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Book of the Crafter, Abridged; by Samael Stonebeard, scribed by Gorm.
MrGrendel
In the beginning there was nary but a void, pure bare empty like a dwarf keg after a festival or an elven wenches head. And outta this void a great booming voice was heard, the voice of the Crafter And the Crafter was taken by the desire to create, and so He spake, "By m' Hammer, there shall be a Paradise!" And lo, the Crafters Hammer could strike even the void, for He forged the emptiness into the land Aegis, with delicious roastable animals and plants to make into and ale. And in the centre of this land he placed mountains of purest gold and diamonds, from wee tiny ones to chunks as huge as ghasts. Brooks made of purest ale and mead burbled out of the ground and the Crafter spake again, saying, "Let there be dwarves!" His Hammer struck the stone, and dwarves were made, industrious like bees and stubborn like obsidian.:: ::Some of the dwarves, though, were like unpolished gems or half-brewed ale, and the Crafter in His wisdom saw this. These dwarves grew lazy and accustomed to a life of ease, so the Crafter spake once more, "My creations are unfinished work. They must go through a crucible! The rock mountains will not coddle them. amd there will be both hardship and joy alike from the others I shall craft." And thus His Hammer struck the leafy woods, and elves sprang forth. His Hammer struck the harsh deserts, and orcs were born. Last, He took some of each part of nature and molded it and struck it, and the humans were fashioned in this manner.:: ::So the Crafter drove the dwarves from their paradise and spoke openly to them for the last time, "This place will be lost to the unworthy. Ye dwarves will hence have to forge your way through life and burrow your way with pick and axe and steel, lest ye grow fat and cannae climb mineshafts for all the rolling back down! But I shall watch over ye, and the best among ye will gleam like diamonds and this shall be yer reward" that when the time is right, ye may enter into the Golden Halls of eternal ale, wenches and brawls.":: ::After this, the crafter struck the heavens with his mighty gilded Hammer and created a new race of beings, made of spirit and energy, but like day and night to each other. They would bear his words for Him and carry out tasks in His place before all the mortals of Aegis. They were powerful and majestic, like inscribed diamond axes or massive gold vats of ale. Since then the Crafters voice has fallen silent, but He can be felt in the fevered urge to create masterpieces, the desire to craft perfect smooth halls out of hardest stone, to brew the finest ale and the instinct to fight most fiercely for dwarven honor and all things true and of noble tradition. So all dwarves may know the presence of the Crafter within every one of them.