The Forge Fathers are one of the only species in known space whose weaponry and spacecraft are more powerful than those of the Corporation, although thankfully their numbers and the relatively small size of their territory helps maintain a status quo. Their battle-suits are nigh-on impregnable; the destructive capability of their magma weaponry is of tremendous magnitude, not to mention the incredible rate of fire and penetrative power of their solid-shot weaponry. In the field of space warfare, they are unsurpassed. Their ships are much like they are: slow, massive, resilient to damage, and armed to the teeth.

Commonly known as Dwarfs, the Forge Fathers are physically short and powerfully built, being stocky and covered in muscle. Autopsy reports from the GCPS black science labs have revealed that Forge Fathers are possessed of an incredibly dense bone and muscle structure, with tensile and compressive strengths an order of magnitude greater than those of humans. In live captive tests in a variety of environments, forces well over twenty times that needed to break human bone were required to damage the bones of Forge Father Limbs. Their features are human-like, though much wider set and with craggy brows. Their eyes are deep set, and combine with their other features to give an appearance, to humans, of a permanent scowl. Indeed, their faces are almost incapable of nuance to convey meaning, and so the Forge Fathers have a singularly complex language, both in verbal and written forms. Diplomats are well-advised to learn the Forge Fathers’ customs and linguistic conventions if they are not to cause offense, for the Dwarfs are well-known for their severe demeanours and harsh tempers. They have short, thick fingers whose appearance belies their incredible dexterity with the finest of tools, and their hands are rough and calloused from hours spent mining mineral-rich asteroids or working metal in the forges. The Forge Father culture sees great value in the fruits of manual labour, and ‘soft-hand’ is an insult of the gravest order amongst their kind.

The Forge Fathers will not speak of the planet they hail from, it being lost to some long ago catastrophe. To question a Forge Father on this subject is to invite his wrath. Our scientists have plotted the movements of the Forge Father trade fleets and undertaken a statistical analysis of their so-called Star Realm. From this data, we have extrapolated a location for the Forge Father home world somewhere very deep in the core, a hypothesis widely accepted in exobiological circles.

Formed of a sizeable collection of star systems located to coreward of the GCPS, the Dwarf’s Star Realm is ruled over by the clans – each a small civilisation in its own right, with its own traditions, customs and hierarchy. It would be a mistake, however, to consider the Forge Fathers as fragmented. For all the differences displayed by the clans, they remain broadly united in purpose and belief. They are rigid in their adherence to custom and tradition, to the point of being hidebound, and they never forget any slight perpetrated against them, either by another clan or by outsiders.

Each Clan retains control over its own territory within the Star Realm. These vary in size from a handful of planets to several systems, though their wealth is measured not by their size but by the power and output of their ‘Forge-Stars’ – the name given to the massive contraptions Forge Fathers fashion from the suns of their territories, harnessing the massive energy produced by thermonuclear reactions into both energy and raw forging power. This technology, together with their planetary engineering, terraforming and strip-mining capabilities, ensures that the Forge Fathers retain a pre-eminence amongst the intelligent races of the galaxy that is not likely to be challenged any time in the near future.

Since first contact was established between the GCPS and the Star Realm, a tense state of détente has existed. It is in the interests of neither party to declare war upon the other – the Forge Fathers are a relatively small civilisation compared to the GCPS, and have no real interest in empire-building, only mining and resource acquisition. For our part, though the technology of Forge Fathers is highly sought after, those few secrets that the Dwarfs have already traded with us have proven invaluable, while those we have acquired through less open means have been even more so. We must remain mindful, however, of the heavy losses we would incur in direct conflict with the Forge Fathers, as a few unfortunate fleet skirmishes have proven. In a galaxy of countless alien civilisations brought into the fold of the GCPS, the Forge Fathers retain a unique position of neutrality – a position neither side wishes to upset for the time-being.

As time has passed, the Hot Vengeance has been spotted deeper and deeper into Corporation space. After a raid on a Varll listening ship, Brko has taken a direct course toward an isolated system light-years from the main spacelanes of the Co-Prosperity Sphere. What he hopes to find there is anyone’s guess, but his intentions are certainly hostile.