Dwarves

Introduction

They consider themselves the eldest of the children of Ormaz, and the best. They have inherited the gift of supreme craftsmanship from their creator. Most dwarves live in the underground cities they build around mines. They are superb smiths and stoneworkers, but less adept at magic. They share the hardness, durability, and intrinsic lawfulness of stone.

Society and Culture

Dwarves are loyal to their kin. The men band together into kingdoms, theoretically all descendents of a single line of dwarves from those originally created by Ormaz. Women move more freely between kingdoms, usually pairs of low status sisters or cousins who wish to establish a new house somewhere else. Within a single line, male dwarves recognize various clans, which are like extended families tied together by kinship and adoption.

The dwarves battle the enemies of Ormaz in the mountains and in the darkness underearth. Rivalries between lines/kingdoms can be fierce, but seldom erupt into real violence. The underearth is a dangerous place, and mortality is high.

Men and women live apart most of the time. The men tend to be fighters, smiths, and stone-crafters. The women are responsible for supplying their cities with food, water, medicines, and so on. The women are great hoarders. They achieve status by the quality of their hoards. They live with other women (usually of the same line), in nice underground houses, or stone houses aboveground. The women use their hoards in the protection of their kingdom, whether through buying goods, materials, or services, or through the use of magical artifacts, or through exchanging gifts to bring peace to feuding lines.

Men woo women by offering them gifts of treasure, usually things they have made themselves, but not always. Then the woman picks a mate based on which gift she likes best, and the man and the woman spend some time in a special Marriage House until the woman is pregnant. Then they both go back to their usual lives. The woman has the child, raises it in the women's house. Male children go to their fathers when they are about 20 years old. Women may have children by many different fathers.

Religion

Most dwarves revere Ormaz, the Firelord, as their Grandfather. Anahita (whom they name Freya) blesses their unions and is invoked for prosperity and children. Mitras (whom they name Freyr) is called upon for aid in war, and when they are above ground.

Vielund is sometimes regarded as the patron of exiles, half-breeds, and prisoners and slaves. He is said to be a smith excelling in the craft of vengeance. Thus, dwarves in exile or captivity, or among strangers, may send their prayers to Vielund.

The dwarves tend not to have any organized religion. Each House (the women) has a resident priest who presides over births, deaths, oaths, and house-leavings (when young males go to their fathers.) The house priest is also responsible for teaching the children sacred lore and traditions. Male priests are commonly battlefield clerics. They are also called upon to consecrate new delvings.

Fire rites for the dead: dwarves use cremation to dedicate their souls to Ormaz. Exiles are not given fire by their clerics, so their souls are said to be lost forever to the dwarves.

Law

Dwarven law is strict and non-corrupt, though kinship does count for something. Your word is your bond. Oathbreakers face exile, as do thieves. Exiles are generally branded on their left cheeks and ritually stripped of their kinship ties. Murderers are either exiled or executed. Men and women are tried under different jurisdictions. The Patriarch and Matriarch of a city are the chief judges, advised by a jury of elders from the various clans or major houses in the city. Lesser crimes and disputes may be handled within the clan or house. Clerics are often called upon to mediate.

Relations with outsiders

Dwarves are reluctant to deal with outsiders, considering them unreliable at best. No one has the interests of dwarves at heart except dwarves. Other races tend to crumble when faced with adversity.

They will (and have) formed alliances with gnomes and some surface races. They get along well enough with gnomes, whom they consider distant younger cousins, frivolous but talented in their way. Elves are sneaky and never mean what you think they do, but their magic and wood-lore are useful sometimes.

Still, they do not usually permit non-dwarves into their cities or mines. They build special halls and towers where friendly outsiders may meet with them (for trade, diplomacy, etc.)

Dwarves found outside their cities may be scouting expeditions, merchants, a colonizing group, exiles and outlaws, groups en-route to another dwarven city, etc. Sometimes a dwarven settlement will be destroyed by enemies, and the survivors will live for a long time aboveground, hiring out as craftsmen or mercenaries, rather than moving in with their closest kin.

Sometimes a male dwarf will fall in lust with a non-dwarf and this can cause problems. Dwarves do not really do male-female pair-bonding love like other races do. (Dwarves do love their kin, their lines, their work, their homes, their friends, etc., but for them, sexual desire is a part-time thing, all-consuming at the time, but over either once it is satisfied or when a rival is seen to have succeeded.) So a male dwarf may lay gifts at the feet of some poor uncomprehending nymph, whose idea of courtship is to dazzle someone with her beauty, then run away, and only mate with the one who can catch her. This is frustrating for both parties.

Trade

Export: smithwork, stonework, jewelry, etc. They usually keep the best items for their own use, but are sometimes commissioned by the gods to make items.

