Dwarves

Dwarves (singular: Dorf, Homo rotundus) are a short and broad humanoid race originating in the grey mountains. They are the fourth oldest race behind Waiths, Celestials, and Pygmies, created by their chief god Vrakkas

Biology
Dwarves appear a lot like humans and hobbits, they stand between 4 and 5 feet tall, their broadness means they weigh as much as humans and they can lift loads larger than one would expect. Despite their short, thick-fingered hands, Dwarves have a very high degree of manual dexterity, and are able to operate the most intricate steam machinery with ease. A usually unkown trait is that Dwarves can unhinge their jaws as to get more Beerley into their mouths quicker. The Dwarves have skin colours ranging from pale grey to charcoal, the men have large thick beards that reach the bottom of the rib cage by maturity and the oldest have beards reaching their waste, these are usually groomed and ornamented. The women do not have beards but thick downy hair on their cheeks. Dwarves have a variety of eye and hair colours. Dwarves are long lived, they reach maturity at late twenties and generally reach around 300 to 400 years, although a few reach the venerable age of 500years old. Internally the Dwarves are identical to humans except they have thicker bones and have two livers that increases their tolerance of toxins. After evolving in the darkness of the Grey Mountains they have evolved keen darkvision and "stonesense", which allows them to always find north underground and in buildings as well as seeing much better in twilight or darkened areas such as underground.

History
At the dawn of time, after Vrakkas collided with the Grey Mountains and formed the forge, he created the Dwarves in his image. The Dwarves quickly leaned masonry and smithing and with the abundance of mithril, they quickly moved on to forging in their volcanic home. With these skills they quickly founded Modan their first Stronghold (Dwarven: Throng) and hence their capital.

Vrakkas soon taught the wisest Dwarves the secrets of Runemagic. and chose chose Lenka Oakendyk as the queen of her people. Vrakkas then sired a son Khalid who founded the Strongholds of Erba and Karak berfore dying at the end of the first age.

His son Oromis continued his fathers dream and reaffirmed his races position in the world and founded the cities of Orza, Taibn and, Sunbar across the sea. Through his actions he created trade relations with the Elves, Orcs, Humans, Hobbits, Waiths, and the Ozzies. Under his rule the Dwarves developed steam power, boat technology, and Griefen husbandry, and the waiths gave the king a group of psychic spies in trade for mithril.

Oromis was succeeded by Niblik Oakendyk who climbed The Forge to claim Keenfire, the axe of the Dwarven lords. In doing so he lost his left arm to a Wythernbut. He saw this as an omen for the Dorf race to increase their militaristic might and so he invested in garrisons for every Dorf Stronghold, as well as learning the secrets of gunpowder and researching more Runemagic. He passed away early at 207 in a fight with a Fire Snake. He was succeeded by his Daughter Vena. In the early years of her reign she pushed for exploration of the lands around Sunbar, and so has founded the Rangers and started trade with Free Mint, she went on to lead all the Dwarven clans against the United Forces of the North in The Erfar Great War and after killing the Ice Giant Prince she went on to break the rest of the reichen forces before succumbing to her wounds. She was succeded by her son Skaden Oakendyk, who has reformed the dwarven legions to be more flexible.

Homelands
Dwarves homelands are in the Grey mountains on the continent of Uber. Rather than live atop these peaks they carved Great halls into the rock themselves and deep into the mountains. The first was Erba a city made near the volcano called "The Forge". They quickly dug underground highways (called deeproads) under the mountains to other great halls called Modan and Karak on the same continent. Deeproads were then cut accross other continents spreading to Taibn, Orza, Sunbar, Volun, and Gafni with Deeproads under the sea due to a phobia of over water travel. These cities are usually mining communities, and have grown into the vast strongholds they are today.

Psychology
Dwarves claim to be made by Vrakkas using the earth, stone for bones, magma for blood, metal for skin and organs and gems for eyes. Whether or not this is true, the Dwarves share many qualities considered similar to the stone they live with. Strong, hardy, and dependable. Dwarves are polite, particularly elders, and possess a wisdom beyond that of many other races. Dwarves value their traditions and use these to guide them, however most of these fables and lores tell the Dwarves to use logic to solve their problems as long as they don't stray too far from their ancestors, their Holds and Great Halls and they traditions..

Dwarves are also known for their stubborn nature and cynicism, traits common amongst the dwarves but which contribute to, and are commonly offset by their bravery and tenacity. Dwarven friendship is hard to earn, but is strong once won. Naturally dour and suspicious, the stout folk are slow to trust others. For dwarves, loyalty is more than a word and it should be both valued and rewarded. Dwarves believe it a gift and mark of respect to stand beside a friend in combat, and an even deeper one to protect that ally from harm.

