Dwarves

"It's easier to tame a mule, than to convince a Dwarf..." Anonymous quote

Basic Information

Anatomy

Dwarves are short and stocky, but taller than children. They tend to weigh more than it would seem, either because of their tendency to 'bulk up', or because their muscle mass is much more fibrous and concentrated than in, say, humans. All dwarves have facial hair of some consistency, and take great care of grooming it in long, elaborated braids. Mountain and Hill dwarves are similar in appearance, but Duergar seem the more different of the lot, as they have paler skin, grey eyes and their hair tends to be stony gray, or white.

Additional Information

Social Structure

Those that live alongside the Dwarf Caravans (mostly Hill Dwarves, but some Mountain and Duergar can be found alongside them as well) live in Filial caste, which adheres that as the Father protects the children and loves the wife while the latter honor and obey the Father, so does a Caravan Thane protects his subjects and loves is Thanewife as they honor and protect him. The Code of the Mountains (or Clan-Rules) stresses that a Dwarf's worth is determined by public actions. Fealty in the Clan-Rules terms takes five forms: 1) subject to ruler, 2) son to father, 3) younger brother to older brother, 4) wife to husband (woman to man), and 5) younger person to older person. Under this concept, the dominate person receives respect and obedience from the subordinate person but is by no means a dictator. He is supposed to reciprocate with love, goodwill, support and affection towards the subordinate person.
Outside the Dwarven caravan, in the Duergar communities, the rule of law is more akin to that of a meritocracy than that of a Filiality, and the rule of a community goes to the most able, and cunning of the Duergar (with mixed results).
Outside of both of these, the dwarves tend to simply live by, and try to work their way into their lives by a measure of respect and honor through hard work, and honoring one's worth.

Geographic Origin and Distribution

Most Dwarves originated from the Mountains in The Northlands , but nowadays, due to the Great Begrudgement, Mountain and Hill Dwarves have abandoned the ancient Holds of their ancient homes, to live either alongside other races, or live Nomadic lives on the road; only the Duergar have retained their homes in the Underworld, living alongside the Duskborn Elves , but some have instead began to live below the The River Kingdom , helping the Gnomes to recover ancient relics of their former home-ship, The Great Turtle.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Dwarves can see well enough in the darkness, but they also can sense depth, and guide themselves well enough through the dark tunnels in the Underways below the world

Civilization and Culture

Average Technological Level

Before their departure from their Holds, Dwarves developed rudimentary levels of mechanical technology, but backed up by powerful magics inscribed in ancient runes, that even today are being used in magical items; other than that, dwarves have learned to adapt well to steam technology, though Hill Dwarves are still too stubborn to replace their 'tried and true magic'.

Culture and Cultural Heritage

All dwarves still hold part of the Old Traditions of oath-keeping (to some degree), respect for their Elders, and respect to the Elements of the Earth, Stone, Fire, and Air... Younger dwarves are less impressed with these, which makes some of the Longbeards (Dwarf Slang for old dwarves) to rumble and grudge.
Back in the elder days Dwarves were keen on drinking beer, ales and other strong alcohol, due to spirited drinks being less likely to go bad in years of storage. Today, many dwarves hold part of that tradition, but those that live in Human lands have taken either to drink less heavily, or not drink at all.

History

If the mountains and hills have memories, these with be the Dwarfs; wether be the traveling Hill Dwarf caravans, with their Stone golems and rune-carved pillars, the mountain Dwarfs that reside in human and Dark Elf cities, or the Duergar explorators in the Deep, dark places of the World-Below, the dwarfs have withstood years of strife and change, until the last Great Debate, in which they all left their ancestral mountain halls in the far North. However, many dwarfs have began to think that maybe, just maybe, it may be time to return to the old places, and recover their past halls.
Dwarf myth-runes tell that they were forged in the Dragonfire of ages past, from the Deep rock, and then given life by Mamgallath, the Fire-Mother, after that, it was the Thrumwyrm the Earth-Father, and Hyllam the Sky-Sister came to them disguised as Dwarfs themselves, and taught them the secrets of Stone and Wind. From there, the Dwarfs (or Dverfolm, ‘People of the Mountains’ in their language) began to carve their homes in the mountains they were born into. Eventually, some would venture into the valleys and places bellow, and trade with the humans, gnomes, orcs, and elves. They would fight against the giants and goblins that dared encroach to their home, and eventually find themselves with something that defied everything in their worldview: The Sky.
For centuries, dwarves would get into heated arguments into what to do next, but they came into agreement that the next logical step was to venture into this weird thing called The Surface, and establish relations with these other strange folk: Elves, Humans, and others.
With the coming years, the Dwarven Halls would welcome (begrudgingly) these outsiders into their homes, and it would take ven more years to accommodate them into things like seeing, access to water (though why would anyone take dirty water over beer was strange).
But, when the War of Winter's Fire began, the Dwarves immediately shut the doors of the halls, as they did not wanted anything to do with this Elf problem; they even went as far as attack the elves when they came through the Northlands, but they did helped many humans seeking refuge from the devastation, as long as they helped in the Holds.
When the war ended, the Dwarves of all clans gathered in the city of Morn-Falthas, far into the North, and discussed the fate of not just their kind after the war, but their role into helping heal Thrumwyrm after the elves and goblins devastated the continent.
The Discussion took nearly a century, alliances were broken, then reforged, and grudges were written in stone and erased in blood. Eventually, those that wanted to heal only the world would live in nomadic caravans, with their forges and Runestones carried by heavy pack animals or powerful automata; they would forever be the Dverfiln, or the 'People of the Hill', and would act as the memory of all Dwarvenkind.
Those that wanted to help the other races to help heal Thrumwyrm would live alongside the, and even adopt some of their traditions, but never forgetting of where they come from. They would still remain Dverfolm, and would always act as the Arm of Dwarvenkind.
The Duergar, however, wanted instead to learn from the other races to help heal Thrumwyrm, believing it is Dwarves, not the other races, that hold the responsibility to help heal it. They live in their undercities, alongside the Duskborn, as well as with the gnomes, and while they still refer to themselves as Dverfolm, they think of themselves as the Heart of Dwarvenkind.

Lifespan

350 years

Average Height

Between 4' to 5' Hill and Duergar: 3'8" +2d4 Mountain: 4' +2d4

Average Weight

About 150 lbs.