When they encountered the Throne of War, the Tempered, much like the Ardent, saw the future of their people writ large, but not in the awesome power of the hulking Primordial form bound within it, rather in the colossal energies that raged around it. Blinded by pride in their craft, they saw in this elemental prison a power that would ensure the success of their rebellion and secure their future. As the Ardent used the infusion of raw Primordial essence to shatter the chains binding them to the Dragons, the Tempered took advantage of the flux created in their very essence and infused their people with the raw elemental might of the Throne. The powers they dabbled with, however, were completely beyond their measure.

The results of this single momentous act changed the Dwarves and the world forever. Enhanced by War’s destructive essence, the raw power of the elements served them well in their victory over the Dragons. In their thirst for power, however, they drew too deeply from the well that maintained the Throne and weakened War’s prison. Fractured into a hundred pieces by the Ardent and fed by the growing conflagration of their struggle against the Dragons, War was finally able to break free and has roamed unchecked since. This thought haunts the Tempered above all others to this day. While successful, they believe the plan of their forefathers to have been ultimately flawed by the very essence of War that rages within them, denying them mastery over their own elemental powers and thus their destiny.

In the Tempered’s opinion, the warmongering of the Ardent is evidence enough of this, as is the fate of their Gifted. Unless they control War and the destructive impulses it infused them with the Dweghom are doomed, so it is control they seek. Their powers are bound by elemental grafts, powerful creations especially designed to endure the strain of their raw Elemental might and War’s chaotic influence. The limited control their Gifted possess is magnified by these devices, allowing them to unleash their immense destructive powers on the field of battle. For all their effectiveness and awesome power, however, the Tempered consider these machines a crutch to their flawed nature. Their true agenda lies deeper; the reforging of the Dweghom race, building upon the imperfect efforts of their forefathers.

Metal Mages are considered by the Tempered to be the pinnacle of the Dweghom race, as well as its salvation. Gifted equally in Fire and Earth, Metal Mages display a level of control that transcends the simple, if powerful, elemental workings of their less gifted brethren. With their superior control, they meld both powers to create a new one which allows them to treat metals as a separate element. While a Dweghom Pyromancer or Geomancer might accomplish similar feats by exerting force or heat upon a piece of metal, Metal Mages transcend this limitation and simply will it into its new form, allowing them to alter metals directly, shaping them into impossibly fine and precise forms. It is only through this gift that the craft-sorcery of the Dweghom is possible. Metal Mages are the only who possess the precision and control needed to create the grafts that allow Gifted Dweghom to connect to and power the elemental devices that have become ubiquitous throughout their society.