Barda Life-Anvil

Second part of a trinity of primary gods worshipped by the Dwarves of the Underground Kingdom which includes Ilmarinen Heaven-Hammer and Rubicant Flame-Lord.

If Ilmarinen is the father of the Dwarven Pantheon, Barda is surely its mother. Together with Ilmarinen she forged both the Dwarven Race and the three minor gods who round out the pantheon: Trakk Yoke-Holder, Gainas Stone-Carver, and Glaudhe Hearth-Keeper.

In addition to her role as an oft-times second-banana prime deity in the Dwarven pantheon, she is often venerated by blacksmiths and craftsmen, in particular female craftsmen. She is also a goddess of fertility and the womb, and is invoked by mothers and pregnant women. She is also invoked by storytellers and loremasters, as she is supposedly the keeper and protector of the stories that Ilmarinen carves onto his metal tablets.

On top of all of this, Barda is also a fierce warrior. Dwarven scriptures tell of her riding into battle alongside her daughter, Glaudhe, wielding an 8-foot-long spear in either hand and laying utter decimation upon every army that challenged her. (these enemy armies, of course, were a mixture of Goblin, Duergar and Drow, with the occassional Dragon or lesser God thrown in just to underscore how singularly murderous mother Barda is in battle) When Rubicant attempted to steal Barda for his own wife, and use her to craft his own children to serve him, Barda impaled him on one of her spears and sent a spout of his blood up into the air. This flaming wound is said to have caused Mount Agari to erupt violently, killing thousands of people on the surface and forming the Agart Crater.