The Decline and Fall of the Dwarvish Empire

[gridlore]

About a year ago, I made a post based on my reading of Guns, Germs, and Steel regarding a different take on the traditional fantasy elf. You can read the whole thing if you like. Basically, since the elves didn't have the usual drive to settle down and establish agriculture, they never would have advanced past the "Chieftain" stage - many clans and tribes loosely tied together under the leadership of a (usually) hereditary strongman. No writing, no real metal working, no cities.

Now I'm finishing up Collapse, the "sequel" to GG&S. This book examines why some societies fail in remarkably short periods of time. The Greenland Norse, Easter Island, the Maya.. all successful societies that vanished practically overnight. This book has given me insight into that other fantasy staple, the Dwarfs. Traditionally, dwarfs are highly organized, have advanced (for the genre) technology, and are materially rich. So why aren't they running things?


My answer? They used to run everything. Then their empire collapsed.

I should note that both this and my previous post are magic and divinity light. I'm trying for a more organic look at the shaping of a fantasy world. You can always add magic and gods in careful doses, but I prefer it this way.

Let's return to those thrilling days of yesteryear.. about 11,000 years ago, to be precise. North Africa was a much wetter place with extensive forests and grasslands. Petroglyphs found in Mali and Libya show animals like crocodiles and hippos being hunted. Satellites have found ancient riverbeds and fossil trees have been found in the deepest portions of the Sahara Desert. Let's have our Dwarfish Empire rise in this period in the Nile Delta. The early dwarfs would have the same advantages that allowed the Egyptians of our world to advance quickly. Regular growing seasons, pushes to develop things like calenders, writing, and improved tools. Very quickly we would see a Bronze Age culture spreading across Africa and into the Eastern Mediterranean. I imagine that the Neolithic humans would either be enslaved or allied with the dwarfs. Humans are useful for tasks like herding animals and serving as auxiliary troops (indeed, in the later empire humans are pretty much in charge of all agriculture, but I'm getting ahead of myself.)

Our growing state has an unending need for two things: wood for building and fuel, and more farmland. As the dwarfish population becomes more urban, more resources have to be expended on farming and moving food to market. Forests would be cleared at a dizzying rate. In many places you'd see what we see in the Amazon today; thousands of acres simply burned as a fast way of clearing the land. It wouldn't take long for the effects of deforestation to begin to show up. Topsoil starts getting washed away, deserts begin to grow, and losing enough forest can change the climate.

Meanwhile, the frontiers of the empire have reached the great forests of Europe. Along with vast reserves of metals in the mountains, there are all these lovely trees to harvest! One little teeny-problem.. several thousand illiterate elves armed to the teeth willing to die to protect their forests. Certainly there would be isolated cases where an elvish tribe would ally with the empire when it suited them (and there's your gateway for dwarf cultural influences like writing and small scale metal working to come in) but inevitably one side would break the alliance.

Now things get bad. In Africa desertification is accelerating. The lords of the outlying settlements are seeing their rivers dry up, their crops failing, and since the same thing is happening to every other noble in the area, no real help is on the way. Social order starts to break down as petty wars break out over dwindling resources. Humans, long oppressed by the dwarf lords, begin rebelling and breaking away. In response, the imperial government lays heavy levies on the European colonies for food and wood. Which requires increased warfare with the elves. Many of the colonial lords decide that the empire can stuff it, and retreat to their mine strong holds, securing just enough land to support intensive farming.

The end, when it comes, will be fast. Once it is clear that there is no stopping the marching desert, most of the wealthy will bug out for their cousin's place in the Alps, or wherever. Long simmering conflicts, held in check by imperial power, erupt into warfare. The commoners, dwarf and human alike, will be rioting demanding that Something Be Done. Famine and plague soon follow. A few centuries later, and the desert has claim the great cities, leaving only the Sphinx as witness to the glory that was the Empire.

The survivors, mostly colonies in Europe will find themselves cut off. Surrounded by elves who consider dwarfs to be nothing more than Enemies of Life. Paranoia will be a survival trait. After a few massacres on each side it will become clear that what dmmaus calls "the 5,000 year grudge" has its roots in centuries of warfare.

If you insist on more magic, have the encroachment of the desert accelerated by magical or divine means. Perhaps a ritual designed to stop the sands backfired. Could be why the dwarfs shun magic outside enchantment of objects.

Comments?

Comments

[pauldrye.livejournal.com]

That's pretty good.