Forge Fathers of the Star Realm, a collection of systems coreward of the GCPS, are known in Galactic Standard as Forge Fathers – a rather prosaic translation of their native tongue, though not one to which they seem to object.
About
Short in stature and powerfully built, the people of the Star Realm are best known for their technological aptitude, which far surpasses that of the finest human engineers and is the rival of any other race thus far encountered.
Split into various clans located throughout the Star Realm, the Forge Fathers are generally peaceable, preferring trade to war. Indeed, it is from their workshops that many of the finest weapons, armour and other tech used by the GCPS is obtained.
Though massively advanced by human standards, it is clear that the equipment they sell to the Council is far short of their true capabilities, and nowhere is this more clearly exhibited than when Corporation Forces clash with Forge Fathers in a Deadzone. The Brokkrs who lead these excursions hail from a distinct caste of Forge Father society, wandering engineers and prospectors who seldom have official links to the Star Realm when about their business (or at least any that can be proven).
Backed by sturdy Forge Guard and using modified mining lasers and even the occasional Iron Ancestor, these expeditions arrive in Deadzones ready to plunder whatever resources might be at hand. The Forge Fathers have little interest in territory, but exploiting the resources of planets is what they do best, and the disappearance of a planet from the official record affords them a convenient opportunity – after all, the GCPS can hardly declare war against the Star Realm over an incursion to a planet that they deny exists.
Hearth-Gathering or Kret
This is a meeting of families or clans will consist of the Lords who are party to the issue or their representatives and, usually, a mutually respected and neutral Lord who will act as adjudicator and mediator.
There are protocols for the airing and resolution of grievances, many of which involve the recitation of Dwarfish legends and the giving of long speeches, and there are further protocols for rebuttals and the giving of supplemental evidence.
Although a Kret may take a considerable time to fully decide a case, once it is resolved, as thorny as an issue may have been, it is typical for all parties to abide by whatever ruling is made. But these are private and secret matters, things to which only Forge Fathers themselves are party.
Clans
Forge Fathers
Brokkr
Other Cultures
History
Children of the Galaxy
The origins of the Forge Fathers lie in the heart of the universe itself. Their legends tell of a time before time, and of the events that led to the creation of all things. Legends that, if true, would make the Dwarfs the very first children of the galaxy.
It is a fanciful claim, of that there is little doubt, but it is certainly the case that the Forge Fathers are, by any measure, an ancient and formidable civilisation. They are long-lived though few in number, at least when compared to races like man. In war they are ferocious and hardy fighters, but they also possess an incredible attention to detail and skillfulness that makes them peerless craftsmen.
They have used their long time to harness the power of suns, create planet-sized machines, and perfect some of the most powerful and intricately engineered weapons of war in all creation. Their society is built around a strong sense of honour, kinship, and devotion to duty, and they suffer no fool gladly. There are few races that have been able to resist the advances of the GCPS - most alien armies are either swept aside by better resourced and funded corporate militaries, or their cultures are swallowed up wholesale in the process known as ‘incorporation’. But when the Forge Lords of the Star Realm went to war with the armies of mankind, they were neither beaten nor pushed back. The Star Realm stands to this day independent and proud.
Strength of arms was, to be sure, a part of this achievement. But the Forge Father’s greatest power, and perhaps what will see them as the last civilisation still standing when the galaxy’s great saga draws to a close, is what is in their minds.
The Forge Fathers have a plan. For every single star in creation there is a destiny and for every iota in existence there is a purpose. Even, for the time being, the GCPS has a use.
There is no rush to achieve this plan, no great hurry to lay claim to every world they know is theirs. But, when the Ward ship of a Forge Father clan does arrive in orbit above a planet they have decided to colonise or simply strip to its barest resources, they will not stand any opposition, no matter how well (or by whom) the enemy is equipped.
The Forge Lords are under no illusion as to how dangerous the universe is. For the moment, many have allied themselves with the Council of Seven but they are also in no doubt the time is coming when the Forge Fathers will once more stand alone against the coming darkness. When it comes they will not be found wanting.
