Feedback Contents Search WAR Home NERO Home
Dwarven Race Package Dyllarian Dwarf Culture
I. Clans
II. Legends
III. Timelines
IV. History
VI. Dwarven Life
VII. Playing a Dwarf
A clan is defined as a group of Dwarves related by blood and sharing similar beliefs. If a Migration occurs just due to population pressured then the Dwarves may be living in two different places but they consider themselves still part of the same clan.
A Migration is the way a Dwarven site is formed. When population pressures or depletion of an ore vein in an old site force a move, it is called a birthing is of a new hold. It is customary for young Dwarven males to be sent out to the surface world to explore and search for a new site for the Dwarves. This is an eagerly accepted task because a successful Dwarven male will then be considered a founding father of the new site, therefore making himself a place in the Dwarven histories.
Once a new site is located (this can take years but Dwarves have the time) the scouts return to the old site with the news and a map. Those chosen for the move are usually single males and married Dwarves between the ages of 50 and 100. Very few, if any, children or old people are sent because of the dangers and the hardships of establishing a new kingdom. The males are sent first to rough out the main caverns and defenses. The females generally follow months or years later.
War with other races is not uncommon, especially with Humanoid Downdwellers such as trolls, goblins, and orcs. A Dwarf will usually kill a goblin on sight, loathing them as vermin, such as Humans consider rats. Trolls, goblins, and orcs with high reproductive rates can overrun clan home sites with their sheer numbers driving the Dwarves to the Upside world. These homesites, if not recovered quickly, become too polluted (mainly the water supply) to be reoccupied by the Dwarves. Legends and history include a few instances of this nature. It is because of this constant danger that Dwarves have become the masters of the forge and the fighting arts.
Dwarves generally tolerate Dark Elves and regard them as allies in the fight against evil monsters, nut each race remains aloof from the other and both are scrupulous about territorial rights when their realms abut one another.
There is usually not more than one Dwarven settlement in a Duchy-sized territory (about 20,000 square miles), although each clan usually has several septs or related subgroups scattered throughout it. This is because of the continual expansion which Dwarven mining operations require, as well as the presence of other Downdwellers, such as Dark Elves, trolls, Elementals, etc.
Before the Upside Migrations began, most Dwarves understood that there were other Dwarven clans on Tyrra, whether or not they were in contact with their lost kin below ground. Occasionally they would re-encounter one another in their tunneling, but it was not until Dwarves began to reach the surface some 4,000 years ago that more extensive contact with other clans slowly began. Dwarven clans are now established throughout the world, and most are on hospitable terms with one another.
All Dwarven legends agree that Dwarves were created by a race known as the Makers. Nothing else is remembered about them except that they were considered wise and benevolent. It was they who cautioned the Dwarves never to leave their Downworld lands, advice which the Dwarves followed for many centuries. All legends refer to the earliest period in Dwarven history as the Age of the Makers.
No Dwarven records exist which can accurately pinpoint the first Downworld homeland of the Dwarves.
IIA. According to one common legend, the Age of the Makers occurred at a time when the Makers were the only sentient mortal life on the planet. The Makers were at that time an ancient race of great craftsmen, artists, and healers, capable of creating unshatterable weapons and powerful magic items.
The Makers were also enemies of the Dragons, who were jealous of the creative abilities of the Makers. Many ages before, the Makers had defeated the Dragons in a great battle and driven them from the world. This was at great cost to the Makers and resulted in their race slowly decreasing in numbers and energy. Because of this, there is disagreement as to whether the Dwarves were originally created as servants and assistants to make the Makers' last days easier or as inheritors of the Makers. However, there is no dispute that in their earliest years the Dwarves aided the Makers in making items, and learned many craft techniques from them.
The second period of history in this legend is the Age of the Dragon Wars. It began when the Dragons returned in a fearsome offensive designed to slay all of the Makers and all of the Dwarves. The Dwarves fought to defend the Makers, but also constructed great underground refuges for them which could not easily be reached by the Dragons. After the remaining Dwarves and Dragons had retreated to these refuges, the Dragons responded by creating servants of their own, including trolls, goblins, and orcs, to follow the Dwarves and Makers below. Unfortunately, during the time of their banishment, the Dragons had increased in power while the Makers had decreased and the servants of the Dragons bred quickly and soon outnumbered the Dwarves. As a result, the Dragons slowly began to win the war.
Finally, the Makers decided to attempt once more to cast the great magic that had previously banished the Dragons, but as a precaution sent many of the Dwarves to safety in scattered, deeply buried holds. The ways from the refuges to the holds were sealed behind the Dwarves so that the servants of the Dragons could not follow if successful, because few Dragons are now found in the world, although the magic resulted in the death of the remaining Makers.
