Dwarf Runes
Dwarf runes are the basic dwarven alphabet and are taught to all young dwarves as a part of their basic education. Depending on the campaign background, runes may have been a gift from the gods, a creation of the dwarves themselves, or an altered form of some other written language. Dwarves will still claim runes to be an intrinsic part of their cultural heritage, and they may take offence if accused of having copied runes!
Dwarven runes are found engraved in stone and only rarely written on such transitory materials as parchment, cloth or paper. They are used to denote ownership, give warnings of nearby dangers and to record history. The tombs of dwarves who have been properly interred, as opposed to hasty burial during battle, are engraved with runes that tell the occupant's clan, his parentage, children, and the deeds of his life. In the absence of proper interment, dwarves erect stone monoliths or engrave entire cavern walls depicting the deeds of their dead. These list the clans, the names of those who died and the nature of their deaths. The numbers of slain enemies are greatly detailed.
Dwarven runes are not a phonetic form of writing, but a conceptual one, with each rune delineating an idea or implying a range of ideas depending on placement. A single rune might convey pages of human or elf writing or be as simple as a sign saying "stairs." It's a matter of knowing what the rune means and how it is to be interpreted in context. Dwarven runes do not contain conjunctions or pronouns, but proper names are represented by altering an existing rune. This makes runes difficult for other races to understand, and dwarves consider themselves superior to races who cannot read even the most simple of them. All dwarves know them at no cost.
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