Tell me about the Communist dwarves from the Chainmail setting

[Klaus]

What the title said. I remember the dwarves of the Chainmail minis setting having a strong Communist vibe. Can anyone tell me more about it (and the setting in general)?

 

[Jinglehopper]

I've always thought of dwarves as pure capitalists to be honest.

But I'd love to hear about communist dwarves.

 

[kilamanjaro]

The dwarves of Mordengard overthrew their hereditary king just over 100 years ago. Rather than act sensibly and crown a queen to rule over them, the dwarves announced they were establishing a "People's State." It is their contention that the common dwarf should have a say in the way the nation is run. Preposterous, I know, but the dwarves are dedicated to their cause.
As you would expect from stout folks like the dwarves, their army is disciplined and tough. Their arms and armor are of the highest quality, and they excel at fighting in close quarters. In recent years, they have also begun to use an array of elementally powered weapons and allies from the Inner Planes. The dwarves are best at defensive warfare, where their lack of long range weapons and mobility is less of a hinderance.
--Chainmail Rulebook pg. 8, written from the point of view of a human sage

I seem to recall that the last dwarf king ruled as an absolute tyrant and treated most of his subjects as little more than slaves. He had them at work constructing an enormous tower. Finally fed up with his rule they killed him by toppeling his tower. Thus the symbol for the Mordengard faction was a shattered tower. After his defeat the dwarves established their 'people's movement' and began trying to spread it to other lands. I can't find where I read that though.

 

[Hairfoot]

It is their contention that the common dwarf should have a say in the way the nation is run. Preposterous, I know, but the dwarves are dedicated to their cause.

So they're actually proto-democrats, not Communists. A good thing, since a dwarven dictator be in power a long time.

 

[Henrix]

So they're actually proto-democrats, not Communists.

Which is often more or less the same.
Communism is not the same as not being democratic. Sure, most states in our world who have called themselves communistic have not been democratic, but that does not make it true in a fantasy world.

I'll see if I can find where I've saved my pdf of the full Chainmail rulebook to see if there's a longer text about the Peoples' Republic of Mordengard.

 

[RandomCitizenX]

Considering one of the things I remember from having to read the communist manifesto in college was that the Work should be the reward. I could definitely see the craftsmen dwarf archetype being given a communist leaning.

 

[Henrix]

Ah, here it is!
I rather liked the Chainmail world. The basics was that a group of adventures had dreamt of everlasting peace, and so sought to slay the God of War, Stratis. But Stratis cast himself out in his dying moment, sending parts of him all over to place, and leaving several minor gods of war to fight over his remains - ensuring endless wars.

MORDENGARD
“The motion has been moved and seconded. Shall
the Republic enter the great conflict, colloquially
known as the Godwar, and prevent the other combatants
from raising one of their own as the new God of War?
Brewers, you have the first vote.”
The representative of the Brewers’ Guild took his feet at the
round table. “Aye.What needs to be done.”
“Crafters?” asked the scribe serving as moderator of the
meeting of the Workers’ Council.
“Aye.”
“Engineers?”
“Aye, though we have reservations, as these three days of
debate have indicated. I will not repeat them now. But yes, we
vote for war.”
And so on, through the various guilds: farmers, miners,
priests, scholars, soldiers, wizards, and artists. Only the
Soldiers’ Guild representative voted against the motion, to
everyone’s surprise.
“The Soldiers’ Guild votes nay. No, no, hold yourself
together there.We of the guild are in favor of this war, and
we advanced arguments in support of it.We wish only to
make one thing clear:We will win, but in winning, we do not
wish to raise one of our own to be a god. The power that was
Stratis’s can be gathered and controlled, but then the
Workers’ Council as a whole must decide what to do with it.
Not the soldiers who happen to achieve the victory. It is not a
matter for a . . . battlefield promotion. The Comrade-General
agrees with me on this, I believe.” He nodded to a grizzled,
one-eyed dwarf in plate at the back of the room, the soldier
named Baruk who led the People’s Legion that term. “We
will win the war, but we will not let victory cost us our
revolution. Long live the Republic!”

And so the People’s Republic of Mordengard went to war.
A century ago, the dwarves of Mordengard overthrew a
tyrant king. Most of the nobility was slain along with him,
thrown down by a revolution from below, a final attack by
the aggrieved masses. Instead of setting up a new king, the
dwarves have invented something new: a republic of the
people, by the people, and for the good of the people.
Every citizen of Mordengard belongs to a guild, and the
Workers’ Council are elected every five years from the guild
rolls. Members of every guild serve in the People’s Legion,
though most of the commanders are from the Soldiers’ Guild.
Traditional dwarven virtues of duty, perseverance, toughness,
pride of craft, and bashing in orcs’ skulls have survived the
transformation of the government. In fact, Mordengard is
stronger than ever as the new soldiers, commanders, and
heroes of the people strive to show that they are every bit as
capable as the nobles who used to lead by virtue of their
blood. Allies from the Elemental Planes add to the Republic’s
confidence, as do elemental weapons crafted by the artificers
of the Crafters’ and Engineers’ Guilds.

“An elf started this war,” say the people of Mordengard, “but
we will end it.”

"IN THE OPEN FORUM OF THEWORKERS’ COUNCIL, ANY DECISION WORTH MAKING IS WORTH MAKING LOUDLY."

"Models from back to front (left to right): 1. Ancestral Guardian, Stone
Spike, Ice Paraelemental, Dwarf Fighter; 2. Stonechild, Dwarf Raider,
Dwarf Ranger, Dwarf Hammer Priest, Dwarf Thunderlasher, Dwarf
People’s Guard (x2); 3.Dwarf Scorcher, Dwarf Zealot (x2), Dwarf
Legionnaire, Dwarf Shock Trooper, Dwarf Raider, Dire Badger; 4. Dwarf
Fighter, Dwarf Cleric, Dwarf Lightning Lancer."

The Mordengard dwarves had not only the expected stone and elemental troops (and a armoured dire celestial badger), but also some more 'steampunky' elements, like firearms, bombs and thunderlashes - though they used elemental magic, not gunpowder.

 

[Henrix]

Considering one of the things I remember from having to read the communist manifesto in college was that the Work should be the reward. I could definitely see the craftsmen dwarf archetype being given a communist leaning.

I could defenitely see a dwarven version of this poster

(The caption says "Be vigilant at your post!".)

 

[Angrydad]

Here's the thing about Dwarven Commies that I think could make it work. In the RAW, dwarves are extremely lawful with a strong sense of community and familial ties. I can quite easily imagine a dwarven nation that utilizes Communism without becoming a tyrannical dictatorship or militaristic nation. Similarly with gnomes, though I don't think they'd be as organized.

 

[Shroomy]

Its certainly an interesting idea for a fantasy-setting.

Now I may be wrong here, but wasn't the Chainmail setting actually on Oerth, west of the Flanaess?