The Moradfilki (Kerk'al for Moradin sons) was a pantheon of gods under Moradin the Dwarf-Father, an extremely powerful deity. The pantheon lived in Thom Faldur. The Moradfilki were known as the creators and patrons of the dwarves.

Gods of Kin

The Moradfilki were a family, a brotherhood of gods who loved each other and embodied the entire dwarven people. This "family" doctrinally consisted of seven deities.

Moradin the Dwarf-Father was the chief deity. He embodied the father, the creator and protector, all the values of the other six united in one perfect being. He was a very powerful god, perhaps one of the strongest, and his authority over the gods of his Pantheon, and the dwarven people at large, was unquestioned. The pantheon was then divided into two parts, supposed to show the two sides of dwarven life: the Forge, home, a civilized place, and worldly matters like work and war; and the Mountain, representing the more spiritual, mental things.

The Forge was worked by three brothers. Goibhníu was an expert craftsman and smith, using the Forge to create great works of art and weapons of war. He also knew the mines, and could extract the finest ores from the stone. The Mithrine Halls, and Mithral Hall before that, were said to be his construction. He was the god of Smithing, and he inspired smiths, craftsmen, and miners. Hephaestus, the Banner of Dwarfkind, was a calculating, capable commander who always found the weakness of the enemy, and the perfect position for his troops. He was the god of Strategy in the widest sense, going from battlefield operations to diplomacy between states; and when a dwarven people achieved Victory, his name was hailed. He inspired generals, kings, and ambassadors. As for Lugmathor, he was the Blade; he overcame his fear and felt no pain, always ready to fight to defend his brothers and the Forge. He knew all kinds of fighting techniques, but he especially knew the value of heavy armor and heavy weapons. He was the god of Valor and battle, and inspired many warriors, but also dwarves who struggled in their lives and decided to overcome the hardships, bite through, and stand up proudly.

Three other sisters lived with the Mountain, in its cool calm insides or on its harsh, wind-swept flanks. The Mountain was a majestic thing, unshakeable, a stately testimony of calm power, but deadly as well. Dumathoin preferred the silent caves inside the rock, where she kept one huge tome in which was written down the entire history and scientific knowledge of the dwarven people. Her domain was Knowledge, and she inspired scribes and scientists. Dunatis preferred to stay near the outside of the Mountain, where she could look out over the stones and watch the sun rise over the rocks. She was a thinker, preferring to understand the world by feeling and experience rather than scholarly knowledge. She was the god of Wisdom, often inspiring clerics and thinkers, but also reminding all dwarven people of the value of reflection and observation. Heimdall, finally, was free and open, always wandering across the treacherous rocks of the Mountain and enjoying the fresh air before all. She understood that there was a time for everything, and something invaluable in simply enjoying freedom and peace while it lasts; she was the god of Patience.

All seven gods of the Moradfilki embodied one value of great import to a dwarf, and no dwarf prayed to one single god; rather the Moradfilki were one family, holding together despite all their differences in the face of all hardships, always there together in Thom Faldur. Each of the seven gods lived in a dwarf, and each lent him strength in life and death. Because of the great power and unity of the Moradfilki Pantheon, there was very little variance between dwarven faiths, and all religions recognized the existence and importance of the Moradfilki.

Other Deities

The seven gods were not the only members of Moradin's family. Dwarven mythology had ancient roots and was extremely complex to unravel, but there were a few deities whose existence was attested and referred to by different source texts.

Lugmathor the Essence. A deity distinct from Lugmathor the Blade was Lugmathor, son of Dunatis. This was the god of Wisdom, Nature, and Death, and served as the guide for lost souls or the souls of heroes as they made their way to Thom Faldur.

Morrigan and his Fealty Children. Morrigan was the son of Lugmathor the Blade, and his clerical domains are War and Victory. He greatly honors victory achieved at extreme sacrifice, he protects the great heroes of dwarvenkind and even welcomes them into his own retinue. Sometimes, great heroes upon their death perceive the steel hand of Morrigan, and if they grasp it they are elevated to demi-gods and serve as the warriors of Morrigan, great avatars of the Moradfilki and their champions in battle. Known Fealty Children are Lorn Fireforge (whose domains are Strategy and Victory) and Silvanus Battlehammer.

Ascended Deities

There were also deities who ascended to godhood after doing the dwarven people a great service and achieving near-supernatural power before being gifted the essence of godhood upon their deaths by Moradin himself. These ascensions occurred around 0 OW and later, when the power of the Moradfilki was waxing and Moradin became increasingly able of entering the Inner Planes as well as dabbling with the very power of true godhood.

