Post by Head Moderator on May 20, 2013 4:11:04 GMT -5
(Info from nobilisarcanus)
Dwarves, sometimes called the Stout Folk, are a natural humanoid race common throughout parts of Airth. Dwarves are a tough, tradition-abiding folk known for their strong martial traditions and beautiful craftsmanship.
Physical Characteristics
Dwarves are a short race, as their name implies, standing between 4'3" and 4'9" on average, with gold dwarves a bit shorter. What Dwarves lack in height they make up for in bulk; they are, on average, about as heavy as humans. A dwarf can weigh anywhere from about 160 to 220 lbs. Dwarven males are a bit taller and heavier than their female counterparts. Like humans dwarves have a wide variety of skin, eye, and hair colors, typically pale among shield dwarves and deeply tanned or brown amongst gold dwarves. Hazel eyes are common throughout the race, with blue eyes more common amongst shield dwarves and brown or green eyes found amongst the gold dwarves.
Male dwarves are often bald and grow thick facial hair sometimes used to display social status. It is a common misconception that female dwarves (with the exception of some gold dwarves) also do this, who instead braid their long hair. This hair is often dark in hue, though among shield dwarves blond or red hair is just as common. Gold dwarves take the care of beards to an extreme, carefully oiling and grooming it, and in some cases even gold dwarven females grow beards.
Dwarves are a long-lived race, though not so much as the Tel-quessir, and reach physical maturity somewhat later than humans. A dwarf is traditionally considered an adult once he or she reaches age fifty. Dwarves age much like humans but over a longer period of time, remaining vigorous well past 150 years. Most dwarves live to see their bicentennial and a few live to be over 400.
Abilities
Dwarves are unusually tough for humanoids, in more ways than one. Dwarven stomachs, for instance, are resistant to virtually all poisons and it takes less effort for a dwarf to get back on its feet than other races. Dwarves also have dense bodies and are difficult to push around as a result, as well as having the capacity to bear loads that other races might find hindering with little ill effect. Dwarves also have a sense about them that few races do, with a preternatural awareness of their surroundings useful for a subterranean race as well as good judgment all-around in general.
Many dwarves are difficult to like and lack the charm of many other smaller races, such as halflings or gnomes, though this is not a trait common to all dwarves and some possess a great deal of charismatic power. Furthermore, dwarves are not entirely unsocial and more than a few have a natural knack for bartering or judging the value of an offer, something that sits well with their legendary crafting abilities.
It is occasionally believed that dwarves possess the ability to see in the blackest darkness, like a drow, and there is evidence that this may be true though it is also possible that the tales are misheard recollections of duergar, who are often mistaken for dwarves. However, many dwarves do have an affinity in other ways for the caverns in which they live, possessing a natural affinity for recognizing unusual patterns in stonework that can seem almost supernatural at times.
Psychology
Whether or not the dwarven claim that they were carved from the world’s stone is true the dwarves share many qualities considered similar to the stone they live with. Strong, hardy, and dependable dwarves are polite, particularly elders, and possess a wisdom beyond that of many other races. Dwarves value their traditions, regardless of the subrace they come from, and look for inspiration from ancestral heroes. Dwarves are also known for their stubborn nature and cynicism, traits widespread amongst the dwarves but which contribute to and are commonly offset by their bravery and tenacity.
Dwarven friendship is hard to earn, but is strong once won. Naturally dour and suspicious, the stout folk are slow to trust others, specifically towards those outside their family, suspecting the worst of an individual until the outsider proves many times their good will. Once this trust is gained dwarves hold their friends to it and view betrayals, even minor ones, with a vicious propensity for vengeance. A common gnomish oath, remarking on this dwarven sense of justice, is “if I'm lying, may I cross a dwarf.”
For dwarves, loyalty is more than a word and that it should be both valued and rewarded. Dwarves believe it a gift and mark of respect to stand beside a friend in combat, and an even deeper one to protect that ally from harm. Many dwarven tales subsequently revolve around the sacrifice of dwarves for their friends and family. Just as dwarves are known for their dependability as friends and allies, dwarves also harbor grudges far longer than many other races. This may be on an individual basis between a dwarf and one who has wronged him or against entire races, even if warfare with the enemy has long since ceased.
Dwarves are a careful and deliberate race, with a more serious disposition than other races, who they sometimes view as flighty or reckless. A dwarf does all things with care and a stubborn resolve, with brash or cowardly behavior unusual for the race. However, dwarves do succumb easily to wrath or greed, which are the most common vices of the race.
