Age: 32
Height: 4'8"
Weight: 230lbs
Reactions: Impressive +3/+3
                     Hero of Phandalin +4 (Phandalin, All the Time)
                     Warden of Phandalin" +1 due to Status

His immediate family are

Kharkum- Father

Marsorna - Mother

Younger sister - Myrbara

Significantly younger brother - Khorrun

This young Shield Dwarf could be the subject of statuary given his chiseled features, muscular build and full beard. It is unfortunate that he only looks the part of a majestic figure without having accomplished much to his name.

Perhaps he could convincingly play the part of a young Dwarven King in a play, although it would be no closer to reality.

In truth he comes from humble surroundings. A caravan guard by trade, he has mostly looked after shipments of iron and steel ingots shipped down south from the Spine of the World. He has thick golden hair and clear blue eyes that peer from the spectacled visor of his helmet.

He wears a coat of ring mail and carries a wooden round shield along with thick square toed boots. A pair of masterfully crafted gauntlets engraved with a bold geometric pattern cover his hands and forearms.  He carries a short hafted war hammer at his belt along with a seax along the small of his back.

In cool weather he wears a thick blue woolen cloak with a brown fur collar.

---

Hundlestone is a miserable little mountain town nestled in a valley on the far western end of the Spine of the World range. Even in the dead of summer the sun does not normally shine on the deep valley proper until late in the morning, and it sets when most decent people are just sitting down to dinner. It's high, and barren and generally cold as the diurnal winds carry cool drafts down from on high.

It is said that Hundlestone was intended to be a holding of the dwarven city of "Ironmaster" which lay to north west, a holding that would permit the visitation and settlement of non dwarves, something Ironmaster still forbids to this day. A paranoid and isolationist enclave, Ironmaster still holds some delusions of control over Hundlestone, and lords the existence of their "secret tunnels" over the locals from time to time when the two stand at odds over local politics.

With a population of only twelve hundred, the vast majority of which being single young dwarves, Hundlestone is a hard working, hard drinking, hard bitten sort of place. Long columns of miners, often stripped to the waist and filthy, can be seen trudging to and from their shifts three times a day at the sounding of the towns bell. Establishments that specialize in fleecing said miners from their coin also operate around the clock, providing food, rest, company and entertainment.

Those few that do not mine, generally smelt or work metal. This is most commonly the province of the cities small, insular gnomish population. Ingots, bar stock, nails, bolts, wagon fittings, hinges, locks, and all other manner of iron-mongery are the towns primary export. Just about everything else is imported en mass, mostly food, lumber and textiles.

The squat stone buildings line the valley walls on the surface, generally with steep peaked roofs and deep basements. Barracks style living is not uncommon for the laborers, as a "hot swap" bunk tends to cost far, far less than a private room. The local flora generally consists of low dense brush and squat pines. The fauna on the other hand overwhelming consists of the prolific "rock hare", one of the few edible things that lives in that region year round. Nearly every other animal is a predator of said hare, mostly large raptors, wolves and crag cats. It's easy enough to spot a local, as imported leather is expensive, and rock hare leather is cheap, thin and distinctive in color.

Among this small mountain population, there are twenty odd humans who generally serve the companies that import supplies into the region, and a dozen or so dwarves that keep the peace and protect the shipments south and west. As one can imagine, keeping the peace in a town like Hundlestone takes a certain sort of personality. While theft is rare and the populace is generally egalitarian, the average resident is physically strong, well conditioned, inebriated and desperately seeking diversion.

"Normal" brawls are so common as to not even warrant a call to the Guard, but more personal disputes over coin, gambling, women, slights of honor and property can require intervention. "Clan Business" is the real killer however, as different mines and claims have a complex and byzantine system of hereditary ownership, taxes, seniority, apprenticeship and a host of other issues. Competition is fierce and the stakes are very high.

There have only been a few occasions when inter-Clan violence has spilled over into the streets, but those occasions were akin to small scale wars, and the source of many festering slights and grudges that have lingered over decades.

It was in Hundlestone that Kol of Clan Kogamund was raised. Amid the thump-wheeze of the manual water pumps keeping the lowest levels of the mines from flooding, the dark acrid smoke from the smithies, and the reek or raw iron commingled with hewn stone.

Memories of a deep winter, with snow piled so high that the town itself was but a maze of tunnels, the roar of laughter and snatches of chanted song from the beer houses. The glow of the windows.

Of thin soup in the spring before the first wagons made it up through the pass, and his mother tending to his fathers blackened eye. Of Dwarves he had known losing fingers, toes, or entire limbs to tool and stone. Of rock slide, shaft collapses and a general sense of pervasive worry.

Of the miners from poor Clans, grown old and frail, their bodies ruined with labor, sitting in the sun playing board games and telling stories.

Hundlestone, for what it was worth, was home. And like it or not that hard, stark place would lay the foundation that young dwarf would build on for the rest of his days.

