Copious Rations

Pladeholder Dwof by Katy Smith

Most races of the world tend to work on a day to day or winter to winter basis. Dwarves on the other hand don’t have this luxury. Growing crops under the earth is temperamental at best. As a result, the dwarves have learned how to preserve the food that they are able to obtain. It’s common for large dwarven settlements to trade metals or gems for slaughter cattle, breads, ales, wines and fruits. All of which the dwarves have managed to prolong the lifespan of. Meats are dried and aged, breads are sapped of moisture through a re-baking process. Ales are reduced down into bases for chutneys. Wines are turned into vinegars for pickling of vegetables and other preserves. Fruit is dried or turned into Jams. As the dwarves say, “The Pantry is best brimmed”. A saying that has lasted generations through repetition.
The naive view of an outsider would be to mark down the overflowing stockpiles to be a feature of dwarven greed but they couldn’t be further from the truth. It only takes a few poorly reinforced tunnels to collapse to have half a trade network cut off for months. If they were to rely on the bi-yearly harvest of giant fungi and a harvest went bad, then it would be years without sustenance. If the food supplies were to be diminished and the ale was to stop flowing, the dwarves could be destined for a slow and painful descent into death.
However, with the requirement to be prepared, many still cite the rumoured starvation of distant outposts to be the reason for why they have sixty flavour varieties of jams. These are times of plenty after all! Some would even go as far as to say that with the new train network up and running, the need for stockpiling is only done now out of habit. But habits are hard to break and the habits of dwarves are notoriously unwavering.

This is a submission for my first ever Summer Camp in 2024 - I hope you enjoy my writings and I'm looking forward to hearing your feedback!