Lords of Metal
The Dwarf race bears many similarities of appearance to mankind. They are humanoid and their internal biology is much the same. They are, however, shorter than most men, averaging a height of slightly under 1.5m when unarmoured. Their features are often craggier than a man’s too, wider set and with heavier brows, and tend to combine in what can appear to be a permanent scowl. Their communications with humans are often perceived as being anything from basically belligerent to downright hostile. However, it would be a mistake though to think of them as rough or humourless brutes.
As well as being formidable warriors with a strong martial tradition, the Forge Fathers are consummate craftsmen - artisans with a keen eye for detail and unparalleled patience. They value wisdom and learning highly. The eldest Dwarfs are venerated for their knowledge and are expected to pass what they have learned over their long lives to successive generations. Skill at metal-working is highly valued, but there are also numerous schools of draftsmanship, engineering, construction, and many other disciplines across the Realm, all of them geared towards making the best use of the resources at their race’s disposal.
The hallmark of Dwarfish engineering is intricate complexity - not ostentatious ornamentation. The outward appearance of things is of lesser importance to a Dwarf than its inner workings. Thus their ships may appear to be mobile mountains and their armour and weapons can seem heavy or unsophisticated to the eyes of other races, but they are easily the equal in maneuverability, reliability and, most importantly, in firepower to anything their enemies can bring to the field of battle.
This motif of a surface simplicity that covers intricate inner-workings carries over to Forge Father society too.
The Forge Fathers are divided amongst many clans, most of which are based within the Star Realm. Exact numbers are impossible to ascertain as the borders of the Realm are generally closed to outsiders - even the corporations with which the Dwarfs trade are forbidden to travel far, if at all, within the Realm. But analysis of long range scanning data reveals that there are most likely hundreds of inhabited worlds within the territory over which the Forge Fathers claim absolute dominion, and several dozen clans are believed to have been identified by ETCU researchers.
Each clan is largely autonomous, made up of varying numbers of inter-related families, and ruled by a single Forge Lord who is also the head of his own family. The Lord’s most trusted warriors and advisers are known as Huscarls, and these are also often the heads of families within the clan. A small clan may hold sway over a few planets, while the largest may claim multiple star systems, dividing this territory amongst its families. No matter the size or reputation of a clan, a claim is regarded as something close to sacred and infringement on another clan’s territory is taboo. Theoretically, the Star Realm is a kingdom and there are certainly tales of past Great Kings. Though there is currently no one Forge Lord who can claim absolute power there are certainly several who would like to. But gaining enough popular support from other Forge Lords to be proclaimed as their king is an unlikely condition for any of them to achieve. So, for the time being, the government of the Realm is largely decided by local consensus between Forge Lords. While this system may appear somewhat anarchic, archaic even, to outsiders, it is one that has worked for the Realm for longer than many other races have existed. Where disputes arise, a Hearth-Gathering or Kret may be formed.
The Forge Fathers most GCPS citizens encounter are those who travel through its space aboard the massive ‘Ward’ ships. Within corporate space they are labelled as ‘trade caravans’, though in truth they are far more. Each Ward is a colossal starship, large enough to support hundreds of thousands of inhabitants, potentially for the entirety of their lives, and is orbited, supported, and defended by dozens of smaller vessels. It will be filled with forges and machine shops, storerooms and vaults, including those that are the personal domain of its Lord.
The Lord of each Ward ship may be the Lord of a clan or the Huscarl of a family, and he will take with him a contingent of warriors and war machines wherever he goes. A Ward ship can serve as a mobile factory or as a base, processor, and storage facility for mining operations wherever the fleet goes. They are also fully operational warships. Most of the ships in each attendant fleet, like the Ward itself, are heavily armed and armoured, literally bristling with heavy weapon emplacements and defensive devices and whether they serve as supply stores, mobile manufacturers, or mining craft, all are capable of holding their own in a fight. An example would be the Bruderheim.
