City Dwarves

Born from work, living for work

Introduction

"You know what dwarves can't do? Chill out."
— Aria Dabalan, the Bard

City Dwarves is how the most common of their kind are called, the dwarves who live together with Humans in their cities. Like humans, city dwarves have never had much contact with their mountain cousins, and for that, there is little in terms of cultural traces both share, except for their inherent racial characteristics.

Naming traditions

Heavily rooted in human culture, city dwarves often have pretty standard human names, both family and given. Still, they often have a preference for strong-sounding names, with R's, O's, T's and such.

Culture

Culture and cultural heritage

Living among humans, these dwarves have grown fond of crafting and commerce, and as they are, they take these very seriously. This made city dwarves also very proficient at trading, diplomacy and many kinds of craftsmanship, and they are well known for that, even if mining and smithing are still their main thing.

While city and mountain dwarves have their cultural differences, both still share their origins and therefore a couple of other things. Even living far away from the strict society of mountain dwarves, the city dwarves still hold an unbendable sense of morality and honor, and they don't tolerate any kind of criminals. Also, while the beard isn't a symbol of social status for them, they still have it a symbol of wisdom. For that, they do grow their facial hair, but they don't embellish them as much as mountain dwarves do, nor do they associate their size with status.

Combat

As city dwarves are more versed in the diplomatic field, they are rarely seen fighting. There is quite a substantial share of them in Vilennor's guard, but that is to be expected as they make over half of the city's population. In this case, they are often seen using heavy equipment, as is expected from dwarves, though they are not nearly as trained as mountain dwarves are.

Historical figures

Cyrus Dunstan is no doubt the most iconic figure among the city dwarves, and one of the earliest to be considered of their race as well. He was a scholar, the engineer who designed the reform of Fort Edgemourn and its Diamond Walls.

Kendra Geoffe wasn't a dwarf herself as they didn't yet have time to fully develop at the time, but her remarkable dedication to her craft has made of her a true dwarf in the eyes of the people. She was a master blacksmith and devised a way to join magic and weapon into one.

Major organizations

The Craftsmen Guild is by far the most widely known organization run by city dwarves. Housed in the city of Vilennor, it is the main source of wealth for the Kingdom of Archana. It uses the materials collected from The Veins and work them into a variety of items, weapons and armors, and export them to other nations.

Parent ethnicities