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Deep in the Great Forest, a forest so large that it covers fully half of the AMD world, live the Leaf Dwarfs. Long ago, they were like most dwarfs, holed up in their caves in the Mountains of Gorpinhor. Bred from birth to be accommodating to these dark, hostile caverns, it was with some surprise that a rather unique Dwarf by the name Sporky McBeard found that it was impossible for him to see anything in the dark. Unlike his brethren, he was born with normal eyes, which were quite abnormal for a dwarf. That is to say, he could see fine in daylight, but not in the dark.
Growing up, Sporky was treated well by his peers, but he could hear them talking about him behind closed doors. They pitied him and his handicap, and one day it grew too much for the young McBeard. He gathered up his Dwarf possessions (you know, shovels and stuff) and headed out into the world. When Happy saw his first massive Great Forest tree, it was like a fire was lit in his heart and he knew that, at long last, he was home.
Using his amazing Dwarf know-how, Sporky fashioned a home up in the trees away from the dangers found on the forest ground. Up and away from predators, the young dwarf felt freedom for the first time in his short life. He wiled away the days lounging in the sun and swinging from the trees wearing nothing but a beard and a goof grin. It was his paradise.
Some years later, Sporky was doing his daily aerobics when he spotted a long line sullen Dwarfs marching through the woods. After a howdy and a few strange looks due to his attire, Happy found out that these Dwarfs were also from the Mountains of Gorpinhor. Apparently, the mountain cave had to be evacuated after a vicious turf battle with some neighboring goblins. Many lives were lost and it was decided to leave their mountain home rather than face extinction.
Seeing the unhappy dwarfs hurt Sporky deeply. He offered them food and shelter, which they readily took. It didn't take long for these new dwarfs to take to the new lifestyle, and pretty soon the woods were filled with hundreds of short stocky folk swinging through the trees. Well, they were aiming for "through", but their eyes were still evoluntionarily dependent on the dark, so they most went "into" trees. But it was all in good fun.
And this was the beginning of the Leaf Dwarfs (historian's note: it is "dwarfs" now and not "dwarves" ever since the bloody civil war centuries ago that ended in the letter 'v' being permanently removed from the language - it was later added back in during a probationary period and is now in wide circulation again, but nobody will ever trust it like they used to). Now, hundreds of years later, the city of McBeardville is a thriving metropolis with thousands of treetops huts.
What's more important is that the Leaf Dwarfs have found a way to profit from all this, turning their treetop wonderland into a neutral location for trade and barter. Named Roth'fl in Dwarfin dialect, most know it simply as the Great Woods Mall - or as the Forest Elves would know it, The Great Devil. But that is another story for another time.
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