Races: The Dwarves
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The Dwarves are much more than the race of miners that they are characterised as and yet it is an identity that even they find difficult to see past. Historical challenges to the Dwarves have forced them to diversify what they do and how they relate to the world as is described herein. The Dwarves speak a language they call M'gar. Adventuring Dwarves can become Warriors, Clerics and Thieves. Only Half-Dwarves can become 'Spellsmith' Mages.
Description
Fully grown Dwarves are between 3'9" to 4'8" tall and weigh 76-200 pounds. They tend to stocky in form and homely of face. They have course hair of brown to black (shading to grey with age) and brown to grey eyes. They can live as long as 180 to 250 years. They have exceptional resistance to toxins. Dwarvish temperament can be stolid and taciturn with bursts of more lively emotion. They prefer to live in hilly or even mountainous areas within a temperate climate.
Culture
The Dwarves venerate ancient ancestors who serve as role-models and the heroes of tales told to instill a sense of pride and determination. The spirits of these ancestors are regarded as divine and Dwarves hold that they are reincarnated from those same spirits. Dwarves put value in stability and structure and the habits of the past are elevated to the status of sacred rites in the present. It is this sameness that has been both a boon and a handicap.
Dwarves have a very structured and orderly society. Both the nobility and commoners are connected by loyalty to wider society and within it to particular professions such as miner, stonemason and blacksmith. Mineral riches were always important to the Dwarvish empire of the past. The gold and silver of the Seven Hills combined with the copper of the south-western foothills of the Pillar Mountains and the iron of Mount Hammer gave the Dwarves power and riches far beyond what the population warranted. The lowlands between these areas were regarded as a burden to be traversed and left fallow. Ravens were domesticated to provide a communication network for Dwarves who preferred to stay at home.
Over time the ore was exhausted in the shallower mines and newer mines were more difficult to dig. This combined with hostile incursions into Dwarvish territory forced a concentrating of armed forces and workers in the heartland of the Seven Hills. Also Dwarvish nature and custom produced a slowly dwindling and aging population over time.
Some enterprising Dwarves explored new ways of supporting themselves by trading with humans and focusing on offering skills and expertly crafted items. Dwarves of such a temperament re-populated and revived the territory of Mount Hammer with such methods and also opened new mines in the Iron Mountains. Many others however stayed in the stagnating community of the Seven Hills. The sudden invasion of Hill Giants utterly destroyed that society and killed the Dwarvish Monarch.
Since then there has been both a Dwarvish Monarch-In-Exile and a newly declared Monarch of Mount Hammer. A distinction exists between the Holemgar (Hill Dwarves) who live scattered and seek to re-take the Seven Hills (whose home base is the Fugitives Forge south-west of the Pillar Mountains) and the Karumgar (Mountain Dwarves) of the Iron Mountains. They can live together but never can agree on the feasibility of re-taking the homeland.
Technology
Dwarves excel in the extraction and working of metals and minerals (including gems), the carving and excavating of stone, and the construction of mechanisms to assist in such work. Many generations within a given family will specialise in the same skill and those professions that produce lasting works are the most respected. A mason is much more valued than a shepherd (even if these exist still in the foothills). However in more recent times newer skills of trading and investment have helped some Dwarves make a fortune. Both the old and the newer professions are deemed to be technical in nature and it is in technical matters that Dwarves focus.
Dwarvish design emphasises functionality over aesthetics. Houses are rambling stone structures of split-levels embedded into hillsides. All is rigid and precise angles inspired by the geometry of gemstones. Art is abstract and barely even noticed as it forms part of the objects into which it is incorporated. Dwarvish music is precise and premeditated and played using lithophones and gongs. It is composed in such a way that its reverberation in a cavern or hall produces the intended number of notes. The most amazing product of Dwarvish skill is the Golems constructed by the Spellsmiths who combine the talents of both mages and artisans.
Clothes
The Hill Dwarf militia wear chain mail and wield battle-axes (offensive) and twin throwing axes (defensive) - these axes have a characteristic twin-bladed design. The Mountain Dwarf militia of Mount Hammer wear scale mail and wield short sword and shield (offensive) and cross bow incorporating an imbedded dagger (defensive). Dwarvish military commanders wear plate mail and wield same weapons as the troops they accompany. Dwarven clergy accompanying the troops wear the same armour as the troops but wield war hammers or military picks (which are deemed holy). Civilians tend to wear practical and long-lasting clothes of thick cloth and enduring leather in browns and greys. Decoration is rare.
