Strata Dwarves

Strata Dwarves live in the border mountains of the island continent. They are the first recorded settlers on the world Rachis. They farm in stone supported strata with each elevation containing a suitable plant and they keep alpaca for clothing and meat. Their weaving is popular among the more mobile communities of local or semi-local humans, elves, and Llamataur.
Just before Rachis' first Great Tale, they discovered that their stone cutting ability allowed them to create larger cities within the mountains themselves. While they prefer an entirely underground existence, they need a steady trading partner willing to move into the strata farms.
Ten years after Rachis' first Great Tale, the move completed with the farms entirely turned over to their fellow weavers and capable farmers, the Llamataur.

Naming Traditions

Feminine names

A special or 'feminine' ending is only given to mothers as a sign of pride. This led many future (Human and Elf) scholars to assume a population of two thirds male dwarves.
This works as follows: a dwarf=Tasani; a dwarven mother=Tasani-as; the dwarven mother of two with a mastery in a separate craft's child when grown= Akai Tasaniaschild

Unisex names

Because they wear so much clothing and everyone has a beard, there is minimal physical difference between males and females. The end result is unisex names for almost every Dwarven babe.

Family names

Family names don't really have a place in their culture and the closest thing they have is when a particularly notable mother (One with more than three children or who adopted as well as bearing her own or who became a craftsmaster as well as a mother) is bragged about by her children.

Ideals

Beauty Ideals

An adult is a person with a full beard. Beyond this, many humans including women are admired for how quickly and beautifully their hair grows. Dwarven hair should be thick enough to hold braids and long enough to braid at all. Special attention is payed to dwarves with particularly rare eye colors as that is how their magical Direction displays itself when not in use. New colors usually means new abilities.

Gender Ideals

Few dwarven settlements have any real concept of gender. The only known display is the obvious, pregnancy. As a result, dwarven women who give birth are celebrated as the ultimate craftspeople and their names are given a 'mother' epithet. A child raised to healthy adulthood in home will usually introduce themselves by their mothers appended name as in Tasani-as-child or Tasaniaschild

Courtship Ideals

Dedication is the swearing of familial oaths. This may occur as a marriage, a dedication to a specific god, a dedication of eternal friendship, or the multipointed connection of a found family. There are specific braid types to declare courting, looking to court, looking for friendship, looking for partnership, or dedications made.
A dedication is a marriage if they are raising a child together.
Dedications occur in a ceremony wherein all parties will produce some craft of their best ability and the current leader, holy or otherwise, will forge them together into something of use for a household. This may be done multiple times in a lifetime and while no-fault divorce isn't possible as it is a sign of weakness to fail at one's oaths, re-dedication is.

Relationship Ideals

Complimentary Directions form a pairing of equals.
There is a warning about breaking this rule: any who treat their dedicated partner as a craft rather than a craftsperson in their own right will suffer the breaking of their bond as the injured party is the one who gets their Dedication craft back while the other is usually broken and left that way in the process.

Related Organizations

• Society For Creative Reorganization