Dwarves

Dwarves of Lorgaire

One of the most prolific and widespread of the sapient races, dwarves are the most common of their lineage along side Halflings and Gnomes, and most likely represent the base from which other dwarfkin arose. Legends vary and histories are incomplete, but it is generally accepted that dwarves were fashioned from either the earth or meek creatures burrowed within it by a tribe of ogres seeking to put an end to the devastation wrought by the giants and their ogre kin in Jotunar. Dwarves are believed to have changed the way magic could be harnessed by catalyzing the process that precipitated magical essence out of the aether and into solid materials like metals and gems, which they were expert at finding and collecting in the burrows they created within the earth. Not only did this arrival of dwarves to the world reign in the giants, but it also triggered the fall of all the rest of the great ogre civilizations.

"Look what WE did! ... ... ... Oh, shit. Look what we DID!" Creators of the Dwarves.

Dwarven Physical and Mental Traits

Dwarven Senses

Dwarven vision is sharpest in dim lighting, and among some groups even extends to darkvision
Despite what some visitors to dwarven colonies may suggest, dwarves possess a keen sense of smell and the scent of food and drink plays a crucial role in what is deemed appetizing to them. Among some groups of dwarves Scent is just as important as their vision.

Dwarven Diet

Fermentation of food and drink is not just culinary preference but also dietary necessity among most dwarfkin. Myths and legends name the dwarves as the inventors of most fermented food and drink, ranging from pickles and chesse to ale and sausage. Some dwarven communities cultivate fields, orchards and herds of their own, and others in close proximity to another races settlements will trade for raw agricultural goods which are carried down into their burrows to be processed into something the dwarves can consume.
This dietary regimen of fermented foods often places dwarfkin at odds when dining with elfkin who almost exclusively eat raw foods, but it also means their communities typically do not compete for food resources. Food sources and property ownership often place dwarves at odds with humans, but the tall folk are usually pleased to trade wagons of moldering over-ripe produce for kegs of cider and wheels of cheese.
One class of produce the dwarves can eat raw or cooked without fermentaiton are fungi, which are grown in cavern groves by the dwarves. Often the dwarves will collect waste such as manure, sawdust, spoiled grain and worse from human communities that contain the dwarves in ghettos to feed groves of giant mushrooms in irrigated caverns deep beneath the colony.

Dwarven Longevity

Most dwarves can live to 300-350 years of age, and the elderly are highly respected by the community, but the number of individuals who live that long can be cut down by their propensity to sacrifice themselves for the defense or well being of the community.

Dwarven Courtship and Reproduction

Dwarves are known to pair-bond after years long periods of courtship, and find their mates through many varied avenues both personal and arranged. Mating commitments are celebrated very publicly, and mairrages are seen as an accomplishment and asset for the community. Should a mairrage be disrupted by death, widows and widowers take long mourning periods, and may pair-bond again after another long courtship, but many instead find honored positions among small communities of bachelors and bachelorettes who take on special social roles in clergy or the military, in addition to serving as a matriarch or patriarch for their own family if they have one.
Mating season for dwarves takes place in spring, with the population eager to become active after long cold winters cloistered in their burrows. This time of activity is also when dwarves commit to beginning many other kinds of projects, from crafting a new artwork to igniting a new war. After almost a year of gestation the does are ready for a small litter of dwarf pups, with most being twins, and triplets more common than single births. A doe who successfully lactates for a year feeding a litter of pups will be infertile and less restive for several years after while she focuses on rearing the young dwarves. Single born children are often rumored to be unlucky or evil, with most mythical and religious dwarven villains being single born. This disfavorable attitude toward single born children carries over to dwarven perceptions of elfkin and ogrekin who are usually single born.
Spring time commitments to new endeavors often include exploration and the settlement of new dwarven colonies. These new colonies are usually forged by groups of young dwarves guided by a few elders, and occasionally small bands from multiple colonies will work together to forge a new combined community.

