Grimbeard
"A person could believe the Grimbeard clan would show a certain amount of gratitude and friendliness to the people of Highcroft for welcoming them to their mountains. That person likely doesn't know much about the Grimbeards." - from the memoirs of Lewin Von Treet, Vault: the Land of Stuff and Things
In the high peaks of the Western Scaleback Mountains is the home of a clan of dwarves known as the Grimbeards. While dwarves are not uncommon in any part of Highcroft, Grimbeard, the halls named after the family living within, is less a part of Highcroft and more akin to a mountain pulled from Dagmar and placed across the ocean. The reason is due to how hated the Grimbeards are back home.
The mines of the dwarven home of Dagmar are fabled places, each one containing a clan who guards its secrets jealously. The techniques and traditions of the dwarves are as important as breathing to most clans, but the Grimbeards forsook those traditions, abandoned their mines, and collapsed their tunnels without explanation or warning. In an operation seemingly long in planning, the Grimbeard clan left desolation of their incredibly lucrative mines and fled Dagmar the same night.
The Grimbeard clan, numbering several hundred, wandering the mountains together, seeking a new home. However, what they had done echoed throughout the kingdoms and the clan Thanes vowed worse than exile to the Grimbeards. Thus did they flee the mountains, traveled long through Vault, until King Cadogan Cauld treated with them, allowing them a settlement in the Western Scalebacks in return for joining the nation of Highcroft. In exchange, the dwarves received not only a new home in a familiar terrain but also something more important to them: privacy. The people of Highcroft do not question why a clan of dwarves lives among their mountains, and the Grimbeards do not bother the people of Highcroft.
That is not to say the halls of Grimbeard are closed to visitors; far from it. The dwarves have established a bustling trade with the surrounding settlements and have brought mining techniques to the mountains the people of Highcroft could never have hoped to develop themselves. Entering the dwarven halls requires a respect of their customs and an appreciation of the traditions they brought with them from Dagmar -- traditions, it is easy to see, they miss terribly.
City Landmarks
The Bellows - a hall perfectly built for acoustics to make one person sound like a hundred, the Bellows creates an audible experience unlike any other in Highcroft. Canticles of great importance to the dwarves are sung here, though they sound much like laments
Stalls of Thrumgrim - where the Grimbeards sell the treasures they mine from the mountains to the people of Highcroft. This massive bazaar is a busy center of trade with plenty of entertainment and socializing to go along with it
Durkar Kuzaran - dwarvish for "dragon treasures," this is where the Grimbeard clan stores all things relating to the dragons who once dwelled in the Scalebacks they find beneath the mountain. Once a season, a representative from Caim comes to collect these findings and take them away, as the dwarves have no interest in dragons
Eredum - dwarvish for "a place of war," this hall is a sight to behold. Glistening pillars of diamonds and jewels adorn a vast emptiness filled once a week with every Grimbeard in the ever growing clan as they train in weapons and magic. Eredum exists because the Grimbears believe someday the Thanes from Dagmar will come from them and attempt to force them to explain they they left their mines. And the Grimbeards would rather die.
People of Note
Thrumgrim Grimbeard: Male Dwarf, the oldest living Grimbeard, it was he who established the settlement with the King
Joyug Grimbeard: Female Dwarf, matriarch of the Grimbeards, she leads alongside her husband, Thrumgrim, and is an incredibly capable sorcerer
Rorka Grimbeard: Female Dwarf, one of three heads of the mines, soon looking to make her own clan if her mine becomes profitable enough
Vlackar Grimbeard: Male Half-Dwarf, one of the three heads of the mines, could have already made his own clan but desires to be a Grimbeard for life
Hordrum "Hilt" Grimbeard : Male Dwarf, one of three heads of the mines, loves mining all hours of the day, and has the deepest and most well-kept mine