This is another story for Rinmaru's Scholar's Wanted for Ascension: Echoes in the Dark. This story is a dwarven folk tale. Enjoy!

Alpine, the Giant Dwarf as retold by Lisanna of the Air Camp

Part One: The Giant Dwarf

In the days of yore, there was a group of dwarves called the Dorg who traversed the lands instead of mine and were constantly in pursuit of precious stone. The Dorg tribe was among the most powerful and intelligent among the ancient dwarf tribes. At one point, they could no longer find their precious stone. This became an era of darkness in which the dwarves were devoid of the earth and rock that had so long been their life-blood.

Around this time, a special Dorgen baby was born. His name was Alpine. Alpine was unique because even among the stout and stocky dwarves of the Dorg tribe, Alpine was especially short. For this reason, he was often made fun of, which caused the young dwarf to live the early years of his life in retreated isolation.

Three years later, a very strange apparition began to occur within Alpine. The boy, once a weak and meek crybaby, started to grow, and grow, and grow! Within three months, he reached six feet tall; within six months, he reached ten feet tall. By the time a year had passed, Alpine was well over twenty feet and towered over all of his dwarven brethren.

Alpine became proud of himself - but his sudden transformation caused a fright in his fellow Dorgen. And so, while poor Alpine slept, his people bonded him with ropes and carried him deep into the Evil Forest.

Part Two: Protector of the Forest

When Alpine awoke, it was with a heavy heart. Surrounded by nothing but the winds and the trees, Alpine knew his people had abandoned him. It was, for the first time, that Alpine was made aware of true isolation. Before, he wasn't well-received by his fellow dwarves, but now there was nothing. Except for him and the forest, there would be no one to hear the poor dwarf as he succumbed to the forces of nature.

Then, a sound.

It was a rabbit, among other forest animals, who saw the giant dwarf and heard his despair. They pitied the dwarf, and brought him all sorts of treasures - berries and grasses and other foods - to aid him in his plight.

Alpine cried, for the first time, out of pure happiness, and from his tears sprouted a spring, which would later become the Moonstone Lake between Brogen and Spant. Alpine decided henceforth to make use of his life in the woods.

He decided to help the forest animals as they had helped him. With his humongous build, Alpine became the Protector of the Forest, fending off hunters and poachers who sought only to steal from the forest's rich harvest and bounty.

Part Three: Minna, the Spirit-Goddess

One day, Minna, the spirit-goddess that resided in the forest, came before Alpine. She had seen his good deeds and decided to grant him one wish. Alpine thanked the spirit-goddess profusely, but asked for some time to think about what to wish for.

While Alpine thought about his wish, he remembered his people and decided to sneak by his village to see how his dwarven brethren were doing. He saw how poor and starving they were.

Alpine rushed back to the forest to Minna.

Once he stood before Minna, he uttered his wish: "I wish for my people to be restored to their former glory and for them never to run out of the earth's bounty again."

"Why?" Minna asked.

She was perplexed. Alpine was ridiculed and ostracized by the Dorgens. There should have been no reason for him to care about the Dorgens, and yet all Alpine wanted to do was help them. Alpine explained to Minna that although he was never terribly popular among his people, he loved them just as he loved all the forest animals and Minna.

Minna was pleased by this answer, and in that moment, Alpine grew bigger and more rigid until he transfigured into a mountain. The Dorg were surprised by the sudden apparition of a mountain, but upon seeing it and discovering its many earthen pleasures - silver, gold, and jewels, some of the like which had never been seen before - they decided to finally settle down to reap the earth's bounty.

From this point forth, Alpine became one with nature, and it was from this holy matrimony between man and the world that the Stron mountain region, among many other Doregon mountain regions, were formed.

- A retelling of The Tale of Alpine from A Compilation of Doregon Folk Tales

Note: The origins of this story are unknown. Perhaps the tale is a myth that stemmed from the drunken tales of tavern-dwelling dwarves. Perhaps the story is truth. Regardless, the Doregon mountain regions, especially the Stron mountain regions, are revered by the dwarves today as the motherland that provides the ore that is the dwarves' life-blood. Legend or not, Alpine is a hero whose name shall be forever remembered in history.

- A note from Brakthus Pinterbon, a dwarven professor from the College of History