Dwarf

Civilization and Culture

Beauty Ideals

They love the beauty and artistry of precious metals and fine jewelry, and in some dwarves this love festers into avarice.

Gender Ideals

Male dwarves value their beards highly and groom them carefully.

Courtship Ideals

Starting a courtship involves one dwarf asking the permission of the other dwarf's clan and bringing proof of their skill. If the courtship is accepted the other dwarf must then show proof of their skill to the first dwarf's clan. Once both clans accept the courtship a ceremony can be scheduled.

Relationship Ideals

The chief unit of dwarven society is the clan, and dwarves highly value social standing. Even dwarves who live far from their own cities cherish their clan identities and affiliations, recognize related dwarves, and invoke their ancestors’ names in oaths and curses.

Major Language Groups and Dialects

Dwarven

Common Dress Code

Dwarves dress practically and wear clothes that are hardy and designed to stay out of the way when working. Any adornment comes in the form of jewelry worn in the hair or on the upper arms.

Culture and Cultural Heritage

Dwarves are solid and enduring like the mountains they love, weathering the passage of centuries with stoic endurance and little change. They respect the traditions of their clans, tracing their ancestry back to the founding of their most ancient strongholds in the youth of the world, and don’t abandon those traditions lightly.
Individual dwarves are determined and loyal, true to their word and decisive in action, sometimes to the point of stubbornness. Many dwarves have a strong sense of justice, and they are slow to forget wrongs they have suffered. A wrong done to one dwarf is a wrong done to the dwarf’s entire clan, so what begins as one dwarf’s hunt for vengeance can become a full-blown clan feud.

Common Taboos

To be clanless is the worst fate that can befall a dwarf.

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

Dwarves are one of the longest lived of the mortal races and so are reluctant to make close friends among the other races, but once a dwarf has made a friend they are deeply loyal and trustworthy.