Born of Fire
Legend and myth are a strong part of Forge Father culture and heritage. The retelling of tales of dragons and monsters is a well-loved tradition and a feature of most social gatherings. To the few outsiders who have had any exposure to this side of Forge Father life this can seem an oddly quaint pastime for such a technologically advanced species. But to the Forge Fathers storytelling is related in no small way to their perception of time and the nature of the universe. For as much as the Dwarfs have plans for the future of the entire galaxy, remembering the past, how their race and indeed that same galaxy came to be where it is, is equally important. The legend of Farangir and how he was tricked by his brother into destroying his birthright is a favourite throughout the holdings of the Forge Fathers. In it, the universe is created by the destruction of an ingot of what is known as the Primordial Metal by the fiery breath of a mighty dragon. Every element in creation is held to have derived from the scattering of this metal and thus every living thing as well.
As far as the Forge Fathers are concerned, they were also created in this great dispersal. The turning of the galaxy is the continued effect of the dragon’s wingbeats, the suns the still burning fragments of this metal.
The core of this story is something that resonates deeply in the heart of every Forge Father. It tells them they are the rightful custodians of the entire galaxy, the heirs to its riches. It gives them their sense of purpose and place in existence. Whether they believe it as a literal truth or a mere allegory, the Forge Fathers know they are sons of fire and metal, hence the derivation of their name. This tends to make them an insular people, uninterested in the culture or doings of other races, at least as long as those doings do not affect their own. Most are far more concerned with making the best of their current works or projects than what goes on in the wider galaxy. As an ancient race, they have seen many civilisations come and go over the aeons and many Forge Lords see aliens as little more than a distraction from their grand plans. Or at least they did until the coming of the GCPS.
Contact with the GCPS
Spitzenner was the site of the first recorded contact between man and dwarf, in the year 353AE, during the third expansion phase of the GCPS. Corporate settlers had taken possession of what had seemed to them to be an unoccupied world to the galactic north of Old Earth and were eking out a new life on a hard planet. Unbeknownst to them, Spitzenner had already been claimed by one of the most powerful Forge Father clans. When the Strikkhamr clan’s Ward ship, along with its attendant fleet of warships and auxiliary vessels, arrived in-system, armed conflict was not far behind. Friction between the GCPS and the Star Realm was almost inevitable - if it hadn’t happened on Spitzenner it would probably have happened on some other nearby world. This is because the Forge Fathers have in fact already laid claim to every single usable resource in the known galaxy. It has simply never seemed necessary to them to let anybody else know.
Dwarfs are a long-lived race, and a patient one. Their engineers are quite content to spend countless cycles painstakingly draining every iota of worth out of each world they come to. So their progress across the galaxy is, by most races’ standards, very, very slow. It had so far also been inexorable. Over the aeons of its own expansion, the Forge Father civilisation had never once been stopped by any of the races they had yet encountered. When they met the GCPS, the Forge Lords were genuinely and unpleasantly surprised to find themselves faced with an enemy almost as stubborn and convinced of its claim to the galaxy’s wealth as they were.
The extermination of the human colonists on Spitzenner began the War of the Short Front. Numerous clans and just as many corporations were dragged into the fight as more colonies were found by the dwarfs on worlds they believed to be their own. The cost to both sides in lives and resources was enormous. Fleets were reduced to drifting hulks and armies were annihilated. Planets were rendered uninhabitable as vast amounts of munitions were expended. So devastating was the war that eventually certain Forge Lords concluded something previously unthinkable might now be the only way to end such a costly conflict. These Lords set forth their plans to take the unprecedented step of unleashing the nuclear firepower of the Forge Stars themselves. First they would utterly annihilate each and every world the GCPS had colonised within the borders of the Star Realm. Then they would turn those same fires on every other planet humans had claimed. It would not be a quick operation, but, as has been mentioned, this is no reason for a Forge Father to not commit to a well-planned course of action. However long it took though, the result would likely have been that humanity would, eventually, be literally burned out of existence.
