“The Dwarven King”
God of Virtue
|Position||Major God, Good Triumverate|
|Domains:||Good; Protection; Strength; Charm; Courage; Liberation; Mind; Purification; Suffering|
|Relationships:||Family:... – Allies: Abel; Tristram – Enemies: Lycanus|
The knowledge of where Danté was born is lost to history, and even to the god himself. His earliest memories are as a slave in the Dwarven Kingdom of Irestone, at a time when the Seven Kingdoms were only three, and constantly at war with each other. As a youth he bore witness to the constant strife and suffering the slaves bore at the hands of their Irestone masters; as well as that which the Irestone people bore at the hands of each other, and the hands of their King.
This suffering tempered his personality, and galvanized him against the evil he saw around him. Incensed by the abuse and oppression, he began to work with the other slaves (many different races, but mostly dwarves) to overthrow their masters and escape. The rebellion led to an all-out war within Irestone as, inspired by the efforts of Danté and his allies, the other slaves began to fight back as well. Thus began the Shattering of the Three (see Seven Kingdoms).
Danté and his allies escaped to the west, into the Stormhammer Kingdom, as the Irestone Kingdom began to disintegrate beneath the constant rebellions As it turned out, one of the dwarves who had become Danté’s right-hand of sorts was actually a Prince – the only son of King Coalbrow, and heir to the throne of Stormhammer. After hearing his son’s tale, the King named all the slaves who had escaped into his lands Citizens of Stormhammer; the main players in the rebellion he named Thanes; and Danté, for his selfless acts of bravery and salvation over the course of the long fight for freedom, and for outstanding contributions made to the dwarven race as a whole, the king named son, and adopted him into the Coalbrow family.
Decades later the King and Heir were both killed during an unexpected siege of Stormhammer castle by the Irestone kingdom. Danté led the army against the invaders and drove them back to the border between the two Kingdoms.
As tradition dictates, Stormhammer took two months to mourn – one each for the loss of King Coalbrow and his son. During this time, the council of elders debated long and hard about the monarchical situation, and ultimately decided to coronate Danté as the new King Coalbrow; there was nothing in dwarven law to prevent a non-dwarf from taking the throne in the event that such a being was legally the heir; the coronation was uncontested. Regardless of blood, Danté was as much a dwarf as any other, and had proven himself more than capable to lead the Kingdom well.
During his reign, Long and Feng approached him for the position of Pillar of Virtue. At first, Danté turned them down, for his first duty was to his people and he had no heirs to give the Kingdom to; however, Long pointed out that it was not strictly necessary for him to give up the throne. To this date, the avatar of Danté continues to rule in Stormhammer, and the Dwarves of the Kingdom enjoy a certain level of bragging rights among the Seven Kingdoms, as the only Kingdom with a God for a King.
The followers of Virtue value good for good’s sake; they do the right thing because it is the right thing. They are altruists of the highest order. Like the Church of Lycanus, there are several organizations under Virtue dedicated specifically to one of the seven virtues that oppose the seven vices – Chastity, Temperance, Charity, Diligence, Patience, Kindness, and Humility. Unlike the Church of Lycanus, these organizations work hand in hand with each other, and though they may hold a single virtue above all others, they respect and practice all seven as they can.