Alarith Stoneguard
The warrior ranks of the Alarith are known as the Stoneguard, and it is they who watch over the mountain temples that are foci of their connection with their elemental protector. It is said that the Stoneguard can stand motionless, their feet planted on the ground, without food or drink for years or even decades. Their connection to these Aelementor sites is so deep that they receive all the sustenance they need from the mountain itself. Should a traveler approach one of their temples, the formerly serene Aelves charged with protecting the place will advance smoothly and swiftly to block his path and demand that he explain his business and intentions. Those whose answers are missing will find their way blocked forever - and should they press ahead, they will be rendered unconscious with a sharp blow before being carried off the peaks and unceremoniously thrown back into the lowlands they came from .
To become an Alarith warrior, an aspirant must seek the mountain's boon by fasting, enduring the elements on the most exposed and hostile peaks, and even running with the avalanche should the mountain so test him. Then, at the height of their trials, they must be literally buried alive by the Alarith they seek to emulate. When they earn enough favor with the mountain, they will be able to breathe through tiny cracks in the rock, and after a full week underground, they will rise again as Alarith. Those who are not genuinely sincere in their desire to pray themselves will be buried under the earth forever; The flanks of the most irascible Hyshian mountains are strewn with the corpses of such unworthy souls, whose spirits have been taken from the peaks as they once tried to take Hysh. Yet those who ascend are given a measure of the mountain's power, which they train hard to maximize.
When a temple of Alarith warriors assumes their "mountain stance," they become all but immobile; even the frantic charge of a herd of rhinos will ricochet off a group of Stoneguard intent on repelling an attack. On the offensive, they become a more irresistible force than an immovable object; Their long-handled hammers, wielded with superb grace and dexterity, maximize each bowstrike for the most devastating payload of power. A real hit with such a weapon will break every bone in the target's body. These hammers contain enchanted stone bequeathed to them by the Heart of the Mountain, and they strike with incredible force to disorganize even the most heavily armored foe.
Some who study the ways of the mountain do not attempt to imitate the impervious rock that makes up its vast mass; Rather, they wish to mimic the veins of incredibly valuable and magical minerals found within. Instead of wielding the traditional stone longhammers of the first Alarith temples, they wield diamond-cored pickhammers, vicious spikes that protrude from sunsteel heads. Properly used, these can even smash through a demon prince's infernally forged plate, unleashing a bolt of light that can banish the creature within if the blow is true.
Regardless of their temple's preferred fighting style, Alarith champions—known as Truestone Seneschals—may choose to wield pairs of sedimentary rock hammers rather than a single great hammer. Some layers of these weapons derive from layers of magically active stone deposited during the formation of the realms themselves, others from the aftermath of the Spire's fall. These contain so much of the slow but powerful pinnacle fury that when combined with the sturdy weight of the granite and diamond that make up the rest of the enchanted hammers' construction, they result in bursts of intense magical energy as well as a tremendous strike with crushing force.
