Dwarf

Known for: Short size; stocky build; perseverance.

by Thaddeus, trid pirate and sometime decker
"The most obvious thing about being a dwarf is our height. Yeah, we’re shorter than everyone else. So we spend our lives dealing with a world built for taller people, people who often talk down to us figuratively as well as literally.
“Half-size” we ain’t, though. Most of us have shorter legs in proportion to our torsos than other races, which means we’re not much smaller than humans from waist to neck. We can probably borrow your shirts. However, we often can’t reach shelves in stores, or get a good view of art in most museums. And just try getting served in a crowded deli at lunch time when you’re shorter than the counter! On the other hand, we can fit in tight spaces (always useful in both my lines of work), and we don’t bang our heads on low-hanging branches. Watch out, Stretch, some dwarves may try to walk you into obstacles!
Folks who were called dwarves long before the Awakening had limbs that didn’t grow in proportion to their torsos, but they weren’t the dwarf race we know today. Probably because of the long existence of dwarf-like people, lots of old stories involve dwarves. And let me tell you, these stories have caused real problems for dwarves in the modern world. Too many people think they know what we’re like because they’ve read Grimm’s Fairy Tales or some fantasy epic; they’re surprised to find out that we don’t all dig in mines, or hunger after gold, or live in cute cottages in the woods.
Even worse, our short stature makes lots of other people see us as children. Get this through your heads, OK? A dwarf over the age of 18 is an adult. Patting a dwarf on the head, pinching his cheeks or fixing his clothes is about as rude as you can possibly get. So is talking to dwarves in bright, sing-song voices usually reserved for kids who ain’t out of diapers. You ask me, this kind of treatment is the reason why many dwarves put on a t o u g h act, being gruff and cold toward people of other races. Lots of young dwarves end up in fights, trying to prove themselves or defend themselves from intrusive head-patters. That’s where the stereotype of the “hot-headed halfer” comes from. You spend a day being patted and pinched, and see how calm you are.
Of course, being treated like a cute kid has a few advantages (much as I sometimes hate to admit it). Other people often underestimate us. From businessmen to street toughs, more than one dwarf has let the other guy think hecan pull one over on the cute li’l half-pint, and then—wham!— taken the big ol’ fool for all he’s worth.
Many other “typical dwarf behaviors” also stem from outside causes. Take the idea that dwarves like to live underground, in caves or in basements. The fact is, us dwarves feel more comfortable in small spaces—big surprise, right? So a dwarf is more likely to take advantage of the cheaper rents in basement apartments, or live in a cave because it’s comfy and convenient. (The house Nature built—what more could anyone want?)
As for the stereotype that all dwarves are brilliant natural mechanics, I’m not sure where this got started— probably in all those fairy tales. It’s become something of a self-fulfilling prophecy—lots of dwarf children get little tool sets as their first toys, and schools channel us into math and science programs. Of course, in many fields, dwarf mechanics have a natural advantage because we can squeeze into smaller spaces. I suppose there might even be a genetic difference in intelligence types that makes us more likely to be good at putting things together. If there is, though, it skipped me. I can’t figure out the workings of my toaster. You should see the looks I get when I tell people that I have no idea why their car won’t start…"

Dwarf Culture

Though I dislike opening with a bad pun, it fit best here. Dwarves are, by far, the most overlooked metatype of this new age. They are stoic, silent, and strong-willed as a culture, and even the ever-present overbearing indoctrinations of the megacorporations have not reshaped the minds of the dwarves who work within their ranks. It is that strength of will (not a weakness as some have said) that defines why the dwarves are the only metatype that has not carved out their own nation. They have not felt the need to congregate and exert their will in a single place but have instead maintained a sense of unity even while separated by books, borders, and bottom lines.
But what does that sense of unity mean to them? Well, it means that dwarves, no matter where they fall in a nation, corporation, or religion, will usually side with, and prefer to deal with, other dwarves before anyone else, even non-dwarves within their parent culture. It is not a matter of racism or even a sense of superiority, but instead a sense of steadiness and understanding that they all share. When working with their own, they know what to expect, they know they will be dealt with according to a particular set of cultural norms, and they know that when the deal is made or the argument is done, it will stay that way. Within dwarven culture, a deal is a deal.
Now, I know I mentioned a lack of a nation, but what the dwarves have instead is a world. Thanks to a global Matrix and its astral equivalent, dwarves aren’t limited by borders for their culture. They are both technologically and magically savvy. Traits that, along with their steady and willful nature, give them ways to connect over great distances. The contacts list on a dwarf’s commlink is often its largest datafile and full of connections to other dwarves, many of whom the owner may have only met once. Or they may never have met and just got a name passed to them by a friend. This connectivity brings together nearly three-quarters of all the dwarves in the world. Some of the connections may be negative, such as a note pointing out a dwarf is untrustworthy or has failed to hold to an agreed deal, but through small degrees of separation, —usually less than three, never more than six—a dwarf in the larger group can be connected to another dwarf.
One of the most significant disadvantages to their insular and well-connected nature is it feeds into the conspiracy-esque view of dwarves as hoarders of wealth. Dwarf-owned shops, especially those in less well-todo neighborhoods, are frequently targeted by the dim masses in search of dwarven gold. The urban legend of well-connected dwarves who operate as go-betweens for illicit corporate operations and keep certain valuables, such as credsticks and electronic stock certificates, has only helped fuel these rumors. Especially when these hidden wealth caches are discovered.

