Dwarfs

Most often encountered living in or near mountains, dwarves are gifted miners and masons. They are stout and their strength is quite immense, considering their short stature. They are hardy people, proud of their facial hair and most commonly known for their worship of Karak and his six ancient dragons. Dwarves love to hoard gold and valuables and are so stubborn that one could mistake them for the mountains they are housing in.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Swarves are stout humanoids, with two arms, wich are about half as long as the individual is tall and two legs with rather large feet. The dwarven skull is more sharp and square than an elven or human skull and the bone is much thicker. Dwarven ears are very leathery and thick and rather square in shape. The dwarven nose is rather prominent and the eyes comparetivly small.

Biological Traits

There are some biological traits, wich actually cause the dwarf to outlive most of his people, but this trait is rather exclusive to the dwarven royals and rare at that. This trait prolongs the lifespan of a dwarf to about 230 years. Dwarves with this trait are often either the king themselves or consultant of said royal.

Genetics and Reproduction

Upon successful insemination dwarven females will deliver children after about 10 months. It is to note, that dwarves have a very, very small chance of recieving multiples, wich are considered to be a blessing of Karak .

Growth Rate & Stages

Dwarfs are usually born quite stubby and already with a bit of hair. During their growth young dwarves get fed by their mothers for about 8 months, after wich they are often fed mushrooms and the like. In the coming 7 years dwarves will grow to be able to walk, or crawl and talk.
When a dwarf is about 20 years old they will enter dwarven puberty, where the small fluff of a beard is replaced by a proud, but rather short beard for now. During this phase most dwarves will be very adventurous and almost hyperactive, often to the annoyance of older individuals. After this phase, speaking their 35th birthday, a dwarf is adolescent and will be considered an adult. From now on, the beard also grows with the individual.
From there on a dwarf will lead his/her life normally till the age of 100, where there is a recognizable recession in hairgrowth in dwarves. This often leads to a crisis amongst them, wich is done after about one or two years. After that the dwarf lives till about the age of 140, although there are some exceptions to this.

Ecology and Habitats

Most dwarven settlements will have access to an underground watersource and either a mushroom farm, or a considerable vein of Cibrite, a mineral, dwarves are actually able to eat and process. While most dwarves prefer the inside of mountains, there are some, wich either liff at the side of cliffs or in ravines.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Dwarves, while strong advocates for most forms of meat and ale, of any kind they only really need fresh water and soem kind of nourishment. These are most often subterrainian mushrooms and roots, but as mentioned before, dwarves are able to digest and process special minerals, in this case Cibrite, as it is the most nourishing mineral dwarves could want.

Biological Cycle

Most dwarves have, more than other species, some kind of internal clock, wich balances out the lack of a sun to orient themselves with.

Additional Information

Facial characteristics

A dwarven face is quite square in structure and the eyes often are just a bit above the nose. The nose is very prominent, especially on males, while female ones are more stubby and round. While male dwarves sport heavy facial hair and a rather reduced mane, females have slight beginnings of a beard at the side of their faces, while they have impressive manes with thick and heavy hair.

Geographic Origin and Distribution

Most dwarves live within the various mountainranegs all across the map, with a huge population at each of the six dwarven fortresses.

Average Intelligence

Most dwarves are able to speak and read dwarvish and common, while other languages are much more rare. Scholars and mages are also very rare amongst dwarves, as they are often not seen as equal to good, hard work.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Dwarves have something called tremorsense, their large and actually quite sensitive feet can feel the slighest vibration in the nearby earth and therefore inform the individual about subterrainian enemies or imminent earthquakes. Dwarven eyesight is really not the best and actually inferior to a humans. Although dwarven hands are usually quite rough and sturdy, they can feel smallest imperfections in stonework or craftsmenship and mostly dwarves will trust their feet and hands over their eyes.

Civilization and Culture

Naming Traditions

Dwarvish names often consist of the name of the individual, then the clan and then their respective kingdom.

Most common prefixes and Suffixes for the first name of a dwarven individual:
Prefix: Thor-, Iv-, Mal-, Bor-, Bun-, Gun-, Kar-, Bal-, Hor-, Bis-, Kir-, ...
Suffix: -bir, -mur, -ras, -mar, -or, -ar, -hild, -sha, -ma, -drun, -til, -dra, ...

