Great Script

Overview

The Great Script of the Dwarves is their holy text and their way of thinking and living. It isn't a book or a large parchment page in some kind of temple. The dwarves think of it as a huge set of guidelines and they live like it.

Who writes it?

The Great Script is written and maintained by Greybeard (his true name is forgotten) and his assistants. There is his female dwarven Death, there is the father Anghalar and he is the god of war, family, everything what is shiny. There is also the mother. Her name is Jurniara and she is the goddess of the crafts, everything that grows and animals. Depending on the clan there are two more entities and then there is the Goddess of the Forge as the last, but not unimportant one.

Greybeard himself gets all the information from his assistants and he maintains his guidelines. Once in a while he provides the new and/or updated guidelines to his followers - mainly the shamans like the Hearthkeepers - to keep them informed. Sometimes he even comes down into the temples and talks to them.

Which is a rare occurence because Greybeard tends to forget that he is a god and the dwarves are mortal. So it can happen that he promises to come back really soon - or even gives a date - and then vanishes for the next dozen or hundreds of years to reappear, curious and confused because nobody knew that he was coming.

One may think that a document like the Great Script is a huge, massive book or scroll, has hundreds of guidelines and small hints on how to behave. And they might be right, but with every update or change in the current guidelines the old ones are set deprecated and not active. Which means that the script itself is only a few pages long, but has a lot of deprecated versions and blacked out entries.

How to live the Great Script?

The short answer? Live with honour.

The long answer? Don't be an arse and live with honour.

Yes yes, that was not a really good and long answer, so next attempt. Dwarves are told and teached to be honourable. That means that they abide the laws of the land they are in. That means not to lie, not to touch people without consent or even not telling the truth. You won't find a dwarf who is blatantly lying or be an arse. Dwarves will tell you the truth and nothing except the truth, even when they don't like you.

Down below you find an excerpt from the Great Script written by Greybeard himself. There are additional rules and guidelines from the father, the mother, the Goddess of the Forge and, depending on the clan, from the other entities as well.

Excerpt of the Great Script

• Be true.
• Be kind.
• Be the dwarf you want to be.
• Be the best version of yourself. If you are not, try to be it step by step.
• Do not lie.
• Do not betray.
• Work hard, fight hard, die hard.
• Be true and stay true.
• Dwarves are made from stone and fire. All Dwarves are one. Do not fight each other, there is no honour in fighting your kin.
• Do not speak ill, not about your next of kin, not about your friends, not about your enemies, not about the merchant who thought he could get more coins out of you out of spite. Speak true and speak with meaning.
• Do not speak without meaning. Speak your heart, speak your mind, but do not waste your precious breath and time for words without meaning.
• Only say something if you have something to say. Do not speak for the sake of speaking.
• Honour your ancestors. Honour the craft, honour the world.
• Honour your friends, because they have your back.
• Honour your family, because they are your bond in blood.
• Honour your enemies, because they make you stronger.
• Be kind to yourself, to your friends, to the world around you, so you will recieve kindness in turn.
• If they come with fire, answer with fire.
• Find the balance, hone your craft with hands, heart and mind, do not neglect one or the other.

How to filter, how to decide?

How do Greybeard and his assistants decide what is written down into the Great Script, what is updated and what is deprecated or removed (or not put in)? Well, easy, they have meetings and talk about it.

Those meetings tend to be as long as days because there are usually a few dozen proposals and suggestions and Itana gets mean headaches during those meetings, so they tend to have breaks. Better to have a lot of breaks than a goddess who tries to rearrange your facial features with her smithing hammer.

Transkription or "How to jot it down?"

How do the shamans of the dwarves jot down the new guidelines? Well, one of the assistants comes down - or Greybeard himself if he does not forget about it - and helps the shaman in question. This means quoting word for word from the original Great Script until they are finished. Usually the Dwarf in question does not do breaks until they are finished with their task.

Holy Shit Tales

"Wait, was that... the Goddess?"
tired noise "Yes."
"How... was she?"
"Annoyed, mostly. Something about headaches. Nice voice and she smelt like a forge."
"She is the Goddess of the Forge afterall."
"Yes... do you need something? We sat there for three days and four nights, I need to sleep."
"No, please forgive me, Hearthkeeper."

— Hearthkeeper with a follower

"We are at this for four days now..."
"Yes, we might be at another six days before we come to an end. Or do you want to argue about every suggestion we have like the last days?"
"Not if they are not stupid like the others!"
sigh "That is sadly for you to decide... Greybeard, shall we?"

— The father Anghalar in an argument with the forge Goddess

Type

Text, Religious