Dwarves who leave their homeland to become adventurers do so for a number of reasons. In part, a dwarf might be motivated by simple avarice, given the dwarven love of beautiful things. As often, however, a dwarf might be motivated by a drive to do what is right for others (particularly their clan) or a love of excitement for, as settled as dwarves are, they rarely tire of thrills. But even these wayward dwarves retain the spirit of their brethren, hoping that their accomplishments abroad can bring honor to themselves, their clan, or both. Given that successful dwarven adventurers are likely to recover rare items or defeat enemies of the dwarven people during such challenges, this is a hope not entirely without merit.
Culture
Dwarves highly value the ties between family members and friends, weaving tightly knit clans. Dwarves particularly respect elders, from whom they expect sound leadership and the wisdom of experience, as well as ancestral heroes or clan founders. This idea carries on to relations with other races and dwarves are deferential even to the elders of another, non-dwarven race.
Likewise, dwarves, perhaps moreso than most other races, turn to their gods for guidance and protection. Non-evil dwarves look to the divine for comfort and inspiration, while the wicked look to their divine overlords for methods through which to obtain power over others. Individual dwarves might be faithless, but the race as a whole, regardless of subrace, has a strong inclination for religion and almost every community maintains at least one temple or ancestral shrine
Clans
Most dwarven societies are divided into clans built along family ties and political allegiances. These clans are usually led by hereditary rulers, often monarchs of a sort and descended from the founder of the clan. Dwarves strongly value loyalty to these rulers and to the clan as a whole and even objective dwarves tend to side primarily with their kin over other races or communities.
Most dwarven clans focus on one or two kinds of crafting, such as blacksmithing, jewelry, engineering, or masonry. Dwarves strive to avoid overspecialization by sending some of their youth as apprentices to other clans, which also helps to foster racial unity. Because of the long age dwarves exhibit these apprenticeships may last decades.
Relations with other Races
Dwarves do not forgive past wrongs easily and the entire race has more or less declared war on goblins and orcs as a whole, wiping them out where they find them. Many dwarves view these races as a foul infestation of their mountain homes and their duty to purge them. Likewise, many dwarves view drow and grimlocks with a similar hatred and few dwarves have forgotten their ancestral hatred of the giants who once enslaved them. Because of this dwarves generally view related races, such as half-orcs, with distrust.
In regards to their distant cousins the azers, duergar, and galeb duhr dwarven opinions vary. Many view their distant relations with sympathy for their prior enslavement. On the other hand, duergar and dwarves have long been enemies and many dwarves view them with little more love than they do the drow who share the Underdark with the duergar.
Dwarves get along pretty well with gnomes, with whom they share a love of fine crafting, and passably with humans, half-elves, half-eladrin, and halflings. However, most dwarves commonly believe that true friendships can only be forged over long periods of time and a common saying is that “the difference between an acquaintance and a friend is about a hundred years,” meaning that few members of the shorter-lived races ever forge strong bonds with dwarves. There are exceptions, however, and some of the strongest friendships are those between a dwarf and a human whose grandparents and parents were also on good terms with the dwarf.
Subraces
Arctic Dwarf
Arctic dwarves, also known as Inugaakalikurit, are a race of dwarves located in the isolated reaches of the frozen lands of Rumeria in Airth's northernmost reaches. Artic dwarves have a different origin than most of the other dwarves in Airth as well as the duergar, and are significantly different physiologically and culturally from other members of the Stout Folk, so much that they might be considered their own race.
Physical Characteristics
Arctic dwarves are a very small race, not only in general but in comparison with dwarves as well. The average arctic dwarf is even shorter than a gnome or halfling, standing at just over half the height of a shield dwarf. Physically, arctic dwarves are squat, with pinched faces and stubby legs, being nearly as wide as they are tall with their fingers and toes thick and blunt and their feet flat and wide. Their skin is typically quite pale, ranging from a pale shade of blue to white, except for their cheeks which are a ruddy red, although their frequent exposure to the sun means many are frequently sunburned. Arctic dwarf eyes are bright blue and their curly hair, which they usually let flow freely long to their waists, is white. Unlike most dwarves, arctic dwarf females can't grow beard, though men can, often growing short beards with twisting mustaches. Arctic dwarf dress is typically simple, most often little more than tunics of polar bear fur.
Abilities
While ostensibly dwarves, arctic dwarves have many significant physical and ability differences between themselves and other dwarves. For instance, while arctic dwarves are frequently sunburned due to their constant exposure to the sun, this causes them no harm, suggesting a resistance to radioactivity. Arctic dwarves are also significantly stronger than most dwarves, while being, in spite of their size, less dexterous. Arctic dwarves are also completely immune to the effects of extreme cold.
