While the dwarves grow mushrooms and edible mosses underground, they nonetheless need the produce of surface farms. Reluctant farmers themselves, they prefer to leave this task to the gnomes, a race which has lived in Dvergheim since time immemorial, thriving on the fertile soil of the mountain kingdom.

In return for selling their produce at reasonable prices, the gnomish farmers are under the protection of dwarven arms. Gnomes are a peaceful and physically unintimidating people, who have never taken well to the arts of combat or warfare. Without the protection of the dwarves, it is doubtful whether they could have survived in a violent world such as Agon.

Gnomes seldom stand taller than 110 cm, but their bodies are robustly built, and well suited to the hard work of stone-clearing, plowing and tilling the mountain-fields of Dvergheim. Like dwarves, they are known for their endurance, effortlessly working all day without pause.

Gnomes build their villages in steep river-valleys where they grow hardy crops on the fertile valley floor, while sending cows and sheep to graze on mountain-plains and valley-sides.

The wooden, thatched houses of the gnomes seem embedded in the sloping valley-sides. They are round, and dominated by soft and round shapes in every aspect of their architecture, including windows and doors. Being a friendly people, gnomes welcome all non-evil visitors to their villages.

The children of Heimar
Five hundred years under Heimar’s rule have changed the svartdvergir, but they remain ardent enemies of the Dvergheim dwarves. They have built many cities and fastnesses within Agon’s depths, and have grown prosperous through selling weapons and armour to other, often evil races.

A grown svartdvergir is approximately the same height as Dvergheim dwarf. They are less stocky than their cousins, however, and do not share their prodigious strength. Svartdvergir bodies are sinewy, resilient, and well suited to a hard-working lifestyle.
Svartdvergir have pale, thick skin and raven black hair. They tattoo their hands and faces with shapes and sigils sacred to their god.

The svartdvergir live austere, hard-working lives, and believe that laughter, beauty and all forms of entertainment are evils to be shunned. This belief originates with Heimar and his priests.

In areas where svartdvergir and dwarves are neighbours, wars of annihilation are inevitable. Even though the svartdvergir are almost universally disliked, their gold regularly buys them allies in these wars against the dwarves. Units of gray ork or hobgoblin mercenaries are particularly common.

In addition to posing a military threat, the svartdvergir constantly seek to destabilize Dvergheim in other, more devious ways. Putting their gold to good use, they constantly seek new allies within Dvergheim society, particularly among its merchants, who can sometimes be tempted with bribes and trading rights.

The villages of the svartdvergir are found throughout the subterranean lands of Agon, but they are especially numerous in Dvergheim, where they also live on the surface. Surrounded by tall and thick stone walls, svartdvergir settlements are formidable bastions against the many enemies of the cruel svartdvergir.

Heimar’s dwarves
Though this fact has been much obscured by dwarven chroniclers, the svartdverg clan didn’t fight the civil war alone. Many non-svartdverg individuals, families and communities flocked to the rebel banner after falling under Heimar’s spell. After the war, many of these non-svartdverg rebels were exiled along with their allies. Others, who professed remorse and renounced Heimar, were allowed to stay.

In secret, many of these dwarves continued to worship the god of the svartdvergir, claiming that Ymir is leading the dwarves astray. They claim that dwarves were meant to live ascetic, pious lives, and that Heimar is showing them the true path.

Those Dvergheim dwarves who worship Heimar do so in shrines that are hidden away in remote caverns, or in secret rooms inside dwellings. They maintain a loose cooperative network, and many of them are in contact with nearby svartdvergir settlements. In some cases, the svartdvergir finance the temples and activities of nearby dwarven worshippers of Heimar.