High Dwarves

The original form of Dwarvenkind

Special Abilities:

High Dwarves had a massive number of powerful abilities that are said to trace their origins back to the beginnings of the High Dwarves themselves, who were said to be created by Moradin to be the wardens, shepherds, and even creators of life itself. Their native language was said to be the first "language of power" that existed in the world...as such, it is told that the mere act of speaking the spoken word of High Dwarven was enough to cause very real, quantitative changes in the real world such that the mere act of speaking the High Dwarven word for 'fire' was enough to send a cascade of flame sweeping out from they who spoke it.
Additionally, High Dwarves were said to be able to sculpt stone, earth, and natural materials like potters sculpt their clay...and in this way did they form the mountains, valleys, canyons, and facets of the world.
Finally, High Dwarves could, most notably, create and sculpt life itself. The details of this ability and even its veracity is unclear, but several ancient tales corroborate this ability.

Basic Information

Anatomy

High Dwarves had an anatomy highly unlike any other creatures that walk or have walked the world of Ea. Their bodies were massive boulders and slabs of rock that were hewn from the very bedrock and land of the world, given sentience and intelligence by the gods as well as immense power to complement their hulking forms. Their bodies had little in the way of organic systems, skeleton structures, muscular and even cardiovascular systems...forgoing such normal systems that would ironically not become staples of life until they themselves sculpted such lifeforms many eons later.
Instead, High Dwarven bodies were said to be animated and sustained through simple magical energy and churning interior rockflows that cascaded within their rocky bodies...a fact which made them all but immune to critical blows or precision strikes.

Biological Traits

High Dwarves were beings carved from solid rock, hewn as living boulders who ambulate across the land with mighty footfalls that shook and rattled the earth. They had little in the way of true biology as they were beings animated by divine earthen magic.

Genetics and Reproduction

High Dwarves are thought to have no real genetics to speak of, more akin to Earth Elementals than true living creatures. As such, it's actually unclear whether High Dwarves could reproduce at all, or, much like Elementals, were simply formed spontaneously somehow.

Growth Rate & Stages

Next to nothing is known of High Dwarven growth rates or stages, but it is commonly assumed High Dwarves were beings of stability, permanence, and as such did not grow much at all.

Ecology and Habitats

High Dwarves were thought to be able to survive and thrive in any environment...especially since they could resculpt and change their environment to suit their needs.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Next to nothing is known of High Dwarven dietary needs or if they even eneded to eat at all.

Biological Cycle

High Dwarves were immune to all the effects of time and change that would normally affect a more biological creature. They were as such Immortal and immune to all trappings of time and change, as befit their role as the permanent and never changing wardens of the world.

Additional Information

Social Structure

Due to the lack of information on them, the High Dwarven social structure is mostly unknown.

Facial characteristics

High Dwarves had little in the way of faces, and merely had vaguely humanoid visages carved or etched upon their stony visages, often nothing more than a pair of glowing eyes and a mouth on a stone slab.

Average Intelligence

High Dwarves were highly intelligent, but were sometimes slow of wit and could be a bit dull.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

High Dwarves were said to have perfect senses in many ways, capable of not only seeing perfectly in all forms of darkness but also seeing the very tremors in the ground or even simply sensing all nearby with a sight beyond sight, though what that means is unknown.

Civilization and Culture

Naming Traditions

Due to how little is known of them, next to nothing is known of the High Dwarven naming conditions.

Beauty Ideals

Due to how little is known of them, next to nothing is known of the High Dwarven ideals of beauty.

Courtship Ideals

Due to how little is known of them, next to nothing is known of the High Dwarven courtship, though they often were believed to court those they developed an affection for with long sonnets, songs, poems, or other highly vocal or mental exercises.

Relationship Ideals

Due to how little is known of them, next to nothing is known of the High Dwarven relationships, though it is believed that due to their neutrality and even-handedness as well as their odd rocky bodies they almost exclusively formed relationships of the mind rather than those based on physical attraction.

Average Technological Level

Little is known of the level of technological level the High Dwarves managed to reach, though due to their supposed innate ability to create life and manipulate earth and magic themselves they are thought to have reached a very sophisticated level of culture.

Common Dress Code

Due to how little is known of them, next to nothing is known of the High Dwarven dress code.

Culture and Cultural Heritage

Due to how little is known of them, next to nothing is known of the High Dwarven culture.

History

The History of the High Dwarves has long since been lost to the trappings of time and eons past, due to the extremely distant past in which they were thought to have existed. All that is known of them is that they were the original form of dwarvenkind and in time, after being created by Moradin for reasons unknown, they in time faded away and vanished(though some claim they martyred themselves).

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

High Dwarves are believed to have been the very definition of neutrality, as if they were even-handed judges who judged none unfairly. As such, from the few surviving accounts of High Dwarves, they were said to be on no one's "side". They often strove to maintain neutral and even relations with almost all races on Ea, even ones normally barbaric and hostile. They were said to get along well with most races, but never were particularly favored by any.

EXTINCT

Scientific Name

Unknown / None

Lifespan

Immortal

Average Height

4 - 6 meters

Average Weight

3 - 4 Tons

Average Physique

High Dwarves were beings made of solid stone, and had little in the way of true physique. They were often bulky, large, and hulking creatures.

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

High Dwarves had bodies carved from stone, but their bodies could be made of several different types of rock, or sometimes covered in moss, vines, or other natural decorations.

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