Psychology
In general, arctic dwarves are a gregarious people, open to the company of others. Unlike other dwarves they care little from what bloodline another dwarf comes from and have next to no materialistic drive, believing instead in living life to the fullest. In part, this is derived from the primitive nature of arctic dwarven society, which relies on hunting and foraging to sustain itself, restricting the accumulation of private property but at the same time allowing for a greater amount of free time than civilized cultures do.
While individualistic and open-minded, arctic dwarves rarely venture beyond their own homelands to adventure. Those that do are usually driven by a spirit of curiosity, falling into the life of an adventurer more by default than by conscious decision. These individuals often become rangers or barbarians, which the self-sufficient lifestyle of an arctic dwarf is well-suited for and which draw upon the long history of their people's fight against the frost giants of the north.
Culture
Given the scattered nature of their population it is remarkable that arctic dwarf society is as homogeneous as it is, most likely the result of millennia spent in isolation from other races. Unlike most dwarves, the arctic dwarves do not divide themselves by clan lineage but neither is individualism highly valued among the illiterate race, who do not frequently remember individual deeds for more than a generation. Nor do arctic dwarves value hard work or craftsmanship to the same degree as other dwarves or indeed as most other races.
Instead, arctic dwarves focus themselves on contributing to the greater communal good, which itself demands very little from them, meaning that most of the race are content to live in ease without concern for the future. Young children recieve a great deal of attention and raised by most of the community as a whole. Elders are largely devoid of any responsibility at all in arctic dwarf society, which sees it as their right to live without worries for the remainder of their days before being buried beneath the snow and ice when they finally leave the mortal world.
Arctic dwarves are few in number as it is and only very rarely have they migrated from their northern homes to more temperate regions. As a result, they integrate poorly with outside cultures and often exert a great deal of effort looking for others of similar mind to replicate the casual lifestyle of their culture.
Arctic dwarves almost exclusively speak Kurit, a rare dialect of [[Dwarvish] that is significantly influenced by Uluik, though a few also speak the Rumarian dialect of Common. Other arctic dwarves learn Uluik, Giant, Damaran, or Draconic. Although nearly all arctic dwarves are illiterate, Kurit does use a version of the Dethek alphabet and many arctic dwarves who become adventurers are literate.
Art and Leisure
Because of their hunter-gatherer lifestyle, arctic dwarves have a great degree of free time on their hands and as a result value leisure to an extent equal to and beyond that of hard work and few spend more than the minimal amount of effort necessary to accomplish survival. Among the activities enjoyed is dog riding and the arctic dwarves employ a large number of riding dogs as pets, mounts, hunting companions, and beasts of burden.
Arctic dwarf crafts are largely limited to practical items, such as hunting weapons or survival tools. Many arctic dwarfs wear hide armor, the pelts of polar bears being the most valued. Most arctic dwarfs go barefoot, in spite of the cold. For hunting tools, arctic dwarfs prefer the use of arctic harpoons, even though their size is awkward, driven on by myths about arctic dwarfs felling improbably large quarries with similar harpoons.
Magic and Religion
For the most part, arctic dwarves lack any significant magical traditions and largely view the Art as impractical. The magical items found among the race are mostly created by druids or the race's small number of arcanists, among the most common of which are amulets of natural armor and snowshoes of speed. One of the few magic items unique to arctic dwarves are kerrenderit or magically shaped ice crystals often used as arrowheads.
In addition to lacking an arcane spellcasting tradition, the arctic dwarves are not particularly religious and venerate neither the Morndinsamman nor any other gods. Instead, the arctic dwarves venerate the natural world, sometimes honoring Talos or Ulutiu in the process.[citation needed] Those few dwarves who practice any magic of any kind are most frequently druids, adepts, or rangers. Arctic dwarf druids are somewhat notable for their reliance on fire-based magic, which they employ against frost giants, frost worms, and other foes to great effectiveness.
Relations with other Races
Arctic dwarves have very little contact with anyone besides themselves, frost giants, with whom they are deadly foes, and Rumerian humans, with whom they have friendly relations. However, because arctic dwarves are a friendly and open-minded race they are usually very tolerant of outsiders. Gnomes and other dwarves are often considered amusing to arctic dwarves due to their mix of familiar and alien, an attitude that also applies to a lesser extent to humans other than the Rumarians. The most familiar of the Tel-quessir to arctic dwarves are flying avariel and as a consequence arctic dwarves typically treat elves and eladrin with a degree of awe. Most other humanoid races only rarely encounter the arctic dwarves and are considered quite exotic.
Gold Dwarves
Gold dwarves, also known as hill dwarves, are the aloof, confident and sometimes proud subrace of dwarves that predominantly come from the Ridgebacks in the Sarkotos area. They are known to be particularly stalwart warriors and shrewd traders. Gold dwarves are often trained specifically to battle the horrendous aberrations that are known to come from the Underdark.
