The Burrowing

After the loss of a great war, the dwarves fled to Toumthrus Mountain, which had once yielded great amounts of metal, but now became their home. A mine shaft had collapsed many years before, but not in the usual way, for there was a large pocket of air below it. The dwarves had done little to explore it, but now they fled to it as their only source of safety.

The Burrowing left the dwarven nation, already ravaged by war, in shambles. They had almost no food left, and no way of getting more, and their work force had largely been drafted for the war, and few survived. General Thoudur helped the people to learn food gathering in the caverns, for he had grown up there. The women took a larger roll, as there were more than four women to each man, and since then the dwarves have been much more respectful of them, and they often attain high positions in government.

Soon after, Thoudur, now king, made them a new nation, naming them Thouduria, after himself.