For the first time in thousands of years, the gates to Deepholme were sealed. The elder shaman had a dark premonition of another attack by the dark elves and their allies; the world would be plunged into a third Dark War, however this time the people of Illdarin would not be so lucky. The humans would not have the strength in numbers as they did in the past and would succumb to the deadly skill of the Drow and the strength of their newest allies, the hobgoblin known as Bloodclaw and the ogre clan the Broken Blade. So, to ensure that they would not serve the same fate as the humans of Keldaerin and the elves locked within Silverwind, they separated themselves from the rest of the world.
Over the next several months, the dwarves began to regret their decision to stow away within Deepholme while the surface world was in such turmoil. After all, were they elves? Were they afraid to fight? Would they hide away while others regaled in battle? No. However, by the time they decided to join in battle the ogres from the north had marched through the Evermarsh and began to attack the gates and, realizing that they were impenetrable, simply barricaded them in by collapsing the tunnel just outside of the gate. Trapped within their own home, the dwarves decided that, if they could not help outside, then they would cleanse within. So began the war for the Underdark.
With the majority of the Drow moving to their new capitol city underneath the Demonweb Crater, this left the rest of the Underdark to the whimsy of the Dreuger and the Driders, as well as a large clan of bugbears that had begun to make their home deeper and deeper as the dark elves traveled farther west. And so, the dwarves left their safe-haven of Deepholme in order to cleanse the Underdark of the evils that had dwelled there for too long. What followed was bloodshed that lasted for one-hundred years, as the dwarves began their march from west and east, destroying all who dared to stand against them.
During their many years of battle, the dwarves made several discoveries to assist their travels throughout the Underdark; the most important being the creation of an alchemical substance eventually known as black powder. At first, this allowed the dwarves to tunnel quicker and travel deeper than ever before, however soon they found the offensive possibilities of such a substance. Such power and destructive forces came at a price though, with the eventual destruction of Deepholme itself. The other was the discovery of steam power. While in the Underdark a group of dwarves discovered steam vents and were able to harness their power, though only locally at first. After time, they soon found ways of recreating this power on a smaller level and using it to drive their newest creation, which they dubbed mechanika. These leaps in invention allowed them to mimic the arcane abilities that had been lost to their race generations ago.
After destroying most of the Dreugar and pushing the bugbears back to their caverns, the dwarves found that while the species of the Underdark were evil and vicious, they kept each other surpressed through constant war, along with keeping at bay any creatures that would otherwise roam freely. With the races of the Underdark now either completely destroyed or scattered beyond repair, the deadly beasts of the dark world now began to crawl from the caverns and crevasses. The dwarves began a retreat from the Underdark, blocking off any tunnels that they would while fighting as little as possible. Eventually they made their way back to Deepholme; however they realized that this was not only their way of escaping, but the way for all of those creatures of the deep to make their way to the surface. The dwarves then did the only thing they could: Using the devastating force of the black powder they simultaneously blasted through the gates of Deepholme while destroying the main hall, shutting off the outside world from the Underdark, possibly forever.
With the Underdark now an uninhabitable wasteland and Deepholme in ruins, the dwarves are attempting to make a new home in Illdarin though they are now realizing the price that they paid for closing themselves off from the rest of the world for so long. With the humans and elves spread throughout Illdarin and the main civilizations as they were known in ruins, the dwarves have taken it upon themselves to lead the fight against the Drow and take back the world they once knew; the world now known as Vlos'eairthil.