Description
Gold dwarves are stout, tough individuals like their shield dwarven brethren but are less off-putting and gruff in nature. Conversely, gold dwarves are often less agile then other dwarves. The average gold dwarf is about four feet tall and as heavy as a full-grown human, making them somewhat squatter than the more common shield dwarves. Gold dwarves are also distinguishable by their light brown or tanned skin, significantly darker than that of most dwarves, and their brown or hazel eyes. Gold dwarves have black, gray, or brown hair, which fade to light gray over time. Gold dwarf males and some females can grow beard, which are carefully groomed and grown to great lengths.
Culture
Humans who wander into the gold dwarven strongholds may be surprised to find a people far more confident and secure in their future than most dwarves. Whereas the shield dwarves suffered serious setbacks during their history, the gold dwarves have stood firm against the challenges thrown against them and so have few doubts about their place in the world. As a result, gold dwarves can come off as haughty and almost elf-like in their pride, believing themselves culturally superior to all other races and lacking the fatalistic pessimism of their shield dwarven cousins.
Art and Leisure
Gold dwarves are a deeply materialistic race who believe that the resources of the natural world exist only to serve the purpose of conscious beings. To a gold dwarf, there is no greater purpose than to fashion the minerals of the earth into things of beauty. Gold dwarf guilds take great care in their craftsmanship, often spending centuries to perfect their work and mark it distinctively as their own, a practice which is carried down to even the most simple tools, marking such items with detailed runes and carefully shaped flairs.
Gold dwarf warriors employ a large number of finely crafted weapons and armor, often enchanted with runes or prayers. Most commonly, dwarves employ weapons that can also be used as tools, such as axes, picks, or hammers, alongside more specialized weapons like urgroshes. Some unique items of note crafted by gold dwarves are mobile braces, rope climbers, or drogue wings used for riding hippogriffs.
Gold dwarves enjoy the company of small lizards as pets such as the spitting crawler or shocker lizard. Deep rothé are frequently kept as livestock as well, alongside pack lizards and mules as beasts of burden. For mounts, gold dwarves usually use riding lizards, war ponies, or, more rarely, hippogriffs.
Magic and Religion
Unlike most dwarven peoples, the gold dwarves are not particularly superstitious about magic and while still cautious in its use, are no more so than any wise human mage, and gold dwarves have even created a number of spells unique to them. In part, gold dwarves are open to magic because of their heavy used of enchanted arms and weaponry, but primarily this tolerance comes from the age of gold dwarven civilization, which through sheer longevity has given rise to several magical traditions.
Divine spellcasters remain more common among the gold dwarves, however, though gold dwarves are less fervent in their beliefs than the openly devout shield dwarves. Gold dwarves most commonly favor the worship of Moradin and Berronar, in part due once again to the age of the gold dwarf civilization, which stretches back to when many of the Morndinsamman had not yet become widely known. While the gold dwarves are not particularly devout, clerics of Moradin and Berronar hold great prestige within gold dwarf society, the clerics of Berronar in particular for their responsibilities as genealogists and guardians of traditon.
Relationships
The gold dwarves are a proud race confident in their race's future after millennia of stability and because of this they have earned a somewhat deserved reputation for xenophobia and supremacism. Gold dwarves believe dwarves to be the greatest of all races and themselves to be the greatest of all dwarves, placing themselves at the top of the cultural pyramid. Gold dwarves in particular look down upon the Tel-quessir, whom they loathe in part due to their ancient enmity with the drow.
Of the monstrous races, the gold dwarves' opinion is even lower. Among many key differences between gold dwarves and their more common kin is that the traditional enemies of the gold dwarf are not goblinoids but aberrations and other creatures of the Underdark, against whom many gold dwarves have some defensive training. But this does not mean gold dwarves enjoy the company of goblins or orcs, whom they lump half-orcs in with.
However, gold dwarves do not see all races besides themselves with enmity. For instance, gold dwarves have an atypically high value of humans and their planetouched kin for non-human races, valuing the often profitable trading arrangements they've had with human realms going back throughout history. Similarly, gold dwarves are, as a rule, rather fond of strongheart halflings, seeing them as kindred of spirit due to the subrace's propensity for industriousness and honor.
Psychology
Gold dwarves are both materialistic and ritualistic, valuing themselves and others by what they possess and by the reputation of their family. Gold dwarves are deeply conservative, rooting their values and beliefs in traditions that have survived for millennia even as the world changed around them. From infancy, gold dwarves are taught that their life is determined by tradition, from what their profession shall be to who they shall marry. Gold dwarves who lack faith in the old ways or who go so far as to challenge cultural taboos are seen as dangerous deviants unworthy of friendship or trust by the majority of gold dwarves, creating an enormous social pressure to conform.
