Space Dwarves • Crystal Masons
Asteroid clans that forge starships the way smiths forge swords.
Who they are
The Crystal Masons are the asteroid clans of Yllar: short, stubborn, and the finest shipwrights in the Crystal zone. Their great guild, the Crystal Consortium, runs the mines, the markets and the shipyards. Their hulls are stout, pontooned and trimmed in copper and cream, with a crystal set in every one. A mason crew does everything together. It cuts the rock, carries it home, mends its own and fights as one.
A mason clan fights like a work crew. Marines hold the line behind a shield wall, Tanks guard whoever stands near them, Snipers work from the far edge of the fight, Demolition crews break what is dug in, and Priests keep the whole clan standing. Away from the fight the same clans mine, haul and build, so a quiet mason colony gets richer, and harder to crack, every minute you leave it alone.
Key Abilities
Strengths
- ✦Tough, heavily armoured hulls
- ✦Layered protection: shield walls, bastions and fortified allies
- ✦Healing that keeps the whole clan in the fight
- ✦A self-running mining and hauling economy
Weaknesses
- ✦Heavy hulls turn wide and slow
- ✦Crews depend on their depots and their priests
- ✦Long supply lines are easy to cut
- ✦Slow to reach far-flung fights
Space Dwarves Bosses
1 boss flying this faction's flag.
Faction Units
Key vessels available to Space Dwarves commanders.
Worker
The backbone of every clan. A worker carries a drill boom and a hold. In peacetime it scouts a seam, cuts the rock and flies the load home. In a fight it patches up the nearest hurt ally and fortifies whoever is holding the line.
Dwarven Scout
Faster, longer-legged and lighter-armoured than anything else the clans fly. A scout carries a light, quick gun and goes where the crew is going before the crew does. If you see one, the rest of the clan knows where you are.
Sniper
Fires shards of crystal on a rail from farther out than anything else in the roster, and prefers to stay there. By the time a sniper's shot reaches you, the sniper has already chosen its next one.
Marine
The clan soldier. Twin tubes throw crystal lances, the hull turns to face whatever it is shooting, and a shield wall goes up when the pressure comes on. Every other mason is measured against the marine.
“Ally here, no need to fire lad!”
Demolition Crew
Miners who stopped cutting rock and started cutting fortifications. They lob heavy charges at whatever is dug in, and turrets, stations and hardpoints all come apart the same way a seam does.
Tank
The widest hull in the clan. It presses into the fight, throws a projected bastion over every ally near it and soaks the damage meant for them. Its guns are big because the tank is big.
Priest
Holds the clan together. A priest sings canticles of warding and restoration, and each healing verse crosses the gap as a mote of light you can watch arrive. Kill the priest first, or everything else in the clan gets back up.
Ore Barge
The toughest hull in the clans' fleet, and the slowest. A barge takes the load no worker could carry in one trip and brings it home, and if the depot is gone it carries the load to the homeworld instead. A mason never leaves ore in the dark.
Mining Depot
Where the crews bank their haul and where damaged masons go to mend. A clan with a depot grows. A clan without one spends every trip flying home.
Billybob
A guild master in gold trim who flies the same miner's hull as his crews. He meets new pilots after they first dock, points them at the best seams, and takes his cut in trade, upgrades and advice, whether you asked for the advice or not.
How they came to be
The clans have cut the deep seams of Yllar for longer than anyone has kept records. Every clan, crew and guild hall is bound into the Crystal Consortium, the great guild of the masons, which sets the price of every gem that leaves Yllar and settles every claim on every seam. Every clan answers to the Starhammer crown, the royal line that has ruled the masons since the first seam was cut, and today to King Arkanvil, the greediest king the line has produced. Every crew keeps a mentor, and every mentor remembers who paid for their last load. Cross a mason crew and the whole roster comes for your ship at once. Stand with one and you will hear about it every time your fire passes too close.
Ready to Command Space Dwarves?
Wishlist on Steam, or join the alpha now and help shape the galaxy.