Major Organizations

The six dwraven kingdoms are considered the major organizations of dwarven kind. Each of them with their own mountain range under control.

Beauty Ideals

Males: Impressive beards, scars, prominent noses
Females: Round faces, soft facial hair, stubby noses, rosy cheeks

Gender Ideals

Males in dwarven society are supposed to be the warriors and family guardians, while female dwarfs are often expected to look after the children and cooking as they are married. Unmarried dwarven females are almost everytime equal with males and sometimes outshine them.

Courtship Ideals

Every dwarfs is supoosed to be totally loyal to their king, clan and family.

Relationship Ideals

Relationships between dwarfs are normally respectful of each other and both accept their roles. Noone is looked down upon and both parties honore each other. In other words domestic violence is heavily looked down upon.

Average Technological Level

Dwarves are known to have achieved mastery in masonry and the creation of various machinery, using runes to power them. The use of advanced machinery, though is very rare and localized. Magics are often neglected, with the only uses of them being runecrafting and enchanting, besides geo- and pyromancy.

Common Etiquette Rules

Greetings:
When a dwarf meets another and doesn't know them they will often go for a normal handshake, but as soon as they have a longer history with the other party, there is no way around the elbow-grip-hanshake. Should the other party be a loved one dwarfs will go for hugs instead.

Conflictsolving:
Should there be a great misunderstanding between two groups of dwarves, wich is not related to thievery or murder, the conflict is settled by an honorable duel, without killing. Here it is said that Karak will favor the warrior with the right opinion.

Marriage:
Dwarven marriages are very long pondered about and not easily struck, as these kinds of bonds are forever and the act of breaking such a holy bond is the ultimate form of a taboo. Should a dwarven couple decide to undertake this endeavour, both parties will either purchase or forge a ring for the other. Those rings are then blessed by a priest of the Keepers of the Forge and in a grand ceremony with all close relatives the bond will be sealed.

Common Dress Code

Dwarves prefer all in all heavy clothing and tend to use leather and/or armor pieces. These outfits are then also adorned with securly attached gemstones, or gold, to show the status and wealth of an individual. Talented weapon- or armorsmiths also often carry around their creations to show their skills.

Culture and Cultural Heritage

Dwarfs, as loyal servants to their god have tended to the dragons during the era of the dragons and saw the ancient dragons as demigods, but as the were slain by hunting parties and adventurers it was a heavy hit for dwarven kind. The defenses were strengthened and a certain bit of paranoia crept into the minds of dwarven kind. Most themes in dwarven culture will either revolve around crafting or dragon-themed objects. While most of dwarven kind saw that the dragons were monsters that threatened everything around them, their stubborn nature has them protecting the good name of them, as their god has created them as a show o fhis strength and power.

Common Taboos

The biggest taboo for a dwarf is to betray his family, clan or kingdom and after having done this traitors are robbed of their facial hair and cast out of the protection of their mountains.

History

Dwarves ar firm believers in their patron god Karak and their hole history revolves around him and his creations. At the beginning he elected the first dwarven kings and told them to create their fortress. After the happenings of the Banishment each of the fortresses was assigned to house one of the ancient dragons. The dwarves built giant hordes for the creations of their deity and tried to protect them. But as the era of dragons came to an end it was a huge shock for the dwarves and only spurred them on to seclude themselves more.

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

Dwarfs have no real business with other races, they trade a bit, but keep mostly to themselves. Elves are another deal, dwarves make them responsible for the death of their ancient dragons and see them as cold hunters, wich wouldn't hesitate from hunting their own kin. Although deep within most dwarves have seen that the elves haven't done anything wrong, their stubborn minds refuse to admit defeat.

Scientific Name

Bipes Petrosa Sapienta

Lifespan

120 - 150 yrs

Average Height

1.2 - 1.5 m

Average Weight

80 - 100 kg

Average Physique

An average, healthy dwarven individual will sport rather heavy muscle and a solid amount of bodyfat. The one major downside of dwarves are their rather small legs, wich let them be no real threat to anyone faster than them.

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

Most dwarves one encounters will have various shades of gray, or sometimes even brown regarding their skin color. When it comes to their eyes, dwarfs have a black eyewhite and their iris often resembles some kind of valuable gem or molten rock.