In part because of their conservatism and staunch belief in their own cultural superiority, gold dwarves rarely venture outside of their homelands. The Thunder Blessing was the first event in a long while to push the race out of their conformity, forcing young dwarves to seek their fortunes outside of an overcrowded Deep Realm. Other than such demographic pressures, the only motive for adventuring deemed rational to the average gold dwarf is the desire to seek out their fortune in unclaimed lands, perhaps to build a stronghold of their own.
Gold dwarves who do become adventurers are most often fighters, though clerics, paladins, rangers, rogues, or even arcanists are not unheard of, particularly sorcerers, many of whom are distantly descended from dragons or elementals. Experienced gold dwarf adventurers might become battleragers, particularly those who find the tradition-bound strictures of their society oppressive. Other gold dwarves might train as dwarven defenders or divine champions.
Shield Dwarves
Shield dwarves are among the most common of the dwarven peoples. Once the rulers of mighty kingdoms across Airth, the shield dwarves have since fallen by the wayside after centuries of warfare with their goblinoid enemies. Since then, shield dwarves have been less commonly seen throughout the lands, though during the Era of Upheaval the subrace, spurred on by the Thunder Blessing, began to retake an important role in local politics.
Physical Characteristics
The shield dwarves are on average half a foot taller than other dwarves. They are the most common dwarf in the north of Airth. They have light skin that is fair or lightly tanned and green or silvery blue eyes with long light brown or red hair, growing white or gray with age. Most males and even some females have large beards and mustaches. The females are slightly shorter and less heavy than the males.
Psychology
Shield dwarves are a cynical and gruff people, but they are, despite a reputation to the contrary, fatalistic, still possessing some hope for the future. Typically, shield dwarves take time to trust and even longer to forgive but the dwindling of their race has led many to be more open to other ways of thinking. Shield dwarven attitudes have in the past been typically divided between the Hidden and the Wanderers, two separate schools of thought amongst the race, though since the Thunder Blessing this separation has begun to erode. The Hidden, like the gold dwarves, believed it best to take an isolationist policy towards other races, fortifying their mountain homes and continuing their ancient ways, while the Wanderers have been more adventurous, seeking their fortunes on the surface world.
However, while shield dwarves have not always been as open-minded as they are today, there is a long tradition of adventurism in the race and many young dwarves, particularly since the Thunder Blessing, have hoped to find glory in doing great deeds in distant lands. Less self-interested shield dwarves have also taken to the adventuring life to reclaim ancient strongholds or treasures long lost. Whatever the case, most shield dwarves who venture beyond their homes are fighters or clerics trained in personal combat, leaning on the strong martial traditions of their people against the orcs, goblins, trolls, and giants that threaten the race. Experienced dwarven adventurers might well go on to become battleragers or dwarven defenders, while clerics might become runecasters. Arcanists are fairly rare, however, among shield dwarves, who distrust magic.
Culture
Traditionally, clan allegiance and caste placement meant everything among the shield dwarves but as their civilization has declined so has the importance of these identity constructs. Although bloodline is still a mark of pride for a dwarf from a particularly strong clan, personal accomplishments have come to mean more practically than the old ways, which seem increasingly irrelevant. Among the Hidden, traditions remain strong, but there is an increasing number of shield dwarves willing to leave the mountains for a life as adventurers or craftsmen among humans.
Family life remains a prime concern for dwarves, however, and while elders play a diminishing role in childrearing, the relationships between parent and child or siblings remain as strong as ever. Most dwarves are literate and are taught to read at an early age, before being handed off to an apprenticeship appropriate to their caste. In the workplace, shield dwarves are taught to work both for not only themselves and their family but for the greater whole of their clan and most shield dwarves are, while proud of their work, fairly humble and avoid ostentatious displays of decadence. After a shield dwarf has expired his or her ability to work physically, they remain a valued part of the community for their experience and wisdom and when they die they are honored with funeral rites appropriate to their legacy.
Shield dwarves speak a number of Dwarven dialects. Most shield dwarves are also fluent in Common and the extensive trading contacts of the race has encouraged many to learn Sark, Rumeric, and Doxenian and even Elven and Gnome as well. Shield dwarf warriors might also be encouraged to learn the languages of their enemies, such as Draconic, Giant, Orc, or Goblin.
Art and Leisure
Shield dwarves are fine craftsmen but more than among other dwarven races, their craft tends to be war. Shield dwarves accumulate a wide variety of weaponry in the fight to defend their homelands and unlike many dwarves do not limit themselves simply to hammers or picks, drawing upon axes, urgroshes, spears, swords, and mauls as well. Shield dwarves typically equip themselves in heavy armor fashioned from mithral, which they favor over the adamantine of gold dwarves.
