Ord

Domains: Creation, Knowledge, Protection, Sun, War

Ord, the Maker, the Engineer, is the patron of the dwarves. Ord, along with his siblings Aan, Eth, and Kul, created Orden. These four saw the world as a dynamic expression of their philosophies.

Ord values integrity, honor, faithfulness to an ideal. Courage in battle and fair play. Treating your opponent honorably, Ord teaches, is an expression of your own worthiness. Ord is associated with permanence, which some elder dwarves take to mean a kind of slavish devotion to tradition. But Ord teaches permanence is the quality of reliability, of steadfastness. Young dwarves who chafe at the stale and stifling traditions of their elders remind the greybeards that Ord is the Maker. He expects his children to create marvels, to bring forth new discoveries, new insights. To remake the world anew each generation.

Heroes of the Dwarves

The following heroes are venerated by many dwarves and others who follow Ord.

Zarok the Law-Giver

Domains: Protection, War

Zarok the Law-Giver. Zarok the Teacher. Zarok who is Justice.

The first, great hero of the dwarves, Zarok was a noted general, diplomat, and poet. In his time each dwarf city-state had its own laws which were mostly just lists of offenses with punishments listed next to them. There was no consistency from one city to another and no underlying theory of law. The strong ruled, the rest obeyed.

It was after Zarok retired from his career as a warmaster and became the ambassador to the elves that he undertook a study of how different cultures express the idea of justice. He surveyed the various traditions of elves, humans, and orcs and wrote The Conversations-a series of fictional dialogues in which two characters, deliberately chosen from dwarf theater so as to be familiar to his audience, debate the question: "What are the characteristics of a just society?"

The Conversations marks the beginning of legal theory in Orden. It sought not only to state what a just society was, but to prove it ethically through a series of logical statements. Most of the work concerns itself with the proper, ethical uses of political power. The adversarial system of legal representation is his.

Zarok teaches that all people should be equal under the law. His is the principle of fair play—sportsmanship. Respect for your adversary. The responsibility of the strong to protect the weak.

Zarok's The Conversations are still quoted today. There is a long legal tradition, when a prestigious lawyer in Capital wishes to write an amicus brief without revealing their identity, they sign it "Z."

Valak-koth the Seeker

Domains: Knowledge, Sun

Valak-koth the Seeker, the Delver, the Unquenchable Fire, Koth Who Brought Light to Darkness, said she heard voices in the rock as a child. These days this would result in a visit to the apothecary or a change in diet, but in those days the world was young and a child who heard voices might turn out to be a prophet of Ord. Her parents listened and soon none doubted.

She would run, heedless of danger, into the dark caves below and wherever she pointed, marvels were found: metals, gems, fantastic ores. Caves as big as nations. It was Valak-koth it was who first discovered aerithyst, the Sungem, a crystal mineral which glows upon contact with living things.

Valak-koth teaches bravery in the face of the unknown, the virtue of curiosity, to seek endlessly and quest for knowledge, not to fear the darkness. To bring light into dark places. Valak-koth it was who first discovered the World Below, the Dark Under All, though it was not recognized as a separate manifold until after her death. After her death, the original Sungem she found refused to dim. It was enshrined in her temple-tomb, now lost along with the ancient stone dwarf city of Kas Koriar.

Stakros the Engineer

Domains: Creation, Knowledge

Stakros the Engineer, the Machine Mind, the Operator, founder of the Order of Fabrication.

Stakros it was—not a steel dwarf—who forged the first strife-engine, a great war-walker manned by thirty dwarves. At the battle of Kalas Mithral, the war-walker grappled with the legion of yllindyr the star elves summoned to defeat the walls of the steel dwarf capital.

After the war, Stakros turned his talents to peaceful pursuits. He forged the first magma diver, designed to withstand enormous temperatures and pressures, all the while protecting the operator within. Inside his marvel Stakros personally dove into the great volcano Oxor-myr, returning with marvelous ores never before seen in Orden. His design soon evolved into a variety of armored frames to suit a variety of purposes.

Stakros teaches the value of knowledge for knowledge's sake, and the power of the mind to overcome any obstacle. He also teaches that knowledge is power, and in unready hands can only be dangerous.