Mining caste

The Miner caste is the caste of dwarven society responsible for mining and excavating ore and minerals, the most valuable and precious of which is Lyrium.

Background
According to legend, the Warrior caste was founded by Orzammar, one of seven brothers. Orzammar dug the mines that became the foundations of the great city of Orzammar. From his descendants formed the Miner caste.

Orzammar has always been the ancestral home of the Miner and Smith castes and as such has had a strategic and financial importance to the empire. It was to protect these commercial interests, legend has it, that the ancient king Orseck Garal moved the capital of the empire to the city from its previous capital of Kal-Sharok.

Miners in the city of Orzammar enjoy a great deal of wealth and power. Rich veins of ore lie in the Frostback Mountains and thus the miners are important to the livelihood of the dwarven people, and they make the most of this esteem. If they chose, the miners could cripple the city by halting ore production, but rarely is this blackmail used.

In the Miner caste, unlike many other areas of dwarven life, women enjoy greater equality. Women are known to work some of the most productive veins and shafts of lyrium.

Lyrium trade
Orzammar enjoys lucrative trade agreements with many surface organizations due to its control of the flow of lyrium to the surface and the Miner caste is essential to this. The Chantry requires lyrium to enhance the anti-magical abilities of its Templars, the Circle of Magi requires lyrium to fuel its magic and to create runes, and the Tevinter Imperium requires enormous quantities to power its magocracy. This gives Orzammar immense influence on surface politics and trade negotiations and has facilitated a long-standing relationship between the dwarves and the Imperium, forged millennia ago by Paragons Garal and Stonehammer. In spite of this, smuggling can and does go on, as the Carta often sells illicit lyrium on the surface.

Known members

 * Zerlinda


 * Varick


 * Ordel

Known Miner houses

 * Valdasine