The hostility between dwarves and elves is older than any human kingdom—older than Alveron, older than the recorded histories of most civilizations in Eldris. It is a rivalry without a single origin, born of countless wars, grievances, and slights accumulated across ages so distant that neither side can fully account for them.
Across all of Eldris, wherever dwarf and elf encounter one another, the pattern is the same. There is no region untouched by it, no culture that has softened it, no passage of time that has diminished it. Whether in deep mountain halls, forest enclaves, human cities, or distant trade roads, their interactions follow a familiar rhythm—cold disdain at best, open hostility at worst.
Insults are exchanged with immediacy and precision, delivered not as rare provocations but as expected ritual. The sharpness of their words, the speed at which they are offered, and the equal fervor on both sides give the impression that such exchanges are less escalation and more tradition. To an outsider, it can seem as though insult itself has become a shared language between them.
Humans, lacking the depth of history that fuels such animosity, tend to view the rivalry with a mixture of unease and detached amusement. To them, it is a conflict that persists not out of necessity, but out of refusal—neither side willing, or perhaps even able, to let it end.