Dwarves

The Diggers
Queens of the Underworld
Mole-people

I fucking hate dwarves.
Reason number one - their creepy goddamn eyes, all tiny and white. I've been told it's from living in the dark their entire lives, and that those high-falutin' Enochian dwarves have normal eyes like everybody else. I'd never know, they don't let me up there.
Reason number two - their creepy goddamn beards. Why do the beards move on their own? Why do they touch things with their beards and then exclaim as if they've learned something? I asked a fellow once, one of those tricksy fucking Observitas spooks, who said something about "sen-sorry org-ins", but I'd never heard of anything like that. Plus I can't believe a word he said, considering I was dragging him to Hara at the end of a chain, hah!
Reason number three - their fucking touch-language. I know it's for communicating in the dark, but why can't they just talk to each other? What the hell is down there with them that they don't want to be heard? And I really hate being touched.

Excerpt from the journal of Hieronymus the Slaver, 983rd year of Enlightenment

Basic Information

Anatomy

Basic humanoid skeleton - bipedal form with two arms, connected to the top of the torso. An average dwarf stands about three and a half feet tall and will be almost equally wide around their squat hips, weighing about 140 pounds. Whereas a human's head is held above their shoulders, dwarven spinal cords curve downward near the base of the neck, causing the tops of their heads to ride level with their shoulders, to allow their powerful necks to support their heads in forward motion while tunneling. A dwarf's head is proportionally larger on average than a human's, as it houses a large and powerful jaw which is used for excavating tunnels and catching prey. Compared to a human's, dwarven arms are proportionally longer, and their hands, with only two fingers and an opposable thumb, are powerfully muscular, capable of crushing small rocks with ease, and possessed of a very thick and tough skin so their hands are not injured during tunneling. Rather than individual teeth, dwarves possess three dental ridges on both their top and bottom jaws which are used to grind and crush food items into a paste.

Genetics and Reproduction

While dwarves procreate in the traditional mammalian fashion, their broad, powerful bodies are capable of supporting a large litter of up to fourteen pups. The pups are born fully bearded, with their eyes closed. Most dwarven pups will not open their eyes until much later in life, as there is virtually no reason to do so in the stygian depths of their underground fortresses. Instead they will rely on their keen hearing and the perception allowed by their beard-antennae to navigate and hunt for food.

Growth Rate & Stages

Dwarves grow from their pup-size (less than 10 cm tall) to their full height by the time they reach 10 years of age. Their jaw develops mostly in-utero, however their dental ridges take several months to grow after they are born. As such, dwarven pups are fed a nutrient rich mash until they are old enough to chew for themselves.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Dwarven hunting is performed mainly through ambush. A dwarf will tunnel itself into the earth and spread its beard-antennae to gather vibrational sensation from the ground in all directions. Upon sensing the movement of a prey animal, they will rapidly tunnel towards it until they reach the source, most often a rabbit or other burrowing animal. Despite this subterranean predation, the actual dwarven diet is something of a mystery, and no reliable data has yet been confirmed to the Universitas Omniscia as to any limitations. Following here is a list of objects which were reported to have been consumed by dwarves and recorded by Observitas agents:

• Insects

• Rodents

• Eggs (seemingly of every kind)

• Mud

• Meats (cooked, raw and carrion)

• Plant matter (decomposition notwithstanding)

• Solid wood

• Metal filings, nails, smithing scale

• Ale tankards

• Broken blades ("chomping the knife" being a well known dwarven combat maneuver)

It seems that despite a preternatural ability to hunt prey for food, dwarves will eat almost anything. Their digestive juices are powerful enough to break down even the hardiest of substances, though metallic items do take more time. More amazing than that is their ability to obtain nutrients from these substances - dwarves show no signs of malnutrition unless completely starved for seven-to-ten days. Their robust metabolism will rapidly cause loss of muscle mass as their bodies demand fuel. Rather than dying due to starvation, dwarves enter a sort of stasis, in which they can exist (by all reports) indefinitely. Their bodies can be "reactivated" by submersion in the nutrient rich subterranean lakes from which the dwarves normally drink.

Additional Information

Social Structure

Dwarves live in large but tightly-knit family groups called clans. It is not uncommon for dwarven gatherings to host multiple hundreds of attendees. Each clan is led by a matriarch, usually the eldest or most virile female, known as the Greatmother. The Greatmother and her aides see to the arranging of breeding pairs with seperate clans to avoid inbreeding or other complications, and all dwarves are expected to procreate at least once during their lifetime. Below the Greatmother, dwarven clans respect a hierarchy based mainly on the number of pups sired/gestated, and those who produce many offspring are known as Birthgivers. Birthgivers have no social authority, but are generally treated as higher-class citizens, often receiving larger homes or donations of food by decree of the Greatmothers - in order to support their many children.

