A tragedy in the history of sentient races despite common allies, and a singular common foe, the Elves and Dwarves could not be more different in so many ways. Where the Dwarves are short, stout, and muscular the Elves are tall, elegant, thin, agile and graceful. The Dwarves are not the most beautiful of races, their women even having beards (braided and somehow hair like silk), the Elves are well groomed with a natural desire for aesthetics. These aside, what also divided them was that the Elves preferred diplomacy and peace, despite their strength, and magickal prowess; the Dwarves preferred sweat, labor, parties, drinking, gold and forging. Their greatest vanities lie in the prowess of their Rune Forging, their strength, heartiness, and greatness in combat.
The Elves however have always envied the one magick of the natural environment that the Dwarves had; Rune Magick. Despite their best efforts, they found they could only reproduce the Dwarven works if they embraced the Dark Forbidden Arts; such as ritual sacrifice, soul destruction, and soul death manipulation. This would eventually in part lead to their great cataclysm.
Every 10,000 years the Guardian of the All Father, their older brother, the Watcher and the Enforcer, would judge the tournament of the Deities. The tournament was used to judge two things: assignment that each Deity of the multiverse performed, their duty as was charged when they were crafted, proven through the form of worship their followers most commonly used given form according to the Deity's will; and the second part is to determine how much a Deity's sphere of influence had grown, or changed, in any unnatural way that was unique to each Deity's own creation level. Those that failed in the second part of the tournament were destroyed by the Elder Lastryx. The Watcher's tournament, except one, always came down to the Elven Goddess of Magick, and the Dwarven Goddess of Blacksmith.
The Dwarves had managed to tie with the Elves every year; so in the 50,000th year - the 5th tournament - despite the civilizations that rose and fell, the Watcher divulged that he would declare a winner that year. The rule was that five of the most devout Clerics and High Priests/Priestesses had to be present. When the tournament was to take place a couple of the Elves suggested poisoning the Dwarven Goddess, or tainting her Forge - which would lead to the Great Cataclysm of the Elves. However, the Elven Goddess chose the proper way, as did the Dwarven Goddess.
When the items were presented, the Watcher saw from the Elven Goddess came the most beautiful harp. This was no simple beautiful harp though. This harp was made from metal that was pulled from a shooting star and was enchanted with the ancient primordial words "Love and Beauty, so called Hope". The Harp's name, Hope, in its perfectly shaped form had strings literally made from the light of the stars and moon itself. When it was played by the Elven Goddess of Magick the sweetest song filled every Deity with tears, and all the mortal Clerics were brought to their knees by its beauty and stricken blind and submissively calm as well as euphoric while the music played. The harp even had the ability to bring back the dead and control populations. It was three minutes later and the Watcher nodded his head, a silent gesture that the item was well crafted.
The Watcher gave everyone time to calm themselves before finally calling for the Dwarven Goddess to bring forth her creation. When time came, the Dwarven Goddess of Blacksmith came forth with a massive set of War hammers; the pommels were made from the very metal that was found from a star in the Void; quality cloth made out of the very blackness of the cosmos was used to wrap the left war hammer. The right one was bathed in the blue-star night color the Dwarven Night Sky. There were two runes finely crafted from the stones of the Primordial Plane. The runes had metal gifted from the All Father, a chink from the very armor of the Dwarven Goddess herself. The weapons each carried Rune symbols on them. The left was Nightbringer, or in Dwarven as Kal'Diznor - The Hammer of Infinite night; it was explained that the weapon was so strong that when it crashed against the ground it could create an earthquake and cause volcanoes to erupt. The head of the Hammer had the moon encrusted with Dwarven runic Primordial speech around it as blessings to banish the unclean. The right weapon was known as Greed Breaker, with the head made of fine gold, blessed with the same Dwarven runes as the left one, this war hammer was said that when it smashed a foe it created hurricanes and destroyed the sound barrier between the Realms.
To test the weapons the Watcher fought all Deities present and indeed found the crafting to not only be beyond words but also beyond creative with no signs of corruption. The Cleric mortals hearts had exploded in their chest when the armor of the Gods had been struck. Both weapons had been two handed war hammers with double squared edges. The mortals were eviscerated. After all was settled, the Watcher inspected every inch of the three items and finally spoke.
"So it is the will of the All Father that a winner be decided. My Dwarven Sister, your hammers pure for protection of mortals and kin are of such craft that none will ever reproduce it. However, these weapons, should they ever leave your Ethereal plane, they could completely destabilize the very fabric of the Multiverse."
"My Elven Sister, your Harp's danger comes from the beauty of its song, for its beauty and the strum of each string is but another note to upset the balance. Yet a winner must be declared. The winner is......"
The Watcher turned to give his gaze to the winner.
"The Dwarven Goddess."
