Cinda Forgeheart

<i>‘To make anything is to give it a kind of life, a legacy beyond oneself. In this way I am not so different from any humble artisan, for their creations carry their will and their story, and give them immortality of a sort all their own. But I have gone further, for all my sins. I have made myself one with my own creation, so that we each may endure as long as the other does.’ – Cinda Forgeheart</i> * Cinda Forgeheart is a being of myth and awe to the Dwarves. She is ancient, by far the oldest living Dwarf, for in the Primordial Age at the dawn of time she attained a kind of immortality and, with it, great responsibilities. In Teleria’s youth there were spells undreamt-of and magic suffusing all the world in marvelous abundance. With magic of the Firstborn, lost since the Great Divorce, Cinda forged a suit of armor made of living metal. She shared her lifeforce with her creation so that she and it would both endure for eternity, so long as the arcane plate was maintained. Her forge was the molten heart of Teleria itself, a place where the discipline and focus of her Light could mingle with the primordial creative forces of Darkness. Cinda’s eternal suit of armor is known by many names: <i>Melt-Bronze</i>; the <i>Searing Skin</i>; the <i>Legacy</i>; the <i>Furnace-Shell</i>. It radiates such heat that whenever she activates it, everything around her becomes a scorching crucible where no other metal can stay solid. Furthermore, she herself is immune to the punishing effects of the most terrible heat and can manipulate fire and liquid metal as though it were clay in her hands. She breathes in the toxic, burning fumes of the refinery like fresh mountain air, swims in molten steel like it was bathwater, and can turn an ingot into a battle-ax with but a thought and a motion of her hands. Thanks to these powers, Cinda was the chief engineer of Lumaya’s forces during the Great Divorce. She created countless machines for war, sieges, mining, and transport: walking ballistae, tunnel-borers as large as castles, and flying battle-engines capable of challenging even mighty Firstborn. Furthermore, Cinda was the architect of Lumaya’s Fortress, and from it she witnessed the Great Divorce play out. Having seen her creations wreak unfathomable destruction, Cinda was filled with mournful solemnity – what she had made was necessary, but tragic. This is why, when the Great Divorce was over, and the Lumayan Dwarves aired their rage at the Goddess of Light’s betrayal, Cinda was a strong proponent of the Oath of Atheism. She did not wish to ever again create death-dealing machinery on behalf of a distant divine overlord. This vow of isolation, however, allowed Siroth to bring about the Fall of the Dwarves in a tide of blood and fire, shaking even the immortal Cinda to her core. For decades she grappled with grief and regret, pouring her angst into metal sculptures shaped into tortured, twisted forms. Cinda knows as well as anyone, however, that time will soothe any pain or guilt eventually. The opening of Dwarven society, spurred by the return of Dwarven relics by <color=#774418>Sun Wukong</color> and the <color=#774418>Arbiter</color>, as well as the launch of the Dwarven treasure fleets, gave her cause to hope once again. She views the Dwarves’ involvement in the Nyresan Union as a good compromise between isolation and interventionism, and looks forward to the future of her people with optimism. However, Cinda has little desire to steer the fate of her people directly, for she decided long ago that the guidance of an immortal would be stultifying at best, and tyrannical at worst. She is content to make wondrous relics for those she deems worthy, and seek out new sources of ore and minerals so that she will be able to practice her obsessive craft for centuries to come.