IIB. Another commonly held belief is that the Makers were the Dragons, who had created the Dwarves to assist them in the harvesting of the fruits of the Downworld. Whether the Dwarves rebelled against the greed of some of the Dragons or became lost in the depths of the Downworld is a matter of long standing debate.
In either case, the legends report that they were accompanied by a few sympathetic Dragons, who for unknown reasons began to become ill and die off. Some Dwarves believe that the gasses and strange plant and animal life below ground proved fatal to the Makers, but since Dwarves had been bred to be Downdwellers, they escaped the Makers' fate.
When the last of the Makers died, the Dwarves chose to follow their advice to remain in the Downworld. They prospered so well that as the population grew, the custom of Migration was developed. Over the centuries, distance, seismic upheavals and wars against monsters periodically sealed off travel routes and passages, which is how the clans lost contact with each other.
However, the Dragons who remained Upside had not forgotten the Dwarves. Angry at their escape from servitude, the Dragons created the Downdwelling humanoids (trolls, orcs, goblins), and enlisted the aid of some Earth Elementals to hunt and punish the Dwarves. To this day, Dwarves do not get along well with trolls, despise goblins and orcs, and are generally cautious towards Earth Elementals.
IIC. There is a third legend, not nearly as widespread as the first two, which tells that the Dwarves were actually once Earth Elementals who were somehow altered into their present form during one of the Changes in the Cycle of Ages. According to this legend, they began a frantic search for a means to restore themselves until they realized that their mortal bodies also gave them the means to reproduce themselves in great numbers.
They decided to retain their new form, but in the process of becoming accustomed to it, small groups became scattered about in the Downworld and lost touch with one another. Now that Dwarves have begun to reestablish contact, believers of this legend have begun to seek the reunification of all Dwarves into one Pan-Dwarven Clan for all Tyrra. This legend is most popular on the continents of Gandar (mundanian Europe) and Amys (mundanian Africa).
Whichever legend is most widely accepted, all Dwarves hold that they are the first sentient mortal race upon Tyrra. This assertion is vehemently denied by all of the Elven peoples, who insist that the Elven presence preceded all other mortals (Dragons are considered so long-lived as to be immortal). Most of the other races prefer not to become involved when Dwarves and Elves start discussing their respective origins.
In any case, the centuries following the Age of the Makers are known as the Age of Seclusion. The scattered Dwarven holds had no contact with each other.
III TIMELINE FOR DWARVES IN THE EVENDARR AREA. TOP
???-IV/1729 The Stone Waterfall hold (located in the Fire Downs) slowly expanded. Since the Dwarves attempted to avoid the surface, in case the Dragons were still present, most expansion occurred underground. This led to the creation of an extensive cavern system. The Dwarves also increased their knowledge of craft skills and of earth magic during this time.
IV/1729 Population pressures force Dwarves to explore Upworld
IV/2304 1st Daughterhold called Bearded Caves dedicated in formal ceremony <Tower Hills>
V/2305 Formal relations commenced with Quentari Elves
V/2333 2nd Daughterhold called Sweetwater Hold established <Kitheria>
VI/2340 Trade relations with Quentari Elves
V/3018 Sweetwater dedicated in formal ceremony
VI/3563 3rd Daughterhold called Hammerfall established <Grey Hills>
VIII/4420 4th Daughterhold is reestablished with help from the Hoblings. Its name is changed to Alloyed Hold to reflect this. Note that it now commonly referred to as Holmgate after a great Dwarven leader.
IX/5063 1st Darkwar starts
IX/5110 1st Darkwar ends
X/5263 2nd Darkwar starts
X/5265 The physical construct of the temporal weapon enchanted and used by the Elves is built at Sweetwater Hold
X/5269 2nd Darkwar ends
Note that there are many other Dwarven villages and mines scattered throughout the Greater Evendarr area. However the Stone Waterfall hold and its 4 daughterholds are the principal Population centers.
Beginning in IV/1729, population pressures, the need for new ores and a resurgence of adventurous spirit led Dwarves to start exploring the Upworld, beginning the current Age of known history. To the Dwarves surprise they found not only their old enemies, trolls, goblins, and orcs, but also Elves, and after a while, Humans and Hoblings. Relations between Dwarves and either Elves or Humans in general (there are regional exceptions) have never been close, due to the great differences between the races. However, serious disputes are rare since the races do not compete for the same living space and they are generally untied in their hatred of trolls, goblins, orcs, and necromancy. Recently they have even made contact with other Dwarves, lending support to the belief that Dwarves were the first race on Tyrra.
V. PERSONALITY AND ATTITUDES TOP
Dwarves have a very elaborate culture and, generally, a great respect for law and order. As a result, a significant number of Dwarves become healers and very few become necromancers. The liking and respect for law also is reflected in their dealings with other Dwarves and other races. Individuals that are trustworthy and honest will generally be greatly respected by Dwarves while individuals and races that are dishonest and untrustworthy will earn their enmity. In other words, breaking an agreement with a Dwarf may lead him, or her, to consider you the equivalent of a goblin.
