Mountain Dwarf
Mountain dwarves, also known as shield dwarves were among the most common of the dwarven peoples, once ruling great mountain kingdoms throughout Kalarda. Now, the Mountain dwarves have fallen from grace due to ancient wars with the Orcish and goblin foes in centuries past.
Basic Information
Anatomy
Hill Dwarves resembled the other Dwarf species though being Significantly more bulky and taller than their other kin
Biological Traits
shield dwarves were on average half a foot taller than other dwarves. Their skin was fair or lightly tanned and they had green or silvery blue eyes with long light brown or red hair, growing gray and white with age. Most males and even some females had large beards and mustaches. The females were slightly shorter and less heavy than the males.
Ecology and Habitats
Mountain dwarves often preferred colder climates
Additional Information
Social Structure
Traditionally, clan and class meant everything among the shield dwarves but as their civilization declined so did the importance of these issues. Although bloodline was still a mark of pride for a dwarf from a particularly strong clan, personal accomplishments came to mean more practically than the old ways, which seemed increasingly irrelevant. Among the Hidden, traditions remained strong, but there was an increasing number of shield dwarves willing to leave the mountains for a life as adventurers or craftsmen among humans.
Family life remained a prime concern for dwarves, however, and while elders played a diminishing role in childrearing, the relationships between parent and child or siblings remained as strong as ever. Most dwarves were literate and were taught to read at an early age, before being handed off to an apprenticeship. In the workplace, shield dwarves were taught to work for not only themselves and their family but the greater good of their clan. Most shield dwarves, while proud of their work, were fairly humble and avoided ostentatious displays of decadence. After a shield dwarf lost his or her ability to work physically, they remain a valued part of the community for their experience and wisdom and when they died they were honored with funeral rites appropriate to their legacy.
Facial characteristics
green or silvery eyes and longed groomed beards
Geographic Origin and Distribution
Once sprawling around much of Kalarda, now the main population of mountains dwarves can be found in Shoula
Civilization and Culture
Major Organizations
Iron Rock
Major Language Groups and Dialects
Dwarven
Culture and Cultural Heritage
Mountain dwarves were fine craftsmen but, more than other dwarven races, their craft tended to be war. Shield dwarves accumulated a wide variety of weaponry in the defense of their homelands and, unlike many dwarves, did not limit themselves simply to hammers or picks, instead drawing upon axes, urgroshes, spears, swords, and mauls as well. Shield dwarves typically equipped themselves in heavy armor fashioned from mithral, which they favored over the adamantine of gold dwarves.
While Mountain dwarves were openly dismissive of magic, abjurers were immensely valued, layering the defenses fo what remained of the Mountain dwarf strongholds with protective spells and rituals. In general, Mountain dwarves were more open to divine magic and clerics, paladins, runecasters, and runesmiths were all fairly common. Mounain dwarf clerics had even fashioned a few prayers of their own, such as mindless rage and shape metal.
History
The Mountain dwarves of Kalarda are a race whom once held great holdings across Kalarda but specifically in the lands of Shoula; developing many kingdoms and a diverse cultures while the race of men still hunted the plains and lived in mud huts. Their slow decline however began with the Divine divide weakening the dwarven kingdoms, and the many orc and goblin clans whom sided with the Forsaken ones during the war took advantage raiding and razing many Mountain dwarf settlements.
This resulted in a large period of isolation in the centuries that followed resulting in the decline of their kingdoms to what they are today.
Interspecies Relations and Assumptions
Mountain dwarves, while gruff, were not abrasive in personality and generally enjoyed the company of others, even those not of their own kind. Most of all, mountain dwarves got along with other dwarves, though hilldwarves they believed to be naive and overconfident. Although mountain dwarves had a long history of disputes with the elves, most among both peoples were tolerant and even fond of the other. For gnomes, mountain dwarves had nothing but fondness, particularly the rock gnomes and deep gnomes, and dwarves had a long tradition of friendship with most of their human neighbors
Genetic Ancestor(s)
Lifespan
350 years
Average Height
4'4-4'10 for males
4'2-4'8 for females
Average Weight
150-240 ibs for males
115-175ibs for femlaes
Average Physique
Bulky
Body Tint, Colouring and Marking
Pale to lightly tanned
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