HOW DWARVES FIT INTO SOCIETY

Very easily, just like small spaces. Sorry, I couldn’t resist, even though I know every dwarf reading this has heard the joke a thousand times. The dwarves of the world don’t “fit” into society; they are simply part of it. Though mocked by the small-minded and sometimes made to play the fool, little people have been around all through the Fifth World and into the Sixth. They often lived slightly outside society, but they weren’t ostracized. As dwarves arose, they simply became larger in number, more steadfast in their desire for equality, and they blended right into a world that, while not fully accepting, at least was used to seeing and dealing with little people. That made the battle for acceptance easier than it is for orks and trolls (it helps that their appearance didn’t frequently feature in horror flatvids—Leprechaun movies aside). Dwarves have problems similar to trolls fitting into a society not built to their size (though the problem is not as extreme for them), but they have one significant advantage—they are less likely to crush or destroy the things that don’t fit them.
Then there is the fact that stereotypes sometimes work in their favor. The stereotype of trolls as brutal forces of violence makes people shy away; by contrast, the stereotype that dwarves are the best technicians in the world provides them with many opportunities, as everyone always asks dwarves to fix something for them. This has helped many of them grow strong, independent operations, such as repair shops and custom arms manufacturers, often using only their face, while the skilled labor is actually done by others.

Basic Information

Genetics and Reproduction

Dwarves grow slightly faster than humans (at first), reaching puberty at 11.5 to 14 years and maturity at 17-19.

Ears
Slightly pointy

Genetic Descendants

• Gnome
• Hanuman
• Korobokuru
• Menehune

Scientific Name

homo sapiens pumilionis

Lifespan

More than 100 years (projected)

Average Height

1.2m (3'11")

Average Weight

54kg (119lbs)

CHARACTERS AND DWARF CULTURE

What does all this culture talk mean for your character? Simply put, either you’re in, or you’re out. It’s a decision to figure out with your gamemaster, and when you come to a decision, you have to stick with it. One of the hardest things about being part of the dwarven culture and being a shadowrunner is that the two things don’t blend well. Dwarves don’t take kindly to shadowrunning dwarves or law-breaking dwarves of any kind. Theirs is a culture based around aiding each other and dealing fairly and directly with one another. In their eyes, any dwarf who has to resort to living on the wrong side of the law is choosing to refuse the help his brethren would have offered along the way. And everyone knows how shady the lives of runners are, even if most have learned it from a corporate-sponsored trid show. Truthfully, most dwarves know that runners are people too, but they just don’t want to bring that risky element into their stable cultural philosophy.
As a character, are you going to try to balance on the edge of dwarven and shadow culture? Separating your running life from your dwarven life, refusing to use your dwarven connections, even for the most trusted of non-dwarven teammates, no matter the cost? Or maybe you’ll go totally counterculture and build your contacts and relationships based on trust and friendship, instead of height and beardiness, even going so far as to avoid other dwarves altogether. You could also be looking for the roleplaying challenge of finally coming around and trying to get back into the dwarven culture but facing the choices of your past. Or maybe you’re on the other side of that slope and have slipped into the shadows and now use your dwarven connections to benefit you and your team, but then get to see dwarven culture slowly, or suddenly, shut you out.