Dwarves
The way the Dwarves see it, members of other races are divided into two separate camps. On one side are those who see the short, tunnel-dwelling Dwarves as pointlessly reclusive and too small to be truly dangerous. On the other are those who understand that it was their size and toughness that let them fight the dragons to a standstill in the tunnels beneath the Dunwarr Mountains and survive the wyrms’ genocidal wrath.
Reclusive and understated, Dwarves are a gruff, suspicious, and often surly lot. They still bear the pain and secret shame of being chased underground by the dragons, which makes them usually quick to anger, slow to forgive, and capable of holding even simple grudges for decades.
Dwarves who wander from their mountain homes almost always do so with a purpose. Sometimes, such missions can be as simple as trading for the meats and grains that the mountains don’t provide. But just as often, their goals are grander: to recruit allies, achieve power, and work toward reclaiming their ancestral home of the Molten Heath from the dragons.
Basic Information
Biological Traits
While Dwarves’ skin and hair are similar to those of Humans, it is the proportions that differentiate the two races. Dwarves’ chests are barreled, their legs are stocky, and their arms are thick and powerful. Everything about them has evolved to make them more effective in tight, compact spaces, and there are few creatures as dangerous to meet in a tunnel as Dwarves defending their homes.
Additional Information
Social Structure
Dwarven society in Dunwarr is commonly separated into guilds, with political power—including the monarchy— being held by the guild that is most profitable for the community as a whole. That inequity means that the guilds are constantly vying for superiority and frequently at each other’s throats. It also means that ruling a Dwarven kingdom can be an exhausting, endlessly frustrating endeavor that commonly makes the monarch regret ever having taken the throne. Dwarves in other lands have developed their own societies, but still tend to look towards competence rather than blood for leadership.
Civilization and Culture
Culture and Cultural Heritage
There are ten guilds in Dunwarr—those of Masons, Miners, Smiths, Artificers, Brewers, Merchants, Warriors, Rangers, Explorers, and Runescribers—and they dominate much of life there. Not all Dwarves belong to a guild, though. By law, there can only be ten guilds, so Dwarves devoted to other traditions continually struggle to promote their own craft to replace an existing guild. Each of the guilds also engages in constant fights for power and prestige. The divisions between guilds and other groups, each of which promotes their own traditions and expertise as the most worthy, tend to affect every aspect of life in Dunwarr. It is generally assumed that Dwarves will follow in the footsteps of their parents, joining the same guild and contributing to the same cultural struggle.
Though the Dwarves of Forge originally came from Dunwarr, they operate with a more mercantile bent than through guild-driven dictates. This has created a more open, independent way of life, though some Forge Dwarves chafe at working with and relying on Humans for their livelihoods.
The Art of Dwarven Crafting
The craft of the Dwarves embodies exceptional metallurgy and stonemasonry married to ancient traditions, the result of a people seemingly made to create objects of tremendous beauty and efficacy. The very bodies of Dwarves give them a natural affinity for crafting, possessing muscles strong enough to swing hammers with perfect control and the manual dexterity to work the most intricate patterns seen in all the world. Where other civilizations use poetry and painting to convey their deepest emotions, Dwarves rely on the ancient forge to express themselves and can see emotion placed in a blade, in a hammer, or in a warrior’s talisman.
The work of hundreds of generations of Dwarves adorns most of their cities, and to call these settlements treasure troves would not be much of a stretch. The care they invest in their work stems from more than simple artisan’s pride. Dwarves see each piece they make as belonging to an unbroken chain of the artistry and memories of the Dwarven people as a whole, going back hundreds of generations.
To the Dwarves, craftsmanship is a part of their way of life, but stories are told of a craftsmanship that transcends even this—the creation of a Dwarven masterwork. Such a masterwork might be made but once a generation. This masterwork begins as a vision planted deep within the mind of a Dwarven artisan: a vision of a weapon, an artifact, or a suit of armor that is capable of surpassing the limits of its physical form.
A Dwarf might spend decades at their forge crafting brilliant jewelry, cannons, armor, fixtures, or anything else their people might need, until one day the urge to create a particular work becomes too great, prompting them into seclusion to complete it. More than one Dwarf has departed on a quest to find a singular material needed to bring their vision into existence. Some never return, but those who do become champions of their race.
Such was the story of the outcast smith Gildspar, who forged the Mirror Hammer. Struck by a vision of this weapon and its function, he spent ten long years journeying to the heights of a mountain range where a perpetual lightning storm, said to be created by a floating runebound shard, blasted away at the jagged peaks. Gildspar set metal ingots where lightning could strike them and infuse them with its energies. He then carved runes upon each ingot for every bolt of lightning that found its mark. He finally put the metal, charged with the energies of a thousand bolts of lightning, to the forge.
What emerged was the Mirror Hammer. In accordance with its name, when swung, the Mirror Hammer could reflect any magic and repel any blow. However, it had another power, one that revealed its true nature. When the Mirror Hammer struck the surface of a lake, the water would freeze into a silver pane, and anyone who looked into it could see visions of the distant past, the reflection of the ages.
Dunwarr Dwarf
Dunwarr is the oldest of all the Dwarven kingdoms. The Dwarves who hail from beneath the Dunwarr Mountains see their lineage as predating almost every other culture on the planet. According to their histories, they watched the Humans first gather in rudimentary villages, saw the Orcs first trade for steel to tip their sharpened sticks, and even witnessed the Elves settling into their land of the Aymhelin.
Those histories also recount with bitterness and frustration how the dragons chased the Dwarves from their home in Molten Heath and followed them all the way into the caves beneath the Dunwarr Mountains. They recount, with absolute accuracy, how the dragons tried to eradicate the Dwarves from the face of the Mennara.
The Dunwarr Dwarves see that history as their birthright. They believe that Dwarven society is among the most noble in the world, and that they deserve the respect and deference they once commanded. Their loftiest goal is to retake the Molten Heath and force the dragons who occupy their lands to accept their right to live there once and for all.
Forge Dwarf
Not all Dwarves feel that their destiny belongs underground. Like their ancestors of old, some of them wish to spread out under the sky, an aspiration they can largely achieve in Terrinoth. These Forge Dwarves have made their homes in Free Cities and baronial settlements across the Land of Steel, using their distinctive craftsmanship to create their own fate. They wheel and deal alongside other races, content to make their home away from the shadows and fire of the Molten Heath.
Terrinoth Dwarf
Starting Abilities
2 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
BR |
AG |
INT |
CUN |
WILL |
PR |
|---|
- Starting Wound Threshold: 11 + Brawn
- Starting Strain Threshold: 10 + Willpower
- Starting Experience: 90
Each type begins with one rank in a different skill and has additional Special Abilities. When skill ranks are gained the maximum of 2 ranks during character creation still applies.
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