Dwarves

Description
Dwarves (Homo svartas) were stocky, short, and bearded humanoids. They tended to have significantly longer lifespans than humans, and were said to have, "the nimblest yet sturdiest hands of any creature," which many were said to utilize in their crafts. Legends state they came from the Far North, a land beyond Rathnir. Not much is known about the dwarves, as only one group has immigrated to Rathnir, and have since believed to have gone extinct in the realm. It is unknown if other dwarves still exist in the Far North, or even if the Far North does.

History
The only Dwarven kingdom in the Far North known to Rathnir is Khazad-dum. The king, Durin VII, was killed in battle between the orcs and goblins of the north. It was rumored that the northern orcs and goblins successfully wiped out all of the dwarves of the Far North, not just Khazad-dum. Durin's son, King Óin II, took the crown, several precious treasures, and the survivors far south.

They eventually came across the lands of Ryzan. The leader of Ryzan, CanadianToss, offered a small kingdom in the Golden Hills to the king, in exchange for their loyalty and their conversion to Tossanism. There, Óin constructed Erebor. However, the city quickly fell into disrepair as tensions between the two leaders increased. Óin took his people once more, this time, to the central mountains of the Kutnubad.

However, by the time Óin arrived to begin construction of the second Dwarven city of Rathnir (Beþenk-dum under the newly declared Kingdom of Khuzdurin), many of his people had passed, from starvation, neglect, disease, or banditry. The conditions became so harsh that the state ran out of miners, so the king himself was forced to mine to survive. His older age and lack of experience in the mines lead him to accidentally cause a cave-in and perish. His son, Thorin IV, would take the mantel of king. He inherited the rule of a dwindling population. Rumor has it, he himself became the last dwarf in Rathnir. He mysteriously vanished one late afternoon. No body has been found, nor whisper of his location heard.

Culture
The dwarves of Rathnir were a hardy people. They tended to feast and drink often, and were only around in Rathnir for long enough to celebrate a single holiday known as Durin's Day, in honor of their former king, around the winter months. According to the historian Havi Ymirsson, Durin's Day festivities included, "getting plastered beyond belief while you danced around Sweet Berry Bushes and campfires in the snow. Burns and cuts were incredibly common."

Thorin and Óin claimed that dwarven society (in its prime) is normally composed of a strict social pecking order, made up of various clans and groups. Dwarves supposedly have never been fully united while they existed, always living in city-states carved into mountains and remaining as neutral as possible in world conflicts. Both kings attempted to maintain their state the way a normal Dwarven state would behave, with the aforementioned neutrality and social order. But due to its dwindling population they never succeeded.