Dwolstrung

“Dust settled; screaming children,

Darkness reigned; killing plague,

Food perished; then silence.

Arriving savior; Deep Father,

Blessed Duerr; Worship Father,

Duergar born; Ancient Father.”

This text, translated from an ancient Duergar hymn, seems to indicate that The Ancient One saved the original settlers in the Great Below when their connection with the surface world was initially cut in the Cataclysm. The “Deep Father” offered salvation to the plague-ridden, starving city. Linguistic analysis of this poetry leads us to conclude that it was a proto-Undercommon language. This rough poetry seems to involve a subject-verb-object-object pattern, but that is at best a hypothesis.

Little is known about this god among the surface-dwellers. He is never depicted in religious art or icons by any of the groups which worship him. Instead, Duerr, the father of Dwarves and Duergar, is often depicted, brandishing a Pickaxe and Dwarven Warshield, with a scroll at his side. This scroll is interpreted to be the Book of Calamities, which provides the majority of the textual evidence of this outerplanar being.

The Book, which is said to be written by a Duergar prophet, is a manifesto against the Pantheon. Primarily focused on Areluma and Magos all the gods of creation are mentioned. The Ancient One foresees a day that the Sky-Dwellers finally destroy the surface’s resources and environment, and seek shelter in the Great Below.

The prophet commands that the “true believers” be ready for this day, and do everything in their power to bring about their destruction before they ruin the world. On the Day of Demise—an alternative future wherein the residents of the caves destroy the Sky-Dwellers—the select chosen of the Ancient One will rise to the surface world and take it for themselves, having been granted dominion of it.