Many dwarven tales subsequently revolve around the sacrifice of dwarves for their friends and family. Just as dwarves are known for their dependability as friends and allies, dwarves also harbor grudges far longer than many other races. This may be on an individual basis between a dwarf and one who has wronged him, or against entire races, even if warfare with the enemy has long since ceased and the reasons forgotten. Each great hall has a book of grudges and every Dorf has a responsibility to uphold and right such grudges. Dwarves are a careful and deliberate race, with a more serious disposition than other races, who they sometimes view as flighty or reckless. A dwarf does all things with care and a stubborn resolve, with brash or cowardly behavior unusual for the race. However, dwarves do succumb easily to wrath or greed, which are the most common vices of the race. Dwarves do not like change, and where a dorf is moving away from their traditions this is seen as aberrant and such dwarves are called "changeling" which is one of the biggest insults, the worst being "Oathbreaker".

Dwarves have recently become more adventurous as they have recently dug so far into the earth in their eternal quest for gems and metal this means they have found more ancient ruins and magical items. They formed the "Society of Reliquaries" to study the field of "Archaeology". Teams have been sent out to search for archaeology information and artefacts and to the ends of the world in the hopes of discovering new insights into their shrouded past. These journeys have led to dwarven excavation sites all over the known world, some of which serve as outposts and some of which serve as potential hunting grounds for the enemies of the dwarven race.

Clans
Dwarves live in massive underground cities called Throngs (Stronghold in the human tongue) and their society is based on clans. A clan is an extended family unit usually based around a profession like smithing, however clans are free to breed with each other and all have their own nobles who vie to join with the holy line of nobles in this way. These clans are usually led by hereditary rulers, often monarchs of a sort, and descended from the founder of the clan. Dwarves strongly value loyalty to these rulers and to the clan as a whole and even objective dwarves tend to side primarily with their kin over other races or communities. Dwarves highly value the ties between family members and friends, weaving tightly knit clans. Dwarves particularly respect elders, from whom they expect sound leadership and the wisdom of experience, as well as ancestral heroes or clan founders. This idea does carry on to relations with other races and dwarves are to the elders of another, non-dwarven race.

Diet
Dwarven diet mainly consist of beerley a cereal that has all the minerals, carbs and proteins, all the foods a Dorf needs for a day, it grows under mountains due to sunrock providing the sunlight the cereal needs. This dependence on alcohol for diet means that the Tavern is a big part of Dwarven society as it is a hub for social and biological sustenance. They also eat whooly rhinos and fire snakes as a delicacy.

Religion
Dwarven religion is mostly based on ancestor worship as they are closer to their god Vrakkas, Runecasters are the leaders of the religion as they literally write the language of their god and weave his magic. The Runecasters teach Dwarven children before adulthood, after the elders of the immediate family teach their children the ways of their trade. Runecasters also fill a support role in the Dwarven armies.

Art
Most Dwarven art is based on metalcraft, masonry and gemcraft especially arms and armour. They know how to forge mithril and Adamantine, however they also know how to make silk clothes from the Giant spiders. They also know how to create steam submarines and gyrocopters. Dwarven songs usually last for days on end, sometimes weeks with only a few only last a few hours.

With Dorf architecture and infrastructure, there are four tests used by Dwemer architects in city planning and construction: The Test of Pattern required the observer to observe and analyse for patterns before planning. The Test of Disorder required the observer to proceed methodically when no pattern was observed. When the observer recognised that many tasks had to be accomplished in no specific order, the plan was to order all tasks to be completed, and they should be able to recall how, why and when the task was completed. The Test of Evasion had the observer to study an obstacle, and review his or her resources and abilities. If the obstacle was too difficult, then the observer had to find a way around the problem. The Test of Confrontation had the observer to inspect the obstacle and review his resources and abilities. If the obstacle was too difficult, then the observer had to look for a way around the obstacle, but if there was no possibility of going around the obstacle, then the issue had to be confronted directly.

Dwarves seem to have favoured simple durable clothing, coloured hoods and heavy cloaks for travelling, and belts of gold or silver. For battle their soldiers would have elaborately crafted armor and helmets, bearing various angles and styles that were trademarks of Dwarven crafting styles. Their armour was masked with symbols (after the manner of those used in forges for shielding the eyes) that were hideous to look upon, its is usually metal with Slayers and Rangers being the exception.

Language
The Dwarven language is refereed to as Dwergar and utilises many z's and d's in its form, and the writing system is written in the Dorf's own form of runes and glyphs, with another set of special "Runes" set aside for the holy script used by the Runecasters. The language is a guttural sounding tongue and sounded strange and harsh to other races, as if one had inhaled too much rock dust from the mines before speaking.

Death
When a Dwarf dies their body entombed in stone so that they can join their ancestors in the afterlife. They refuse to say more than that to outsiders. They take great lengths to ensure burial in this way, for they believe that shame falls on the family or clan that does not bury their dead in this fashion. Dwarven funerals last for days, but rather than mourn the departed they celebrate their deeds by singing, drinking and fornicating. This does not mean the dwarves are heartless and do not miss the dead, they just do not show it at the funeral itself. When Dwarves join the Legion of Slayers they have a premature funeral to celebrate them as they where before they broke whatever oath that made them become a slayer.

