Kharak Dûm did not begin as a spoken language. The oldest dwarven communication system was percussive — patterns of hammer strikes transmitted through stone, a coded system for miners to signal across distances where voices could not carry and light could not reach. The rhythm-patterns of this proto-language survive in Kharak Dûm as its fundamental stress system.
When dwarves began carving permanent halls and needed a language for record-keeping and law, they built Kharak Dûm deliberately — a designed language rather than an evolved one, constructed by a council of stonecutters, forgemasters, and what the records call Dûmthar, the deep-cutters. The result is unusually logical, unusually consistent, and unusually resistant to change.
Several placeholder roots the original council left have been filled in the centuries since. A few remain empty, which dwarven scholars find both troubling and philosophically interesting.
The Philosophy of the Language
Kharak Dûm is not a language of poetry or persuasion. It was built underground by a people who valued precision above elegance — a language where every word earns its place and nothing is decorative. It is heavy in the mouth, consonant-rich, favouring sounds that resonate in stone corridors: hard stops, long vowels held like a held breath, rolling sounds that travel. A dwarf speaking Kharak Dûm in a deep hall sounds like the mountain is talking through them.
Surface languages evolved for open air. Kharak Dûm evolved for echo.
Kharak Dûm was built for underground acoustics. In an open field, it sounds harsh — too many hard consonants, too much weight in the vowels, rhythms that feel like something being struck rather than something being said. In a stone corridor or a carved hall, the hard consonants create clean, readable echoes; the long vowels fill the space without blurring.
Dwarves speaking Kharak Dûm in open air tend to sound angry to surface listeners. They are not, necessarily. They are simply using a voice calibrated for an environment with more walls.
Four Registers
The language has four registers, each with distinct sound characteristics:
Kharak Vel — Cold Speech
The everyday register, used among equals, in casual conversation, in the market hall and the barracks. Shorter words, contracted forms, dropped endings. Sounds clipped and efficient.
Kharak Dûm — Deep Speech
The formal register, from which the language takes its common name. Full word forms, complete endings, deliberate pacing. Used in council, in oath-taking, in formal record. Sounds weighty and final.
Kharak Sul — Burning Speech
The emotional register, used in battle, in grief, in celebration. Extended vowels, doubled stress, roots used without endings. Sounds rawer than the other registers, closer to the original hammer code.
Kharak Orn — Standing Speech
The ceremonial register, used only for the oldest rites — ancestor-naming, oath-breaking, the formal declaration of war or peace. No living dwarf uses this register in daily life. It is learned from written records. It sounds, to modern dwarven ears, like something from very far underground.
The Core Rules
Rule One: Roots carry meaning, endings carry function.
Every word in Kharak Dûm is built from a root — a short, hard syllable or pair of syllables that carries the essential meaning. What the word does in a sentence is determined by the ending attached to it. Roots can be combined freely. Endings cannot be mixed.
Rule Two: Compound nouns are built front to back.
The primary thing comes first, the modifier second. Narag Baruk — Forge (Narag) White (Baruk) — the forge is the subject, white is what it is. This is the opposite of most surface languages, and dwarves find surface naming conventions slightly backwards.
Rule Three: Place names describe what a place is, not who found it.
Dwarves do not name places after people. A location named after a person is a memorial, which means someone died there, which means the name is a warning. Functional place names describe the thing itself — what it contains, what it does, what it looks like. A stranger who speaks Kharak Dûm can read a map and know something true about every location on it.
Rule Four: Hard consonants anchor, vowels carry weight.
Single-syllable roots are the oldest and most essential words. Two-syllable roots are descriptors. Three or more syllables indicate either a complex concept or a formal/ceremonial register. Dwarven names with four or more syllables are either place names or titles — nothing common gets that many.
The Sound System
Consonants
Kharak Dûm has twenty-three consonants divided into three groups based on how they function in words.
Anchor Consonants
Hard stops that begin roots and carry weight — the consonants that resonate in stone.
| Symbol | Sound | Example | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| K | Hard K | Khar (stone) | The most common opening consonant |
| G | Hard G | Ghal (gold) | Never soft; always as in 'got' |
| D | Hard D | Drak (dragon) | Struck, not glided |
| T | Hard T | Thurak (hall) | Heavier than English T |
| B | Hard B | Baruk (white) | Brief and struck |
| V | Hard V | Vorn (still) | Almost F in formal register |
| N | Struck N | Narag (forge) | Nasal but not soft |
| M | Heavy M | Marak (iron) | Held slightly longer than English |
Bridge Consonants
Sounds that connect roots in compound words and smooth transitions without losing the language's weight.
| Symbol | Sound | Example | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kh | Guttural KH | Kharak (speech) | Like Scottish 'loch', never KH as in 'khaki' |
| Th | Hard TH | Thrak (beast) | Always hard as in 'the', never soft as in 'thin' |
| Gh | Soft guttural | Ghrûm (shadow) | Like G held at the back of the throat |
| Rk | Rolled-stop | Marakhnarak | Standard consonant cluster at compound joins |
| Vr | V-roll | Vrakar (berserker) | V immediately followed by a brief R |
Tail Consonants
Endings that determine grammatical function. These appear only at the end of words and are never used to open a root.
| Symbol | Function |
|---|---|
| -k | Noun ending (singular) |
| -d | Noun ending (plural) |
| -r | Verb ending (active) |
| -n | Adjective ending |
| -s | Possessive |
| -th | Abstract noun ending |
| -ar | Agent noun — one who does or is |
| -ul | Diminutive — small version of |
| -orn | Augmentative — great version of |
Vowels
Kharak Dûm has seven vowels, each with a short and long form. Long forms are held for roughly twice the duration of short vowels and typically carry the stress of the word.
| Vowel | Short | Long | Short Example | Long Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | as in cat | as in father | Nak (small water) | Nāk (great water / sea) |
| E | as in bed | as in they | Vel (cold) | Vēl (eternal cold) |
| I | as in bit | as in see | Bil (rock) | Bīl (ancient rock) |
| O | as in lot | as in go | Vor (metal) | Vōr (sacred metal) |
| U | as in cup | as in moon | Sul (light) | Sūl (the great light / sun) |
| Û | deep 'uh' | deep 'oo' | Dûm (below) | Dûûm (the uttermost deep) |
| Akh | back-of-throat AH | extended AH | Khar (stone) | Khār (bedrock itself) |
Stress Patterns
Inherited from the original hammer code, stress in Kharak Dûm follows three rules:
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1
First Strike Rule: In single-root words, stress falls on the first syllable. KHArak. NArag. BArak.