Established Dwarven Historians and Generals might scoff at the idea of any sort of "martial tradition" or culture arising from, or being maintained in, a small mining town like Hundlestone.

Their purview revolves around the surviving Dwarven Citadels, the great battles of ages past and the heroic figures that made their mark on history during tumultuous times. Their numbers are counted in the tens of thousands, their maps and tomes speak in broad terms of "Banners" and "Levies".

But Faerun, and the north west quarter of the continent in particular, is home to many such smaller locales, where individual traditions do survive in the margins of history. From individual Dwarven families passing on traditions in their adopted homelands to human tribes that mimic terminology borrowed from Dwarven neighbors. But this work concerns Hundlestone in particular, and the Dwarves that have been charged with the protection of its land, commerce, and with the keeping of the peace therein.

As has been alluded to in other works, Hundlestone is relatively new settlement in the grand scheme of things. As such it had the benefit of a very organized founding, including an official charter drafted by and agreed upon for the founding Clans. This Charter stipulates that every mine within its borders pay an annual tax to the Guild for the upkeep of the roads, the aqueduct and sanitation system, as well as for the common defense.

The size of the full time garrison is supposed to be one "Thegn" for every one hundred residents, but the number has stabilized at around one dozen even as the population has fluctuated over the years.

A "Thegn" or the plural "Thegnar" is a distinctly Dwarven concept, without a true equivalent among other cultures.  It denotes a Dwarf that has passed trough an apprenticeship as a "Drang" (plural Droengiar), that owns personal arms and armor fitting for his caste, and that has set aside a purse to sustain himself for an entire campaign season.

In summary they are full time, professional warriors that are almost exclusively born into their caste. This is significant in that they do not hold a "title" such as a knight. They are not bound by stipulations such as a land ownership or equestrian status for example. The only "privilege" gained upon attaining the position of Thegn is the exclusive authority to grant the title of Drang.

This may not seem significant to the casual observer, but in practice it's a powerful boon under the right circumstances. Even a Jarl lacks the ability to "assign" or "raise" one of the Folc, or common laborers, into apprenticeship as a Drang. It cannot be forced upon a Thegn, although of course it may be requested under unusual circumstances. Instead a Jarl might appoint a personal guard, normally the "Himthiki" or perhaps a well funded and trained "Huscarl" that exist outside the established caste system.

In turn the Thegnar as a whole possess the right to appoint their own "Drott". A Drott is an elected Captain, not an inherited title, and possesses fairly limited powers during peacetime. Only a duly elected Drott may raise a Dwarf from Drang to Thegn, and usually only after a personal assessment witnessed by the gathered Thegnar.  Again, even a Jarl may not appoint a Drott, although he reserves the right to rebuke or punish one in due course.

To be elected Drott is an enormous privilege, as it shows that the Thegnar are willing to put their very lives, sacred honor and potentially the fates of their children and families into the hands of their Captain. The title carries respect throughout Dwarven culture, even if the system itself is seen as antiquated by some more modern military minds. It is unusual for any Dwarf under 200 years of age to attain the sort of respect required for a nomination.

At the time of this writing Hundlestone has one Drott, eleven Thegnar and eight Droengiar including Kol Kogamund. The Droengiar are another Dwarven concept, although they have a rough equivalency with the Human Squire. At a bare minimum children are expected to spend twenty years among the Droengiar, although thirty and forty are not unheard of depending on their competency and their fortune. Arms and armor are expensive, and a Drang may prioritize property or a marriage over their campaign purse. Inevitably a few Dwarves spend their entire careers among the Droengiar, effectively ending their line in shame as they never attain the right of appointing their Clans youth to the position they inhabit. Many "Career Drang" eventually move on to private positions as a Huscarl when they either give up, become too old, or fail multiple assessments.

Life as a Drang is much as it is for a Human Squire, with with a very different focus. Endurance training is a priority for most Droengiar, with forced marches and multi-day field exercises (without sleep) being a favorite of hardened Thegnar training cadres. Formation drills are also not something most Squires would ever have experience with, but nearly all Droengiar will be proficient with some basic offensive and defensive formations by the time they are evaluated. Of course they lack their human contemporaries shock value and mobility as a result.

While Kol would technically qualify for assessment based on his years of service (22) and the personal ownership of his own equipment, he has only recently come into the sort of coin that might qualify for a campaign purse, and even then he is debating on trying to arrange a marriage with a good family before attempting his assessment.

Of course, if he decides to immigrate from Hundlestone completely, that would mean a great many changes. Not least of which would be leaving his family, including his Father and mentor behind him. It is likely that nobody outside very traditional Dwarven holdings have ever heard of such a thing, or would care at all about his rank.

This leaves him with many things to consider as he contends with the challenges before them.