Law
Dwarves have little in the way of an institutionalised law system, instead they have an honour system based on honour and grudges. A Dorf will even end a lifelong friendship over a grudge of the "lightest" matter. To a Dwarf, the source of the grudge (no matter how absurd) does not matter so much as that it is a grudge. Grudges can be ended amicably, though the stubborn nature of Dwarfs makes compromises difficult and grudges must always be fulfilled. In the case of "lesser matters" gold can suffice to end a grudge but more usually it is a duel between the two participants or a competition set by a lord. However their intelligence and greed does mean many Dwarves voluntarily become clanless to become criminals in the "Carta", a brutish thieves and assassins guild that operates in every stronghold.

Sexuality
There is no female style of clothing or female pronoun; there are no female names in Dwarfish. Both male and female Dwarves naturally have facial hair and it has never occurred to any Dwarf to shave, and thus doing so is considered not dorf like and shameful. As such Dwarven community is completely equal as their are bascially no genders more than biological sex. However a problem with this is that the birthrate is a lot lower than other races as homosexual intercourse is more common due to the majority of the race being pansexual.

War
Dwarves are mainly defenders rather than invaders, however military service is compulsory for all men and women once they come of age and as such each Fortress has their own garrison, this military service happens after a process called the Agoge, a rite of passage for all Dwarves between the ages of 10-20, that involves ritual fights and beatings that "forge" the dorf into an adult. As Dwarves hold long grudges and always try to hold oaths, so if they do they become clanless they will join the legion of slayers. Recently Griefen riders and Rangers have been added after Griefens have been traded by elves for mithril, and the rangers have been taught by the jungle. Not to mention the constructs that have been added due to the revelations in Rune magic and they trade of mithril for steam technology that was done with the Humans. Dwarves generally used hafted weapons to make up for their short reach, their favourites are axes and hammers as they can double as tools as well as weapons.

Celestials
The Dwarves have only recently come across the Celestials after they discovered the intact ziggurat under the maelstrom as they have appeared to help guard it. The Dwarves believe that the Celestials are their ancestors made manifest in physical form and as such revere them.

Edege
The Dwarves have not yet seen the Edege, only their traps so they hunt the ones who killed their brothers and sisters on Ardhi.

Elves
The Dwarves generally respect the Elves as another elder race from the first age, not to mention the trade relations between the two, however the Elves recent stance towards the Human and Giant invasion of the south has meant the dwarves respect them greatly as allies.

Fuk'Bois
The Dwarves have only had indirect interaction with the Fuk'Bois, and that was due to the plague they unleashed on Dawn

Halflings
The Dwarves feel a special kinship with the Halflings as both are short races that enjoy beer. The Dwarves met the Halflings after they had a vision that they where under attack by a dragon, and in their thirst for glory and a need to help their distant cousins (as Half-Pint and Vrakkas are married) they sent their Griefens to aid them and have set up a permanent outpost on their lands

Ice Giants
The Dwarves have only met the Ice Giants through their alliance with the Reichen to invade south, now they see the giants as worthy targets for the slayers to test themselves

Khajits
The Khajits where met through the halflings, and only have the Dwarves respect because of their kins word. After the Erfar Great War however the dwarves respected the Khajits as warriors in much the same respect as the Wolfmen.

Orcs
The Dwarves have good relations with the Orcs as they have been trading mithril for technology for hundreds of years, and respect their technical expertese, however the Dwarves do think the Orcs cowardly for fleeing their original home when the where invaded by the Reichen.

Ozzies
The Dwarves have little in the way of contact with the Ozzies as they roam the seas but the Dwarves dig underneath the sea floor, although they never came to an agreement for the trade negotiations and so the Dwarves hold a minor grudge against them.

Reichen
The Reichen and the dwarves have a great mutual respect for each other as both hold, combat, metalwork, and steam technology in high regard and as such do a lot of trade. Recently the Reichens thirst for war has led them south towards the Dwarves and despite the humans want for peace the Dwarves knew they wouldn't stop until the Reichen where the only race left so they went to war ending in Queen Lenka Oakendyk's death so the entire race has been put in Modans book of grudges.

Rychen
The Dwarves know little of the Rychen, what they do know is through the adventurers guild, and the Rychen's love of metal and gems makes the two races get along quite well.

Ura
The Dwarves have opened trade with the Ura to help them rebuild and respect them for defending their homes.

Waifs
The Waifs where the first race the Dwarves made contact with and as such have a special place in Dwarven history as they told them of the other races and allowed them to expand.

Wolfmen
The Dwarves see the wolfmen as a barbaric race as many others do, and as the Dwarves do not care for the wolfmens special animal empathy as other races do they hold them in higher disdain, however they now respect them as worthy wariors.

Yen
The Dwarves have opened trade with the Yen to help them rebuild and respect them for defending their homes.