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2
Root Rule: In compound words, each root retains its own stress, with the primary root receiving heavier emphasis. NArag BAruk. DAnak BIlis.
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3
Long Vowel Rule: Any long vowel automatically carries stress, overriding the First Strike Rule. DûMorn. VēLrak.
When two stress rules conflict, dwarven speakers typically pause fractionally between roots — not a full stop, but a weight-shift — which is why dwarven compound words often sound, to surface ears, like two words said very close together.
Grammar of the Deep
Word Order
Kharak Dûm is Subject-Object-Verb in formal register — the action comes last. The council designed it so speakers receive important identifiers before knowing what happened, which matters when communicating across distances in difficult conditions.
In casual Kharak Vel, word order relaxes to Subject-Verb-Object, closer to surface languages, because speed matters more than architecture in everyday speech.
Formal (Kharak Dûm):
Thorin Marakvel Grûmrath ghrûmrak. — Thorin Ironbeard walks the dark road.
Casual (Kharak Vel):
Thorin ghrûmrak Grûmrath. — Thorin walks the dark road.
Nouns
Nouns in Kharak Dûm carry three pieces of information: number, case, and weight.
Number
The singular takes the standard noun ending -k. The plural adds -d. The collective — indicating the thing as an entire category — adds -ûm (the deep suffix, indicating totality).
| Form | Ending | Example | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | -k | Khazak | A dwarf / one dwarf |
| Plural | -d | Khazad | Dwarves / some dwarves |
| Collective | -ûm | Khazadûm | Dwarfkind / all dwarves as one |
Case
Kharak Dûm marks case with short prefix particles rather than inflected endings, keeping the root legible.
| Case | Particle | Function | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Subject | — | The doer | Thorin |
| Object | a- | The receiver | a-Grûmrath (the dark road, as destination) |
| Possessive | -s | Belonging | Thorins (Thorin's) |
| Instrumental | khar- | Used as a tool or means | khar-Vrakar (by means of the rage) |
| Locative | dûm- | At or in a place | dûm-Narag Baruk (within Narag Baruk) |
| Ablative | rath- | From or away from | rath-Durnwall (from Durnwall) |
Weight
Weight marks whether a noun is permanent (existing before dwarven memory), durable (made or established by dwarves to last lifetimes), or passing (temporary, changeable, mortal). The weight of a noun affects what verbs and adjectives are grammatically compatible with it.
| Weight | Suffix | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Permanent | -orn | Ancient, unchanging | Kharorn — bedrock, the stone that was always here |
| Durable | -kar | Made to last | Narag Barukar — the forge as institution, not just the physical space |
| Passing | -vel | Temporary, mortal | Sulvel — a torch, light that will go out |
When the goblin occupation of Stonewatch is discussed in formal Kharak Dûm, the grammatical choice of weight class is not stylistic — it is a political and philosophical position. Those who believe Stonewatch will be retaken use passing weight. Those who have accepted its loss use durable weight. The noun carries the argument.
Verbs
Verbs are built from roots exactly as nouns are, but take the -r tail consonant in their base form. They inflect for tense, aspect, and force — an indicator of whether an action is voluntary, involuntary, or compelled.
Tense
| Tense | Particle | Example | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Present | — | Narag sulr | The forge burns (now) |
| Past | kha- | Kha-narag sulr | The forge burned |
| Future | vel- | Vel-narag sulr | The forge will burn |
| Eternal / Gnomic | orn- | Orn-khar ornr | Stone endures (always, as a truth) |
The Eternal tense is used for statements held to be permanently true — natural laws, oaths, material properties. Using the present tense for such a statement in formal Kharak Dûm implies the thing is only true right now, which would be considered ignorant or insulting.
Aspect
| Aspect | Suffix | Example | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Simple | -r | Sulr | Burns |
| Continuous | -rakh | Sulrakh | Is burning / keeps burning |
| Completive | -rûm | Sulrûm | Has burned / burned completely |
| Inceptive | -rul | Sulrul | Begins to burn / starts burning |
Force
Force is the grammatical category dwarven scholars consider most essential to the language's character. It marks the relationship between the subject and the action.
| Force | Marker | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Volitional | -dûm | Chosen, intentional | Thorin vrakrakh-dûm — Thorin rages (by his own will) |
| Involuntary | -vel | Happening to the subject | Thorin vrakrakh-vel — Thorin rages (against his will / the rage takes him) |
| Compelled | -khar | Forced by external necessity | Thorin vrakrakh-khar — Thorin rages (because the situation demands it) |
The distinction between vrakrakh-dûm and vrakrakh-vel — between raging by choice and being taken by the rage — is the grammatical heart of Thorin Ironbeard's story. In Kharak Dûm, these are not the same verb. One describes a Vrakar in control. The other describes a Vrakar lost. The oath Thorin takes is, in the deepest sense, a grammatical commitment: to ensure that when historians record his actions, the force marker is always -dûm.
Adjectives
Adjectives in Kharak Dûm follow the noun they modify (unlike surface languages where they typically precede). They take the -n ending and agree with the weight class of the noun they modify.
Multiple adjectives stack in order of importance, most important first:
Kharorn azuln — the ancient stone, blue-grey.
Vorkar khelkarn — the durable metal, hard-made.
Sulvel barukveln — the passing light, pale-temporarily.
Narag Baruk khelorn suln — The White Forge, ancient-hard and burning.
The Negative
Negation in Kharak Dûm is handled with the prefix dûr-, which carries the specific meaning of negation-against-nature — the thing that should be but is not. It is a stronger negation than simply 'not.'
