Dwarf

The Dwarven race is defined by hard work, fraternity, and a respect for history and tradition. While Dwarven thought and personality is by no means less diverse than that of any other race, their cohesion and focus as a society is remarkable. Stubborn and often materialistic, the Dwarves have survived and thrived for over a thousand years reckoning with the social changed brought about by the Seventh Thalassan Crusade.  Now they are reckoning with their own identities once again, as their nation has joined the Union of Granmor and, while equals on paper, are in many ways subordinate to their new Human allies.

Culture

Major language groups and dialects

The Dwarven Language is mostly monolithic and experiences very few regional variations. Dwarves are very traditionalistic and have a highly contextual language and shame-based society. Coinages, loanwords, and slangs are frowned upon in nearly all levels of society. An alliance of Dwarven Guilds representing scribes, poets, historians, bureaucrats, and other writing professionals maintains a working group dedicated to preserving the Dwarven language and ensuring that any neologisms conform to traditional Dwarven speech.

Shared customary codes and values

In the words of the Dwarves themselves, Dwarven society can be summed up in three words: Work, Tradition, and Family. These three concepts are inextricably unified in the Dwarven nation of The Mountainhomes.  Craftsmanship is seen as the intersection of Work and Tradition, Guilds are seen as the intersection of Work and Family, and the Dwarven Nation is seen as the intersection of Tradition and Family. These values are often represented as a six pointed star, with three larger points representing the main values and smaller points symbolizing the ones that link them.

This six pointed star is an important symbol of Dwarven identity and is commonly associated with the societal identity of the Mountainhomes. These values are personified in the High King himself, and to a lesser but still very important extent the King of each individual Mountainhome. The Kingship as a figurehead of Dwarven values is so deeply ingrained that even the most rebellious Dwarf would view a direct order from their King as an immutable directive to be carried out at any personal cost. This personalization is linked to the novel concept of Nationalism which emerged as part of the huge societal change caused by the Dwarves' near elimination by the Elves.

Art & Architecture

Dwarven Art is tied inextricably to the earth, in the homes, workplaces, and public spaces they carve within it and the materials they derive from it. Dwarven written traditions are strong and their aesthetics for visual arts favor statuary, friezes, architecture, and interior design. Dwarves have innate ability to discern the value of any stone, gem, or metal. As such they attempt to build their environments into more valuable and aesthetically pleasing stone. Generally they do not tile, paint, or otherwise embellish the stone in their built environment, although they will sometimes accentuate certain features of their statues or friezes with gems or metals. Dwarves have a strong oral tradition and love to read and write poetry but do not have a strong tradition in Drama. Painting is viewed as a curiosity and not frequently practiced as a serious artistic discipline. Dwarven Jewelers and Clothiers are just as well-regarded as their Blacksmiths and even the Elves covet the finery worn by their enemies (although it rarely fits their lanky forms). 

Birth & Baptismal Rites

The pregnancy and birth process for Dwarven women is much less strenuous than for Humans. For this reason in combination with the extreme Dwarven work ethic, Dwarven births are surprisingly unceremonial. The extended family will gather the evening following the birth, wherein the child will be held aloft before the family and their name uttered aloud before the gathering. Usually a meal will then be presented and everyone will eat together. A Dwarven female will frequently return to work the day after giving birth, allowing the extended family to take care of the baby. Dwarven day-care guilds also take care of babies en masse.

Coming of Age Rites

For commoners, induction into a guild is generally the coming of age rite every dwarf looks forward to. Each guild maintains its own traditions for initiation. Most are public with extended family encouraged to attend, but some are more esoteric. Large guilds have huge parties to induct new members many at a time. These ceremonies are similar to frat parties and have all the accompanying debauchery. Dwarven militaries and militias hold similar celebrations for soldiers who have finished basic training. 
For nobles, a yearly cotillion-type ceremony is held where the newly pubescent members of each House are presented dressed in the fanciest trappings the families can procure, including and especially clothing and artifacts painstakingly cared for and passed down over hundreds or even thousands of years. While exceedingly opulent, these parties are just as debauched as the initiation ceremonies of the Guilds.
After one of these coming of age parties, the Dwarf is given a special set of ceremonial tools passed down by their family and taken to their family's catacomb, described below, and instructed to "dig their own grave." They are given exactly three days to do this and left inside the catacombs with provisions to last them the duration. The space carved by the Dwarf in this time is not necessarily the area where they will be interred, however it is viewed as their minimum contribution to the family catacomb. Over the course of their life, the Dwarf will be able to use their personal or family resources and time to increase the size and opulence of the area they dug in the catacomb. This time is used for reflection on the Dwarf's connection with their ancestors.

