Kovian Dwarves
Kovian dwarves are an ethnicity of dwarves native to the region of Kovia in Northern Crestfall. The dwarves of Kovia are sometimes referred to as "mountain dwarves" to differentiate them from the dwarves hailing from the neighboring nation of Wiegland, who are referred to as "hill dwarves".
For hundreds of years, the dwarven population of Kovia has enjoyed a celebrated reputation of skilled craftsmen and inventors; major innovations such as Crestfall's railway system, Hexstone-powered vehicles, and gunpowder all owe their existence to the talents of dwarven artificers.
Culture
Major language groups and dialects
Most dwarves hailing from Kovia speak Dwarvish as their first language, a harsh language which to outsiders is often described as sounding like "all consonants and guttural sounds". Due to the heavy reliance on commerce and trade for Kovia's economy, however, many dwarves are also fluent in a variety of other languages, most frequently Common, Gnomish and Halfling.
Common Dress code
As both male and female dwarves grow facial hair, the grooming and maintenance of one's beard is an integral beauty standard for both genders. For male dwarves from Kovia, it is considered fashionable to braid one's beard with a variety of gems and other precious stones, whereas female dwarves are expected to style their beards more modestly and without as many accessories.
Due to the Kovian dwarves' history of metallurgy, armor is also considered both a unisex and fashionable piece of apparel; a high-ranking Kovian dwarf may wear an ancestral suit of armor to an important social occasion in the same way that a human socialite may wear a suit or fancy dress. The passing on of a family's suit of armor from parent to child is an important rite of passage in Kovian culture, typically being handed down to the first-born child of a generation, regardless of sex.
Art & Architecture
Kovian dwarves are known to excel in the fields of masonry, jewelling and metallurgy, which factors heavily into both the region's chief exports and the reasoning behind Kovia's many industrial factories. In addition to these common trades, many clans also specialize in other, more niche forms of crafting, the methods of which are often passed from one generation to the next as a rite of passage.
The architectural design of Kovian dwarves is often brutalist in nature, favoring tall, imposing castles and factories of stone, brick and mortar, often integrating the structures into the surrounding landscape itself. Many of the active buildings in modern-day Kovia were repurposed from the ruins of castles and keeps belonging to the first Dwarven Empire before their evacuation underground during the beginning of the Millennium War.
Common Customs, traditions and rituals
Dwarven culture venerates a group of deity-like predecessors known as the First Fathers, said to be the first dwarves to emerge from underground and set foot on the surface. Many stories have been written on the heavily mythologized histories of the First Fathers, with the individual dwarven clans of Kovia each claiming one of these figures as their direct ancestor and namesake. Dwarves who refute the traditions of their clan and ancestry are excommunicated from the religious side of the communities they inhabit, being stripped of their connection to the First Fathers and given the surname "No-Clan".
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