For simple negation of things not expected to be permanent, Kharak Dûm uses vel- in its negating sense (distinct from the future tense marker by stress placement):
Dûr-Khar ornr — The stone does not endure.
A statement of catastrophe — stone not enduring is a violation of the natural order.
Vel-Sulr — There is no light.
Simply: no light here. Not catastrophic, just factual.
Kharak Dûm grammar is structured around a concept surface linguists call 'permanence-aspect' — verbs are marked not primarily for when something happened, but for whether it is reversible. This produces three primary aspects that cut across all tenses.
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1
Stoneset (Durûm)
An action that cannot be undone. Death, the taking of a grûn, the completion of a Drakvorn blade. Stoneset verbs are the most grammatically formal in Kharak Dûm and require specific subject-marking that does not appear in other aspects.
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2
Forgerun (Berûn)
An action in progress that could still go either way. A battle not yet decided. An oath being tested. A seam of Drakvorn not yet fully worked. Forgerun is the most common aspect in spoken Kharak Dûm — most of life, the dwarves note, is still in the forge.
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3
Ashgone (Kelûm)
An action completed and gone — not permanent in the Stoneset sense, but finished, consumed, spent. A fire that burned out. A battle won but at cost. A wound healed but not forgotten. Kelûm carries an emotional weight that surface grammarians struggle to convey — it implies something valuable was used up.
A Language Carved, Not Spoken
Kharak Dûm — literally 'the mouth of the deep' in its own grammar — is not a language that was invented. It was accumulated. The oldest recoverable forms appear not in manuscripts but in stone: load-bearing columns in the lowest tier of Narag Baruk carry inscriptions that predate any other written record of dwarven civilization by at least three centuries. The engineers who carved them were solving a structural problem, not composing literature. The runes they used to describe weight tolerances and fault-line warnings became, over generations, the basis of a written tradition — and eventually a spoken one.
This is unusual among languages. Most writing systems develop from speech. Kharak Dûm developed the other way: the written form is primary, and the spoken form is, in a technical sense, a reading of the script aloud. Dwarven scholars call this 'stone-first grammar,' and it produces some of the language's most distinctive features — particularly the way verbs are structured around permanence rather than time.
The Root Lexicon
Elements & Materials
| Root | Meaning | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Narag | Forge / Fire-place | Any place of controlled fire |
| Drak | Dragon | Also used for ancient, pre-dwarven things |
| Khar | Stone / Rock | The fundamental material |
| Vor | Steel / Worked metal | Specifically metal shaped by hands |
| Drakvorn | Dragon Steel | Drak + Vorn — the stillness of dragons |
| Dûm | Deep / Below | The long û indicates great depth |
| Ghal | Gold | Natural gold, unworked |
| Marak | Iron | Raw iron ore specifically |
| Thrak | Coal / Dark fuel | Anything burned to make heat |
| Anak | Water | Still water specifically |
| Vel | Ice / Cold | Also used for clarity, stillness |
Colours & Qualities
| Root | Meaning | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Baruk | White / Pale | The white of hot metal or pale stone |
| Danak | Emerald / Deep green | The green of moss and deep plant life |
| Grum | Dark / Black | Absorbing rather than reflecting |
| Azul | Blue | The specific blue-grey of deep stone |
| Roth | Red | Fire-red, blood-red |
| Vorn | Still / Unmoved | Stillness that is permanent, not temporary |
| Khel | Hard | Resistance to change or damage |
| Sul | Bright / Lit | Light in a dark place specifically |
| Orn | Old / Ancient | Predating dwarven memory |
Places & Structures
| Root | Meaning | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Bilis | Boulder / Great rock | A rock too large to move |
| Thurak | Hall / Great room | Any large interior space |
| Garuk | Gate / Opening | An entrance that can be closed |
| Barrak | Wall / Barrier | Defensive structure |
| Dûrath | Deep hall | Dûm contracted + rath (path) |
| Kharak | Speech / Tongue | Language itself |
| Rath | Road / Path | Any route through stone |
| Narak | Watch-point | An elevated observation position |
| Varath | Vault / Ceiling | The roof of a carved space |
Creatures & People
| Root | Meaning | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Khaz | Dwarf (singular) | Formal register |
| Khazad | Dwarves (collective) | The people as a whole |
| Grak | Goblin | Derogatory but standard |
| Drak | Dragon | Shared root with ancient/vast |
| Thrak | Beast / Monster | Any dangerous non-thinking creature |
| Vrakar | Berserker | Vrak (fury) + ar (one who is) |
Actions & States— Used as suffixes or standalone
| Root | Meaning | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Vorn | Still / Holds | A thing that does not move |
| Vrak | Fury / Raging | Uncontrolled force |
| Rath | Moving / Travelling | A thing in motion |
| Sul | Burning / Glowing | Active light or fire |
| Dûm | Falling / Descending | Motion downward |
| Kar | Holding / Keeping | Preservation, guardianship |
| Orn | Standing / Enduring | Permanence over time |
The Writing System — Kharak Rûn
The dwarven writing system, Kharak Rûn — the Speech Cut in Stone — developed from the same practical necessity as the language itself: communication in environments where voices could not carry. The script was designed to be cut, not drawn.
Every character is composed entirely of straight lines and angles — no curves, no loops, nothing that requires a continuous stroke. A character can be cut into stone with a chisel in three to seven strikes, and can be read by lamplight, torchlight, or by touch in complete darkness.
Each character represents a syllable rather than a single sound — Kharak Rûn is a syllabary, not an alphabet. It reads left to right in standard orientation, or bottom to top when cut vertically into walls or pillars.
Syllable Block Construction
Every syllable block is built from three potential components: the Root Mark (a vertical or diagonal stroke identifying the opening consonant), the Vowel Mark (a horizontal or angled cross-stroke identifying the vowel), and the Tail Mark (a small subordinate mark at the bottom right for the tail consonant, if any).
The combinations are systematic enough that a reader who knows the component marks can decode any syllable, including ones they have never encountered before. This was a deliberate design decision — Kharak Rûn should be decodable by any literate dwarf without reference to a dictionary or guide.