This was not the end, for in her rage, the Elven Goddess turned and with all of her magick scattered the greatest of the Dwarven craftings throughout the multiverse. And with a shout of rage, brought destruction on the ethereal plane to the Forge of the Dwarven Gods, never fully allowing them to craft weapons of that quality again. The Dwarves and Elves have been at war with one another ever since. From the hatred of their manners and appearance to the jealousy of their craft, the Elves and Dwarves, especially of Athuras, can agree only when it comes to temporarily putting their grudge aside to fight Orcs.
The Elves however have always envied the one magick of the natural environment that the Dwarves had; Rune Magick. Despite their best efforts, they found they could only reproduce the Dwarven works if they embraced the Dark Forbidden Arts; such as ritual sacrifice, soul destruction, and soul death manipulation. This would eventually in part lead to their great cataclysm.
Every 10,000 years the Guardian of the All Father, their older brother, the Watcher and the Enforcer, would judge the tournament of the Deities. The tournament was used to judge two things: assignment that each Deity of the multiverse performed, their duty as was charged when they were crafted, proven through the form of worship their followers most commonly used given form according to the Deity's will; and the second part is to determine how much a Deity's sphere of influence had grown, or changed, in any unnatural way that was unique to each Deity's own creation level. Those that failed in the second part of the tournament were destroyed by the Elder Lastryx. The Watcher's tournament, except one, always came down to the Elven Goddess of Magick, and the Dwarven Goddess of Blacksmith.
The Dwarves had managed to tie with the Elves every year; so in the 50,000th year - the 5th tournament - despite the civilizations that rose and fell, the Watcher divulged that he would declare a winner that year. The rule was that five of the most devout Clerics and High Priests/Priestesses had to be present. When the tournament was to take place a couple of the Elves suggested poisoning the Dwarven Goddess, or tainting her Forge - which would lead to the Great Cataclysm of the Elves. However, the Elven Goddess chose the proper way, as did the Dwarven Goddess.
When the items were presented, the Watcher saw from the Elven Goddess came the most beautiful harp. This was no simple beautiful harp though. This harp was made from metal that was pulled from a shooting star and was enchanted with the ancient primordial words "Love and Beauty, so called Hope". The Harp's name, Hope, in its perfectly shaped form had strings literally made from the light of the stars and moon itself. When it was played by the Elven Goddess of Magick the sweetest song filled every Deity with tears, and all the mortal Clerics were brought to their knees by its beauty and stricken blind and submissively calm as well as euphoric while the music played. The harp even had the ability to bring back the dead and control populations. It was three minutes later and the Watcher nodded his head, a silent gesture that the item was well crafted.
The Watcher gave everyone time to calm themselves before finally calling for the Dwarven Goddess to bring forth her creation. When time came, the Dwarven Goddess of Blacksmith came forth with a massive set of War hammers; the pommels were made from the very metal that was found from a star in the Void; quality cloth made out of the very blackness of the cosmos was used to wrap the left war hammer. The right one was bathed in the blue-star night color the Dwarven Night Sky. There were two runes finely crafted from the stones of the Primordial Plane. The runes had metal gifted from the All Father, a chink from the very armor of the Dwarven Goddess herself. The weapons each carried Rune symbols on them. The left was Nightbringer, or in Dwarven as Kal'Diznor - The Hammer of Infinite night; it was explained that the weapon was so strong that when it crashed against the ground it could create an earthquake and cause volcanoes to erupt. The head of the Hammer had the moon encrusted with Dwarven runic Primordial speech around it as blessings to banish the unclean. The right weapon was known as Greed Breaker, with the head made of fine gold, blessed with the same Dwarven runes as the left one, this war hammer was said that when it smashed a foe it created hurricanes and destroyed the sound barrier between the Realms.
To test the weapons the Watcher fought all Deities present and indeed found the crafting to not only be beyond words but also beyond creative with no signs of corruption. The Cleric mortals hearts had exploded in their chest when the armor of the Gods had been struck. Both weapons had been two handed war hammers with double squared edges. The mortals were eviscerated. After all was settled, the Watcher inspected every inch of the three items and finally spoke.
"So it is the will of the All Father that a winner be decided. My Dwarven Sister, your hammers pure for protection of mortals and kin are of such craft that none will ever reproduce it. However, these weapons, should they ever leave your Ethereal plane, they could completely destabilize the very fabric of the Multiverse."
"My Elven Sister, your Harp's danger comes from the beauty of its song, for its beauty and the strum of each string is but another note to upset the balance. Yet a winner must be declared. The winner is......"
The Watcher turned to give his gaze to the winner.
"The Dwarven Goddess."
This was not the end, for in her rage, the Elven Goddess turned and with all of her magick scattered the greatest of the Dwarven craftings throughout the multiverse. And with a shout of rage, brought destruction on the ethereal plane to the Forge of the Dwarven Gods, never fully allowing them to craft weapons of that quality again. The Dwarves and Elves have been at war with one another ever since. From the hatred of their manners and appearance to the jealousy of their craft, the Elves and Dwarves, especially of Athuras, can agree only when it comes to temporarily putting their grudge aside to fight Orcs.