For pets, shield dwarves favor bats, canaries, or small lizards such as the spitting crawler. Like other dwarves they use larger lizards or mules as beasts of burden and employ ponies as their war steeds, except in Thanes, where many ride upon riding lizards. In the Far Hills, dwarves have been known to ride dire bats, navigating the underground tunnels that make up their home upon the flying mammals' backs. Other, more adventurous shield dwarves might also try to mount dire boars.
Magic and Religion
While shield dwarves are openly dismissive of magic, they nonetheless rely on it to a significant degree in the defense of their homelands. Among the Hidden, illusionists and abjurers are immensely valued, since they can hide or protect a clan from enemy attack, layering their defenses with protective spells and rituals. Shield dwarves also make extensive used of magic items, though the Hidden and Wanderers differ over which type of items are best employed (armor and weaponry respectively). A few magic items unique to the shield dwarves include doorbreakers, hammers of staggering blows, stonereavers, and foesplitter axes.
In general, shield dwarves are more open to divine magic and clerics, paladins, runecasters, and runesmiths are all fairly common. Shield dwarf clerics have even fashioned a few prayers of their own, such as mindless rage and shape metal. Shield dwarf clerics most commonly worshiped Dumathoin, who was chosen as the chief god of Ridgebacks during the first election for the high king of the Wyrmskull Throne, for whom Moradin selected the high priest of Dumathoin, Ultoksamrin, though this eventually led Clan Duergar, the worshipers of Laduguer, to pull away from the other kingdoms of Ridgebacks, each of whom had their own patron deity but all of whom, except for Clan Duergar, recognized Ultoksamrin.
For the most part, shield dwarves venerate all the Morndinsamman and even before Dumathoin perished nearly all of the pantheon besides Laduguer and Deep Duerra had followers among the race. In practice, however, where Dumathoin did not dominate, Moradin and Berronar, the patrons of Alatorin, or Marthammor Duin, the patron of adventurers and explorers, did. Most prominent were Dumathoin's priests, who oversaw all burials among the race before the god's demise.
Relations with other Races
Shield dwarves, while gruff, are not acidic in personality and generally enjoy the company of others, even if they are not of their own kind. Most of all, shield dwarves get along with other dwarves, even for gold dwarves, who they believe naive and overconfident. Although shield dwarves lay claim to a long history of disputes with the Tel-quessir races, most among both peoples are tolerant and even fond of the other. For gnomes, shield dwarves have nothing but fondness, particularly the rock gnomes and deep gnomes, and dwarves have a long tradition of friendship with most of their human neighbors.
There are exceptions to the shield dwarves' tolerance, however, and the race is openly hostile with their kin the duergar, who blame the shield dwarves for their enslavement by the mind flayers. Shield dwarves also have little tolerance for either half-orcs or planetouched, who are either too alien to their experiences to understand or too much like previous enemies. Earthsoul genasi are the only planetouched shield dwarves will easily trust and are in fact welcomed into most delves across Airth.
Wild Dwarves
Wild dwarves, who call themselves "dur Authalar" (the People), were the primitive inhabitants of the Jungles of madder. They largely rejected the clan-based, craft-and-smith-oriented culture of their gold, gray, and shield dwarf cousins, choosing instead to live in hunting bands with ever-shifting memberships. Eschewing all trappings of civilization, wild dwarves lived like beasts, engaged in an endless hunt for survival.
Duergar
Duergar, also known as gray dwarves, are a subterranean race. They are close kin to dwarves, but with a diabolic taint to their blood. They now carve out their existence in the Underdark, often near volcanoes. Their kinship to surface dwarves can be compared to that of the drow to surface elves.
Physical Characteristics
Like their dwarven brethren, duergar are typically stocky figures, though beyond this there are many differences. Both male and female duergar are typically bald, with females also lacking the capacity to grow facial hair. When they are not bald, however, duergar grow spiny quills like those of a porcupine rather than typical hair, both along their scalp and in their beards, which they can shoot at their enemies. Many are also thinner than their dwarven brethren. Most obvious, however, is their dull gray skin and hair, often matched with an equally stolid expression.
Because many duergar found on the surface world are criminal exiles, a surface dweller who encounters one of the gray dwarves is likely to notice facial and arm tattoos that mark the duergar as a traitor to his or her people.
Abilities
Duergar are in some ways even better adapted to underground living than dwarves. While dwarves lack the capacity to see completely in the deepest darkness, this is not a problem for duergar, who are so adapted. Duergar are also immune to many of the ancient techniques used by the mind flayers to control them, such as paralysis, phantasms, alchemical poisons, or some types of illusion, as well as having a general resistance to fire or poison.