The Rune Numbers
Numbers in Kharak Rûn follow a base-eight system — eight is the number of anchor consonants, the number of directions recognized in dwarven spatial orientation, and the number of hammer strikes in the standard mine-signal cycle.
| Symbol | Value | Name | Meaning of Name |
|---|---|---|---|
| I | 1 | Nak | Single drop |
| II | 2 | Vel | Pair / balance |
| III | 3 | Khar | Triangle / stable |
| IIII | 4 | Dûm | The four deeps |
| V | 5 | Narag | Five-point forge star |
| VI | 6 | Ghal | Six-vein gold |
| VII | 7 | Vrak | Seven-fury (considered unlucky) |
| VIII | 8 | Khaz | Dwarf-number / completion |
| X | 64 | Khazûm | Great completion |
| C | 512 | Kharorn | Bedrock number |
Large numbers are expressed as compounds. Not efficient for rapid calculation — which is why dwarven merchants developed a separate abacus-based system for market use — but precise, which is what matters for records cut in stone.
The Ancestor Script
A specialized variant, Thurak Rûn — Hall Script — is used exclusively for ancestor carvings and formal records of the dead. It is identical to standard Kharak Rûn in syllable blocks but uses vertical orientation (bottom-to-top) and adds a unique category of marks: the Kar marks.
A Kar mark between a name and an action means the action was chosen. A Kar mark above a line means the subject died in the performance of those deeds. A Kar mark below a line means the deeds outlived the subject. These marks exist only in ancestor records, because the dead have a relationship to their actions that the living cannot quite claim.
Kharak Rûn — The Complete Script
The Stave System
Every Kharak Rûn character is built on a stave — a vertical central line from which branches extend. The stave itself is meaningless alone. What the branches do determines the sound.
Branch Direction
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Branches pointing right indicate voiced consonants (sound involves the throat)
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Branches pointing left indicate unvoiced consonants (sound involves only breath)
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Branches pointing both directions indicate the dwarven guttural sounds unique to Kharak Dûm
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Horizontal crossbars on the stave indicate vowels
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Diagonal crossbars indicate diphthongs or long vowels
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No branches, only crossbars — pure vowel characters
Branch Height and Consonant Weight
Upper third — anchor consonants (heavy, stone-resonant)
Middle third — bridge consonants (connecting sounds)
Lower third — tail consonants (grammatical endings)
Anchor Consonants
Hard stops that begin roots and carry weight — the consonants that resonate in stone.
| Rune | Base Rune | Sound | Kharak Dûm Usage | Meaning Carried |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ᚲ | Modified Kenaz | Hard K | Kharak, Khaz | The guttural — mark of dwarven origin |
| ᚷ | Modified Gebo | Hard G | Ghal, Grak | Hard gift — what the earth gives or withholds |
| ᛞ | Modified Dagaz | Hard D | Drak, Dûm | The breakthrough that goes downward |
| ᛏ | Modified Tiwaz | Hard T | Thrak, Thurak | Justice-force, the downward arrow |
| ᛒ | Modified Berkano | Hard B | Baruk, Bilis | Growth compressed into stone |
| ᚠ | Modified Fehu | Hard V | Vorn, Vrak | Wealth of force, the forked lightning |
| ᚾ | Modified Nauthiz | Struck N | Narag, Narak | Necessity — the crossed need |
| ᛗ | Modified Mannaz | Heavy M | Marak | The self in iron |
The Dwarven Originals
Runes with no Elder Futhark equivalent, created by the council for sounds unique to Kharak Dûm:
| Rune | Sound | Construction | Kharak Dûm Usage |
|---|---|---|---|
| ᛰ | KHR | Kenaz + Raidho merged | Kharak, Kharorn |
| ᛱ | GH | Gebo inverted | Ghrûm, Ghral |
| ᛲ | VR | Fehu + Raidho merged | Vrakar, Vrakrath |
| ᛳ | TH (hard) | Thurisaz doubled | Thurak, Thrak |
| ᛴ | DÛ | Dagaz + downstroke | Dûm, Dûrath |
| ᛵ | NG | Ingwaz compressed | Narag-endings |
The Vowel Runes
Vowels in Kharak Rûn are written as horizontal or diagonal crossbars on the stave. When a vowel begins a word (no opening consonant), it is written as a crossbar on a short vertical mark called the Nak-stave — the drop-stave, the minimal form.
| Rune | Short | Long | Short Ex. | Long Ex. | Base Rune Origin | Kharak Dûm Use |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ᚨ | as in cat | as in father | Nak (small water) | Nāk (great water / sea) | Ansuz simplified | Nak, Khar, Vrak |
| ᚨᚨ | Ā long | held father | — | Nāk, Khār | Ansuz doubled | Long A forms |
| ᛖ | as in bed | as in they | Vel (cold) | Vēl (eternal cold) | Ehwaz simplified | Vel, Khel |
| ᛖᛖ | Ē long | held they | — | Vēl | Ehwaz doubled | Long E forms |
| ᛁ | as in bit | as in see | Bil (rock) | Bīl (ancient rock) | Isa unchanged | Bilis, Sulbil |
| ᛁᛁ | Ī long | held see | — | Bīl | Isa extended | Long I forms |
| ᛟ | as in lot | as in go | Vorn (still) | Vōr (sacred metal) | Othala compressed | Vorn, Ghrûm |
| ᛟᛟ | Ō long | held go | — | Vōr | Othala extended | Long O forms |
| ᚢ | as in cup | as in moon | Sul (light) | Sūl (the great light) | Uruz modified | Sul, Dûm |
| ᚢᚢ | Ū long | held moon | — | Sūl, Dûûm | Uruz extended | Long U forms |
| ᛜ | deep uh | deep oo | Dûm (below) | Dûûm (uttermost deep) | Ingwaz modified | Dûm, Khazûm |
| ᛜᛜ | Ûû deepest | doubled deep | — | Dûûm | Ingwaz doubled | Uttermost deep |
| ᛇ | guttural AH | extended AH | Khar (stone) | Khār (bedrock itself) | Eihwaz unchanged | Khar, Narag |
The Modifier Marks
These small additional marks are cut alongside or within a rune to carry grammatical information without needing additional characters. The modifier system is the council's most significant innovation — it allows a single carved character to carry what would require several words to explain in surface scripts.
