Dwarves

Description

Dwarves are solid and enduring like the mountains they love, weathering the passage of centuries with stoic endurance and little change. They are a proud and noble people who hail from the Snowfell Mountains. Their capitol city, Snowpeak, can be found in the largest mountain in the Snowfell Mountain Range.

Dwarves trace their ancestry back to the founding of their most ancient strongholds in the youth of the world. Their patron god is Duros, who upholds the dwarven ideals of industrious labor, skill in battle, and devotion to the forge. Bold and hardy, dwarves are known as skilled warriors, miners, and workers of stone and metal.

Racial Passive — Hardiness: +1 Stamina

History

During the Dark Ages, the dwarves were a republic, with power split between a Monarch, a Senate, and a Supreme Court. This republic lasted for hundreds of years.

From the year 3 to 400, the dwarves lived in a secluded state. While they had settlements south and north of the snowy mountains for farming, many of those settlements kept to themselves. Dwarves are a very isolationist people, and believe in putting their nation first above all others, even self. This has resulted in them being distrusting of outsiders.

In the year 400, King Thorin was assassinated by the Dark Dwarves who stole Mithrus and Ilterendi for themselves. The senate convened to appoint an emergency king, but the entire senate was killed when tunnels from underneath the senate chamber were collapsed by the dark dwarves. This resulted in a power vacuum. General Lokkhan stepped forward to seize control of a nation spiraling to it's doom. This incident began the Great War, which fueled a hateful relationship between the Sun Elves and Dwarves.

50 years after the start of the Great War, the Dwarves managed to bring the dark dwarves responsible for the instigation of the Great War to justice, and returned Ilterendi to the elves. This ended the war, and left the Dwarven nation in ruins, in more ways than one.

The Great War completely destroyed all of the farms north of Snowpeak. The soil had been contaminated and ruined to the point where it would take hundreds of years to grow anything other than weeds. The forest of Thrain was a tempting choice to cultivate, but it belonged to humanity. This drove the dwarves further south with their farming efforts. In the mean time, starvation and economic despair gripped the nation. King Lokkhan established martial law to prevent rioting and looting. Under his rule, the nation barely managed to prevent catastrophe.

In the years following King Lokkhan’s rule, future military generals would take the role of King, and also struggle to keep the Dwarven nation afloat economically. Unwilling to admit their vulnerability to the outside world, they kept the true nature of their poverty a secret. Large public works programs for those unable to get jobs were started, involving large digging efforts in Snowpeak to create reserve housing and storage for a longer, harsher war. These tunnels were massive, and carved over the course of hundreds of years.

In recent history, a massive battle during the Drums of War campaign resulted in the dwarves taking severe losses in resources and people. Since the war in Year 700 they have been locked away in their mountain and refuse to interact with the outside world. Very few dwarves still roam Hellan. Those that do tend to be in relationships with humans, or otherwise have a good reason not to be holed up in the dwarven capital city, Snowpeak. They are very rare.

Personality

Dwarves are well known for their work ethic, whether they are a blacksmith, baker, or politician. Stereotypes tend to cast dwarves as being overly fond of both money and alcohol, though in truth most will put family and clan above all else. Their courage and endurance is renown in Ilisara.

Most dwarves are resolute and down-to-earth. They care not for the whimsical inventions of humans, nor the fanciful religion and arts of the elves; dwarves are rational, honest, and believe in what they can see and touch. They tend to form strong internal bonds and have insider jokes and customs that outsiders will either never see or never understand. As a result, many dwarves seem difficult to like and lack the charm of other races. However, Dwarves are not entirely unsocial and more than a few have a natural knack for bartering or judging the value of an offer.

Many dwarves inherently desire gold and precious gems, owing to their creation by the god of earth. It is an instinctual call to their divine roots. To some, this might be called “greed”.

Appearance

Though they stand well under 5 feet tall, dwarves are quite broad and compact and weigh as much as a human. Dwarves are a long-lived race, and reached physical maturity somewhat later than humans. A dwarf is traditionally considered an adult once he or she reaches fifty. Dwarves age like humans but over a longer period of time, remaining vigorous well past 100 years.

Dwarven skin ranges from deep brown to a paler hue tinged with red, but the most common shades are light brown or deep tan, like certain tones of earth. Their hair, worn long but in simple styles, is usually black, gray, or brown, though paler dwarves often have red hair. Male dwarves value their beards highly and groom them carefully. Hair and beards are braided and elaborately knotted by some.

Common dwarven wear includes chainmail, mithril, and plate. Furs are popular, as are leather. The dwarves are accustomed to cold climates and dress proudly as their ancestors did (in the style of Norse or Viking warriors).

Combat and Professions

Dwarves make excellent warriors, smiths, and masons. They have a knack for visualizing spaces and a great understanding of physics owing to their race’s fantastic feats of tunneling.

