Art Chapter: Sword Fall
Beyond the snowy mountains of Erendul, you will find a valley called Sword Fall, home to the most talented blacksmith in the kingdom Astasia. His name is Björn Kirun.
He is half elf, half dwarf, the rarest race in the kingdom, and frowned upon by all high elves of the land. This race should never have existed in the first place. The high elves committed genocide a century ago. They tried to remove the stain of elvenkind by killing the entire race.
Dwelfs, as they would be simply called, are good in spirit arts and elemental magic. They can manipulate both, which normally belong only to one or the other race.
Dwelfs make the best magical artifacts. They use both types of magic. They can converse with spirits, listen to the elements, and draw out their full potential. By doing so, they create weapons far beyond normal means, with ordinary materials.
Because dwelfs are neutral, the high elves hated this. One hundred years ago, they judged them too dangerous to let live any longer and decided to kill them all. A lot of those dwelfs went into hiding and they are still hiding.
Lucky for them, they look like humans with slightly longer ears, slightly pointed, and their height matches that of people of the south. A village of humans decided to help the dwelfs by protecting them. They made a custom of piercing their ears. Humans and dwelfs alike had their ears pierced and could not be distinguished, so many dwelfs fled to this village where they would not stand out and could stay hidden.
The piercing is put in both ears in the form of two small metal rods, placed diagonally, and a small cut is made in the ear for humans to make it look like a dwelf ear. The high elves did not dare to attack this village since it would spark a conflict with the Human Union alliance.
Björn, however, does not have those piercings. He is too proud, but originates from this village. Björn is taller and more muscular than most dwelfs. He has a rough, unkempt black beard and he wears a bandana and round glasses when he is smithing.
His smithy is built around the fallen giant sword. When you visit the valley of the fallen sword, you will see his workshop from dragon meters away. The valley of the sword is called that because there is only one sword that looks as if it is about to fall.
Björn’s workshop is made at the base of the sword. The sword looks like it is made of stone, or so everyone believes. Björn knows better, since he has been mining the base of the sword for decades. Under layers of stone and minerals lies steel. Not any steel, Adames steel.
The sword in the valley is one of many spread across the world. He has never shared that the sword is made of Adames and plans to take the secret to the grave. He spent years mining and years learning how to forge the Adames steel. He took precautions to keep it secret as well.
He did not just mine the giant sword. He dug deep along the sword, made tunnels, and started to chip at the pointy end of the sword, found deep below the surface. It took him decades to get through the rocky terrain, and decades to learn how to forge it. Luckily for him, his heritage was the key to forging the metal and making new masterpieces.
On a beautiful spring day, he was forging, testing new techniques to shape the mythical metal. He used glitterstone and frog spit to cool and temper the sword he is working on. He was drenched in sweat. His entire workshop was covered in steam when he cooled the sword in a bucket of ice water. He has been hammering and tempering the steel for the past 16 hours.
He had the idea late in the evening. Obsessed with seeing the result, he started right away, hammering through the night and most of the morning.
Little did he know that our little Odin heard the hammer from far away and was intrigued by the unfamiliar sound. He climbed on Lara’s head to peek into the workshop, his cheek now pressed against the cold glass. He was sitting on Lara’s head, his faithful dog-like companion.
At first, Odin was intrigued by the giant sword and the weirdly shaped house, and now he saw the dwelf hammer on his new creation. From the window, the giant dog and his little owner were watching the dwelf work.
Björn was covered in sweat and had a faint smile. Did he notice our little Odin, or was he enjoying himself while working on his craft?
Who knows.
some concept art i did long ago.