Slayers

Some griefs no dwarf can carry: an oath broken, a family lost, a shame no gold can pay off. Such dwarfs take the Slayer Oath at the Shrine of Grimnir, renouncing home and hold, dyeing and lime-spiking their hair into a defiant orange crest, and going forth half-naked into the wilds to seek an honourable death against the mightiest evil they can find.

The cruelty of the oath is that Slayers are very hard to kill. Grief makes them fearless, the oath makes them relentless, and a lifetime of dwarf muscle swings the axe, so most survive foe after foe that should have granted them their doom, and every survival is another small failure. The eldest among them, slayers of trolls, giants, and dragons, are counted among the deadliest fighters in the Old World: heartbroken dwarfs still queuing, patiently, for a good enough death.