Import: livestock, textiles, some raw materials

Classes

Barbarians are rare among dwarves. A few surface dwellers have formed warrior brotherhoods, famed for their grim ferocity. They are said to be exiles or dwarves who have lost their homes, and seek an honorable death in battling their enemies.
Bards are the keepers of lore, the secret songs given to the dwarves by their Grandfather. Known as skalds.
Clerics have their place in dwarven society, as described above.
Druids are very rare among dwarves. Legends say dwarven druids tend the roots of the World Tree.
Fighters are the mainstay of the dwarven armies and so on. Their kingdoms are always under threat and fighters always needed to defend them.
Monks have no place in normal dwarven society, but some exiles and surface dwellers have occasionally joined monasteries run by other races.
Paladins are rare among dwarves.
Rangers are uncommon. Scouts on the fringes. Some explorers into the deeps or the lost cities.
Rogues are uncommon, but not unknown. Many renegade dwarves who have gone over to evil were primarily rogues.
Sorcerers are very rare among dwarves.
Wizards are more common than sorcerers. Most are female. Certain houses have a tradition of magic and magical lore. Their sons go on to become the crafters of marvelous items.

Subraces

The various subraces are supposedly descended from different ancestral dwarves

Hill dwarves the majority race, usually lawful good. Ancestors: Nordri, Sudri, Austri, Vestri, Nyi, Nidi, Vali, Heptifili, Andvari, Dvalin, Eikinskjaldi, Hugstari.
Mountain dwarves usually lawful good, they claim to be descended from Modsognir, the first dwarf brought to life by Ormaz. Tend to have more clerics and be more fanatical. They tend to stay more to themselves, and live in more remote locations than hill dwarves.
Deep dwarves usually lawful neutral or neutral, they live deep under the earth and rarely ever come to the surface. Ancestors: Alfrigg, Berling, Grerr, Virfir, Haur.
Duergar usually lawful evil. Dwarves who have gone over to Angra Mainyu. Regarded as despicable traitors by the other sub-races. They have their own deep cities, where they invent horrifying war machines and supply arms and armor to other followers of Angra Mainyu. Ancestors: Nar, Nyr, Ginnar.
Derro usually chaotic evil, these are degenerate human-dwarf hybrids. Descended from slaves taken to the Drow cities. The ones who identify themselves as Derro have trampled their way to the top of the slave hierarchy, lording it over the others with magic and sheer cruelty.

Language

Dwarves have their own runic language, supposedly taught to them by Ormaz The spoken language varies some from kingdom to kingdom, with sub-dialects, but the concept of a single Dwarven language is mostly true.

Names

Males: So-and-so son of father of the line of ancestral dwarf, but among non-dwarves, So-and-so clan-name.
Females: So-and-so of the name of house of the line of ancestor, but among non-dwarves, So-and-so house-name.
Exiles: So-and-so son of nobody, So-and-so of no house
Derro: They have only a personal name and a deed name, e.g. Rekk Who-chained-the-burning-ice, Kreggi the Stinking Shouter
Male personal names: Ai, Alf, Althjof, Alvis, Bafur, Bari, Bifur, Bombor, Brokk, Dain, Delling, Dolgthvari, Dori, Draupnir, Duf, Durin, Eitri, Fal, Fid, Fili, Fjalar, Frar, Frosti, Fundin, Galar, Gloin, Har, Hledjolf, Ingi, Iri, Ivaldi, Jari, Kili, Lit, Mjodvitnir, Nabbi, Nain, Niping, Nori, Nyrad, Oinn, Ori, Radsvid, Rekk, Skavid, Skirfir, Sviar, Thekk, Thorin, Thrain, Thror, Uni, Var, Vegdrasil, Vig, Vindalf, Vit
Female personal names: Aud, Beyla, Eir, Embla, Eyfura, Friaut, Grimhild, Groa, Gudrun, Hjordis, Hledis, Nanna, Sinmora, Skurhold, Svava
Typical clan names: Ash, Aurvang, Gullinkambi (Golden Comb), Hobrok, Hornbori, Hrim, Iarn (Iron), Var (oath)
Typical house names: Afi (grandfather), Amma (grandmother), Lyr (Heat-holding), Thrymheim, Ai (great-grandfather), Edda (great-grandmother), Odrorir (Heart-stirrer)

Famous dwarves:

Alvis son of Delling of the line of Berling, called the Wise
Jari son of Bari of the line of Dvalin, King of Nidavellir
Groa of Ordririr of the line of Sudri: wizard, seeress (i.e. specializing in Divination spells)

Words

Clan: a subdivision of a Line
Delving: less than a city, a mine, house, or some other place dwarves have claimed
House: this is your mother's house and family group
King: male leader of a Line, may be just a figurehead
Line: the tribe you belong to: refers to the ancestral dwarf in your father's line. More meaningful for males, who are proud to recite their father's name, their father's father's name, etc. back for as many generations as it takes.
Matriarch: highest-ranking female in a city
Nidavellir: (Dark home) the oldest of the dwarven kingdoms. Once all the Lines had their home there. Now most of it has been lost to their enemies, but it still holds the most prestige among dwarves, even duergar.
Patriarch: highest-ranking male in a city
Skald: Dwarven name for a bard

Geography

Widespread throughout all the mountainous regions of the northern hemisphere, though some areas are hotly contested with other subterranean dwellers. Most lines are members of the Empire of Stone and Sky. Non-existant except for PCs on the island of Krosa. The ancient delving in the mountain has long been abandoned. If you play a dwarf character, you must explain what you're doing on Krosa.

Other borrowed material: No, I did not steal the names from Tolkien. I used the same source he did: Norse mythology. In my case, this meant reading the (highly recommended!) Norse Myths by Kevin Crossley-Holland.

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