Society

Dwarven history is riddled with hardship. As a result, dwarves are a resilient race. Dwarves rely only on themselves. Isolationist sentiment is strong. They are not trusting of outsiders, but greet dwarven strangers as if they were old friends. Dwarves view each other as family.

There are several common threads that unite all dwarves. First, pride in their ancient empire and its history. Second, kin. Dwarves are fiercely devoted to their family. Dwarven parents wish for their children to grow up hardy and enduring. Thus, they may treat their children harshly, but they will protect them at all costs. Dwarves are resilient. They resent injuries to their children and to their parents more than injuries to themselves.

All dwarves feel at home underground. Outsiders have seldom seen Snowpeak’s great halls and the dwarves keep it that way. In Snowpeak’s outskirts and the above-ground dwarven forts, dwarves live in simple but practical stone huts whose interior space expands underground. Often, bedrooms and private rooms are tunneled beneath surface-dwarves’ homes.

Dwarves who live within Snowpeak are just as well-respected as dwarves who live outside. There is no social stigma against surface-dwarves. However, most dwarves wish they could live in their ancestral home. Dwarven surface forts are viewed as a necessity for the dwarven nation to hold power within Hellan that rivals the sun elves.

Inherently, dwarves are connected to the earth. Their social customs are based on reliability and personal duty — things like being late to a meeting or breaking one’s word are greatly looked down upon. Dwarves prefer to walk rather than ride a horse, as animals tend to be viewed as livestock (and horses are too big to suit dwarves anyway). Dwarves generally live far from the sea. They dislike the ocean’s instability and in turn avoid riding on boats when possible.

Politics and history are very important to dwarves. There are two strong political parties within the dwarven empire -- traditionalists and militarists. Since Year 400 the dwarves have been overseen by military men and women whose ideals of order, strict dedication, and hard work have permeated dwarven society.

Politics

When humanity offered to create a Confederacy, the dwarves accepted out of necessity. They could not afford another war with the Sun Elves, even if they wanted one to avenge the centuries of suffering inflicted upon them. This has lead to an ever-bitter distaste for elves among dwarves, who otherwise would be too proud to admit why they hate elves.

In present day, the economic crisis has largely passed, and the Dwarven nation has been returned to one of prosperity thanks in large part to the peace provided by the Confederacy. However, the Confederacy still represents how desperate the dwarves have become. Many would rather see the dwarves depart from the Confederacy and live as a free nation-state, while many others would rather see the Confederacy grow to expand their influence.

Dwarves in present day belong to two political parties. There are the Traditionalists, who believe in the old republic's ways, glorifying the past republic as an example of what they should return to, and the Militarists, who believe in the current social order of military leadership. Currently the Militarists outnumber the Traditionalists, and thus the military has been able to retain power.

Language

Dwarves speak Dwarvish, and learn Common out of necessity. Dwarvish is spoken in Snowpeak and in Dwarvish forts almost exclusively.

Religion

Though the dwarves have their own patron god, Duros, they are not fanatic religious followers like the sun elves are. Instead, dwarves live by sensible tenets and ideals that are inspired by their god’s teachings. There are clerics and paladins devoted to Duros, and a modest church organized in his name, but the church does not hold any power in the dwarven government.

Interracial Relations

Dwarves are seen as allies by every race in Hellan, save for the elves. Dwarves have a very tentative “alliance” with the sun elves and tend not to interact with them unless forced to do so. On the individual-level, some traditional dwarves and elves are xenophobic towards each other. Others simply don’t care. Seldom few get along as friends, but those that do have strong bonds.

The Orcish Warlords would slaughter dwarves given the chance as would every hostile Isandorian race.

As far as compatibility cross-species goes, dwarves can have children with any other humanoid race. Dwarven genes are stronger than all others, so their offspring often skew heavily towards looking like a dwarf.

The children of dwarf-human couples tend to be accepted by society. Half-orcs or half-animaloids are usually met with apprehension, fear, or are simply frowned upon. Half-dwarf, half-elf children are definitely not approved of, but can hide relatively easily within dwarvish society as the few elven traits they might have are easily hidden.

Threats

Snowpeak, the dwarven capital city, resides within a mighty mountain range. Its tunnels reach far beneath the earth. The city and its sprawling tunnels are impenetrable by any outside force and thus the dwarves face no real threat but famine if they do not have a food source from the outside to help sustain their population. In dire times, dwarves can subsist on cave lichen and mushrooms, but they require a nutrient-rich diet and the entire population cannot live on cave food alone.

Notable Dwarves

"I may be small but I’ll hurt you if you insult me again." -- Tristia Renbran, Queen Regnant of the Dwarves. She led the fight against the orcs during the Battle at the Border in Year 700, as part of the Drums of War campaign. Queen Tristia is the one who recalled all the dwarves to Snowpeak in Year 700.

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This page made with much input from [1] [2] and [3]