Weight Markers
Indicate the weight class of a noun (permanent, durable, passing):
| Mark | Weight | Visual Form | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| ᛭ | Permanent (-orn) | Three-pointed star above rune | Added to Khar makes Kharorn — bedrock |
| ᛬ | Durable (-kar) | Two dots flanking rune | Added to Narag makes Naragkar — the forge as institution |
| ᛫ | Passing (-vel) | Single dot below rune | Added to Sul makes Sulvel — a torch |
Force Markers
Indicate whether an action is volitional, involuntary, or compelled:
| Mark | Force | Visual Form |
|---|---|---|
| ↑ above verb | Volitional (-dûm) | Upward tick above the verb rune — chosen, intentional |
| ↓ below verb | Involuntary (-vel) | Downward tick below the verb rune — happening to the subject |
| ↔ through verb | Compelled (-khar) | Horizontal bar through the verb rune — forced by necessity |
Register Markers
Indicate which of the four speech registers the text belongs to:
| Mark | Register | Visual Form |
|---|---|---|
| No mark | Kharak Vel (everyday) | Plain rune |
| Single horizontal line before text block | Kharak Dûm (formal) | Opening bar across the inscription |
| Double horizontal line | Kharak Sul (emotional/battle) | Two opening bars |
| Triple line with center dot | Kharak Orn (ceremonial) | Three bars with a dot — the rarest mark |
Writing Direction and Layout
Standard Orientation — Left to Right
Everyday Kharak Vel inscriptions run left to right, like most surface scripts, because dwarven traders needed to communicate with surface merchants and the adjustment to a familiar direction reduced friction. Market inscriptions, signage, merchant records, and correspondence all use left-to-right orientation.
Formal Orientation — Bottom to Top
Kharak Dûm formal inscriptions run bottom to top, cut vertically into walls or pillars. This is the older orientation — inherited from the earliest mine-signal marks, which were cut beginning at hand-height and moving upward so that a miner carving in a cramped space could always reach the next character. The upward direction also carries philosophical weight: formal dwarven text rises from the foundation. You begin at the base of the stone and the meaning ascends.
Ancestor carvings always use the bottom-to-top orientation. Legal records always use it. The oath-marks cut into the ridge above Narag Baruk use it. When Thorin Ironbeard cuts his oath into stone — and he does, eventually; dwarves who take oaths alone still cut them in stone because stone is the witness when no dwarf is — he cuts it bottom to top, formal register, weight markers on every noun, force markers on every verb.
Vrakûm — fury-total — with the -orn star above it, permanent weight.
Dûmkar — deep-keeper — with the durable dots flanking it.
Sulrakh-dûm — burns-continuously-chosen — with the upward volitional tick.
The stone reads: The rage is permanent. The conscience is built to last. The burning is chosen.
He cuts it small, in a crack in the rock face that most people would have to know to look for. This is also traditional. Oaths in stone are not for audiences.
Battle Orientation — Right to Left
Kharak Sul battle inscriptions run right to left, the mirror of everyday text. The practical origin of this is lost, but the most common dwarven explanation is functional: a right-handed dwarf cutting runes while holding a weapon in their right hand writes from right to left because that is the direction the chisel naturally travels. Whether this is true or post-hoc justification is another question the scholars of Narag Baruk have been debating.
Battle marks on weapons, armor, and shields always run right to left. A dwarven soldier reading another's equipment will scan right to left automatically for combat inscriptions. Reading direction, in Kharak Rûn, carries enough information that an experienced reader can determine the context of a text before they have read a single word.
The Boustrophedon — The Ox-Turn
Bīlrath — the Boulder-Road
For very long formal texts — legal documents, historical records, the full accounting of a major battle — Kharak Rûn uses Bīlrath, the Boulder-Road: the text alternates direction line by line, running bottom-to-top on one pass and then reversing and running top-to-bottom on the next, snaking up and down the stone face the way an ox turns at the end of a ploughing row.
In Bīlrath texts, the runes themselves mirror on the return pass — every character is reflected horizontally so that it always faces the direction of reading. This means a single rune has two valid forms in Kharak Rûn: its standard form and its mirror, both of which must be learned and both of which must be cuttable by the same stonecutter. This doubles the effective size of the rune inventory and is one reason why dwarven literacy takes significantly longer to achieve than surface literacy.
Rune Combinations and Binding Runes
Compound Runes — Vorûn
When two roots are compounded in Kharak Dûm, their runes are written as a Vorûn — a bound rune, two characters sharing a single stave. The primary root takes the upper half of the stave, the secondary root takes the lower half, and the shared stave itself indicates the compound.
This is why dwarven gate inscriptions look, to an untrained surface eye, like single enormous runes of great complexity. They are not single runes. They are fully grammatical compound words, compressed into the space a single character would occupy, because the gate needs to be read quickly and the stonecutter respects the reader's time.
The Name Rune — Khazrûn
Every dwarf of standing has a Khazrûn — a personal name rune, a unique Vorûn that combines the runes of their given name with the runes of their epithet. The Khazrûn is personal property in the deepest sense: you do not copy another dwarf's name rune, you do not use it without permission, and you do not cut it into the ancestor wall until they are dead.
Thorin Ironbeard's Khazrûn
The TH anchor rune (Thurisaz-modified) for Tho-, the R bridge rune for -rin, separated by the compound stave from: the M anchor rune for Marak (iron), the V anchor rune for Vel (cold/still), with the durable weight marker on the epithet section — because an earned epithet is durable, not permanent (you earned it, it does not predate you) and not passing (it will outlast you, cut in stone).
The whole thing reads at a glance as a single complex symbol. A trained rune-reader sees the full name, the epithet, the weight classes, and can infer something about the person from how the elements are proportioned and balanced — because a stonecutter who knew the person well will have made choices in the Khazrûn that a stonecutter who knew them only by reputation would not.
