Group B decided to embrace the comedic potential of Axes and Anvils as a “beer and pretzels” game. They decided to infuse their clan and characters with pop culture references.

Their archon is Hank Rogers Jr. He is embattled in politics because he tries to manage the symbiotic relationship between the dwarves and the elves they live with, and at the same time manage factions in the clan that have different ideas about what their legacy should be. He is elderly, and he pretends to be foolish so he can get the better of those who underestimate him.

The clan’s patron deity is Jibbers Crabst, a God of Ur who escaped from their underground city and lives behind a nearby planet. He looks like a rock lobster that breathes fire.

Anyway, the clan got its start 1,200 years ago. They lived in one of the most populated dwarven cities in the Stondraeg clan. The city was very racist against elves. Dwarven security actually gunned down a number of innocent elves, (the players explained this was #crimeswhileelven.) A faction of elven sympathizers staged a coup and were exiled when they failed.

Then they traveled from cave to corridor, losing people “Oregon trail style” to disease and animal attacks and the hazards of being homeless dwarves. They lost a lot of people.

Then they met some elves that had just had a bad harvest, so their wine turned poisonous and killed 10% or so of their population. They were looking for better protection, and they allied with the dwarves. The great city of Lost Anvilis was formed by their union.

The whole city is in a pocket dimension. Originally the entry was a trap to protect the edge of the settlement, but a dwarf/elf hybrid named Yogurt (with long droopy ears) infused his spirit into what became the gate. He has always (and will always) guard the gates to Lost Anvilis.

In order to enter the city, you must have a Schwartz (which is a ring with a chip of butterite and a chip of vashite that you manipulate like a decoder ring) and you say “Klaatu, Verata, Nictu” to get Yogurt’s attention so he can let you in or out.

(For those who are wondering about half-dwarf/half-elves, that doesn’t happen naturally. But we have alchemists, right? They can brew up potions for all kinds of stuff if they put their minds to it, and interracial fertility is possible that way.)

Anyway, once they had access to this pocket dimension guarded by Yogurt, their architectural skills bloomed. The elves and dwarves worked together to make the most fantastic theaters, some seating thousands and others seating only five. One of the most famous is the Dark Crystal theater, made out of purple crystals. These amazing theaters lured many dwarves, elves, and others to want to perform in the city, and it is a great place to take in some art.

Some cultural features are the Anvilchella annual music festival, the anvil choir (like a bell choir only hitting specially pitched anvils), and the Grande Olde Elfey Review. Once a year they also host Anvilpalooza. Their main repository for history and culture of this sort is the Smith-Sonian museum of culture and history.

Experimenting with dimensional doors, the elves and dwarves created a passage to a vast cavern deep in the earth with no other access points. Part of the chamber has molten lava, but the rest is a great refuge in case of danger. Also, it has two unique minerals. Butterite is a white gem, vashite a gray gem. They vibrate when touched, and they are super-good for acoustics; they auto-tune music. Due to the proximity to lava, this underground mine/safehouse is called Molt-town.

Their Sayings are “Your soul is revealed in your work,” “A hasty tunnel buries the foolish delver,” and “Your judgement is your truth.”

And so the clan came to be known as the Mysterious Captivating Hammers, or MC Hammer for short. They live in Lost Anvilis (with a back-up escape to Molt-town.) It is an integrated dwarven/elven community and has been for centuries.

Clan MC Hammer