Duergar are also a sneaky, crafty people, unlike their honor-bound cousins and often excel at setting up ambushes or moving out of sight. Conversely, many also are good at detecting hidden objects. A few duergar also possess natural abilities akin to the enlarge and invisibility spells. This comes at a cost, however, and duergar, like drow of the past, have a special vulnerability to sunlight.
Psychology
Duergar are at their heart a grim and bitter race, pessimistic of their future and deeply cynical regarding the motives of others. In a dark inversion of the strong family bonds typical of their dwarven kin, duergar view their kin and clan as adversaries set on holding them back, an expectation that becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy since every duergar is taught to believe this from their early childhood. As a result, duergar are a dark and cruel race, who show no mercy to their foes and who take great pleasure in inflicting pain on others, a welcome relief from what they believe is a meaningless life ended with betrayal.
Because of their pessimism, duergar rarely adventure of their own free will and are instead most commonly exiles cast out of their society. These adventurers, most commonly concerned with personal gratification, are frequently fighters or rogues, leaning on their training against the threats of the Underdark. Clerics are fairly common as well, serving the duergar gods in order to gain power and influence within society. Unlike the dwarves, duergar have no particular prejudices against arcanists and both smiths specializing in the smithy of enchanted items and wizards are well respected. Because of their cruel nature, experienced duergar adventurers often become assassins or blackguards, though the veneration of runes in duergar culture also leads many to become runecasters.
Culture
Duergar are, as a whole, generally cruel and malevolent creatures, but as in most evil races this is as much a cultural affectation as a psychological trait. In the past, a few duergar turned away from the worship of the wicked gods who ruled over the Duergar such as Laduguer and Deep Duerra and found salvation through the Morndinsamman. Other duergar have found escape from their society through petty crime, tattooed and cast out from their cities beneath the surface and driven into the arms of other races. Their grim disposition, however, makes them unlikely to form many lasting friendships.
Duergar primarily speak Duergan, a dialect of Dwarven descended from the dialect of the shield dwarves and heavily influenced by mind flayer and drow words found in Undercommon. Duergar themselves are commonly fluent in Undercommon, the lingua franca of the Underdark. Other common second languages for duergar are those of their enemies, such as Draconic, Drow, Giant, Goblin, or Orc. Others might learn Terran in order to conduct trade with earth elementals, while others learn Common to trade with the surface world.
Art and Leisure
As the worshipers of Laduguer, the duergar have a long tradition of crafting that goes back to their days as as part of the shield dwarven society. Like the dwarves, duergar are fine craftsmen with an eye for detail, though they are often pragmatic enough to eschew the ostentatious decorations of their kin, which they feel not only is wasteful, but which could potentially give away their presence when treading the Underdark. Additionally, the art of duergar is, unlike that of their brethren, notable for its veneration of blood and cruelty, with scenes of warfare marking much of their art.
Most of all, duergar are concerned with practicality, peddling military saddles, thunderstones, poisons, and an extraordinarily effective form of armor lubricant. Like their dwarven kin, duergar prefer weapons that can serve as tools on the fly, such as hammers or picks.
For pets or familiars, duergar often enjoy the company of Underdark creatures, such as bats, spiders, osquips, or spitting crawlers. For beasts of burden, duergar use large lizards or steeders.
Magic and Religion
Unlike dwarves, duergar have a strong tradition of magic, both in the divine and arcane varieties and duergar clerics, runecasters, runesmiths, and wizards are highly respected for their skill. In particular, the duergar have a fondness for magically crafted items which they can use to aid them in combat, protect their minds against tampering, or to hide from enemy senses. Duergar have crafted many magic items unique to them, such as absorbing shields, bolts of battering, and stonereaver axes.
In the past the chief god of the duergar was Laduguer, the dwarven god of crafting, a tradition going back to the days of Clan Duergar, when the god served as the house's divine patron. Early on, the veneration of Laduguer led to disputes with many of the other kingdoms of the Ridgebacks, who chose to venerate Dumathoin as the patron of the entire shield dwarven race. When Clan Duergar was enslaved by the mind flayers the duergar carried on their worship in captivity, although many secretly formed pacts with the devils of the Nine Hells as well.
Although the duergar formally venerated all the Morndinsamman, the duergar in their captivity became only more devout in their exclusive worship of Laduguer and, later on, his adopted daughter Deep Duerra. Duerra, initially a duergar herself, was beloved among the duergar for having stolen the Invisible Art from the mind flayers during her campaign against them. Laduguer and Duerra would perish however during a Spellplague and, in their desperation, the duergar turned to Asmodeus.
