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Deep Dwarves are described in the official lore as dark reflections of their dwarven cousins. They are one of three designed races that are not in the Early Access launch set, alongside the High Elf and the Troll.

Launch status

This race is not playable when Early Access opens on 1 October 2026. It is a fully designed race with its own lore entry and its own class list, but it is outside the launch set. The official material says only that Early Access carries a subset of the races planned for the 1.0 version. As of September 2026 no release window, patch number or ordering has been published for the three races held back, and none of the official wording promises one.

One development note is consistent with the exclusion, though it implies no date. A progress report from July 2023 logged a deep dwarf proof of concept, while halflings and ogres were already being modelled and rigged for play in the same report. Both of those are launch races. That is evidence about where the work stood three years before launch, not a schedule.

Origins

Deep dwarves are believed to originate from the same titan's blood that produced the dwarves. Where the surface dwarves were shaped from blood that formed the Galdri Range, the deep dwarves formed from blood that ran down into the darkest crevices of the Deep below the continent, and took shape amid corrupted stone.

That corruption is not decorative. The Deep in this setting sits close to the wound left in the world by the dark sun, and the official material says outright that proximity to the corruption at the world's core plays a role in what lives down there. See Descent into the Deep and Eth-ur.

Culture and the spirits

The defining deep dwarf practice is the collection of spirits and their imprisonment inside the things they build. The lore adds the unsettling inference itself: the drive is strong enough that many suspect deep dwarves are trapped spirits themselves. The official text raises the suspicion without resolving it.

They are described as calculating and methodical, reshaping the Deep with cold precision, carving stone and breathing life into strange creations that assist them. Their attitude toward the world is the opposite of the halfling one: where halflings are born from the Fonts of Life and attuned to the world, deep dwarves regard the world and its Fonts of Life as something to exploit and conquer.

Appearance

No physical description of deep dwarves has been published as of September 2026. The phrase dark reflections of their dwarven cousins is the closest the material comes, and it describes character rather than build.

Homeland

The Deep below the continent of Aêthoril. No deep dwarf city, hold or settlement is named. Because the race is not playable at launch, no starting city applies to it. See Starting Cities for the four cities that are in the game at Early Access.

Classes

Eight classes are listed for the deep dwarf. The list is heavy on armour and divine power. Only three races can take both the Inquisitor and the Shadow Knight: the deep dwarf, the deep elf and the human. The deep dwarf has no ranged, beast or wilderness class at all. These lists are published on the class pages and apply to the full designed roster, so they describe the race as intended rather than as available.

What is not published

As of September 2026, no racial stat block, attribute modifier, resistance value or racial ability list has been published for any race in Monsters & Memories. The official race material is lore plus a class list.