Copyright 2011 Wizards of the Coast.

Delzoun was the ancient dwarven empire that flourished at around the same time as the other ancient empires of the region. Being underground, it managed to survive the fall of Netheril relatively unscathed and last a few more centuries.

They had several underground cities in the area, but their grand capital of Gauntlgrym was the most majestic and famous. It started out as a mining complex. Eventually its workers Delved Too Greedily and Too Deep, and found a slumbering primordial: Maegera the Inferno.

Luck was on the dwarves’ side, and they managed to avoid waking Maegera up. Some time later, Delzoun’s leadership would make a deal with the archmage who ruled over the city of Illusk, founded by Netheril survivors. Combining their technical and magical expertise, they built a geothermal power generator around Maegera’s prison, using her as the heat source. This brought both civilizations great prosperity, for a time.

Eventually, Illusk was razed and Gauntlgrym suffered the fate of all dwarven fortresses, falling to an orcish invasion. Over the following years the orcs would be displaced by humans, the humans by mind flayers, and then the city would fall out of history and into myth. Today, Gauntlgrym is seen like a sort of dwarven Atlantis - no dwarf alive knows where it was located, but many dream of finding it and unearthing its riches.

A few years ago, though, an incredible event happened: a number of dwarves throughout the world started receiving visitations from ghosts clad in the ancient garb of Delzoun. The ghosts warned these distant descendants of theirs that a great and terrible beast (spoiler: it’s Maegera) was about to awaken in the site of ancient Gauntlgrym, and that this must not be allowed to pass. They plead with these descendants to find the city and prevent the awakening. This provoked a sort of “gold rush” to find the city, which died down after a few more years of no one finding it.

The PC is one of the dwarves visited by the ghost of their ancestor, one who hasn’t given up the search. They dream of finding their city, reclaiming their ancient birthright, and elevating their family name to its rightful place among their people’s legends. Oh, and of preventing the world-ending disaster that would happen if this mysterious beast awakens. Strike the Earth!

There are no class prerequisites here, but as a true heir of Delzoun the PC must be a dwarf. The associated background skills are Dungeoneering and History.

Features

These generally make you dwarfier than your typical dwarf.

Your starting feature makes you even more resistant to poison, granting you (5 + half level) poison resistance.

At level 5, you gain an extra healing surge.

At level 10, you gain a +4 bonus to Diplomacy, Bluff and Intimidate when interacting with other dwarves.

Optional Powers

These continue the theme of the features, making you tougher or more skilled in dwarven lore.

Scholar of Ancient Ways is a level 2 encounter power that lets you roll a History check in place of any other INT-based skill check, or a Dungeoneering check in place of any other WIS-based skill check. Because all things are like dwarf fortresses if you look at them the right way.

Noble Indomitability is a level 6 encounter power that works as an interrupt. When you’re subject to forced movement, you can use it to spend a healing surge and completely negate that movement.

Body Over Mind is a level 10 encounter power that can be used when you fail a saving throw. It lets you spend a healing surge to succeed at that throw instead.

Impressions

These powers and features are excellent for all types of defenders, but they can help a dwarf of any class become even more survivable. I know this is one of the themes that locks you into a single ancestry, but it would be quite funny to have a non-dwarf PC who is a true heir because they were adopted into a dwarven family that can trace their line to Delzoun. If I was trying to make Carrot Ironfoundersson as a 4e PC, I’d give him this theme.

Story-wise, this is probably the best way to involve your party in the search for Gauntlgrym. It’s easy to justify multiple PCs having it, and you could build a campaign around an all-Heir party.