Frost Dwarf
Frost Dwarves are a hardy, cold-forged subspecies of dwarf who have adapted to the brutal conditions of the Icy Wastes. Distinguished by their pale, frostbitten skin, ice-hardened beards, and crystalline-blue eyes, Frost Dwarves are both survivors and stoic masters of the frozen realm. Their society is built around endurance, craftsmanship, and reverence for ancestral strength—a value often tested in the storm-shrouded, death-haunted lands they call home.
These dwarves are intrinsically tied to the glacial environment, and many claim they were shaped by the Primordial Cold itself—carved from the bones of the first winter and animated by the breath of frost spirits.
Basic Information
Anatomy
- Height: 4 to 5 feet
- Skin: Shades of pale gray, blue-tinged white, or frost-cracked tan
- Hair: Ranges from snow-white and ash-gray to black threaded with shimmering frost
- Eyes: Icy blue, silver, or glowing frost-green—often glowing faintly in darkness
- Adaptations: Resistant to extreme cold; capable of surviving blizzards without shelter; slower metabolism suited to scarce resources
Civilization and Culture
Culture and Cultural Heritage
Frost Dwarf society is tribal and elder-led, with each clan honoring an ancestor-chieftain whose deeds are sung into ice-crystal memory stones. They often dwell in ice caverns, glacial strongholds, or subterranean forges carved beneath ancient frozen ridges. Though technically under the influence of Castle Emberfrost, many Frost Dwarf clans retain their independence through cold diplomacy, tribute, or mutual disdain.
Craft and survival are central to Frost Dwarf life:
- They are renowned blacksmiths of glacial alloys, capable of working with rare metals like bog iron, stormglass, and zephyrite, infusing their weapons with elemental cold.
- Ice-bonded runes etched into armor and axes are believed to channel ancestral strength or ward off the whispers of the cursed land.
- Frost Dwarves believe the earth remembers and speak to stones in low, rumbling chants, seeking guidance before major decisions.
Common Customs, Traditions and Rituals
Their spiritual practices revolve around ancestral veneration, elemental spirits, and the Eternal Cold, which they do not fear but revere as sacred trial and sculptor of worth.
Some Frost Dwarves are born as Ice-Touched, individuals marked by the ability to channel frost magic—though such gifts are viewed with both awe and suspicion. These gifted dwarves often become shamans, seers, or emissaries to the witches of Emberfrost, where their loyalties may become... complicated.
Common Myths and Legends
It is whispered that the Frost Dwarves remember the world before warmth, and that beneath the Icy Wastes lies an ancient forge where the first hammer fell against the anvil of the world. There, some say, the Frost Dwarves will return when the world is swallowed by its final winter, to reshape the world anew from the ashes of frost and steel.
Until then, they endure. And endure. And endure.
Interspecies Relations and Assumptions
- Orcs & Goblins: Often allies in harsh times; rival clans raid or trade depending on the season.
- Frost Witches of Emberfrost: Feared and respected; seen as cursed flame-bearers who wield the unnatural cold of the void rather than the ancestral frost.
- Other Dwarves: Viewed as “soft-blooded” by many Frost Dwarves, though some clans maintain ties to mountain cousins to the south.
- Dracon & Minotaurs: Treated warily—too wild, too volatile—but occasionally respected in battle-bonds.
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