Red's Khazrûn is cut by Thorin. This is not standard practice — typically a Khazrûn is cut by the guild stonecutter assigned to the individual, or by the ranking elder of the clan. Thorin cuts Red's himself because Red was given his epithet at Durnwall and Thorin was the only other person present who understood fully what it meant. The guild stonecutter assigned to Red reviews the result and signs off on it without comment, which is the guild's way of acknowledging that the irregular choice was the correct one.
Battle Runes — Vrakrûn
Weapons carry a specific category of rune called Vrakrûn — fury-runes — cut into the blade or haft to record what the weapon has done and what it is expected to do. Unlike most Kharak Rûn inscriptions, battle runes are not purely linguistic. They are also functional in the structural sense: the cuts are made at specific angles relative to the grain of the metal, and the pattern of the rune distributes stress differently through the material — the same principle as the rune-work in Narag Baruk's forge district, applied to portable weapons.
A weapon with Vrakrûn is not necessarily more effective than one without. It is more understood. The runes record the metal's behavior, note its tolerances, mark where it has been stressed and how it responded. A smith reading a well-runed blade can learn the history of that weapon the way a geologist reads the layers of a rock face.
A smith reading a Drakvorn blade reads something extraordinary: the Vrakrûn on Dragon Steel barely marks the surface. The metal is too hard for standard chisel depth. The runes on Drakvorn blades are shallower than on any other weapon, and they carry less information because the metal gives less information back — it does not stress, does not deform, does not communicate its limits the way iron or steel does. A bladesmith working Dragon Steel is working in something close to silence.
The Vrakrûn cut into the flat of a Drakvorn blade, therefore, records not the metal's history but the bearer's. What this person has done with this blade. What they have held it for. This is not standard runic practice. It developed organically among the few smiths who have worked Dragon Steel, because the metal would not accept the usual inscription, and something had to fill the silence.
Thorin Ironbeard's blade has three lines of Vrakrûn on its flat. The first records Durnwall. The second records the oath, in the formal upward orientation, cut shallower than anything else on the weapon. The third line is uncut. It has been uncut for three years. He is, apparently, still deciding what goes there.
A Kharak Rûn Reference Stone
The following is a complete reference inscription in the style of a dwarven Naragrûn — a forge-stone, the teaching inscription that apprentice stonecutters copy as their first full exercise. Every Narag Baruk stonecutter's guild hall has one mounted at working height on the eastern wall.
Kharorn ornr. Narag sulrakh. Khazad vornrakh. Dûmkar khar-vrakûm. Orn-Drakvornsul sulrûm. Rakharak kharorn.
Kharorn ornr.
Stone-ancient endures-eternally.
“Bedrock endures.”
First truth. The foundation.
Narag sulrakh.
Forge burns-continuously.
“The forge keeps burning.”
Second truth. The work continues.
Khazad vornrakh.
Dwarves hold-still-continuously.
“Dwarves hold their position.”
Third truth. We do not break.
Dûmkar khar-vrakûm.
Deep-keeper holds-as-tool fury-total.
“The conscience holds the full rage as a tool.”
The fourth truth. The hardest one.
Orn-Drakvornsul sulrûm.
Eternally-DragonSteel-burning burns-completely.
“Dragon Steel, eternally burning, burns through completely.”
The proof of the fourth truth — what does not yield, endures.
Rakharak kharorn.
Blood-speech stone-ancient.
“The blood oath is bedrock.”
The seal. What ends every formal inscription at Narag Baruk.
Every stonecutter's apprentice in Narag Baruk cuts this stone twenty times before they are permitted to work on anything permanent. By the twentieth cutting they no longer think about the individual strokes. They think about the weight behind each line — what it means to cut Kharorn and mean it, what it means to cut Dûmkar khar-vrakûm and understand what is being asked.
The best apprentices, the ones the guild masters watch most carefully, are the ones who slow down on the fourth line. The ones who rush it tend to make adequate stonecutters. The ones who sit with it tend to make something more.
Extended Vocabulary
The Body and the Self
| Kharak Dûm | Literal | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Khazûm | Dwarf-total | The whole self / one's entire being |
| Vrakûm | Fury-total | The berserker rage at full force |
| Dûmkar | Deep-keeper | The conscience / the inner voice |
| Sulkhar | Light-stone | The eyes |
| Narakvorn | Forge-still | The hands at rest |
| Narakvrak | Forge-fury | The hands in violence |
| Ghrûmvorn | Shadow-still | Sleep |
| Ghrûmvrak | Shadow-fury | Nightmare |
| Velkhar | Cold-keeper | Memory |
| Sulvelkhar | Light-passing-keeper | A fading memory |
War and Conflict
| Kharak Dûm | Literal | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Vrakrath | Fury-road | The berserker's charge |
| Kharbarrak | Stone-wall | A last defensive position |
| Dûmgarak | Deep-gate | A fallback point / final line |
| Grûmrath | Dark-road | An ambush route / dangerous path |
| Sulvrak | Light-fury | A sudden attack / the moment battle begins |
| Vornkhar | Still-keeper | A sentinel / one who holds position |
| Rakvel | Blood-passing | A wound that will not kill / acceptable damage |
| Rakvrak | Blood-fury | A wound that feeds the rage |
| Rakorn | Blood-enduring | A blood oath / bond sealed in blood |
| Vrakar vel-vrakrakh | Berserker not-raging | He's back. The rage has closed. |
The Forge and Craft
| Kharak Dûm | Literal | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Naragsul | Forge-burning | The forge at working temperature |
| Naragvel | Forge-cold | A forge gone out / an abandoned forge |
| Naragorn | Forge-ancient | An ancestral forge / one in continuous use for generations |
| Vorbaruk | Metal-white | Metal at highest heat / the moment of truth in working |
| Vorkhar | Metal-keeper | A swordsmith / one who tends worked metal |
