[quote=@Vec]
but an island in the middle of the sea [b]with no nearby source of iron[/b]
[/quote]

Dude, iron is everywhere. It's 5% of the crust by weight.

If Japan, Sri Lanka and the British Isles all had sufficient iron ore lying around, which they do, and Galbar is anything like Earth, which it is, then you can be damn sure there's iron in the Metatic islands too. Especially considering that they were canonically raised by earthquake, and as such aren't just made of lava.

[quote=@Vec]
[i][b]the dwarves let's think about that for a moment... [/b][/i]
[/quote]

i spend [i]fifty four thousand characters[/i] trying to make the 'dwarves' as different as humanly possible from the Extruded Fantasy Product dwarves

and this is how you repay me

you mock me, Vec

i'm wounded