Claykin

Leirdvergur

Overview

The Claykin clan is not so different from their original Stonekin clan. They have nearly the same appearance and the same behaviour, but are a bit more slender than the average dwarf. One would only know when dwarves from both clans were standing side-by-side and not dressed. In their armour they look very identical.

Structure & Society

The Claykin have nearly the same structure as the Stonekin dwarves.

• Hierarchs | Mekwa
• Sentinels | Trophta
• Stonesmiths | Roxjar
• Constructors | Grokar
• Hearthkeeper | Olgrar
• Blessed | Worthiar
• Commoners | Asverath

The Constructors are one of the two differences in the clan structure. The Dirteaters are gone, the Commoners are just... well, common and the Constructors are the one who made the name Claykin famous.

Few in numbers? No problem

Since the Claykin aren't the largest clan - nor the smallest - but are involved in a lot of conflicts over the years, their population decreased significantly and they needed to find a solution. This solution surfaced with the discovery and training of the Constructors, highly specialised dwarves with the affinity for constructing living statues out of clay with a bit of stone in the mixture. The Constructs are constructed with three components: a skeleton made out of brass inside of them, a single energy core made from a gem inside their head and a lot of clay with sprinkles of different kind of stone.
The Constructs are not really intelligent and can only process the simplest of commands: "Kill that, come her, protect me, go there, stand guard." The gem in their head illuminates their head and the path before them and makes them a really good target. But most enemies are gone before they can reach the gem or the head.

"Aim for the head."
"Ha, funny."

— Two trembling warriors

Clay Army by CrazyEddie via Midjourney

Habitation

The original Stonekin live in the mountains of The Long Neck and are more present to the south where a deep is located. There they built the entrance to their city which means in the Common Language "Mountain Heart"; the city, not the entrance. It holds the strongest fortifications against incoming horde, mostly Orcs and Ogres, but sometimes Giants appear at their doorstep as well.
Dwarves loves it dry and warm, sometimes hot, which is the perfect environment for a dwarf. They don't like it when it is wet and cold, but they can - and they will! - endure it if necessary.
Most of them aren't afraid of large spaces or the sky itself, but they do not like it. The Stonekin build large cities inside the mountains and under the earth with balconies and large windows.
The Claykin aren't so different from their ancestorial clan.

Biological Traits

Despite their size dwarves are really sturdy. Most of the scholars think that it is because of their higher muscle density, but that is only one part of the truth. The Eternals created them with stone and bone, so their skeleton is much stronger, sturdier and heavier than an elven or human skeleton.
Some more or less clever dwarves thought because of those traits they could be used as armoured trebuchet ammunition, which worked quite fine, but none of them survived the impact. Well, fair to say that the enemy - mostly Orcs - had larger problems than a flying dwarf, because every dwarf was so heavy, he killed at least half a dozen just with the kinetic energy. And himself in the process, but a win is a win.
Besides that the dwarves have a better nightvision than the Elves and can "feel" raw ore veins in close proximity when touching stone or earth.

Reproduction & Life Cycle

Every dwarf, be it male or female, is ready for reproduction after ~200 years and goes the same way as a human pregnancy or an elven pregnancy. The pregnancy itself lasts for approximatly two years where the female dwarf can give birth up to two children. She can get pregnant again after around twenty years.
With two hundred years of lifetime the dwarf is seen as an adult with all responsibilities and duties a dwarf can have.

Food & Culinary Traits

The dwarves are masters of mushrooms. In their caves of stone full of minerals with little sunlight, the strangest, most fascinating and tastiest mushrooms thrive in all shapes, sizes, colours and behaviour. Depending on the dwarven clan, spread across the lands, the clans have specialised in certain mushrooms. For example, some use the Great Yellow Sponge for stews and paints, others the Wobbly Tintling for ... ink, food colouring and cakes/sweets/desserts. Large mushrooms are also popular ingredients, especially substantial in the depths of the burrows. And if you can get a handful of a Red Blinder, you are rich as someone with a large golden bar.

