Ment
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But I wasn't talking about giving long-range firearms to the dwarves, but about how such weapons wouldn't appear on the surface! Because an enchanted, magically-enhanced rifle made of cheat-imba-steel would be too overpowered. So, I'm asking: what plot-related obstacles prevented the development of firearms on the surface?
Besides dwarves, few people are proficient in fire magic. This mainly includes mages from the Academy (but they have enough ordinary magic without such devices), and that's about it; others only dabble in fire magic a little. Guns that operate on fire magic simply wouldn't work for them.
and here's what I came up with regarding mages and non-mages:
Difference #1 - these dwarves dug themselves underground at the very beginning of the War of the Ancients, and only emerged after the first eclipse, pale and red-eyed.
Difference #2 - the dwarves tried to restore the system of governance as in the Shanti Empire: priests rule, and the rest live happily under their rule (but they failed).
Thus, a magical elite emerged, abusing its power and immense strength.
Then, among the peasantry, alchemists appeared, producing medicines, and then gunpowder and the first gunpowder-based weapons appeared.
Moreover, all of this happens underground, meaning there's no hunting; firearms became the weapon of bandits, and they were made by blacksmiths of less-than-stellar skill.