Geographic Origin and Distribution

Almost the entire Known population of dwarves live in the two largest known dwarven fortresses, Edfreize and Tenvolo. A small clan of dwarves live in the floating capital, Enoch. The village of Refuge is the only known dwarven settlement on the surface of the Known World, populated exclusively by dwarven exiles who know not why they were cast out at birth from their ancestral habitat - or if they know, they do not speak of it.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

The dwarven "beard" is in fact an array of thousands of hair antennae, which the dwarves can move with dexterity equal to human hands. This network of sensory organs allows the dwarves to taste, smell and sense even minor vibrations through the ground during tunneling, but is also used in daily life outside of tunneling as the dwarves' main sensory organ. Since their descent into the unlit subterranean caverns of Edfreize and Tenvolo, dwarven eyesight has degenerated so thoroughly that it is commonly held among the other races that all dwarves are blind. This is not in the strictest sense true, as their eyes, while largely atrophied, are still capable of detecting changes in light levels of their environs. Dwarven pups are born hungry, barbate and already nearly blind. Those rare few who are cast out of the caverns at birth (for reasons still undiscovered by Observitas agents) develop functional eyesight during their second or third year of life, though their vision is still orders of magnitude weaker than the other terrestrial races. In contrast, the dwarves of Enoch, accustomed after several hundred years of life in the flying city, exhibit eyesight to rival birds of prey and rely very little on their beard-antennae, suggesting that the dwarven physiology has a particular tendency to rapidly evolve sensory capabilities appropriate for their environment within only a few generations.

All dwarves also possess a slight psychic sensitivity, which is amplified by the proximity of other dwarves. In dwarven society, this gestalt awareness serves in place of the visual social cues which dwarves cannot see, as it allows their intent to be sensed by those around them. This ability also provides the dwarven clans with a sort of collective foresight. They do not actually predict the future, but those who watch and mimic the preparations of the dwarves often find themselves fortuitously armed against unexpected crises.

Civilization and Culture

Naming Traditions

Dwarven first names combine two consonant sounds and one vowel. Male names (end in "r"): Bor, Bur, Bar, Dor, Dur, Dar, Kor, Kur, Kar - and so on. Female names (end in "n"): Bon, Bun, Ban, Don, Dun, Dan, Kon, Kun, Kan - and so on

Surnames (clan names): a dwarf's true clan name includes the first name of every ancestor related to them, for as long as the Greatmothers are able to record. As such they are very, very long and essentially nonsensical to all other races. The most common way for a dwarf to specify his lineage is by the name of the clan's Greatmother. True clan names are only recited for important ceremonies, at which allowances are made for naps or breaks during the speaking of names.

Beauty Ideals

A full beard, a strong jaw, and broad hips are the physical attributes dwarven males prize most in their mates, though they have no say in the matter.

Dwarven females also value full beards and strong jaws, but are more interested in a male's ability to crush rocks with their strong hands than the breadth of their hips or shoulders.

Average Technological Level

Dwarves scorn most technology more complex than simple machines like levers, wedges and wheels, preferring the industry they are capable of with their own hands and jaws. However, dwarven adaptability enables them to learn how to use the technology of other races, if not how to recreate it. This faculty has only been observed in the dwarves of Enoch, as the dwarven kingdoms are reportedly free from machinery of any kind. The exiles of Refuge have also begun to adapt, and have been observed employing scavenged Enochian smithing equipment to create arms and fortifications to defend their meager holdings against marauders.

Common Dress Code

Due to their existence in total darkness, nudity is a completely unknown concept to the dwarves of Edfreize and Tenvolo. These dwarves wear nothing. The dwarves of Enoch were eventually convinced to don comfortable robes, and the exiles of Refuge cover themselves with simple rags and wraps of burlap or linen, and have learned to forge simple armor plating.

Common Taboos

While not strictly a taboo in the cultural sense, dwarves physically loathe to look at the sky. Despite their near total blindness, dwarves revolt at the "sight" of the sky above them, and often react with nausea, dizziness, and a prodigious amount of cursing. This sensitivity is lessened by the night sky, as the blackness of the night is less disturbing to them, however most dwarves caught above ground after dark still walk with their tiny eyes pointed very carefully downward. Notable exceptions to this sensitivity are the exiled dwarves of Refuge, who fear neither the sun nor the sky. The dwarves of Enoch have developed superior eyesight, but this has not totally freed them from their horror of the open sky - certain stalwart members of the clan are willing to venture out in the light of day, but keen observers might note their infallibly level gaze and constant, yet nearly imperceptible tenseness.