It's well known that Dwarves across Faerun, when taken as a whole, have a reputation as being "Greedy". An impressive and colorful collection of epithets in several languages have been leveled at the Dwarven people from the time when Dwarves first began trading with their neighbors in antiquity. And the reactions garnered from such language can range from a good natured chuckle to murderous rage.

But how have Dwarves garnered this reputation? Why is it so prevalent? and how do they themselves see it from within their more homogenous enclaves? A place like Hundlestone for instance?

According to some of the few human denizens of that little mining town, the theories vary. Few "outsiders" would be more qualified to speculate, and it does not take much to get them talking on the subject.

The theories break down into three basic categories.

The first theory, and probably the most popular, revolves around Dwarven longevity. It's widely known that Dwarves, barring some unfortunate circumstance, regularly live over three hundred years. Some wilder tales have some Dwarves, normally historical figures, living through four or even five centuries.

This theory posits that because Dwarves live so long, they become obsessive about wealth because they dread "running out" of coin when they are past their working years. Poorer Dwarves, those outsides the trades or the nobility, may be forced to toil well past their prime just to acquire the basics. Facing half a century or more of misery as a Dwarf strives not to become a burden on family and Clan, if they can even claim any, is a daunting and shameful prospect.

It is worth noting that Dwarves are of course no more intelligent, or any wiser, than your average human. Dwarven settlements are full of ready examples of fools who did not prepare, who made poor choices in life or fell into vice. They just have longer to live with the consequences, or if you are an optimist, to try and turn things around.

A "branch" of this theory involves marriage, children and sex. Divorce is absolutely anathema in traditional Dwarven culture, which means that couples may be facing a quarter century of living, working, and striving alongside their spouse and in some cases their family. Wealthy families can of course purchase bigger homes, and attract an attractive spouse from a "good" family with an education, polite manners, and prospects. They can also afford to raise more children, with parenthood being another Dwarven "obsession" due to their naturally low fertility rates.

A Dwarf who has to "settle" due to financial concerns is well and truly stuck barring disgrace. There is a popular genre of Dwarven literature that revolves around the dutiful daughter marrying a wealthy, and usually older husband with some undesirable qualities, in order to secure the families fortunes. The stories are dramatic of course, with lovers and duels and scandal. But the major difference from human fiction is that the daughter normally ends up with the wealthy husband, forsaking love for duty, and is celebrated as a result.

The second theory revolves around the Dwarven economy. As has been discussed in other works, the Guilds are a driving force in Hundlestone's society. This network of laborers, apprentice's, fellowcrafts and masters requires coin to fuel its wages along with raw materials, taxes and any other expenses. This means that the prices for "ordinary" goods become inflated over time. It is true that say, a set of plates made by a Dwarven master is a beautiful thing to behold. But that same Master has little incentive to churn out heaps of cheap plates when he has spent half a century honing his craft.

As a result, everything becomes more expensive, and so every Dwarf worth his salt must come to the market girded for a good haggle.

The third and rarest theory revolves around Faith.

Among the Morndinsamman, or the Dwarven Pantheon as a whole, wealth plays a key role in a Dwarf's spiritual wellbeing. It may seem odd to an outsider, but even the rituals themselves are infused with notions of wealth.

Moradin, the Allfather and their Chief God, is served by families with hereditary obligations known as the Sonnlinor. The badge of office for these "Clerics" is a helmet of Silver. The same holds true for their God of Battle, Clangeddin Silverbeard

His Wife and the Goddess of the Hearth and Family is Berronar Truesilver, and yes as one would expect, she receives annual offerings of Silver from her clergy through her worshippers.

The symbol for Dumathoin, A God associated with mining, wealth, secrets and subterranean spaces, is an intricate faceted gem. While Sharindlar, a Goddess of healing receives small amounts of gold smelted in a ceremonial cauldron or mold as offerings.

This theory is most strongly supported by the presence of the deities Vergadain and Abbathor among the Morndinsamman

Verdagain because he is the literal "God of Wealth", with a clergy comprised of the "Hurndor", literally "Those who Trade". They are supposedly dedicated to the "furthering of commerce" and are expected to be individually wealthy as a sign of office. Their holy days are essentially glorified market days, and it is of little surprise that Verdagain is invoked on a regular basis by any Dwarf out for a day of shopping.

Abbathor is Verdagain's cruel mirror, and represents a deity that encourages illegal or immoral methods of accruing wealth. He is a God of temptation, and his Clergy offer him both fresh blood and Gems of the same color. The fact that he remains an official member of the Morndinsamman is an interesting element of Dwarven faith, as well as a rare facet of self examination in Dwarven society.

With all of these examples, it's easy to see how a Dwarf might conflate financial success with spiritual well being.

Regardless of where exactly Dwarven "Greed" originates from, it is likely to remain an uncomfortable topic among those that deal with Dwarves in a professional capacity.