Lauranodel. The elven companion of Dain Fireforge on his Travels and a powerful warrior and a spellcaster close to nature, she died fighting for the dwarf-home of Aithnar at the beginning of the Orc Wars, sacrificing her life for her love of the dwarven people in the hope of a future where the people of Eisenhowl survive. Even Moradin had come to respect her great compassion, and so he granted her godhood when she died. Thus she became the god of Love and Hope.

Dain Fireforge. After the loss of his beloved and the fall of Eisenhowl, King Dain Fireforge led a decades-long campaign to reclaim the lost dwarven lands, developing incredible elemental force rivaling that of gods. In 222 OW, when he killed a demon lord after an interplanar war and was mortally wounded in the process, he finally achieved the status of godhood and joined the Moradfilki in Thom Faldur. He was the god of Fire, Wisdom, Hope and War.

Imily-Tur. The powerful High Queen of the Holy Dwarven Empire had such awesome arcane and elemental fire power that she exceeded even the Dain of old. Such was her might, and that of the Moradfilki with which she spoke as an equal, that she achieved godhood without ever dying. Hailed as the Mother of the New Age, she oversaw the creation of a multiverse-spanning dwarven empire and the descent of the gods to the Material Plane.

Faiths

All dwarven faiths recognized the Moradfilki as their patrons, but there were different interpretations of the composition and extent of the dwarven pantheon, of dwarven history and mythology, and of the exact precepts and rituals of religion.

Moradiet

The chief, standard doctrine of dwarven faith was the Moradiet ("orders of Moradin"). There were very few small variations, but mythology, rituals, and symbols were surprisingly similar across space and time, from the Mistpeak Vales to the Dwarven Empire. Undoubtedly, this was connected to the fact that the Moradiet was the faith Moradin himself declared "correct", and the above-average communicativeness of dwarven gods helped standardize and maintain this religion.

The Moradiet had at its core the concept of kin, that all dwarven lives stemmed from Moradin's clay (an older name for "dwarf" was Kerek, meaning those of clay, and in fact the name for the language itself is "language of those of clay") and were thus valuable, that kin had to stick together. A dwarf had to care for and protect those around them: they had to be loyal to their family, obey the authority of their clan and their political leaders, and remain true to their blood. A saying from the Dwarven Empire illustrates this nicely:

Symbolism. The emblem of the church itself varied; in the Empire, it was a forge surmounted with a flame, surrounded by a laurel crown, all in gold on a red field. However, the symbol of the Moradfilki was universal: the Burst of Life, a golden array of lines bursting from a small golden pin, usually worn on a white background. This served as the symbol of all the gods, though some had an individual symbol as well; Dunatis' for instance was a clay circle on a black background, representing all the knowledge hidden in the darkness one had to find, the need to enter the unknown.

Clerical Traditions. Moradiet clerics typically wore white accented with gold, the colors of the Moradfilki. An additional mark of the office of clerics were long strips of cloth called kyrtikö which usually hung from their shoulders. Clerics who preoccupied themselves only with the dead usually used black accents instead of gold.

Mortuary Beliefs. A dwarf was typically buried near the place where they died, alongside the tools or weapons they had used in life; a soldier's grave would be surmounted with his shield, helmet, and weapons, while a smith's grave would feature a hammer and perhaps some of his finer works. Dwarven souls once they died did not fly on to some afterlife, but instead lived on inside the hearts and minds of those who loved them. Remembrance was very important to the dwarven people, because the day the last person forgot the memory of a dead soul, that soul was lost, and it entered the niflrykz, the world of the forgotten ones. But as long as one remembered the dead, their souls lived on inside the living and granted them strength.

Ryke Moradin

Ryke Moradin was born in the Mruggenrykz and emerged because of the dwarves' isolation from the Moradfilki. Its core focus was a dwarf's role in society, as a part of clan, race, and religion. The faith also taught that staying out of trouble and being productive at home was the best life for a dwarf.

Kerk'ün

The Kerk'ün faith developed out of the Moradiet. It was constructed by the leaders of the Holy Dwarven Empire as a faith that better embodied their new, imperial ideology, as well as being a faith that could be forced on the non-dwarves as well. It was quite down-to-earth and practical, focusing on peace and unity in the "holy realm" - the empire of the gods on Oshmondu. All gods and people were welcome in this realm, a "grand society under the Moradfilki's guidance".

Kerk'ün was said to take the worst of Dain's fiery hate without adopting its morally validating aspects; the faith was unforgiving, offering forgiveness to those who repented and fully gave their lives to the service of the holy realm, and demanded the ruthless extermination - ideally by pyre - of heretics. First-generation converts were regarded as less-than-worthy because they hadn't been "pure" from the start, though their children - who from the very beginning lived in and believed in the holy realm - would be accepted as pious folk and "respected citizens".