The Claykin dwarves are the only clan which has access to the Batfiend, a black mushroom. Its taste is like other mushrooms, a bit earthy with the taste of the black ink of an octopus. Why it has this taste is not entirely clear, but cap and flesh of the Batfiend are entirely black. It is often used in food to colour it, but you can make a really black writing ink from the mushroom and you can dye your clothes in a dark blue. The colour stays in the fabric for years, even when regularly washed. And you can eat the Batfiend raw, if you like. It does not taste really good, but the side effects are nice.

Batfiend Mushroom by CrazyEddie via Midjourney

Religious views & beliefs

The Stonekin believe that there are three entities, managing their lives, the afterlife, their intentions. They believe, that every step in their lives is foretold in something called the "Great Script". The Great Script is managed by an overseer, mostly called "Greybeard". He has a name, but it is forgotten (or locked away, nobody is really sure about either of it). He has six apprentices who helps him to write the Great Script and so help him to write the life of every dwarf there is.

The first entity is the father. His name is Anghalar and he is the god of war, family, everything what is shiny.

The second entity is the mother. Her name is Jurniara and she is the goddess of the crafts, everything that grows and animals.

In death they greet her as an old friend because Death is friendly and kind. She is depicted as a warrior with brown hair and gold in it and a double-handed axe. Death is not one of the two entities mentioned above, she just awaits the dwarves at the finishing line and brings them into the afterlife where they can fight, smith and eat since the dawn of time and the last battle.

Those are the actual and original beliefs in the dwarven culture. Over time every clan developed small differences or an entire phanteon around those two entities. Most of them stick to Greybeard or a variant of him, but in a few cases there are a lot of different gods and entities, depending which clan you visit.

The God of Clay is an undefinied being and often pictured face- and genderless, since clay has no gender. The picture or the statue is roughly dwarven-like, but has no specific traits of a sex and remains unknown. Its voice is genderless also, mostly deep, but it varies, so there is no real evidence of a gender. The dwarves pray to the God of Clay so that their constructs, their houses or their pottery is as hard as it can get, as stable as possible and so protective that its army of constructs is never defeated.

The God of Stone is an identical deity of some kind, but probably male, since its voice never changes. It has the same paradigmas as the God of Clay and the same religious beliefs.

And the last entity is the Goddess of the Forge with different names. She is patron of every smithy in the dwarven kingdom and pretty grumpy when an apprentice is not doing his work correctly.

Tales about the Claykin

"What is that sound?"
"Oh, they are singing again."
"Singing? That does feel like an earthquake."
"It is, if you want it that way. The drums are big and can shake entire mountains."
"Wait, you heard them before?"
"I was at one of their concerts. It was glorious, my ears were ringing for days!"

— Warriors talking about the oddly rhythmic shaking of the ground

"Lets shake them up, shall we?"
"Shake? Lets... okay, shake them up."

— Two constructors before unleashing their new constructs

"Aaaah, look at it, ma man. The glorious army of our clan."
"I see it, ma general. But dontcha think it might be better to fight in our tunnels? See, humans do not like our tunnels."
"But where woulda be the fun, friend? Crushing pesky humans out in the field will break bones and morale."

— General and consultant while watching over a raging battlefield where constructs demolish a human army

"This mushroom is really tasty, friend dwarf."
"Aye, the Batfiend. Ink and salt and flesh, aye, it has a good taste. Bats do not like it, don't ask me why."

— Dwarven host and his guest

"They have time, the Claykin. They do not need to reproduce fast, not as fast as the Copperkin or the Magmakin. They rely on their constructs, those warmachines out of clay and stone and magic. They can also feast like the Stonekin. So most of them concentrate on their craftsmanship, on their families, their homes and their food and beverages. It must be a whole different kind of peace when you do not have to worry so much about the future of your kin."

— Dwarven scholar in one of his classes

"No, they do not haven the Brass Dye... because they are not the Stonekin, you dumb rubble of a stone! They are Claykin! They have the best liquor!"

— Merchant to his apprentice

Data

• height: 130 - 175cm
• weight: 90 - 200kg
• lifetime: 800 - 1000 years
• Two legs
• two arms
• one brain
• two eyes (with better nightvision than an elf)
• five fingers
• five toes
• humanoid primary sexual organs