Dwarves

Dwarves have a well-earned reputation as a stoic and stern people, ensconced within citadels and cities carved from solid rock. While some see them as dour and humorless crafters of stone and metal, dwarves and those who have spent time among them understand their unbridled zeal for their work, caring far more about quality than quantity. To a stranger, they can seem untrusting and clannish, but to their friends and family, they are warm and caring, their halls filled with the sounds of laughter and hammers hitting anvils. Dwarves are slow to trust those outside their kin, but this wariness is not without reason. Dwarves have a long history of forced exile from ancestral holds and struggles against the depredations of savage foes, especially giants, goblinoids, orcs, and the horrors that dwell deep below the surface. While trust from a dwarf is hard-won, once gained it is as strong as iron.
Dwarves are often mistaken as a Godling Race due to their extensive spread over the Shattered Lands. However they are not a Godling Race, rather a deity race. Raldrout, God of the Forge is most often given credit for the dwarves, though it is believed that Govalydd, Deity of the Clan and Kizmada, Goddess of Honor also played a role in the creation of the dwarves.
If you want to play a character who is as hard as nails, a stubborn and unrelenting adventurer, with a mix of rugged toughness and deep wisdom—or at least dogged conviction—you should play a dwarf.

You might...

• Strive to uphold your personal honour, no matter the situation
• Appreciate quality craftsmanship in all forms and insist upon it for all your gear
• Don’t waver or back down once you’ve set your mind to something

Others Probably

• See you as stubborn, though whether they see this as an asset or a detriment changes from one person to the next
• Assume you are an expert in matters related to stonework, mining, precious metals, and gems
• Recognize the deep connection you have with your family, heritage, and friends

Physical Description

Dwarves are short and stocky, standing about a foot shorter than most humans. They have wide, compact bodies and burly frames. Dwarves of all genders pride themselves on the length of their hair, which they often braid into intricate patterns, some of which represent specific clans. A long beard is a sign of skill and honour among the dwarves, and thus a clean-shaven dwarf is considered weak, untrustworthy, or worse. Beards have such an important role in dwarven society, that many clans will banish a dwarf by shaving their facial hair, for the most heinous of crimes, a dwarf may be magically cursed to never grow facial hair, or chemically burned for the same effect.
Dwarven skin is quite fascinating. It is often darker and coercer than most other ancestries. Dwarven skin often resembles various stone. Some resemble quartz or granite, some shale or other stones. Many dwarves even appear to have veins of or on thier skin, with veins of copper, or iron being common, but veins of gold, platinum, or even mithral do exist.
Dwarves reach physical maturity at different times depending on if they have one or two dwarven parents, a dwarf with two dwarven parents will generally reach physical maturity at about 10 years old, however, a dwarf with only one dwarven parent will generally reach physical maturity at the age of twenty. Regardless of physical maturity, most dwarves are not considered an adult until they have both joined a clan, and completed a task dictated by the clan. An example task might be completing your first weapon alone if your clan specializes in smithing, or returning from your first grand hunt if your clan specializes in hunting. A dwarf may complete their task and become an adult as old as 15, but it is far more common to happen in a dwarfs mid thirties. It can take even longer than that, and that is generally accepted; however, most dwarves will frown upon someone who reaches a century without settling down with a clan and completing their adulthood task.

Reproduction

Dwarven reproduction is a strange art. Dwarves are not known for their arcane skills. Most dwarves who practice any magic are clerics. However all dwarves innately know one arcane ritual, the ritual to create another dwarf. The ritual does require two individuals and the new dwarf does gain features from the two casters making them the new dwarfs parents. One caster must be a dwarf, but the second participant seems to be able to be any ancestry, which has allowed half dwarf, half elves, and many other combinations. During a dwarfs life they will often feel compelled to collect certain stones, ores or other materials. These materials often have an important meaning to the dwarf that collected them, it may be the first time they hit a mithril vein, the last rock the pulled before going to war, or it may just look special to them. Eventually when a dwarf has collected enough, they will feel compelled to do the ritual. If two dwarves do the ritual they will poll their collected pieces, if it's only one dwarf parent then just the one collection will do.
This does create some interesting dynamics in dwarven society, that many outsiders consider strange. Dwarves feel they always need to be part of a clan, as they may feel compelled to create a dwarf, but not be in a position to properly care for them. Most clans are prepared for this and have child caring abilities. A clan is also useful for if a dwarf feels compelled to create a child but does not have a long term partner. Most clans will help pair "Ritual partners" who will both be parents to the child, but are not required to hold any sort of relationship past that.