Dwarven Size

Most dwarves are medium sized creatures, relatively short but with dense burly builds.

Dwarven Speed

Not known for being fleet of foot, dwarves move the standard 20 feet per round.

Dwarven Resilience

Possessed of enviable stamina and endurance, dwarves can shake off magical effects and survive poisons that would lay low other races.

Dwarven Stability

To a dwarf, stability is as much a matter of psychology as physiology. Like the stone of their mountains and cities, dwarves stand unyielding against life’s challenges. They neither bend nor break under strains that would bring the less hardy to their knees. When standing on firm ground, the dwarven build and mindset makes them exceptionally hard to knock back or off their feet. Some would say this refusal to budge extends to dwarven philosophy as well.

Dwarven Social Traits

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Mining and Crafting

[Craft of Skill They are Sought out by others For] Legends and scraps of historical accounts indicate that the presence of dwarves causes magical essence to precipitate out of the aether and concentrate in mineral deposits such as metals and gems, which the dwarves as a people who live in underground burrows are expert at locating and extracting. The settlement of a new dwarven community is generally believed to cause the formation of new mineral deposits, which they are then likely to exploit and offer for trade.

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While the truth of whether or not dwarves cause new mineral deposits to form where they did not previously exist is somewhat contested, it is accepted that the dwarves uniquely posses either magic or skill to locate valuable minerals where others struggle to do so, and their resilient nature makes dwarves working smelters and forges superior in efficiency when it comes to extracting value from such deposits.

Dwarven gemcutters and metal smiths are widely recognized as the finest craftsfolk at turning the minerals of the earth into tools and works of art. Their weapons, jewelry and stone fortifications are engineered to withstand more punishment and last longer than their competitors. Elfkin and ogrekin who wish to invest in the best will seek out works of the dwarves and commision their experts in such crafts.
If a dwarven settlement does not spread upon or pollute the surface too greatly, elves are generally willing to tolerate the settlement of a new colony near or within their territory in exchange for the prospects that valuable resources will be extracted and traded. Humans are usually more guarded and resistant to new dwarven colonies on their lands, as they recognise similar understandings of ownership for land, and know that if a new colony forms the dwarves born there will be considered by other dwarves, and some humans, to be owners of the place they populate. Humans are more tolerant of dwarven mines, forges and places of work and industry.

Dwarven Communities

Often called colonies by others, the frontier communities of dwarves do possess traits associated with social creatures such as ants or prairie dogs, and the communal nature of ownership of the major resources of a dwarven settlement resembles that of the Hutterites or pure socialism.

Dwarven Philosophy of Ownership

Among dwarves it is tradition that a person owns the place they are born in, and hold stewardship responsibilities for it. This often leads to conflict in mixed ancestry communities or the introduction of new dwarven settlements, and the segregation of dwarfkin to ghettos or legal exclusion of dwarven women from a fortification or city. In many instances this leads to an elevated standard of living and security for the community or segregated neighborhood occupied by the dwarves, due to their deeply ingrained sense of stewardship and responsibility for their home.
This sense of ownership, stewardship and responsibility for a place makes dwarves implacable defenders, with many willing to fight to the death over not just the physical control of their home but also over how it is maintained or governed. A philosophical schism within a dwarven community can lead to a bloody masacre of the opposition, and many examples exist of dwarven settlements falling to destruction over internal dispute.

Dwarven Religions

Central to all dwarven religious beliefs are that their folk were crafted, and that their strength lies in the earth and they have a special relationship with minerals. The fragments of a dwarven soul are generally expected to return to the earth and the minerals they were drawn from when the dwarf was born.

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Ancestors

The spirits of ancestors are spoken to for many ceremonies and called upon in times of great need. Legends tell of armies of dwarven spirits rising to continue fulfilling their responsibilities to their home, aiding their decendants when faced with great dangers.

Dwarven relations with Gnomes and Halflings

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Dwarven Culture