Who are the Chaos Dwarfs?

[Festering Chantor]

Ok, I actually know the answer to this. They're Dwarfs caught in some sort of Chaos storm/incursion/influx. I also know they make powerful chaos-fuelled weapons and that they take slaves...

Originally Posted by Damien 1427

Now, the Chaos Dwarves, in the past, bred the black orcs which were stronger, more intelligent and far more aggresive on average than the standard orc.

I joined the hobby about two years ago, I've read everything I could find on the Warhammer world, but exept for being mentioned in 'Storm of Chaos' and 'Ogre Kingdoms' there is no information on the evil Dwarf-things. I want to know, please tell me, please... It's driving me mad... aaargh!

[Jedi152]

Originally Posted by Festering Chantor

Ok, I actually know the answer to this. They're Dwarfs caught in some sort of Chaos storm/incursion/influx. I also know they make powerful chaos-fuelled weapons and that they take slaves...


I joined the hobby about two years ago, I've read everything I could find on the Warhammer world, but exept for being mentioned in 'Storm of Chaos' and 'Ogre Kingdoms' there is no information on the evil Dwarf-things. I want to know, please tell me, please... It's driving me mad... aaargh!

I can't really remember how CD came into being. I think it was suggested that a dwarf expedition got lost and ended up in the chaos wastes/dark lands, and were corrupted.

They were basically just evil dwarfs ... Thats about it! They never had a proper army book - the 4th ed one was a 'White Dwarf Presents...' book. Exactly the same thing, but a different name - presumably meaning that all its contents were collected from WD.

They used warmachines a lot, and lived in Ziggurats. They were quite technologically advanced, more so than dwarfs, their old warmachines including a rocket launcher, and a special character in a mechanical suit. They worshipped Hashut, who took the form of a red bull (i think) and was a deity of fire. Their imagery was very much associated with fire and lava/volcanoes.

They used greenskin slaves to build their machines, in game terms meaning that they could use orcs, goblins, and hobgoblins.

Hobgoblins were half way between an orc and a goblin. Very sneaky and underhand - they had a special unit of 'sneaky gits' - basically poor assassin types. Pretty crappy in combat, but had a number of advantages. If your army had any HG's then all 'normal' greenskins were immune to animosity - basically they stop fighting to keep and eye on the HG's! When CD became dufunct, hobgoblins were reinvented in the form of a DOW unit, and were redesigned to be mongol-type warriors.

That's all i can really remember offhand, but i've got the book somewhere at home, now if i can just root it out...

[Festering Chantor]

Thanks... anything helps Rockets in warhammer, hope they don't include that if CDs are gettin redone.

[Outcast995]

I think they went to a volacano that was infected with a chaos in a way and thats y they worshipy a fire god. And their beards looked like that of babolonians.

[Kohhna]

They also had a Mini revival crewing the Hell canon in last years Storm of Chaos world campaign. I used to collect them. They had some cool models, all sculpted by the Perry brothers, actually I think the whole thing was invented by the Perries. There were some great monster models, the Lammasu, though not strong rules-wise, looked really cool and had this big funky looking head with horns and a curly beard.

Prior to that incarnation, way back during the days of Bret. peasants and Ninjas (and Fimir), there were Dwarves that were just chaotic and didn't have the Babylonian influence.

[The Undying]

I think they came to be when Chaos came to be. They were the Dwarfs located in the northern regions of the Dwarf Empire.

[Lord Lucifer]

The Dawi'Zharr of Zharrnagrund (sp? Dawi'Zharr translates to Dwarfs of Fire, and Zharr'nagrund is The Plains of Fire, a desolate and bleak place coated in tar pits and burning oil fields) were a distant expansion of the Dwarf empire that decided to head eastward.

However, Eastward turned out to be an incredibly crap place to live, so a large number of them decided 'sod this', packed up, and headed home again.

The remainder toiled away working for useful materials, but they weren't the noble metals and precious gems found in the Worlds Edge Mountains. It was mostly iron, coal, and oil that the Dawi'Zharr encountered.
Useful stuff, for sure, but it's not the sort of thing to hoard away and polish lovingly, is it?

Anyway, cataclysm struck and contact between the eastern fringe of the Dwarf Empire, and the heartlands of the World Edge Mountains, was rendered impossible.
I believe this came in the form of volcanic eruptions sealing the tunnels and underways with magma etc.

