Dwarven Pickaxes of Kharn Burim

The Dwarven Pickaxes of Kharn Burim are at their base, humble tools of carving stone and rock from the mountain. Specially made for, and by the Dwarves of the Mountain Kindom of Kharn Burim.

History of the materials
The first pickaxes of Kharn Burim were simple, and made of the stone that they carved, but over time, the Dwarves learned to forge with various metals, and soon, added magical rune work to their picks. The modern Dwarven Pickaxes are only forged of the hardest Netherite, given the best runework produced by the Dwarves, and the handles are made of the strongest Bull-Oak that the Ironwood forests above Kharn Burim can produce.

Making of the Burimized wood
The discovery of the Ironwood trees was a mixture of luck, and knowledge of the Ancient Kogongi people. Upon hearing rumors of such trees that matched the strength of Iron and Stone, the Dwarves searched the woods south of the mountain, to find the dying population of trees of the Ironwood Forest. Upon this discovery, the Dwarves began the process of nurturing these trees, with the help of the Kogongi, the Dwarves spread the forest and helped it grow up the slopes of the mountain, to the plateau region, where they flourished.

Once the trees reached the plateau and began to flourish there, a special species among the trees was found, the Bull-Oak. The natural strength of this tree was already equal to iron, which impressed the dwarves greatly, thus, they encouraged these trees to grow even further. It is then, that the Dwarves began to experiment with this special Bull-Oak wood, using a mixture of their own Chemical knowledge, and previously known wood hardening techniques to create what is now known as Burimized wood.

Burim-ized Wood
After harvest, the wood is soaked and boiled in a chemical mixture of Lye and sulfite, and while boiling, the wood is compressed to an extreme degree via stone being pressed on it from all sides by a stone press. Once this process is complete, the wood is stronger than Iron, yet still just barely weaker than Diamond. The Burim-ized wood, as the Dwarves call it is then inspected, and tested via taking 2 long rods of the wood, placing a ton of stone on top, and then lifting the rods. If the wood holds, it is then used to as handles for pickaxes, and other tools.

The Metal Materials
The materials used before Netherite, prior to the discovery of Iron and Diamond, primarily consisted of the many types of stone the dwarves woke amongst. But it did not take long for the Dwarves to discover metals like Iron, and Gold. With the discovery of these metals, and the consequent forging, they began to shape the materials into pickaxes and other tools. Shortly after shaping iron, diamond materials were found, and thus they began cutting out diamond pickaxes as well. It is then, that the dwarves began to dabble in runeforging.

Pickaxe Heads
The Dwarves travel to the Nether to find suitable examples of ancient debris. Though traversing the Nether is a difficult, and deadly affair, it is necessary to acquire what is needed for these durable, and effective pickaxes. Though Ancient Debris is durable as it stands, it alone is not enough to meet the standards that the Dwarves have set upon their modern picks. After acquiring the pickaxes, they are sectioned for quality, the largest, and purest samples are sent to the forges deep near the core for treatment and forging the pickaxes, while less sought after examples are used to make other tools and equipment.

The Forges in question are small in size, and highly specialized for this process, due to this, only the most skilled forge-masters operate them. The process begins by using freshly risen magma to heat the Ancient Debris, once in a liquid state, the metals are mixed with a liquid 24 karat gold. Once properly mixed, the chemical compound known as Netherite is formed, and shaped into the head of a pickaxe once cooled to a formable heat, it is poured into a stone mold. Once cool enough to be worked, the stone is broken and the pickaxe head is hammered and quenched. It is at this point, the pickaxe head is sent to the runemasters.

The Runes of the Ancients
Upon digging deep under the crust, ruins were found of what appeared to be earlier generations of their kin, dwarves that had long ago lived and died, and returned to the stone that the dwarves of Kharn Burim were awoke in. Among these ruins, Runes were found, and many books, and scrolls of how these ancient dwarves created the runes. With this new found information, the Dwarves of Kharn Burim began to quickly learn how to make already existing, ancient runes, and soon began to create their own runes, and soon, Runemasters began to rise among the dwarves. These dwarves were natural at the craft of Rune-forging, and with an almost innate knowledge, quickly began to make many more, powerful and dangerous runes.

Runes
Once sent to the Runemasters, the head is inspected, and a Dwarven miner is selected to receive the pickaxe. Once selected, the miner is summoned to be present to assist, the Runemasters and miner select the appropriate Runes, consisting of Durability, Efficiency, Mending, Silk touch, and Fortune. The runes of these types are many, and the user is present to pick the ones that feel the most powerful to them, as runes react differently to different Dwarves, thus, making each pickaxe unique to each Dwarf.

It is once the Runes are selected, the Dwarves prepare for the sealing, and rune-binding rituals in the sacred pit of Dhaz Kharduum. Once prepared, during the night, and when the moon appears overhead, the pickaxe head is here mated with the Burimized Wood selected by the user. Once sealed together, the pickaxe is placed upon the altar, surrounded by the runes and the ritual begins. The ritual is to be completed before the moon disappears from the sky overhead, lest it fail, and both pickaxe and user, with the runemasters wait till the next night to continue the ritual.

The Humble Beginnings and Discovery
The history of these now, fantastical, pickaxes is long, but their roots are quite simple and basic. The first pickaxes of the dwarves were simple stone, used of the same material that the Dwarves themselves woke amongst, it was not long after that metals were found, and unlocked memories thought forgotten to the dwarfs. Soon, with these memories, the dwarves set up forges, and learned much, much more about themselves, and those that apparently came before them. With the shaping of metals, and the returning of memories that these dwarves did not know they had, they dug deeper into the earth, in an attempt to discover just where they came from.

The Discovery of Ancient Ruins
It is then, that the Dwarves found the ruins of the ancient dwarves that were the progenitors of the modern day Kharn Burim Dwarves. Little is known of them, and more is learned of the ancient civilization by the day as excavations continue deep beneath Alathra. Among these ruins, Ancient Runes were found, as well as forging techniques that were later used to form what was to become known as Netherite. This material, paired with the Rune-Forging of the ancients, is what became the catalyst for the modern day Dwarven Pickaxe.

Usages
The pickaxes have been utilized in many excavations across Alathra, including but not limited to:


 * The Rings of Bal Duran
 * The Pit of Termina
 * The Forge of Kharn Burim
 * Skinwalker Tunnels of Gint

Notable Facts

 * These pickaxes are responsible for the entirety of the digging underneath the Mountain of Bal Duran
 * The most effective pickaxe among them was forged with the help of Twyst, and gifted to Auvengr.
 * Many of these pickaxes are still used today by various Dwarven miners, and some have even been gifted to various others in the Arcadian Altanate
 * The Dwarven Pickaxe is capable of clearing 64 stone in less than 30 seconds.