Dwarves

Dwarves are not a common sight above ground in the Phoenix Isles but they do travel from time to time to explore the world or trade with other races The Dwarves are not part of the Empire but have a good relationship with it and are not considered Wild Folk by the Imperials. This may be to do with the fact that the Dwarves provide many of the minerals that the Empire needs.  

The Dwarves also have strong ties with magic but more frequently they are not spell casters but Runesmiths. Forging powerful items capable of holding magical essence allowed them to protect themselves or others. 
Centuries ago during the pursuit of perfecting the art of Runesmithing the Dwarven people split into two factions. Some Dwarves sought to dig ever deeper into the earth to find rarer and more powerful materials to make their runes with. The deeper they dug. the more distrustful of the others they became and the more jealousy they hoarded what they found deep in the earth. The other Dwarves started to become fearful of what these deep dwarves were becoming: rumours whispered about them having found something deep in the earth that twisted their minds. The Dwarves pleaded with their brethren to come home and abandon their deep tunnels. The Deep Dwarves refused and after a series of increasingly bloody encounters the Dwarves reluctantly declared them exiles.