Galith

Maybe it can be said that tradition fades within the dwarven people, as more and more dwarfs have been moving from their ancient homes to live in human settlements since the beginning of Sigmar's Empire. Maybe dwarven society is becoming a thing of memory, something to be celebrated and kept in an increasingly “appearance-only” way, since the majority of the dwarven people that are born in this century did so completely immersed in human society, as did their parents and their grandparents.

If this is true, then Galith is a living exception. Born in a traditional dwarven miner village in the all-Empire territory of the Middle Mountains, he never knew anything but dwarven tradition since very recently. The only contact he had with human society was with the military outpost and the rare highlander villagers that lived in the surface of the mountains. Trained in the millennia old dwarven miner way of life, Galith aspired to become a dwarven engineer to help his people even further.

But the Storm of Chaos changed everything. Having already had serious trouble with the passing incursion troops that charged through the north and south of Middle Mountains, after the siege of Middenheim was broken the largest contingency of the Chaos Armies retreated exactly there, to the higher defensible territory where the dwarfs made their home since immemorial times.

There was nothing that could stop them. The dwarven people, always ready to take arms, organized what defence they could to protect their weaker brethren and the human allies in an emergency escape. The older and the more stubborn stayed to prevent what ancient places they could from being defiled by the corrupt power of the Chaos minions. It was a lost case.

Even if wanting to stay with his father, Galith was charged one of the protectors of the fleeing. And that he did the best he could. It was a mad run, end everything seemed to fall apart over and over as they went north looking for the end of the mountains.

When they exited the tunnels and descended the mountains' side, less than a third of all the dwarfs that lived in this ancient place remained living. Their community was destroyed, their homes now inhabited by the worst creatures the world could possibly know.

Galith had lost his entire family. And it grieved him so much that the moment he led his charges to safety in a still standing human hold, he departed west.

He walked alone for almost a week, feeding very little. Turning northwest he reached the Sea of Claws and Nordland's chores, which is mostly a descending wall of stone. Galith has never seen so much water in his life. But his grieve prevented him of enjoying the grandness of it.

But the cold and grey aspect of the Sea of Claws, the wind always blowing and sometimes bringing dense mists with it, together with the desolate terrain of Nordland slowly made Galith's mood turn from grieve into sadness as he continued to walk west. He would sometimes scream in the vastness, or during a storm, but mostly he just went on, letting things settle inside of himself. The constant thoughts of the massacre and the escape were leaving him as if carried by the wind, letting space to nothing but quietness.

And so he eventually got to a small fishing village that standed at the chores, high above the wall of rock. Strangely this people did not fish anymore, but made trades with vessels of the northern savages, exchanging salted fish for potatoes, some vegetables and coal.

Seeing this as an opportunity to wash his sadness with good work, Galith decided to adopt this poor and ignorant people, teaching them how to mine properly. Even if he knew they would be utterly incapable of reproducing the artwork of a dwarf, they could certainly improve their terrible work. The way their were doing it, Galith felt really sorry for the mine, as she was certainly suffering at the hands of these… humans.

Even if the villagers eyed the dwarf with suspicion, there was none bold enough to stop him from working at the mine. And as he was able to bring more and more quantities of coal than many of them together could ever be able to, they gave him their thanks and a house to live.

Within the passing of a month, Galith's sadness had almost completely left him. And that quietness that filled him was giving space to wonderings about the future. He felt good working at the coal mine and helping this ignorant people, but he could not feel at home – and the villagers wouldn't ever drop completely their suspicion of a foreign, specially a dwarf foreign. More than that, he was starting to want more things of his life.

That was when some diplomatic incident occurred between the villagers and the savage traders. Galith could not understand exactly why it had happened, but apparently the savages were accusing the villagers of sending some curse on them or any other nonsense this humans could think about. He preoccupied about the safety of the villagers, however, as the savages were threatening burn them all, and even if he was a dwarf that wasn't much he could do against a whole tribe of barbaries.

So he was glad when two other foreigners went to the village to offer their help: a young human knight of some strange southern Goddess, and a very savvy Halfling, some type of ever-children human that Galith has never seen before.

And one week after the arrival of these two, came other group of entirely different people: led by a Verena Initiate named Chades (what this humans got with Goddesses anyway?, he wondered) they were Thorne, an expert hunter, Berthold, an intelligent soldier, and Lenora, a very young (and dirty) woman vagabond that showed them all how to get there. Eventually Galith helped all these people save the villagers through an absurd plan made by the Halfling. He then decided to go south with them, feeling he could save those other humans from further messes, and understanding that doing so he would be at the same time helping the world get rid of the same forces that murdered his family and enjoying some more of his own life.

So Galith, the grumpy young dwarf, is the strongest and most naturally-born close combat fighter the group has – even if lacking the training and technique of others. He is also kind of slumpy, and socially he is a mess. But, as well as his temper can annoy the others at a difficult time, it can also boost strength and joy to everyone as his mood changes and he utter them forward or make some probably out of place joke.

As things go on, Galith is walking a path that leads him to a more combat oriented career than he used to imagine himself doing when still with his family at the dwarf village. So he is probably going to evolve into being either a mercenary or a traditional dwarf shieldbreaker.

(Galith is played by Bera, the kindest of us all.)


Galith's current Stats:



Dwarven Miner
Male. Star Sign: The Greased Goat.

WS55% BS27% S45% T50% Ag24% Int37% WP43% Fel21%
Att 1 W 13 IP 0 FP 2

Skills: Animal Care, Drive, Evaluate, Perception, Scale Sheer Surface, C. Know (Dwarfs), Speak Lang. (Khazalid), Speak Lang. (Reikspiel), Trade (Miner) and Trade (Smith).

Talents: Dwarfcraft, Grudge Born Fury, Night Vision, Orientation, Resistance to Magic, Special Weap. Group (2 Handed), Stout-Hearted, Sturdy, Very Resilient and Warrior Born.

Experience Gained: 940