Food
Dwarves enjoy food and lots of it. Of particular importance are bread and beer which tend to be made by the same persons using similar skills and ingredients. For dwarves a bakery and a brewery are the same thing and one foodstuff is the perfect compliment for the other. Dwarves also enjoy the flesh of both goats and sheep and make a variety of stews and casseroles from these. They also make cheeses and yoghurts from goat or sheep milk. Dwarves seem to survive despite an absence of fruit or vegetables.
Reproduction
In Dwarves libido is very low and can be entirely sublimated to the pragmatics of the arranged marriages that are the norm in Dwarven society. Such arrangements are never challenged by demands of ‘true love’ that sometimes complicate things among humans. Love between Dwarvish spouses is very similar to the love of friends and comrades-in-arms rather than romantic love. However the love parents hold for Dwarvish children is among the most powerful of all races (in part because Dwarves tend to only have one or two children who are then as precious as any treasure – children literally are the ‘family jewels’).
Gestation takes 12 months and once born a baby is robust and can crawl immediately. Only one child is ever born at a time. Dwarves are monogamous and mate for life. Note that Dwarves living among humans will tend to adopt a bawdy sense of humour at odds with their lack of interest in sex. This they do as a way of both fitting in with and lampooning humans.
Note that while both male and female Dwarves can practice any profession there is still some discrimination as to combat - men become offensive troopers while women become defensive guards.
Half-Dwarves
Dwarves and humans can interbreed but this is a very rare incident (usually facilitated by far too much drink). Any resulting child (only one at a time is ever born) is effectively a Dwarf (of maximum Dwarish size and mimimum Dwarvish life expectancy) with only one additional characteristic - they are themselves sterile. Such Dwarves will tend to throw themselves into the work of creating the best items of craft since they cannot have children. Only half-dwarves can become Spellsmiths who make magical items for the nobility.
The Dwarves are much more than the race of miners that they are characterised as and yet it is an identity that even they find difficult to see past. Historical challenges to the Dwarves have forced them to diversify what they do and how they relate to the world as is described herein. The Dwarves speak a language they call M'gar. Adventuring Dwarves can become Warriors, Clerics and Thieves. Only Half-Dwarves can become 'Spellsmith' Mages.
Description
Fully grown Dwarves are between 3'9" to 4'8" tall and weigh 76-200 pounds. They tend to stocky in form and homely of face. They have course hair of brown to black (shading to grey with age) and brown to grey eyes. They can live as long as 180 to 250 years. They have exceptional resistance to toxins. Dwarvish temperament can be stolid and taciturn with bursts of more lively emotion. They prefer to live in hilly or even mountainous areas within a temperate climate.
Culture
The Dwarves venerate ancient ancestors who serve as role-models and the heroes of tales told to instill a sense of pride and determination. The spirits of these ancestors are regarded as divine and Dwarves hold that they are reincarnated from those same spirits. Dwarves put value in stability and structure and the habits of the past are elevated to the status of sacred rites in the present. It is this sameness that has been both a boon and a handicap.
Dwarves have a very structured and orderly society. Both the nobility and commoners are connected by loyalty to wider society and within it to particular professions such as miner, stonemason and blacksmith. Mineral riches were always important to the Dwarvish empire of the past. The gold and silver of the Seven Hills combined with the copper of the south-western foothills of the Pillar Mountains and the iron of Mount Hammer gave the Dwarves power and riches far beyond what the population warranted. The lowlands between these areas were regarded as a burden to be traversed and left fallow. Ravens were domesticated to provide a communication network for Dwarves who preferred to stay at home.
Over time the ore was exhausted in the shallower mines and newer mines were more difficult to dig. This combined with hostile incursions into Dwarvish territory forced a concentrating of armed forces and workers in the heartland of the Seven Hills. Also Dwarvish nature and custom produced a slowly dwindling and aging population over time.