Chaos came, and conflict, and a long, long period of horrible, horrible living, and this drove the Dawi'Zharr to desperation. Their ancestors and their kin had forsaken them, they were lost and abandoned, and they sought succour where perhaps they shouldn't.
They turned to Hashut, the Father of Darkness, and worshipped the bull-god.


Hashut is a Chaos God, aligned with the Chaos pantheon, but a lesser God of Chaos, and as far as I can tell is only worshipped by the Chaos Dwarf race, much like the Chaos God 'The Horned Rat' is worshipped only by the Skaven


The Chaos Dwarfs haven't played too much of a major role in the Warhammer history so far, being so far removed from the major theatre of events, and have been content largely to simply build up their realm into an industrial nightmare, to subdue all the greenskin tribes around their lands, and make minor slave raids.

I look forward to them being developed further, as they're never actually progressed further than a concept and semi-official army (in 4th and 5th ed. they were the only race to not have an army book... no, instead they had a White Dwarf Presents: Chaos Dwarfs), and hope they're made rather original instead of merely 'evil Dwarfs' (with special attention paid to their industrious nature if possible)


And yes, they created the Black Orcs... who subsequently revolted against their Dawi'Zharr masters and made a break for freedom, travelling west to subjugate the normal Greenskin tribes.

[Forgotmytea]

Yeah, I hope they bring back the CDs. My CDs are currently gathering dust... Also, Chaos Dwarfs learnt to use magic (unlike normal dwarfs) and so have sorcerers, who eventually turn to stone with age, hence why the Sorcerer special character (can't remember his name now!) had all those pistons to drive him.

[Lord Lucifer]

Astragoth, High Priest of Hashut


The road to the temple of Hashut is lined with the petrified forms of Chaos Dwarf Sorcerors who lived long enough to turn entirely to stone.
Dwarfs and magic don't mix...


That little fact though, is such awesome imagery... the Dawi'Zharr certainly have a bucketload of potential

[Lord Lucifer]

Just wait till the old Chaos God Sotek debates start up
Should be any minute...

[Jedi152]

Originally Posted by Festering Chantor

I love this place, I know much more now (not just about CDs) than I did just a week ago... Thank you for sharing your great knowledge... Just wish I discovered the forum a long time ago...

You should have been here for the glory days ... hopefully we can recreate them.

[Drakemaster]

Another thing to bear in mind was that the Chaos Dwarfs were extremely limited in number, hence their reliance on large numbers of slaves, both to keep their industry going and to bulk out their armies. In fact, their numbers were so few that when the black orcs and other greenskin slaves rebelled, they were almost overwhelmed. Zharr Naggrund (the Chaos Dwarf capital) was almost entirely overrunn by the revolt, and was only saved when the hobgoblins turned against the other greenies and fought for the C.D. - which is why they are viewed with such suspicion by the other greenskins.

[Stouty]

Games-workshop can't really get ridof them, they're here now; maning the hellcannons, creating the greenskin scourge Grimgor, making the leadbelcher cannons.
CDs are the trodden under class of the warhammer world,without them you fat cats wouldn't have a thing!

[wyrmling_x]

The "Who are the Chaos Dwarfs" question is one I've been asking for a few days now, having just decided to convert an entire army of them. What I've found is highly interesting...

Realm of Chaos History

Below is an exerpt that deals predominantly with Chaos Dwarfs:

Quote

"One of the Daemon Princes, Hashut, revolted against the Lords of Chaos. Khorne swatted Hashut away and sent other Daemon Princes with their retinues to slay the defiant daemon...The Chaos Incursion ignored the Dark Lands until Hashut’s revolt against the Lords of Chaos. Fleeing from the Daemon Princes sent by the Blood God to destroy him, Hashut made his stand in the Dark Lands. The savage battles they fought boiled away the rivers and left the land a desiccated ruin. The servants of the Daemon Princes destroyed Goblin and Hobgoblin villages to deny Hashut any possible allies.

These new (though unwitting) allies gave Hashut the opportunity to turn against his pursuers. He killed many, but Khorne always sent more. Knowing they would eventually overwhelm him, Hashut withdrew into the underground darkness to rebuild his strength. Khorne’s slaves followed and finally cornered their quarry in a large underground cavern. Suffering from their own wounds, the followers of the Blood God imprisoned Hashut behind a great door of brass and darkened iron to hold him till Khorne saw fit to exact his vengeance in person..."

