Interesting Times: Dwarves
Dwarves:
Personality: Dwarves believe that life is hard and that to do well and make something of yourself you must work constantly and diligently. They can be greedy, but it is considered bad form for a dwarf to be personally greedy, rather they should be working to improve the wealth of family, clan and country. They can take insult easily, and hold a grudge, but they are staunch supporters of their friends and show great courage and tenacity. Dwarves prefer hardy, practical clothing and love working in metal and stone. They value metals for weapon and armor making more than gold and silver, and even dwarf jewelry may be made out of fine steel, mithral or even cold iron.
Physical Description: As PHB. Dwarves in my world have skin that ranges from gray to black, with the lighter colors living closer to the surface world. Dwarves can take far more sustenance from plant life than humans, the bulk of their food coming from roots, fungus and subterrainian plants and animals.
Relations: Dwarves are by far closest to the Gnomes. They share a border, and share a fight against the Orcs. One dwarf clan is even close enough t the Gnomes that they have marriages with them and have joined the illustrious Musketeers. (No children can come from these marriages so the couple adopts war orphans of both races.) They have cool but peaceful relations with the elves and little to do with those west of the elf lands. They are unhappy the Lizardfolk have taken the lands south of their mountains because it means they have no good landings for a navy. But they are already fighting a war to the north against the Orcs and are unwilling to start two wars at once. Dwarves have little dealings with the Dromites, but have a deep respect for them. They are aware the lengths the Dromites will go to stop the hated creatures from getting a foothold on this plane.
Alignment: Dwarven society is highly, highly lawful neutral. Dwarves come in all varieties, but tend towards lawfulness. Dwarven law does not assume innocence until guilt is proven however.
Dwarven Lands: Dwarves live deep in the mountains. All dwarf lands are owned by the King, and are given out to Clanheads to govern in a semi-feudal system. Dwarves are neither nocturnal nor diurnal. They have 3 “shifts” allowing the mines and forges to never sleep. Dwarves tend to stick to the same shift if they can, but will change when their job changes. Each shift is divided into 3 parts. Early shift, main shift, and late shift. So a Dwarven day would go 1st early, 1st main, 1st late, 2nd early, 2nd main, 2nd early, 3rd early, 3rd main, 3rd late. Main shift is twice as long as early and late. Dwarves are expected to work for at least an entire shift. Dwarves eat two very large meals a day, one before the early shift the work and one after the late shift. It can be very hard for humans to work those kinds of hours, especially since they lack darkvision. Many Humans opt to live on the lower valleys of the mountains, as farmers and herders to suppliment the Dwarves meals of roots, fungus and subterainian animals.
History:
The Dwarves claim to be the oldest race. They claim that in ancient history all the land of this continent belonged to dwarves, but after a great war against an unspeakable horror they were pushed back to the mountains before the war was won. That is all very, very far in the past however. They have fought in many wars over the centuries, and have a strong military history. A long time ago they tried to expand under Elven lands. They felt that since they elves weren’t using the underground, they couldn’t really lay claim to it…the Elves disagreed. Eventually the dwarves lost that war, but there isn’t much open hostility anymore. It was a very long time ago and the dwarves have far more recent axes to grind. Currently the are trying to expand into the Orc lands to the north. This gives them far more actual farm land with in turn has eased the burden of trying to grow food underground or in high altitudes. The Gnomes have joined them in their war, and together they have successfully pushed north. There is even talk of building a great wall to help in the defense of their new lands. Dwarven history is littered with accounts of great battles against a great Horror. Dwarves remain constantly vigilant to the threat, and caution other countries to do the same.