History

Following the Schism of the Known people shortly after Arrival, the dwarves took their leave of the surface world. Stating simply that they "wished to be left alone", the dwarven migration took only months. Splitting into two major groups, the dwarves departed into the mountains and disappeared into the ground. For several thousand years the dwarves did not show themselves, and many who were unfamiliar with the history of the Known World forgot they had existed in the first place.

Two millennia into the Jantine Era, during the deathless reign of God-King Razæl, the dwarves suddenly reappeared. Through a tunnel which opened to the surface near the Jantine theopolis of Janus, the now blind dwarves felt their way back into civilization. Their ambassadors claimed that their intent was mercantile - in their underground world existed many metals and precious stones which could not easily be found on the surface. Trade with the dwarves fostered great prosperity in the Jantine Prefecture, and the already opulent capital became sickeningly decadent in design and ostentation. For the first years, the Priesthood of Janus stayed their proselytizing hand, and allowed the dwarves to trade without religious persecution. Soon, however, the Bishopric decreed that the dwarven heathens must be saved, and the murderous work of the Jantine missionaries began. Decrying all theology, the dwarven merchants were swiftly branded heretics and condemned to excoriation. But when the army of zealots marched on their tunnel mouth, the dwarves retreated with prodigious speed, collapsing the tunnel behind them, burying thousands of Jantine soldiers alive. This event is known as the "Second Descent of the Dwarves".

Another long period of isolation here marks the dwarven chronicle, as they remain secreted away in their havens for roughly another two-and-a-half-thousand years. It was not until well into the Age of Enlightenment that the dwarves were coaxed out of hiding, and only through the tireless diplomatic endeavours of the Universitas Omniscia. At the mouth of the collapsed tunnel which had doomed the Jantine horde those thousands of years ago, Observitas agents began leaving gifts. At first these gifts took the form of large piles of treasure or food, but these went unnoticed or at least unaccepted. Eventually the gifts gave way to simple vigils - a lone Observitas agent, camping for months or years at a time at the mouth of the tunnel, awaiting some sign or signal from the enigmatic beings under the surface, shouting each day that the Jantine Priesthood had long been overthrown and the land made safe for dwarven-kind again.

This went on unsuccessfully for several decades, until one particularly charismatic Observitas agent named Bill Laurent sparked something of a jubilation at his camp. Inviting revelers from leagues around, the agent saw to it that massive pyres were stoked, and loud music produced by an orchestra numbering nearly a thousand. Great kegs of ale were brought up, half for the revellers and half for the dwarves. For each drink a man took for himself, another was poured on the ground, flavoring the earth with hops and barley. Thusly the celebration continued for a full week, until nightfall on the seventh day.

As the sun vanished beyond the horizon, a thunderous rumble shuddered out of the earth. Fearful revelers began to flee, as a great mound of dirt and rock began to push its way up from beneath the ground, rising up nearly eight feet before erupting rock and mud from its peak. A large, squarish head with a large mouth, and eyes so small they could scarcely be said to exist pushed its way out of the mound, and shouted something at the awestruck crowd. Since the dwarven language was eventually translated by the Observitas, these words were some years later understood to mean "Who the hell is making all that racket?"

These events, known as the Second Surfacing, led to the alliance of the dwarven species with the Aaronic Empire, and the eventual residence of Clan Bin-Dor-Kon-Lun-San-Var (true name abbreviated for readability) within the floating capital. This was only achieved after a selfless act of goodwill by the same Observitas agent who launched the soiree which drew the pragmatic dwarves back to their abandoned portal, Bill Laurent. As he had developed an effortless rapport with the dwarves due to his genial and charming nature despite the language barrier, Laurent, thereafter known as William of the Veil, astutely surmised their sightless condition and symbolically tied a blindfold about his eyes in solidarity. Ironically, this act was of course not actually witnessed by the dwarves since they could not see it, but after a few awkward minutes Laurent's intent was picked up by the infallible dwarven intuition. William then allowed himself to be led into the dark caverns as the only ambassador whom the dwarven clans have ever accepted. The only part of William which ever glimpsed the sky again were his frequent, thorough reports, carried to the surface once a year by a brave dwarven envoy, under the cover of night. The wealth of cultural and biological knowledge gained by William of the Veil is chronicled elsewhere.

Scientific Name

Condilurinus Sapiens

Lifespan

50-60 years

Average Height

3.5 feet

Average Weight

140 pounds