Gray Men

They Whose Hearts are Stone
Of the three demon princes that ruled the Wastes during Hell on Earth, Ladugar is the least understood. While Lolth and Malacath seemed to be hellbent on warping their slaves into tools of death and warfare, Ladugar's servants were shaped to strike the earth. They are the gray men, the stonehearted, the ones who do not forget.

Ladugar desired mines that bore deep into the earth, and he twisted his slaves to serve that purpose. The gray men are short of stature and their eyes can pierce darkness, allowing them to navigate twisting tunnels with ease.

As the mines grew deeper, the stonehearts found that the air became hot and poisonous, so Ladugar hardened their flesh against fire and their lungs against foul fumes. When some began to lose their grip on sanity after weeks and months beneath the earth, Ladugar hardened their minds.

Unlike most of the demons described in the history books, Ladugar rarely displayed any sort of emotion. Where Malacath raged and Lolth shrieked, Ladugar spoke with a voice that whispered like winter wind over dead leaves.

When his slaves failed to find whatever it was he sought, Ladugar began to motivate them, impassively ordering the execution of thousands, or directing his demon underlings to publicly torture gray men and women selected at random.

When Ladugar left our world, the gray men abandoned the mines and moved west. The scars of their former master's cruelty, however, proved more difficult to leave behind.

These days, most gray men dwell in the bowels of the Rocky Mountains. Other settlements have been established throughout the Lost Frontier, almost always hidden within the folds of a mountain.

Recently, gray men traders have begun appearing at various settlements, offering goods in exchange for blood metal. They offer little explanation for their sudden willingness to trade.

Appearance
Gray men are shorter than pure bloods by several inches, and their skin is the color of ash. Their hair is typically pale white, or occasionally coal black. They grow thick beards, which are groomed but rarely decorated.

Their skin is often covered with horrific scars, though the origin of these wounds is a mystery. Due to their extremely sensitive eyes, gray men usually wear dark goggles when above ground.

The appearance of female gray men is unknown - there is no record of one having ever been encountered.

Society and Relations
The gray men rarely venture out into the Lost Frontier, instead remaining among their own kind. When one does leave the mountains, it is to trade for blood metal, which is promptly returned to the stoneheart settlement.

They do not mix well with other folk, at best treating them with cold indifference, more often with open hostility. There are some who claim to have met gray men who break this mold, but they are rare specimens among an already rare breed.

Most recorded encounters with gray men have come from those who have attempted to explore the slopes of the Rocky Mountains. The stonehearts do not brook trespass into what they consider their territory, responding with savage violence, often leaving only one survivor to tell the tale.

Some few things are known of the gray men society. Ladugar's tampering left their bodies unable to reliably reproduce. Women and children are zealously guarded - indeed, there are no recorded encounters with either. Gray men observe at least one holiday, a solemn affair memorializing an event they call Ladugar's Mistake. What exactly this mistake was, and why the gray men desire to remember it, is unknown.

Gray men craft strange weapons and machines, and possess deep knowledge of the practical usage of blood metal. The goods they bring to trade for blood metal are typically clockwork machines of amazing quality and complexity.

Desperados
A gray man desperado is a rare thing indeed. There are records of gray men abandoning their society to seek a new life in the Lost Frontier - that is the origin of the dwarves, after all. Gray men who do venture out of the mountains are typically tight lipped about their former home, and are slow to trust others.

Gray men combatants are versatile in martial roles, but have little talent for burning or bending blood metal.