Society

Dwarves are known for their magnificent large, underground structures. Dwarves will often hollow out entire mountains creating magnificent cities that represent their skill and dedication. Dwarves value skill and their clan above all else. When separated from other ancestries, dwarves will generally adopt a money less barter system. Anything a dwarf makes, is expected to be well crafted and last a lifetime, or often countless generations. On top of that, dwarves put high value on maintaining these items because they know that someone put everything they had into it and it deserves to be well cared for. This leads to dwarves having literal ancient relics in their homes, and though well cared for, they are used as the items they were made to be. The dining table might be a millennia old, but if it isn't being used as a table, then why have it?
When interacting with other ancestries dwarves are not against using money for commerce, but they will often try to barter for products rather than coin when they can. If you had the choice between giving a dwarf a thousand gold pieces, or a weapon you hand crafted and put all of your skill into, but is valued at only five hundred gold pieces, most dwarves would prefer the weapon. Of course some dwarves are so distanced from their roots, that they have fully adopted "normal" commerce.
The other major thing most dwarves take part in is the clan system. Dwarves respect their parents and others that raised them, but such bonds are minor when compared to that of the chosen family, or clan. Dwarves while being raised are constantly educated about the clans and encouraged to search out what clan will fit them best. And though some clans may be less reputable (such as a thief clan, or brothel clan), no dwarven parent would ever be caught pushing their child away from the clan their child wishes to be a part of. The most a young dwarf can expect is a parent collecting large amounts of info on the clan and getting you to read through all of it to make sure you know what you are joining. Once one has joined a clan, they are stuck in that clan for life.
Clans are the core of dwarven society. Clans set the rules, leaders of clans make up city or even county councils and overall a clan will decide what day to day life for any dwarf is like. As long as a clan adds some benefit to a settlement, they and all their members will be treated well. Outsiders will often see dwarves enter a tavern, order as many drinks as a dwarf can drink and simply show a clan emblem as payment. Though criminal clans do exist, they are generally rare, as crime is rarely useful or needed in dwarven society. When they do show up it's usually because a dwarven settlement has become isolated and surrounded by hostile land which thief clans would plunder. In times of peace, those clans would often shift direction, or seek permission from the council to disband entirely and allow their members to seek new clans.

Alignment And Religion

Dwarves due to their well structured societies and reliance on clans generally favour lawful good.
Religion plays an important place in dwarven society. The most common religion for dwarves is the Raldrout Heresy.

Place in the Shattered Lands

Dwarves are a deity race created by Raldrout, God of the Forge, Govalydd, Deity of the Clan and Kizmada, Goddess of Honor. They hold stable kingdoms and are present throughout most of the world. They are famous for their underground cities, or hollow mountain cities and can often have entire kingdoms underneath other states. Most dwarven kingdoms are closer to city states than true kingdoms and often work cooperatively with neighbouring dwarven kingdoms. When dwarves do war, it is often against goblin kin as the goblin kin often desire the resources the dwarves have and dwarves are rarely willing to trade peacefully with them as they find goblin craftsmanship poor quality.

Adventurers

Dwarven adventurers tend to work as treasure hunters or sellswords. They often leave their citadels and subterranean cities in search of wealth to enrich their homeland or to reclaim long-lost dwarven treasures or lands taken by the enemies of their kin.
Typical dwarven backgrounds include acolyte, artisan, merchant, miner, and warrior. Dwarves excel at many of the martial classes, such as barbarian, fighter, monk, and ranger, but they also make excellent clerics and druids.

Names

Dwarves honor their children with names taken from ancestors or dwarven heroes, and it’s quite rare to invent a new name or to borrow a name from another culture for a child. When introducing themselves, dwarves tend to list their family and clan, plus any number of other familial connections and honorifics. Dwarven names usually contain hard consonants and are rarely more or fewer than two syllables.
Sample Names Agna, Bodill, Dolgrin, Edrukk, Grunyar, Ingra, Kazmuk, Kotri, Lupp, Morgrym, Rogar, Rusilka, Torra, Yangrit

Ancestry Mechanics

Hitpoints

10

Size

Medium

Speed

20

Ability Boosts

Constitution Wisdom Free

Ability Flaws

Charisma

Languages

Common Dwarven Additional languages equal to your Intelligence modifier (if it's positive). Choose from Gnomish, Goblin, Jotun, Orcish, Terran, Undercommon, and any other languages to which you have access (such as the languages prevalent in your region).

Other Abilities

Darkvision
Clan Dagger You get one clan dagger of your clan for free, it was given to you when you joined a clan. Selling this dagger is a terrible taboo and earns you the disdain of other dwarves.