Thankfully, other Forge Lords like Stik Krestursson advanced a far less violent way to solve the conflict of interests and end the war. Rather than excising their foe completely and, along the way, wasting all the resources that would have been atomised along with them, the Forge Lords decided to speak to them in the only language both sides seemed to understand: commerce.
Today the Forge Fathers are the GCPS’s most important trading partner. Not all the Forge Lords take part and there are still many conflicts ongoing in that part of space. The GCPS continues to nibble at worlds the dwarfs claim for their own, and vice versa. But both sides tend to tolerate this. The Forge Lords, for their part, value the GCPS and its armed forces as allies who, at the very least, are busy taking care of enemies far away in the galaxy, long before those same enemies become a problem for the dwarfs. But, it is the GCPS who arguably have the better part of the bargain. For it is the Forge Fathers themselves who have supplied much of the technology that has made the GCPS the equal of practically anything else in the galaxy. Most vitally of all, they supply the Council of Seven’s private army, the Enforcer Corps, with its armour.
Not all the clans of the Forge Fathers agreed with the plan to trade with the GCPS and not all of them benefit from it today. The GCPS has many enemies in the Star Realm and conflicts, albeit on a far smaller scale than the Short Front, continue to erupt. Typically these are due to one side staking a claim on a world or resource already claimed by the other. Sometimes the provocation is far more deliberate.
Corporate forces on the world of Triton were besieged by the Steel Warriors of the Forge Father clan Krestursson. The clan’s lord, one Ingulf Krestursson, known to his race as ‘the Dragon’, led the invasion force with two goals in mind. The first was to lay hold of the planet’s seams of primordial metal, an element of enormous value to all Forge Fathers. His second was simply to spark conflict between his people and the GCPS. This sparked the conflict known as Operation Heracles.
Conflict with other Races
The Forge Fathers and their interest often lead to minor or major conflicts with the other inhabitants of the Galaxy. The Halvorakken Clan's struggle is an example for a long lasting fight against the Asterians, the fight for Exham IV shows the massive efforts undertaken against the Veer-myn and the hostility with the Crystallans after the incident involving the destruction of their home planet is just one of many.
Quotes
Marching dirge of the Steel Warriors
"The hold is my soul, but the battlefield my home.
Over mountains far and cold, and rivers deep and slow.
Tho’ the rain be water, ice, or fire, Tho’ the ground be soil or snow.
I fight for my soul, I fight for my home,
I fight for my people, where’re I must roam."
Legend of Farangir and Murakin
Before the universe existed, there was the Great King Frakkir - a dragon mightier than fire itself, who ruled over all. His fiery wings stretched across the heavens and there was nowhere he could not go.
His two sons were Farangir and Murakin. Where Farangir was bold and courageous, his brother was a devious thinker. So loved was Farangir that his father gifted him an ingot of Primordial Metal – source of all power and the key to immortality. Farangir treasured this gift and guarded it closely, refusing to let his younger sibling touch it. He claimed it was proof that one day he would succeed their father as Great King.
A great envy grew in Murakin’s heart, and soon he devised a plot to take revenge on his brother. Murakin tricked Farangir into believing that their father planned to rule forever – that Farangir would never be Great King unless he seized power directly. He persuaded Farangir to turn his fiery breath on the ingot, that this would enlarge and amplify its mysterious inner power until he became more powerful than Frakkir himself.
Farangir was fooled. He turned his breath on the ingot, but instead of growing it began to melt and fall apart. Flapping his wings furiously to try and undo the damage he had done, Farangir scattered the disintegrating ingot deep into space. Murakin was nowhere to be seen.
It is these fragments of Primordial Metal that created everything we see today. It is said that yet more were retrieved by Murakin, that he concealed them deep within his darkest hiding places. It is from these black holes that the Sons of the Dark Star emerge.
- Abridged version of ‘The Legend of Farangir and Murakin’, translated by Gert Ameenajad III, for the Exo Counter-Threat Unit
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