The way most Dwarves look at surface dwelling Dwarves is similar to the way 17th and 18th century mariners were viewed in our world. They are invited to all the parties because they tell wonderful stories, which of course have to be taken with a grain of granite. They are heroes and adventurers but you wouldn't daughter to marry one. They have been known to amass great wealth but this is rare. More likely they will eventually fail to return from the Upworld, dead in some mysterious way. The family will never know exactly how they died, That is why you steer your children away from their influences. Sons because you don't want to lose them to the Upworld and daughters because they can become widows without proper proof which would allow them to enter into a new marriage.
Generally half-Dwarves are not thought of as real Dwarves, although they may be OK people. This is because lineage is everything and the Human side tends to have short records, only a couple of generations. Also there are so few female Dwarves that they should stay within the race to breed more Dwarves. A male Dwarf would be unlikely to take a female Human to wife, because it would shorten their status in the world (no pun intended). Usually, a Dwarf will not go out of his way to be nasty to a half-Dwarf unless he had something against the particular half-Dwarf or something specific in his history such as his great-grandmother on his mother's side was killed by a Human (Dwarves have very good historical records and value them highly.)
The average life of a typical Dwarf is 0-30 childhood, 31-80 apprenticeship, 80 adulthood. Most Dwarves live to be 200 before dying of old age. The youngest age considered acceptable for a master craftsman would be 100 years of age but 115 is more the norm. Child bearing age is from around 50 till about 140 years of age. Gestation time is one year. A Dwarven child is weaned at the age of 4 years at which time it is possible for a Dwarven female to conceive again. Twins and other multiple births are very uncommon, but not unknown.
Beards begin growing about the age of 7 or 8 on both sexes.
Between the ages of 31-80 is the time of apprenticeship when a young Dwarf learns his or her trade and basic skills. The most common trades are metalwork with specialties of weapons or household goods, weaving fungus fibers for cloth, architecture of the caverns with specialties of traps or living spaces, gem working and mining. Youths are sent to another part of the hold for apprenticeship because it is believed that parents would not provide the proper discipline. The first ten years of an apprenticeship the young Dwarf is treated virtually as a slave. He or she is told when to sleep, when to wake, what to eat, and how to work. There is very little time for social activities during this time except during the end of the year holiday. This is to teach the young Dwarf discipline and the value of freedom. How can you truly value freedom if you have never known the lack?
The percentage of female births for Dwarves can vary from 1 in 3 to 1 in 5 but there are always fewer females than males. This shortage of females makes them very valuable in Dwarven society because each Dwarven female on average must have 4 children live to adulthood to maintain present population. As might be thought, the more lopsided the ratio, the fiercer the protection and the greater the value placed on the females. Especially where the ratio is very lopsided, a daughter will be very protected by her parents and usually spoiled rotten. It a Dwarven female has more that one daughter to replace her she is considered very blessed by the Makers.
Dwarves do not marry for life but for the length of a contract. Therefore a Dwarven female can have a number of husbands over the course of a lifetime. She can only have one husband at a time, though. A contract can be based on the number of children or a certain length of time. Contracts are negotiated by the parents as an arranged marriage for the children. Contracts usually include a bride price such as cavern farming rights or a specific amount of ore for metal working. Inheritance of household goods, farming caverns, and hearth space, which can be considerable wealth in itself, occurs through the female line. Accumulated wealth of precious metal, craft tools, and weapons, aside from personal items, are inherited through the male line. In most clans, females have no power in the areas of men's crafts -war and external matters between the clan and other clans and the Upside world. Even in these clans this does not mean that Dwarven females have no power. Quite the opposite; they practically run the show on internal matters such as who can marry, how and to whom food is distributed, and who will be accepted into a household to apprentice to a male. In other clans, especially those where the birth ratio is closer to even, power and roles are shared more evenly between the sexes.
The basic rule for playing a Dwarf is that you must wear a beard. The only Dwarves that are seen without beards are younger than eight years old or criminals that have been punished by having their beards shaved. A Dwarf that suffers an accident that results in the destruction of his or her beard will NOT show his or her face in public until the beard has grown back significantly (which for a Dwarf does not take long). If he or she does need to travel in public, the unbearded Dwarf will wear a facial scarf or veil.
Acceptable beards can be found at costume stores or can be handmade. They do not need to look great, but must be at least several inches in length and cover the chin and most of the jawbone. No goatees allowed. Spirit gum can be used to attach a beard, however, it does not work well., especially in hot weather. A much more effective method is elastic attached to the beard and stretching around the back of the head. A cup shaped piece of heavy cloth or plastic lined with cloth can be used as a chin piece to help insure that the beard stays in place.