Dwarves-Race Lore

Dwarves are the finest craftsman, the cleverest engineers and the greatest architects. Dwarves are well known for their skill as tacticians, engineers, architects and craftsmen. They are stout and capable of taking just about any punishment that can be dished out to them. They often live beneath the surface of the world, and know many secrets about what lies below. Kingdoms are carved of the mountains, and what looks to be the tallest mountain, is in fact a dwarven castle. Dwarves are slow to trust, but steadfast friends. They value treasure as much as their work, and the two frequently go hand in hand. They have a strong sense of justice, and punishment is swift for violators of the law. Dwarves are short, standing only 4 - 4 1/2 feet high, but they a so strong and compact that they can still weigh 180 - 250 lbs. Dwarves normally have a paler skin tone, from their underground life and their eyes are dark, to better collect the light. Dwarves reach maturity at about 40 years of age and can live to be 200, although that number is skewed because of the tendency for underground accidents. Dwarves get along excellently with automatons and humans, and passably with Elves, Suarial, and Scavengers. Dwarves, like every other race, holds great contempt for Orcs, and frequently are enemies. A dwarf has two parts of their name. A first name, given to them by the clan, and a surname that is the clan name. A dwarf who commits a crime that dishonors the clan is stripped of both these names, and forbidden to use another dwarven name in their place. They are then exiled from all dwarven cities, and set off on their own.

A clan is lead by a council of elders, who make decisions for the clan and meet with other clans. The council is referred to as the tower seats, because more often than not, the council will occupy the highest place in a town or city, which is often a tower. The council is made up of a number of elders equal to a tenth of the population of the city or town, with a minimum of 5 members. Dwarves have no caste system and don’t believe in slaves. The largest difference between one dwarf and another is whether or not he sits on one of the tower seats, and almost all dwarves do eventually.

Dwarves built many of the ancient cities during their search for the long lost city of Fal Dar Ein, or the City of lost legends. Cities built by dwarves are durable, and many armies are smashed just trying to get over the first set of walls. They have a notorious vulnerability to dwarven armies, as dwarves know the way through the various escape tunnels beneath the cities and how to navigate their traps. Dwarven engineering led to machines that can see through the world, and machines that could create and duplicate objects. However, the knowledge of many of these machines was lost long ago. Dwarven engineering also created Iron men and automatons, beings of great mechanical strength, and some would claim, better soldiers than either the dwarves or the orcs.

Dwarven Engineers are especially well know for feats of steam engineering. More precisely, steam powered locomotives called gleund docovorive, which means self-moving, with the word gleund describing the medium the vehicle move through (Ground). They’ve also engineered air vehicles, powered by an enormous fan at the rear and suspended in the air by a balloon full of gas, called aur docovorive. Both types of docovorive are powered by heating water to power the machinery. The Aur is frequently used by merchants, because of the reduced vulnerability to pirates. The Gleund is frequently used for high speed transportation along previously established routes. These Gleund are well known for how difficult it is to stop one en route to it’s destination. These are often used by merchants as well for this reason. Dwarven steam engineering is a closely guarded secret, and they are therefore very expensive to purchase. Many dwarves are taught the secrets of building these machines during childhood, and the majority of dwarves make their living just by producing them.

Dwarven armies are made up of several divisions of soldiers. Infantry are heavily armored in mage forged armour; armour wrought with enchantments unlike any other. They wield swords tempered in lava forges that produces an edge that can slice easily through diamond armour. The cannoneers construct cannons called penetrators that can tunnel through nearly 20 meters of stone. They are considered to be the first wave and are therefore protected by shield bearers who hurl themselves between danger and the cannoneers. Dwarven archers also defend the cannoneers, they carry bows collected from the skeletons that wander the night. Dwarven archers are trained to be able to hit a target as far as the can see, and even one they can't if they have input from someone who can.

Dwarves visit the city of Fal Dar Ein at least once yearly on Vedybten 67th. They Hail the New year with feasting, ale and tournaments. The holiday is called Ein Dag, which roughly translates to Legend Day. Some of the greatest dwarven heroes were discovered on Ein Dag. Aeon Runehonor for example, who led the army against the orcs who destroyed most of the original automatons. The traditions of nameday varies from settlement to settlement, but the majority are simple ceremonies with friends and gifts. One consistent occurrence on all name days is on the Jeksidus at the end of the month. Every dwarf whose name day will occur in the next month is feasted in a great feasting hall, that is used for many of the year’s ceremonies.