Dwarf

The Dwarves of Itherün are short, stout people who originate from the mountainous regions of the world. While some have moved from their deep mines and high mountains, all dwarves hold a deep connection to their ancestral homes.

Dwarves are typically more blunt than other peoples, often have a love of ale¹, and have a very gregarious nature

Additional Information

Geographic Origin and Distribution

Dwarves are found where mountains can be found. There are dwarven kingdoms in the Ridge mountains of Aegall, such as Mal Tarum, and clans of snow dwarves in the mountains of The Midabridge Expanse. There were clans of dwarves in the Pinacle Mountain Range on Falkirn but these have not been heard from since The Cataclysms.

Civilization and Culture

Naming Traditions

Dwarves, lovers of beaurocracy, need their names to help catalogue who precisely they are.

Dwarven first names are hard with rough edges that are given at birth. They are then named by their peers with something great they have done. Dwarven third names are their family name and always have the affix "kindoder" which translates as "child of". Their fourth name is their clan name which refers to wider clan they belong to. These clans are ancient and have great, well kept histories. The clan is always affixed with "oderclan" which translates to "of clan".

For example: Kalnaak Axtträger Kindoderstaner Oderclan Felsbrecher or, in Arken, Kalnaak Axewielder child of Staner of clan Rockbreaker.

Major Organizations

There are mountain dwarves found in the Kingdom of Mal Tarum

Beauty Ideals

Cleanliness

Originating from a culture that lived in very dusty, dirty places, dwarves hold cleanliness as an absolute neccesity. They bathe at least once a day¹ and always ensure they have clean fingernails and well cleaned hair and beards (see below). They have disdain for unclean people, finding humans, gnomes, and halflings exceptionally dirty, and have a great jealousy of elves who have a supernatural ability to remain clean.

Beards

All Dwarves grow beards. From the day they are born, dwarves have a beard. It starts out as wispy hairs but at around the age of 6 months most dwarves have a beard that stretches to their toes²

As an enduring symbol of Dwafdom, the beard is one of the most important aspects of dwarven beauty. They will adorn their bears with jewels, previous metals, decorations, and arrange them in beautiful plaits and braids. While grander in metropolitan and wealthy areas, even smaller, poorer communities will put at least some deoration amongst their beard

Armour

Both important to the history and their culture, armour integral to dwarves as more than a tool for battling. All dwarves wear some element of armour in their daily life. Be this a full set of ornate, well kept plate, or a pair of shoulder pauldrons worn over a dress, no dwarf is without their armour

¹There has been a large uptake in a new gnomish device called a "shower" in dwarven commuities, though most dwarves will bathe at least once a week in addition to a daily shower

² Dwarven parents often use their babies beard to swaddle them, an old tradition that survies in the mountain communities but is slowly becoming lost within lowland settlements due to the greater accesibility to natural fibers to make baby clothes

Courtship Ideals

The courting of Dwarves is, naturally, a complex process. It is not uncommon for dwarves in their first century to entertain more casual affairs to find what they truly desire from a relationship. When two dwarves decide they would be a good match, they begin an often lengthy courtship (typically lasting at least fifty years). Courtship rituals vary wildly from clan to clan (often involing a lengthy contract agreed between clans), and both clans must be satisfied by these rituals. It is very rare for dwarves to take umbridge with this process as it is something they see as fair and necesarry to ensure that a long and happy marriage.
However, rare does not mean never, and there a tales of forbidden dwarven loves that a told by bards accross the world.

Relationship Ideals

Dwarven cultures expects dwarves to have at least a century of short, passionate love affairs to get a feel for the people of the world. This is deemed enough time for a dwarf to find a companion to court and to live out the rest of their days with. This could be a previous partner or someone met at this stage in life.

Major Language Groups and Dialects

Dwarves speak the language of the region they are found in aswell as dwarven. Dwarven is written using the giantic alphabet and sounds like german. It is spoken amongst family and as the official langauge of dwarven instiutions. Many contracts are written in Dwarven accross the world due to its suitability to beaurocratic processes.

