Appearance
Their skin is grey or brown in different shades as the soil itself. Their hair usually is in different shades of grey or brown. Rarely their hair can be as red or orange as lava deep beneath. These red-haired Dwarves are usually Clerics. Their eyes are bright in colors of different gems; bright green, purple, yellow, red, blue...
Their beard grows long and thick but Dwarves usually trim it for their personal taste. Beard for other races is how Dwarves are most easy way to tell the difference of the individuals.
Their skin is rough and wrinkled and they stand 4 feet long weighting 150 pounds. Their build is sturdy and strong, yet a little clumsy except for their finger which are nimble and precise at crafting.
Dwarves don't use animals as they are as strong as a mule to pull ore from mines and their physique is not well suited for riding horses or ponies. Deep underground many pets would feel miserable anyways.
There are no male and female Dwarves; Dwarf is just a Dwarf.
Reproduction
When two Dwarves love each other (their "love" is different from other races. It is more "practical" than emotional) they both remove a small part of their heart and rib and bury it deep in the rock. After 50 years they crack the rock open and a new Dwarf is let free. The new Dwarf doesn't acknowledge these two as his parents, but as his family - clan. The new Dwarf is an young adult when born and quickly learns what he is teatched.
If there is no Dwarven "love" present when creating a new Dwarf, nothing will produce inside the rock.
Dwarves don't have marriage so they are not monogamous. Rarely two Dwarves from different clans reproduce, but when they happen the new dwarf can choose which parent's clan he will join, if his parents haven't found their own new clan already.
Habitual Residence
Dwarves live deep underground in the mountains of the northern Longland. No one knows how many Dwarves habit Longland in total as they are not too common in other parts of the continent except their homestead and north-east battlegrounds.
Deep underground inside the mountain there are networks of tunnels ending to mines or digging deeper and deeper. Also big underground cities are mined on the very rock. Without knowing where you are heading you easily get lost.
Alignment And Language
Dwarves are usually Good or Neutral depending how they view the outside world. Rarely Dwarves are Chaotic but some Chaotic clans are known to exist isolated in the deepest parts of the mountain. Chaotic Dwarves usually mind their own business and prefer solitude worshipping their god, the Lava Demon. No one knows what is the true goal of Dwarves who turn Chaotic.
Dwarves speak their own language most commonly referred as "dwarven". Different clans have their own dialects what might be confusing for other races who know dwarven language. Dwarves usually speak also common and some know halfling.
They prefer not use Alignment language unless they have to. They don't want to be recognized as belonging into something in a bigger scale rather than being an unique race of their own. Many warrior Dwarves also speak Orcish to be able to better interrogate their prisoners of war and to be able to figure out what their intelligence gathers.
Clans
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| Dwarf clan leader |
Dwarves have clans with different colors, banners, emblems and customs. These clans work together with other clans in a bigger scale but the clan leader is the one who manages his own flock. Clan leaders are the eldest, wisest and most skilled of their flock. Usually clan leader is respected so much there is no rivalry. Also as clan leaders have strong political stand and good relations with other clan leaders it is hard to replace a clan leader without leading the clan to perish.
Professions
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| Dwarf miner by Greg Opalinski @ http://domigorgon.deviantart.com/art/Dwarf-Miner-363333156 |
crafters and those who lack the patience are warriors. Those who even lack of patience for being a soldier become adventurers.
There are no social classes, so a clan leader might very well enjoy his life digging minerals instead of being a stereotypical leader.
Dwarven weapons and armors are masterpieces. All the weapons and armor they create are +1 equipment, but there is a 15% change the equipment is +2, 7% change for +3 and 1% change for +4 and above (5% with other "magical" qualities present). This is when Dwarves create things just for fun of crafting. When Dwarves truly want to create something specific, they can do it. It just takes time.
Warriors
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| Dwarf warrior |
Trading
Dwarves mine so much ore, minerals, precious metal, diamonds, etc. and craft so much equipment they see not that much value in those as human does. They naturally understand how human sees the lump of gold, but don't understand why that is so valuable. Gold sure is pretty to look at but as it is soft it's not very good material to use except for decoration. As Dwarves don't do anything else they trade what they create and dig with other goods. Dwarven traders travel Longland traiding their goods with human goods.
Eating And Drinking
Dwarves love ale and there is no stronger ale than what Dwarves brew. That is the reason why Dwarves are considered heavy drinkers but that is not true. Human ale is just so mild for Dwarven taste they must drink gallons of it.
Dwarves also love good food what they need a lot as they do physical work most of the time only sleeping for a hour or two per day. They love greasy meat, sausages, eggs, fried potatoes and other stiff foods. Dwarves can also survive by eating only rocks but it is not that sell.
Dwarves trade the food with human and sometimes with Halflings. Elven food they are not too keen with.
Religions
Most of the Dwarves don't believe in other deities. It is the Mother Land, Soil and Rock. Holy trinity of ground they know and trust in. Dwarf Clerics are extremely rare, but they exist (maybe 1 of 1000 Dwarves might be a Cleric). Most of the Dwarven Clerics are more entertainers raising morale than religious leaders. Dwarven Clerics also join the common tasks of crafting, digging and fighting.
Dwarven Clerics are those who lead the events of celebration and holidays. As there are so many Dwarves compared to Clerics these events tend to be enormous instead of small and quiet.
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| Dwarf Cleric |
Rarely some Dwarven Clerics who pray the Mother Land, Soil and Rock gain powers from their prayers.
A third level Dwarven Cleric has a 1 in 6 change per level from that point to gain Cleric character class powers* of 1st level. When 1st Cleric class powers is gained, he has from that level each level 1 in 6 change to gain second Cleric classes powers and so on. When Dwarf Cleric continues advancing levels Dwarf Cleric cannot use any other weapon than warhammer (or other blunt weapon resembling a tool) to have a change to get a favor from Mother Land, Soil and Rock.
*Spells per day
Technology
Dwarves are really creative what comes into crafting. They like building devices and are quite advanced in using steam. They usually use technology to ease the mass production of weapons for war against Orcish horder but also enjoy building gadgets of all scales.
Dwarves have also experimented with weaponry using gunpowder. Sometimes Dwarves also dabble with alchemy and chemistry.
Other Races
Dwarves can stand other races, especially humans as they are good traders. Halflings are entertaining but useless as they are too weak to do real work and they rest too much. Elven are not favorites of dwarves as Elven folk have abandoned Longland. Some Elven adventurers Dwarves consider to be potentional good allies - but rather not go there.
History
Where Dwarves came doesn't matter any more. And most -if not almost every- Dwarves think that they are ancient children of Mother Land, Soil and Rock. Maybe only a just a little younger. The clan histories are stories Dwarves enjoy to hear and tell which are what matters the most. They tell historical tales of digging, crafting, fighting and adventuring.
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