"...Unlike their western brethren, the Dwarf clans of the Mountains of Mourn didn’t receive Grungni’s warning before the Warpgates collapsed and Warpdust seeped into their settlements. Yet, the eastern Dwarfs realised that something was amiss and closed their doors. A surge of Warp matter obliterated the Dwarfs’ surface entrances and entrapped them below. For hundreds of years, the Dark Lands Dwarfs were trapped underground. No matter where they tunnelled, impenetrable rock prevented them from reaching the surface. The Dwarfs burrowed ever-deeper, always seeking a way past the rock that trapped them.

They eventually tunnelled into a magnificent underground gallery with walls of obsidian. Carefully exploring the cavern, the Dwarfs found a huge sealed door made of brass and darkened iron with arcane writings inscribed on it. Rune Lord Grimdalf the Grey took it upon himself to translate the glyph learn what was beyond the door. After many years, Grimdalf successfully read the script and, as he mouthed the last syllable, the resulting blast tore him apart. The sound of it reverberated throughout the tunnels, as did the roar of whatever it was Grimdalf had set free.

The thing from behind the door was free and Dwarfs were dying. Even when they finally tunnelled out of the earth, the killings continued during the night. In time, fewer died and some Dwarfs were even allowed to return to their fellows with tales of a gigantic creature from the Darkness. With their Dwarfking dead (one of the beast’s first victims), the remaining clan leaders selected a delegation to approach the creature in its lair to learn its intent. It told them that its name was Hashut, Father of Darkness, and that he would grant them great power if they worshipped him alone. Hashut told the Dark Lands Dwarfs that their Ancestor Gods abandoned them to the onslaught of Chaos. Should they refuse, promised Hashut, their lines would come to an end and their achievements would be forgotten.

A heated argument broke out between those who saw wisdom in Hashut’s words and those who saw forsaking the Ancestor Gods as the first step to damnation. At the height of the debate, weapons were drawn and Dwarf slew Dwarf. Seeing the fight from afar, Hashut granted sorcerous power to those elders who favoured him, tipping the battle in their favour. To honour their new god, the victors sacrificed many of their brethren to Hashut, while they gave others to him as slaves. Some of these he mutated into the beasts that serve him: the Great Taurus and Lammasu. Hashut also took the most ferocious fighters for his cause and shaped them into the Bull Centaurs, his distinguished servants. Lastly, the victorious clan elders were permanently rewarded with powerful sorcerous abilities, which they used to Hashut’s glory.

In a final desperate act against their now debased rulers, the remaining Runesmiths revolted against Hashut’s new order. But, the corruption of the Dark Lands Dwarfs had even affected the power of the Runesmiths. The battle raged for months, but the Sorcerer-Priests were too strong. The Runesmiths were broken and enslaved, while the more powerful among them were sacrificed to Hashut after several days of ritual torture. With the last vestiges of their former culture removed, the corruption of the Dark Lands Dwarfs was completed. Hashut rewarded them with tusks to mark them as his own, while he granted the most devout cloven hoofs and horns."

Quite an interesting piece of fluff on Chaos, and the effects of Chaos on the Warhammer world. Definitely worth the long read.

[Festering Chantor]

Wow, this is great! Is it official? I respect the Chaos Dwarfs more now. I liked the part about the Horned Rat (from the website), he's not a Deamon, he is a living warpstone-entity. Didn't find any incorect statements on the page (even though the O&G were more of a embarrasing misstake, than a race blessed by the Old Ones).

[BullBuchanan]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...sPageName=WDVW

Isn't this an army book? It looks like one.

Edit: Nope just realized its the GW Presents, sorry.

[Arnizipal]

Grimdalf the Grey?

Originally Posted by Festering Chantor

Wow, this is great! Is it official?

As it's a piece of background from Mad Alfred (famous amateur WFRP writer) I doubt it is official. Interesting, but not official.
Tough I did find it a bit unrealistic that Dwarf would turn on Dwarf so easily and willingly. Days of ritual torture? For someone who you called kinsman just last week?

[wyrmling_x]

Originally Posted by Arnizipal

Grimdalf the Grey?


As it's a piece of background from Mad Alfred (famous amateur WFRP writer) I doubt it is official. Interesting, but not official.
Tough I did find it a bit unrealistic that Dwarf would turn on Dwarf so easily and willingly. Days of ritual torture? For someone who you called kinsman just last week?

I agree, I don't think it's official, but certainly intriguing. The details behind the insta-clan hatred would have to be fleshed out in greater detail should an army book arise, though I do like the "Power of Chaos" cop-out. However, it's certainly a nice bit of fiction to read through (even with the blatant LOTR ripoffs ).

[mielherne]

some usefull links

http://www.chaosdwarf.com/

http://obsidianhalls.mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/