of Dumathoin. Seek out the hidden gifts of the Keeper of Secrets under the Mountain. That which is hidden is precious, and that which is precious shall stay hidden. Seek to enhance the natural beauty of Dumathoin's gifts and go with, not against, the contours of the deeps. Beauty is in the discovery and the crafting, not the holding. Keep the places of our dead inviolate and well tended; the noble ancestors of our race will neither be robbed nor mocked through the actions of thieves and defilers. Abide not undead creatures, especially those that take the form of dwarves, thus mocking the creation of Moradin.
3rd Edition[edit | edit source]
In third edition, Dumathoin once again returned as part of the Forgotten Realms line, in "Faiths and Pantheons".
3e renames Dumathoin's clergy to the Talhund ("Hidden Gifts"). All other details remain the same.
4th Edition[edit | edit source]
Because Dumathoin is both extremely tied up with a single race, and not a deity that is particularly relevant to adventurers, he was one of the vast majority of racial deities downgraded to Exarches in 4th edition.
You could still play a cleric of Dumathoin, particularly once Cleric Domains returned - Dragon Magazine #392 even brought back an Earth domain - but he just wasn't deemed important enough to get a full-fledged deity writeup.
5th Edition[edit | edit source]
Dumathoin returned to 5th edition in first the "Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide" and then in "Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes". Unfortunately, other than the bare mechanical knowledge needed to theme your cleric as worshipping him, absolutely no details on him was presented.