Humans

Humans are one of the peoples of the world, once closely allied with the dwarves but now separated by the Sundering Compact.

Before the Sundering Compact

In an earlier age, humans and dwarves lived and worked together within the great underground fortresses. Human mages maintained workshops inside dwarven halls, contributing their knowledge of magic to dwarven society.

One such mage was Aldara, who kept a chamber deep within the Rumbling Deeps, beneath the Great Crossing. She developed a method for creating stable portals between two fixed points using stone arches, specific runes, and crystals. A portal requires a sending arch and a receiving arch — without both ends, no return trip. Activation requires placing a crystal in the sending arch's bracket. Aldara documented her research in A Treatise on the Practical Application of Aetherial Conduits, a book that survived centuries in her abandoned workshop, protected by a preservation enchantment.

The Sundering Compact

At some point in the distant past, a treaty known as the Sundering Compact was enacted, separating humans and dwarves. The details and cause of the Compact remain unclear, but its effects were thorough — human chambers within dwarven fortresses were abandoned and forgotten. Aldara's workshop lay undisturbed for centuries until Borin stumbled into it through a garbage chute.

Present Day

Today, most dwarves have little direct contact with humans or the surface world. Some trade persists — Borin acquires human books, elvish scrolls, and gnomish technical manuals through surface merchants — but the two peoples live largely separate lives.