Dwarves
The primary dwarven kingdom in Western Amerak is The Kingdom of Danvahr, seat of the High Castle in the Spindle Mountains, although smaller kingdoms exist in the Rainy Mountains on the Northwest coast, the Sawtooth Mountains, which run parallel to the Rainies, and smaller ranges to the south and west of Danvahr. It’s believed that another large dwarf kingdom exists somewhere a thousand leagues beyond the Eastern Wastes, but if such a kingdom exists, there are no reliable eyewitness accounts of it.
Dwarvish is an agglutinative language. They are also known by the old elvish word, “Corrach” and the old common word “Divergos.”
Basic Information
Anatomy
Their bodies are well-adapted to the rigors of mountain living. Short, squat, and hairy, they are comfortable at temperatures that would freeze other races. They also have little trouble breathing the thin mountain air, and at lower altitudes they have remarkable stamina.
Ecology and Habitats
Most dwarves prefer to live in the mountains. The strong rock, though difficult to dig through, provide strong foundations in which they can carve out their famously expansive underground settlements. The largest dwarf kingdoms can hold up to a hundred thousand inhabitants below ground.
Dietary Needs and Habits
Dwarves’ diet consists primarily of cave animals: fish, insects, amphibians, snails, and the like, supplemented by the few mammals such as bats that they can hunt. They are believed to have access to some sort of “cave magic” that allows them to produce sunlight underground, which they use to grow crops. They also eat a wide variety of moss, plankton, and other trogloflora in stews. Dwarven stew must be eaten to be believed. Perhaps it is partly due to their diet that dwarves are often considered to have a bad odor by other races.
Additional Information
Perception and Sensory Capabilities
They have exceptional hearing, but while their eyesight is excellent in low-light environments, they have below-average vision in normal lighting. Dwarves may also have additional senses, such as a time of echolocation or magnetic sense, that allows them to navigate in the dark. Some scholars think the unusual clicking sound that composes the dwarven languages is partly used to detect objects in the dark.
Civilization and Culture
Average Technological Level
Dwarves are considered the finest crafters, architects, and engineers in the world. Some dwarven walls designed over a millennia ago are still standing, and dwarven bridges rarely need repair. Their metalwork is extraordinary, with a high premium placed on dwarven-forged weapons. For this reason, their craftsmen and artisans are in great demand throughout the world, and most cities boast at least a small dwarf community.
It is also believed they have developed a way to ventilate their underground cities, but whether they have achieved this through magical or mundane means, only the dwarves know for certain.
Culture and Cultural Heritage
Although dwarves can be found everywhere, culturally they prize their independence and self-reliance as a distinct race. They value military prowess, and even the most peaceful dwarves are fearsome fighters. While their cities are beautiful, they are also designed with defensibility in mind. Most dwarf strongholds are practically impregnable from the outside.
Other races sometimes consider dwarves to be dour, humorless, and paranoid. While they certainly consider themselves to be ever-vigilant to threats, they are anything but humorless. Dwarven parties are boisterous affairs, with loud, raucous music and laughter.
Duty and responsibility are central tenets of dwarven culture. They consider themselves guardians of Aeryth against unidentified apocalyptic threats, which has given rise to a peculiar esprit de corps among their people. Dwarven society is typically highly regimented, with every individual knowing their exact place within the larger social hierarchy. Loyalty to family, clan, and kingdom is considered one of the highest virtues.
Historical Figures
Nael Strongarm is a mythic or semi-historical figure and one of the chief heroes of the Dwarves. He is said to have been the cleverest smith who ever lived, so clever that he built an eagle of iron who flew him to the Broken Moon.
Common Myths and Legends
In the beginning, there was Guhl-ghalal, the Smith, wisest and first among all the gods of Aeryth. He created the dwarves second, after the Elves. As a later creation, the dwarves were stronger, heartier, and more advanced than the primitive elves. Guhl-ghalal created the dwarves out of iron and clay, to rid Aeryth of the demons and monsters that long plagued her.
From their fortified strongholds deep in the mountains, the dwarves waged an endless war against the evils of Aeryth, while the weaker elves began their long retreat into perfidy and irrelevance. The dwarves finally defeated the monsters of chaos, making the world peaceful once again for all the races.
To this day, the dwarves stand guard in their impenetrable strongholds deep underground, ever vigilant for the day when the demons may return to the skies. Despite their roles as the protectors of the earth, the other races often look down their noses at dwarf-kind, thinking them too scared to return to the surface, to proud of their noble heritage, or too obstinate in their adherence to the old ways.
The dwarves are the most advanced and intelligent of all the races. Their mastery of architecture and construction has made them the finest artisans in all of the world. What the humans call “magic” and the elves call “craft”, the dwarves know to be nothing more than the simple, rational application of knowledge. While simple-minded humans can’t fathom the nature of magic, and the elves pretend to have some sort of ethereal connection with the supernatural, the stolid, down-to-earth dwarves know that magic is merely a property of the world that can be manipulated and controlled, just as iron, copper, and gold. Still, let the other races wallow in their ignorance. They have left us the most sought-after smiths and craftsmen in all the world.
Origin/Ancestry
/*The Dwarves are descendants of humans who migrated into subterranean shelters during the War in Heaven and adapted to the dark, cramped surroundings.*/
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