Worldbuilder Spotlight:

The legendary captain of the Iron Whale Clan-Fleet of Sea Dwarves, whose exploits take up a good 10% of the massive Sea Dwarf anthology, Sea Dwarf Chanties and Various Erotic Stories and Things I Wrote Down. Most abridged versions contain at least one tale of the Iron Whale Clan, but every Sea Dwarf child knows most of Kalhe Keybeard's stories by heart.

The tales tell of the adventurous exploits of Kalhe and his motley band of dwarves in The Iron Whale, their flagship, as they search the seas of the world for the rest of their clan, who were separated from them in a storm many years ago. Amongst those lost is Kalhe's sweetheart, Rin Farfinder, and his pining for her is the sole subject of more than one of the tales. Aside from his lovelorn monologues, Kalhe sails the world righting wrongs, outwitting fearsome monsters, and conking "the Brutes" (Orcs and Ogres) on the head with his trusty club-cutlass.

Kalhe himself is said to be one of the tallest Sea Dwarves ever, measuring an incredible 5'4" - tall enough to be mistaken for a human, which happens quite often in the tales, to humourous effect. His beard is "black as the coal at a midnight's crest / and hung with the keys to many a chest", as the tales make clear, and he wears a tricorn hat with a Doom Pheasant feather. He sails with his Compass-Master Rara Silverseeker, a grouchy old Dwarf matriarch; Tobir Prayermaker the obese, gluttonous Prayerwright; and his closest friend, Iiri Ironhand (who does indeed have a hand forged from solid iron).

Sadly, the tales do not make mention of whether Kalhe is reunited with his clan and sweetheart or not: the last of the stories to be written features a cliffhanger ending where The Iron Whale is beached in an fantasy land to the far south where a family of giant Scut are threatening to eat them (as revenge for all the average-sized Scut that Tobir has consumed over the years). The ultimate ending of Kalhe's adventures is a subject of heated debate amongst Sea Dwarf children - most believe he did eventually find his long-lost clan-fleet - but it is possible that a manuscript exists somewhere that chronicles the last of Kalhe Keybeard's marvelous escapades.

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