Funerary and Memorial customs

Dwarven families maintain extensive tombs and catacombs, digging them out themselves from the finest stone they can access. These maze like areas are dug out by the families not only in the ritual outlined above, but also from time to time the family will expand and improve the catacomb on their own initiative as a pastime or group activity. 
Upon death, the Dwarf's immediate family will prepare or hire someone to prepare the corpse of their dead relative. This can range from simple wrapping and cleaning to embalming to full-on mummification. Then, the prepared corpse will be presented to the extended family in a public area, so that fellow guild members and friends can also attend. These can occur anywhere from inns and taverns, to public parks, statuaries, or monuments. There the family, friends, comrades, and co-workers take turns chanting the deeds of the deceased@ while others take turns holding the body aloft just as they were held aloft by an elder as an infant. These ceremonies take hours and can even last multiple days for a particularly beloved Dwarf. Members of the public are encouraged to listen to this epic poem and bring refreshments or even meals for the funereal party. Once the chant has ended, the funereal party carries the body to the Catacomb and inter it in the appropriate place.

Ideals

Beauty Ideals

Dwarven society, while eminently civilized, emphasizes ruggedness, practicality, and elbow grease. As such, Dwarven physical beauty ideals revolve around features that mark an individual as capable, healthy, and strong. Dwarven men and women are both expected to maintain a heavy musculature defined by the swinging of digging implements and the moving of large rocks. Male and female hairstyles are generally either short or long and braided, with loose-hanging hair seen as a sign of carelessness. Balding is common in both male and female dwarves and is seen as a sign of wisdom, and many male and female dwarves who experience balding will simply remove the rest of their hair. Dwarves are notably unconcerned with facial attractiveness and are very tolerant of disfigurements, birth defects, skin markings, and other characteristics humans would define as imperfections.
Male Dwarves take great pride in their facial hair, with their beards kept immaculately groomed and styled. Female dwarves are unbearded but will grow out their sideburns into long braids to emulate the status and styling of beards, even if the rest of their hair is short or bald. For either gender of dwarf, the loss of this facial hair is tantamount to a loss of social status. Clean-shaving is commonly used as a form of social-shaming punishment, with being publicly shaved a more extreme form of this punishment. Dwarves often apply this standard to their views of other races, and expect foreigners living in their society to grow their own beards out if capable, or wear prosthetics if not. Dwarven hatred for the Elves is compounded by the Elves' complete inability to grow beards, which is viewed by the Dwarves as a mark of their inherent evil and dishonor. 
Other than facial hair, the main signifiers of beauty and attractiveness for Dwarves are stylistic elements such as adornments, jewelry, tools, and clothing which display exceptional craftsmanship and material value. Dwarves frequently keep the tools of their profession on their person as accessories, for instance an architect will keep their T-square, compass, and pens displayed on their person and frequently will have these items plated with gold, encrusted with jewels, and embellished with decorative engravings. Dwarven clothiers are just as renowned as other craftsman and are able to craft elegant and luxurious garments for both work and leisure, and Dwarves look at the style and material of one another's clothing as an important sign of status and beauty. Jewelry, however, is considered by the Dwarves to be the highest signifier of aesthetics and cachet. Dwarven jewelers are the world's finest bar none, and all Dwarves have an innate ability to appraise the quality of jewels, stone, and metals with little more than a glance. In social gatherings, Dwarves drape and adorn themselves with the maximum amount of jewelry possible in piercings, necklaces, braces, broaches, bracelets and rings, among many others. Both quantity and quality are important to Dwarves in the display of these items.

Gender Ideals

Dwarven society has always been highly egalitarian with respect to gender and became even more so following their near extermination at the hands of the Elves. Male and Female dwarves have equal access to all professions and there is little difference in physical capability so they even compete in sports together. Child rearing is considered a social duty and teachers are valued highly, with day-care and schooling provided by Education guilds to society at large at little or no expense. Males and Females share household duties remarkably and intuitively, with both genders paying close attention to the cleanliness of common areas and the acquisition of household goods. Females are not seen as more nurturing than Males, since collective rearing is so socially ingrained on Dwarves. Neither are they seen as sex objects or aesthetic paragons as they tend to be in Human society, with Dwarves paying even attention to the male and female form in art and society. However Dwarves are passionate about maintaining the unitary family, and as such while homosexual sex is very common (especially among young Dwarves), homosexual life partnerships occur but are extremely discouraged.

Major organizations

• The Mountainhomes is the nation to which all Dwarves (and most Gnomes) belong.
• Royal Mages' Guild is the Mountainhomes' version of Magoc and has similar functions. It is the largest guild in The Mountainhomes.
• The Stonewardens are a hyperconservative faction that advocate isolationism and xenophobia.
• The Steelbeards are a more socially liberal faction that advocate interventionism and support The Union of Granmor.

Related Organizations

• The Mountainhomes

Related Items

• Dwarven Danger Rune

Related Locations

• Ghôlan Dûr
• Koghînalgaz
• The Wastelands
• Zhona