Some enterprising Dwarves explored new ways of supporting themselves by trading with humans and focusing on offering skills and expertly crafted items. Dwarves of such a temperament re-populated and revived the territory of Mount Hammer with such methods and also opened new mines in the Iron Mountains. Many others however stayed in the stagnating community of the Seven Hills. The sudden invasion of Hill Giants utterly destroyed that society and killed the Dwarvish Monarch.
Since then there has been both a Dwarvish Monarch-In-Exile and a newly declared Monarch of Mount Hammer. A distinction exists between the Holemgar (Hill Dwarves) who live scattered and seek to re-take the Seven Hills (whose home base is the Fugitives Forge south-west of the Pillar Mountains) and the Karumgar (Mountain Dwarves) of the Iron Mountains. They can live together but never can agree on the feasibility of re-taking the homeland.
Technology
Dwarves excel in the extraction and working of metals and minerals (including gems), the carving and excavating of stone, and the construction of mechanisms to assist in such work. Many generations within a given family will specialise in the same skill and those professions that produce lasting works are the most respected. A mason is much more valued than a shepherd (even if these exist still in the foothills). However in more recent times newer skills of trading and investment have helped some Dwarves make a fortune. Both the old and the newer professions are deemed to be technical in nature and it is in technical matters that Dwarves focus.
Dwarvish design emphasises functionality over aesthetics. Houses are rambling stone structures of split-levels embedded into hillsides. All is rigid and precise angles inspired by the geometry of gemstones. Art is abstract and barely even noticed as it forms part of the objects into which it is incorporated. Dwarvish music is precise and premeditated and played using lithophones and gongs. It is composed in such a way that its reverberation in a cavern or hall produces the intended number of notes. The most amazing product of Dwarvish skill is the Golems constructed by the Spellsmiths who combine the talents of both mages and artisans.
Clothes
The Hill Dwarf militia wear chain mail and wield battle-axes (offensive) and twin throwing axes (defensive) - these axes have a characteristic twin-bladed design. The Mountain Dwarf militia of Mount Hammer wear scale mail and wield short sword and shield (offensive) and cross bow incorporating an imbedded dagger (defensive). Dwarvish military commanders wear plate mail and wield same weapons as the troops they accompany. Dwarven clergy accompanying the troops wear the same armour as the troops but wield war hammers or military picks (which are deemed holy). Civilians tend to wear practical and long-lasting clothes of thick cloth and enduring leather in browns and greys. Decoration is rare.
Food
Dwarves enjoy food and lots of it. Of particular importance are bread and beer which tend to be made by the same persons using similar skills and ingredients. For dwarves a bakery and a brewery are the same thing and one foodstuff is the perfect compliment for the other. Dwarves also enjoy the flesh of both goats and sheep and make a variety of stews and casseroles from these. They also make cheeses and yoghurts from goat or sheep milk. Dwarves seem to survive despite an absence of fruit or vegetables.
Reproduction
In Dwarves libido is very low and can be entirely sublimated to the pragmatics of the arranged marriages that are the norm in Dwarven society. Such arrangements are never challenged by demands of ‘true love’ that sometimes complicate things among humans. Love between Dwarvish spouses is very similar to the love of friends and comrades-in-arms rather than romantic love. However the love parents hold for Dwarvish children is among the most powerful of all races (in part because Dwarves tend to only have one or two children who are then as precious as any treasure – children literally are the ‘family jewels’).
Gestation takes 12 months and once born a baby is robust and can crawl immediately. Only one child is ever born at a time. Dwarves are monogamous and mate for life. Note that Dwarves living among humans will tend to adopt a bawdy sense of humour at odds with their lack of interest in sex. This they do as a way of both fitting in with and lampooning humans.
Note that while both male and female Dwarves can practice any profession there is still some discrimination as to combat - men become offensive troopers while women become defensive guards.
Half-Dwarves
Dwarves and humans can interbreed but this is a very rare incident (usually facilitated by far too much drink). Any resulting child (only one at a time is ever born) is effectively a Dwarf (of maximum Dwarish size and mimimum Dwarvish life expectancy) with only one additional characteristic - they are themselves sterile. Such Dwarves will tend to throw themselves into the work of creating the best items of craft since they cannot have children. Only half-dwarves can become Spellsmiths who make magical items for the nobility.
posted by Daniel | 8.5.06
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