Dwarves

The Dwarves (Khelthadrin as they call themselves) were created by the prime elemental of earth, however, this was in violation of the agreement of the elementals and the reigning Tyrannus. Rather than a flesh and blood race, the Dwarves were stone elementals. The Tyrannus used their power to turn them into flesh and blood versions of themselves. Something the Dwarves make sure to propagate among themselves to remind themselves of why they dislike Dragons. This would not be the only time the Dwarves and Dragons crossed paths. They have always been great stonemasons and metal workers, anything to deal with earth they excel at and personify stone very well being both coarse and VERY stubborn.
Early in the construction of Hammerock, an accident occurred between a Kobold tunneling crew and a Dwarf team, leading to a brief skirmish. The Dwarves, however, saw this as an attempt to hinder their progress or undermine the city and so attacked the Dragon who lived nearby, one who had nothing to do with this incident. This was the first time anyone had raised their hand to a Dragon. Wanting to set the example high for such an act and with pressure from his entire race the Tyrannus responded with fury. The entirety of the Dwarven lands was punished by being burned to the ground and taking their wealth. However, it was more the Halflings that suffered from the Dwarves attack on the Dragon, for when they came to exact the price it was the Halflings above ground tending to the farms for the Dwarves. They are now believed to be myth having gone extinct ages ago.
A note on Dwarves as Spontaneous casters, it is not an accepted practice among proper Dwarves to be a spontaneous caster. Unfortunately for them, they cannot hide it for long as their powers or the Terrorgheist shows up sooner or later. When they are eventually revealed to be what they are, the family disowns them and instead, they get the surname ‘Blackhorn’. They are pariahs, a step above the nameless but that does not count for much, they are not trusted and outright hated and feared.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Dwarven beards act as filters with microbes that eat various forms of minerals of residue from mining, such as coal dust and metal flakes. So long as a Dwarf has a beard with healthy microbes they will not suffer the effects of something like black lung.
Some dwarves can taste the purity of metal and can identify where it was from and the quality of it by taste, sound, and even scent. This ability exists in a limited fashion for most dwarves at least to the point they can identify what kind of metal it is.

Additional Information

Social Structure

The dwarves have a parliament style leadership with the leader known as the High King, their religious leader is the Stone Warden with the surname of Volgrim. The two of these then elect to raise up a third dwarf to be the Conservator, they are an enforcer and champion of the people sworn to be a defender and often the head general of their armies and in charge of the police force.
The Dwarves then have a council that meets in the ironically named ‘Chamber of Whispers’, the Dwarves are a very loud and argumentative race and the chamber is filled with anything but whispers. Dwarves often come across as argumentative for no reason, finding a nit to pick, making mountains out of molehills. This is because the dwarves believe that when an issue is presented the solution needs to be formed from all possible opinions being voiced. Playing devil’s advocate is an expected part of dwarven arguments and politics. This behavior does not represent all their grumblings and prickly temperaments, but it is a large portion of them.
Dwarves are a tough race to deal with for most given their brutally honest and often offensive way of talking including swears and insults in their discussions like others use punctuation. However, those who learn to understand their ways often come to appreciate these traits, for the stubbornness of dwarves applies to all things when you become friends with a dwarf it is often for a lifetime. Dwarves are capable of misleading people and when conducting business, they have very precise and exact contracts that are to be honored to the letter, however when dealing with other races not so accustomed to such intricate details of commerce they will try and get away with everything they can. Material wealth is important to the dwarves and they will try to get what they can where they can, storing it in vast vaults in nearly impenetrable banks. These funds are used for social obligations, moving up in status, power grabs, and personal acquisitions and forces.
Some of the social obligations include what seems a strange thing to all other races but important to them, beard oils filled with metal shavings or gem dust. Aside from cost of the more impressive oils they do this to mark where they live in Hammerock to show off. So, a noble of the Mithral district will have mithril dust in his beard. Likewise, jeweled beard braids are often seen as very high-status symbols.
Dwarves are of course masters of metalwork and stonemasonry; however, they also claim to be the best Alchemists in the world and have also developed Runecraft in order to use magic safely. Both of those claims are somewhat exaggerated, gnomes are better alchemists than they are and the safety record of runecrafts is still very much debatable. The standard dwarf will prefer heavy armor, shields and axes or hammers. For ranged options most use heavy crossbows but those trained to or able to afford them will use rune guns even if they have a healthy fear of them. Perhaps most fearsome above all their other numerous weapons and armors, the Rune cannons; these immobile oversized wands are both safe and simple to use while providing a massive amount of firepower. The nearest second is a very old practice and the true origins of rune crafting, the art of Golemmancy, the dwarves have for many thousands of years known how to create a vessel of stone or iron with the soul of those willing to serve the dwarves for all time. The practice has fallen off as it does keep the soul from moving on to their earned rest with the honored dead, it has been over a thousand years since the honored were entombed within a golem.

Civilization and Culture

Naming Traditions

Names have power within Dwarven society, they let others know of your lineage and general sense of character, to not have a surname is to be without the honor of a family. The Nameless are Dwarves that for one reason or another have been stripped of their surnames. They are exiled from the city of Hammerock and Dwarves are not supposed to have dealings with them besides menial labor at the docks. They do often congregate with other exiled and there is a rather large population of the Nameless that goes unmentioned by the other Dwarves.

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

They have a good long grumble for every race really, the worst of it would be directed to the Draz Tyran, Orcs, and Anrasha. They do at least maintain a tolerant state for the other races though but are generally seen as coarse to them and seem to enjoy making it hard to be friends with them, however, should a dwarf become friends with another race they are very loyal. They have two Human nation friends they are on friendly relations with. Ursand who gives them timber, and fights against Orcs often and get Dwarven made weapons and armor in exchange for helping them in attacks against the Orcs. Rhyderian Humans are honorable and reliable to their word which are traits that the dwarves value greatly, add in the compassion and willingness to stand up for what is right they make good friends to the dwarves.

Alignment & Religion: Most dwarves are very firmly entrenched on the lawful side of the spectrum, but that doesn't mean that there are neutral or chaotic dwarves. Dwarven Religion is an important part of their lives, though they tend to stay away from sermons and instead practice their faith during great feasts and gatherings where stories are told and shared to those present. The dwarves value tradition and so venerate their gods as a matter of course, it is expected of a dwarf to worship one of the Triumvirate made up of The Warden, The Magistrate, and the Justiciar.
Adventurers: Most dwarves are slow to leave their homes, in many cases a dwarven adventurer might be descedned from an exile, a Khaldran, or someone who doesn't want to risk harming their family name but seeks to be away from the stifiling traditions of Hammerock.

Related Organizations

• The Hand of the Ancestors

Blackhorn Surname The Blackhorn surname is used to denote a mage, regardless of kind the term applies but it is most spitefully used against Sorcerers, this comes into conflict with the Khelthad but the Magmaheart Surname supersedes the Blackhorn one as they are the children of The Warden, whose Surname to the Dwarves is Magmaheart.
Exiles: Exiles that do not go to the Khaldran fortress in the northern mountains find their way into the human lands often as they can more easily form a friendship with the humans as opposed to the elves. These Dwarves are usually the ones who take their exile the most seriously and try to avoid other Dwarves, at least initially as eventually they become weary of being a stranger in a strange land and try to find other exiles to form communities with. They are often neutral to the Khaldran dwarves and some regret not going there. Some want to find a way to be able to return home to Hammerock while others hate the place and simply wish to live their new life away from the place that exiled them.