Culture and Cultural Heritage

Cuisine

Dwarves boast a surprisingly eclectic and adaptable palate for a traditionaly subterranean folk, but there is one dietary constant regardless of location or culture: meat. Grains and vegetables complement hearty and practical family-style meals. usually featuring core proteins ranging from sheep and beef to pork and pheasant. with the occasional reptile, fungus, or oversize insect finding their way into the main courses of deeper-dwelling dwarves.

History

In the early days of their people, Dwarves kept to themselves. They lived deep in mountains away from the rest of the world, so much so that the other peoples of the world did not even know they existed. The Dwarves did not believe that the world outaide of their mines and mountains were worth venturing into when all they needed could be found in these great caverns.

The Dwarves only emerged when they found intruders at their doors. Elves from the woods and the plains beyond the mountains entered the great halls of the dwarves. What followed was many centuries of conflict between elves and dwarves, leaving ancestral grudges between the two peoples. Noone can remember how the conflict started, only that it happened after the elves arrived at the mountains.

Following the conflict, the dwarves worked with a new people, humanity, and helped them build up a world of their own outside the mountains. The different clans of dwarves then retreated during the cataclysms and were not seen again until the coming of the dragon born. Dwarves have now returned to Aegall and have started to venture out into the surface world again.

Common Myths and Legends

The Creation of the Dwarves is a tale told to all Dwarves from a young age as they are raised to teach them where they came from and guide their path into adulthood.

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

Elves: A deep distrust remains between elves and dwarves due to years of ancestral feuds. Dwarves hold these grudges stronger than elves but both races are concerned about being double crossed. Dwarves do not feel the need to press this matter as elves often suffer much in society as it is, but they are unlikely to help an elf.
Humans: Dwarves don't trust humans, but that is not to say they are mistrustful of them but rather that they will insist on having agreements written down due to humanity's propesnity to mislead with their speech (something Dwarves believe humans intentionally wove this into their various languages). Dwarves admire the great things humanity have done with their civilisations and are more than happy to help them create great works.
Halflings: To quote the prominent dwarven anthropologist Balinor Personengelehrter kindodermalnach Oderclanaxtbeißer, "Halflings are funny people. They are warm, welcoming folk to friends and strangers alike and will break bread and share their ale with you without a second thought. But if you upset them, they'll be just as sure to jam a knife in your back and leave before you have a chance to see the one your cursing with your last breath". Dwarves are friends with halflings, as much as because they fear what will happen if they're not as anything else
Dragonborn: The coming of the Dragonborn is within living memory for many dwarves. Dwarves are deeply suspcious of dragons and the arrival of dragonborn was initally met hostility, especially to chromatic ones. After heading their message and meeting with many, the dwarves came to accept these new people through their age old method of friendship: beauacracy. Mant treaties and contracts later, Dwarves feel they can trust them.
Orcs: The Dwarves and the Orcs have one think in common; they both trust elves less than they trust eachother. Orc tribes and Dwarven clans have been at eachothers throats for years. There's a lot of truces and treaties that are often broken between them which leads to a lot of conflict and land grabbing. In cities that neither species control they often have an air of neutrality with suspicion. But the hostilities where one species has more influece are more open and vary from place to place.
Gnomes: Balinor Personengelehrter kindodermalnach Oderclanaxtbeißer says of gnomes "They're clever folk, there's no denying that, and great with a set of tinkers tools. But they're a funny people, and I often wonder if this is because of how reclusive they are, of if its the other way around." Gnomes are too sporadic for most dwarves, and their chaotic nature is best left to itself lest it mess anything up in the beautiful beauocracy of dwarves.
Hobgoblins, Bugblins, and Goblins: Dwarves are somewhat of a millitaristic bunch but that's nothing compared to the goblinoids. Their propensity for combat and war makes them fierce enemies. This, paired with their fey origins, makes dwarves conflict averse towards them. A lot of steps have been taken to avoid conflict with these poeple, and a lot of trading between these two groups is a good forecast for war

Lifespan

350 - 400 years

Average Height

Hill Dwarf: 3’10” - 4’4”

Mountain Dwarf: 4’2” - 4’8”

Average Weight

Hill Dwarf: 8 st 7 lbs - 15 st 1 lbs

Mountain Dwarf: 9 st 8 lbs - 16 st 2 lbs

Related Organizations

• The Kingdom of Mal Tarum

Related Myths

• The Creation of the Dwarves