Hill Dwarves¶
The Hill Dwarves are the Shortbeards, the Dwarves who "live entirely above ground, except perhaps those required to go underground to mine ore. Their settlements are built into the sides of hills and mountains and open to the air" (S384). Where the mountain dwarves make a show of the beard, "it is not uncommon for hill dwarves to be clean shaven, and when they do keep beards, they are often short and plain" (S384). After the Redemption, when the Mountain Dwarves have left Terrun, the Hill Dwarves remain among the Divine Nations of humans, wood elves, hill dwarves, halflings and Oesterkull (S112).
Also called: Shortbeards (S384, S387).
Qurindon¶
"The Qurindon are otherwise known as the Shortbeards, and they are considered to be the most adventurous and adaptable of their people. Their settlements are normally built into the sides of hills, cliffs, or mountains, in order to keep the open air" (S387, S498).
Nolboc¶
"The Nolboc are otherwise known as the Bloodstones, and they are a historically aggressive group of dwarves. Their settlements are normally built into the sides of hills, cliffs, or mountains. Once, they were in control of much of the central east-- their original home having been in the Bloodstone Canyons. After their conquest, which was very costly to the Empire, their governments were disbanded and their entire population was sold into slavery. Currently. it is illegal for dwarves to own property or possessions within the Empire. Years of systematic abuse and rebellion has dwindled their numbers, and they are now very rare to find" (S387). The Empire is the Thyssal Empire of the east (S384).
Earlier accounts¶
The 2014 Compendium names the two hill-dwarf ethnicities Olboc and Aurelian. The Olboc are the Bloodstones of the east, 7% of all dwarves, with the same story of conquest and enslavement (S384). The Aurelian are "Bronze", 11%, in "scattered cities and towns": "The Aurelian dwarves once had a large kingdom in the mountains and badlands of the North. Most of it was destroyed when the desert of Qom was created or in the immediate aftermath. The population of the former kingdom scattered and now has isolated settlements across the continent. They are also just as often found as subjects of human kingdoms" (S384, S372). The 2015 lore renames them Nolboc and Qurindon, gives the Qurindon the Shortbeard name and an adventurous temper, and drops the Aurelian kingdom and the desert of Qom from the hill dwarves' story; the Bronze name passes to the extinct Jorawan of the Mountain Dwarves (S387).
Gap
No source says where the Qurindon live, how many hill dwarves survive into the Fifth Age, or which of the 704 SM dwarven population are hill dwarves.