| Rûnsul | Rune-burning | An active functional rune / a rune doing its work |
| Rûnorn | Rune-ancient | An old rune of unknown function / ancestral engineering |
| Drakvornsul | DragonSteel-burning | Dragon Steel at the moment the blue sheen appears |
| Ghalvorn | Gold-still | Gold that will not be moved / architectural gold |
The Deep and the Mountain
| Kharak Dûm | Literal | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Dûmorn | Deep-ancient | The uttermost deep / pre-dwarven caverns |
| Kharorn | Stone-ancient | Bedrock / the oldest stone |
| Kharvel | Stone-passing | Loose stone / unstable ceiling |
| Kharvrak | Stone-fury | A cave-in / rockfall |
| Anakvorn | Water-still | Still underground water / safe to drink |
| Anakrakh | Water-flowing | Moving underground water / navigate carefully |
| Anakdûm | Water-deep | Flooded lower levels / dangerous depth of water |
| Ghrûmdûm | Shadow-deep | Total darkness / below lamplight |
| Sulrath | Light-road | A lit corridor / safe passage |
Oaths and Honor
| Kharak Dûm | Literal | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Rakharak | Blood-speech | A blood oath |
| Vornkharak | Still-speech | A silent oath / oath made alone |
| Kharkharak | Stone-speech | An oath sworn on stone / permanent oath |
| Dûrkharak | Against-speech | Oath-breaking / the act of breaking a sworn word |
| Kharnarag | Stone-forge | The testing of a person / the moment that reveals character |
| Ornkharak | Ancient-speech | An ancestral oath / oath renewed from a predecessor |
Family and Clan
| Kharak Dûm | Literal | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Khazarak | Dwarf-kin | Immediate family |
| Khazadorn | Dwarves-ancient | Ancestors / the line before |
| Khazdûm | Dwarf-deep | Clan / the deep roots of family |
| Velkharkhaz | Memory-keeper-dwarf | An elder / keeper of clan memory |
| Khazvel | Dwarf-passing | The last of a line / one with no heirs |
| Rakhazak | Blood-kin-singular | A sibling / bond-equal |
Proving the System — Three Names
Narag Baruk — White Forge
Narag (forge / fire-place) + Baruk (white / pale)
The forge whose fire burns white-hot — the hottest, purest forge known. Not named for who built it. Named for what it does at its best.
In Kharak Dûm, calling something Baruk is also a quality judgment. A white forge is not just a hot forge — it is one that has reached the temperature where the metal tells the truth about itself. Narag Baruk means the place where the metal cannot lie.
Danakhbilis — Emerald Boulders
Danak (emerald / deep green) + Bilis (boulder / great rock)
The town built among the great moss-covered rocks of the northern plains, named for the most immediately striking thing about the landscape. Classic dwarven functional naming — a stranger arriving for the first time knows exactly what they're looking for.
Note the contracted form: Danak + Bilis run together as Danakhbilis, with the kh acting as a linking sound between roots. This is standard Kharak Dûm compound construction — roots that end in a vowel and begin with a consonant contract at the join.
Drakvorn — Dragon Steel
Drak (dragon / ancient and vast) + Vorn (still / unmoved / permanent)
Literally: the stillness of dragons — or more precisely, the quality of permanence that belongs to something draconic. Not dragon's steel in the possessive sense, but steel that has what dragons have: the quality of not yielding, not deforming, not changing.
This is why dwarven scholars say Drakvorn cannot truly be translated as Dragon Steel without losing something. The Vorn root does not mean the material. It means the property. The metal is not made of dragon. It is what dragons are, in the dimension that matters to a blade.
Building New Names
To construct a new location or object name, follow four steps — primary thing first, most useful quality second.
-
1
Identify the primary thing. What is this place or object essentially? A hall, a gate, a forge, a road, a boulder?
-
2
Identify the most important quality. Not the most impressive quality — the most useful for a stranger to know. What distinguishes this place from every other place of its kind?
-
3
Primary root first, quality root second.
-
4
Check the join. If the first root ends in a consonant and the second begins with one, add a between them. If both are vowel-adjacent, contract with kh.
Examples
| Intended Meaning | Construction | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Dark Road | Grum + Rath | Grumrath |
| Deep Gate | Dûm + Garuk | Dûmgaruk |
| Old Hall | Thurak + Orn | Thurakorn |
| Iron Watch | Marak + Narak | Marakhnarak |
| Gold Vault | Ghal + Varath | Ghalvarath |
| Blue Stone | Khar + Azul | Kharazul |
| Burning Road | Rath + Sul | Rathsul |
| Still Water | Anak + Vorn | Anakvorn |
| Red Forge | Narag + Roth | Naragroth |
| Ancient Deep | Dûm + Orn | Dûmorn |
Titles and Names for People
Dwarven personal names are given at birth — one or two syllables, chosen for sound rather than meaning. What carries meaning is the epithet attached later, earned rather than given. Epithets follow the same root system as place names but use the ar suffix: one who is, one who has.
| Epithet | Roots | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Ironbeard → Marakvel | Marak (iron) + Vel (cold/still) | The iron that does not warm — an unreadable face |
| Deepcut → Dûmthar | Dûm (deep) + Thar (cut/edge) | One whose cuts go to the root of things |
| Ironscale → Marakkhel | Marak (iron) + Khel (hard) | Doubly armoured — iron that does not yield |
| Berserker → Vrakar | Vrak (fury) + ar (one who is) | One who is fury — permanently, essentially |
Thorin and Red — In Kharak Dûm
Thorin Marakvel — Thorin of the Iron Stillness — the dwarf whose face tells you nothing and whose resolve does not warm under pressure.
Red Sulkar — Roth Sulkar — the burning keeper — the one who kept his friend by standing in the fire.
The Language in Use
Thorin's First Oath
Vrakûm khar-dûmkar. Dûmkar orn-vrakûm khar.
Fury-total — I-hold-as-tool. Inner-voice — eternally — fury-total — holds.
“I hold the full rage as my tool. The conscience holds the rage, eternally.”
The -ûm collective suffix means Thorin is not claiming to hold his rage but rage itself — all of it, the whole category. An ambitious claim. Possibly an overambitious one.
