Blessed Day

Dainduen was born on an auspicious day, for it was the holiest of days for his people, where the dwarves would break from their fourteen hour work days in their mines and fields, and drink and sing praise to their gods for all the blessings bestowed upon them. Whereas humans and other races have many holidays, with some that last for weeks, dwarves, at least dwarves of Dainduen's clan, only have five holidays a year, four of which only last half a day, beginning in the afternoon. Dainduen was born on the day of their fifth holiday, called Rimelsang, which lasted a whole day, and for his clan, a whole day of celebration was quite extravagant. Many ales would be drank, and wheels of cheese and strings of sausage devoured, and new statues and symbols of their gods raised and adorned upon their respective chapels and altars. Dainduen's father and uncles were already deep into their drinks that evening, when his mother, Yvraine began to feel his birth upon her and rushed towards the chapels in hopes of giving birth in one, on this holiest of days, in hopes of gaining favor upon the newborn. As she rushed from their dwelling, she dragged her oldest daughter Geahe with her to aid her in the birthing. As they neared the temple grounds Yvraine was struck with a dilemma, for her and her husband Druanden had not come to agreement in which God's chapel would they have their child born. And as it was such an important day with the chances of a true blessing being even greater, she knew it would be very important to her husband. So she did what she thought was the smart thing, and went to the chapel of Veathe, dwarven goddess of healing and fertility, who happened to be her own personal deity, as well as that of her parents, who had long since passed over. She vowed that afterwards she would simply lie to her husband and tell him that the child was born in the chapel of Cragdin, dwarven god of miners and smiths, to which her husband happened to be a fervent follower of. The temples were void of any other being, as it was well into the evening and much drinking had to be done, even by the dutiful clerics of the clan. And so it was that Dainduen was born in the chapel of Veathe, on the holy day of Rimelsang.

Many Paths

For his clan, schooling was something to be done in the homestead, and was usually under the tutelage of a grandparent too infirm to work, or in the case of Dainduen and his other siblings, his aunt Eili. Eili was sister to Yvraine, and taught him and his siblings, as well as her own children, as her leg had been crippled in the mines during a cave-in and she could no longer work. As were all dwarven children, they were taught math, runes, first aid, survival skills, geology, agriculture, and the basic principles of combat. Dainduen took to them all at an equal pace, showing no specific knack for any, though he did appreciate the chance to club his brothers with a blunt stick during basic combat training. At the age of ten, as with all dwarves, Dainduen began spending half-days with his parents working and learning their trades. While his father worked in the mine with the vast majority of other males (and many females), his mother worked in the flax fields, which his people used to produce the linen with which their clothes were made. While he enjoyed living in the relative safety of the underground caverns his people had claimed, he did not enjoy working under the ground as his father did, and found the spacious feeling of the outside much more serene and comforting. And while some had thoughts upon his future due to his birth, the dwarven people did not believe in manifest destiny, so no outright pressure was put upon him to focus solely on mining under the sign of Cragdin. Indeed, Cragdin was also the the dwarven god of smiths, but while he appreciated the feel of a good mace or hammer in his hand, his first and only foray into the world of blacksmithing turned out subpar (and thankfully uneventful), as he showed little to no innate talent or interest in the crafting process.

Finding His Way

As he neared adulthood, Dainduen's schooling became less, and his days of working became more. Not satisfied with mining, nor appreciative of the field work itself, but rather the feeling and openess of the outside, he invoked his claim of wandering. A claim of wandering gave any dwarf approaching adulthood time to explore the world of Serin for several years before returning to the clan and settling down as a proper dwarf. And while sometimes, dwarves were known not to return, from either death or by finding their true calling outside of the halls of their people, it was judged by the elders to be worth it, for most dwarves returned, many with new learnings gained from outside as to how to ease the dwarves way of life. Also, there was an outstanding order that dwarves returning bring as much exotic liquor as possible back to their people, and the success garnered from this may have played some small part in the continuation of this rite. So finally the day came, and armed and outfitted as properly as any dwarf could be, Dainduen set off to explore the rest of Serin and discover for himself his own true calling. As the gates opened at first light, and Dainduen became the first dwarf of the day to set foot out, unheard by him, the bell in the chapel of Veathe rang but once (some might say ominously), and his travels began.