After Durnwall
Vel-Vrakar. Dûm-Khazûm Sulrakh.
I-am-not-berserker. Deep-self burns-continuously.
“I am not the berserker. The deep self burns on.”
A grammatical shift from controlling an external thing to asserting an internal truth. The force marker changes — from I hold to I am not only this.
Red's Epithet
Sulkar Rothvel
The Burning Keeper of Passing-Red.
“The one who kept his friend by standing in a fire that should have consumed him.”
The -vel on Roth is the passing-weight suffix. Red is mortal, temporary, passing — and stood in the fire anyway. The epithet honors exactly what it cost.
Common Phrases
Grûn karak, vorn thal.
“The oath holds. The steel remembers.”
Traditional closing for formal declarations. The two clauses reinforce each other — an oath is as durable as Drakvorn, and Drakvorn's durability is described in the language of oaths.
Narag dûm tharak.
“The hold keeps its word.”
Used to ratify agreements at the close of formal negotiations. Literally: 'the hold (is in) deep-promise.' The dûm qualifier elevates tharak (ordinary promise) toward grûn (unbreakable oath) without fully crossing the threshold.
Berz kel, berz vorn.
“Born of fire, worked by fire.”
Spoken of both Drakvorn and dwarven warriors — the same process that makes Dragon Steel exceptional also makes a berserker. Neither is safe. Both are necessary.
Dûm thel, kharak grûn.
“Speak from the deep. The word binds.”
Said before a declaration of oath. The 'deep' here is not physical — it means speaking from one's core, from the irreducible self rather than from calculation or performance.
A Short Phrase Guide
| Kharak Dûm | Literal | Meaning in Use |
|---|---|---|
| Narag sul | Forge burns | The work continues / We are still here |
| Khar orn | Stone endures | All will be well / We have survived worse |
| Dûm rath | The deep moves | Something is wrong underground / Be alert |
| Vorn Khazad | The dwarves hold | Battle cry — we do not break |
| Ghal Dûmorn | Gold of the ancient deep | The highest praise for something found rather than made |
| Vrakar sul | The berserker burns | He has opened the door — stand clear |
| Rath baruk | The white road | The path through the hardest part — said of a difficult decision |
| Khar vorn | Stone still | Silence / Listen now |
Common Speech
Greetings and Farewells
| Kharak Vel (casual) | Kharak Dûm (formal) | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Khar orn. | Orn-Kharorn ornr. | Stone endures. / Hello / I acknowledge you |
| Narag sul. | Vel-Naragsul sulrakh. | The forge burns. / All is well / We continue |
| Dûm rath. | Dûm-anakrakh vel-dûmr. | The deep moves. / Farewell / May your path go deep |
| Sulrath. | Vel-sulrath sulrn. | Light road. / Safe travels / May the corridor be lit |
| Vornkhar. | Orn-vornkhar ornr. | Still keeper. / Stay well / May you hold your position |
Agreement and Disagreement
| Phrase | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Khar. | Stone. / Yes, absolutely — this is bedrock truth. |
| Kharvel. | Loose stone. / Yes, but with reservations. |
| Dûr-khar. | Against-stone. / No — this is wrong, I reject it. |
| Vel-khar. | Passing-stone. / Not yet / I am not certain. |
| Ornkhar. | Ancient-stone. / Yes, and this has always been true. |
| Vrakdûr. | Fury-against. / Absolutely not / This enrages me. |
The Garrison
Vornkhar. Graksul vel-dûm.
The watch holds. No enemy lights below. All clear.
Dûm rath. Thrakdûm.
Alert. Tunnelers detected.
Kharbarrak. Vornkhaz.
Hold position. Don't move.
Sulvrak. Vrakrath-dûm.
Battle begins. Charge.
Rakvel. Rath-dûm-Durnwall.
Acceptable wound. Fall back to Durnwall.
Vrakar vel-vrakrakh.
He's back. The rage has closed. Stand down — he's himself again.
This is the phrase Red uses. Has used. Will use again, probably. In Kharak Vel it is two words, fast, said with the particular exhale of someone who has been holding their breath.
The Language as Living World
A language built underground by engineers reveals its builders in every structural choice. Kharak Dûm is precise where it could be vague, heavy where it could be light — and the gaps in its vocabulary are as revealing as what it contains.
No Word for Stranger
Kharak Dûm has no word for stranger in the neutral sense. A person encountered for the first time is either Khazvel (a passing dwarf — someone whose connection to you has not yet been established) or dûr-Khazak (an against-kin — a non-dwarf or an enemy). There is no comfortable middle ground for meeting someone new, which tells you something about how dwarven society approaches it.
Seventeen Words for Stone
Kharak Dûm has seventeen distinct words for different qualities of stone and only two words for weather: sūl (the sun, from above) and vel (cold/wet, the generic term for whatever the sky does that is unpleasant). Dwarves know the sky exists. They do not consider it their business.
No Word for Coincidence
Kharak Dûm has no word for coincidence. Events surface languages call coincidental are either vornrath (still-road — a path that was always going to converge) or velrath (passing-road — a meeting that means nothing and will not recur). The concept that two things can intersect randomly, with no underlying pattern, is not one the language was built to express.
The Borrowed Words
There is no native Kharak Dûm root for sky, ocean, horizon, or open field. These exist only as borrowed terms, marked with the prefix sul- (light, foreign) to indicate their non-native status. A dwarf describing the northern plains around Danakhbilis is reaching for words their language was not built to hold, and the strain of that reaching is something a trained ear can hear.
No Comfortable Solitude
There is no root for alone as a neutral state. The closest equivalent, dûr-Khazak (without kin), has a connotation of loss rather than solitude. A dwarf who needs solitude describes it in workarounds: vornkhar vel-Khazak — keeping still without kin around. It takes four words to say what surface languages say in one, and the four words still don't quite mean the same thing.
This is not a flaw in the language. It is a record of what the people who built it never needed to say.
“A language that began as engineering notation and became the tongue of kings. No dwarven scholar finds this ironic. They find it inevitable.”
— Marginal note in the Narag Baruk Linguistic Survey, author unknown