Relations with other races
Duergar are a coarse and distrustful race who feel that other races are out to get them, whether they be from the Underdark or the surface world. In spite of this, duergar are usually willing to trade with outside races, particularly from the surface world, for the sake of profit and the relations between duergar and their sometime enemies, sometimes friends the drow and deep gnomes are especially complicated. However, the duergar have absolutely no love in their heart for their closest of kin, the shield dwarves, who the duergar feel abandoned them to the onslaught of the mind flayers. Since then, the duergar have waged war time and time again against the shield dwarves, demonstrating a deep-seated loathing.
Dwarves, sometimes called the Stout Folk, are a natural humanoid race common throughout parts of Airth. Dwarves are a tough, tradition-abiding folk known for their strong martial traditions and beautiful craftsmanship.
Physical Characteristics
Dwarves are a short race, as their name implies, standing between 4'3" and 4'9" on average, with gold dwarves a bit shorter. What Dwarves lack in height they make up for in bulk; they are, on average, about as heavy as humans. A dwarf can weigh anywhere from about 160 to 220 lbs. Dwarven males are a bit taller and heavier than their female counterparts. Like humans dwarves have a wide variety of skin, eye, and hair colors, typically pale among shield dwarves and deeply tanned or brown amongst gold dwarves. Hazel eyes are common throughout the race, with blue eyes more common amongst shield dwarves and brown or green eyes found amongst the gold dwarves.
Male dwarves are often bald and grow thick facial hair sometimes used to display social status. It is a common misconception that female dwarves (with the exception of some gold dwarves) also do this, who instead braid their long hair. This hair is often dark in hue, though among shield dwarves blond or red hair is just as common. Gold dwarves take the care of beards to an extreme, carefully oiling and grooming it, and in some cases even gold dwarven females grow beards.
Dwarves are a long-lived race, though not so much as the Tel-quessir, and reach physical maturity somewhat later than humans. A dwarf is traditionally considered an adult once he or she reaches age fifty. Dwarves age much like humans but over a longer period of time, remaining vigorous well past 150 years. Most dwarves live to see their bicentennial and a few live to be over 400.
Abilities
Dwarves are unusually tough for humanoids, in more ways than one. Dwarven stomachs, for instance, are resistant to virtually all poisons and it takes less effort for a dwarf to get back on its feet than other races. Dwarves also have dense bodies and are difficult to push around as a result, as well as having the capacity to bear loads that other races might find hindering with little ill effect. Dwarves also have a sense about them that few races do, with a preternatural awareness of their surroundings useful for a subterranean race as well as good judgment all-around in general.
Many dwarves are difficult to like and lack the charm of many other smaller races, such as halflings or gnomes, though this is not a trait common to all dwarves and some possess a great deal of charismatic power. Furthermore, dwarves are not entirely unsocial and more than a few have a natural knack for bartering or judging the value of an offer, something that sits well with their legendary crafting abilities.
It is occasionally believed that dwarves possess the ability to see in the blackest darkness, like a drow, and there is evidence that this may be true though it is also possible that the tales are misheard recollections of duergar, who are often mistaken for dwarves. However, many dwarves do have an affinity in other ways for the caverns in which they live, possessing a natural affinity for recognizing unusual patterns in stonework that can seem almost supernatural at times.
Psychology
Whether or not the dwarven claim that they were carved from the world’s stone is true the dwarves share many qualities considered similar to the stone they live with. Strong, hardy, and dependable dwarves are polite, particularly elders, and possess a wisdom beyond that of many other races. Dwarves value their traditions, regardless of the subrace they come from, and look for inspiration from ancestral heroes. Dwarves are also known for their stubborn nature and cynicism, traits widespread amongst the dwarves but which contribute to and are commonly offset by their bravery and tenacity.
Dwarven friendship is hard to earn, but is strong once won. Naturally dour and suspicious, the stout folk are slow to trust others, specifically towards those outside their family, suspecting the worst of an individual until the outsider proves many times their good will. Once this trust is gained dwarves hold their friends to it and view betrayals, even minor ones, with a vicious propensity for vengeance. A common gnomish oath, remarking on this dwarven sense of justice, is “if I'm lying, may I cross a dwarf.”
For dwarves, loyalty is more than a word and that it should be both valued and rewarded. Dwarves believe it a gift and mark of respect to stand beside a friend in combat, and an even deeper one to protect that ally from harm. Many dwarven tales subsequently revolve around the sacrifice of dwarves for their friends and family. Just as dwarves are known for their dependability as friends and allies, dwarves also harbor grudges far longer than many other races. This may be on an individual basis between a dwarf and one who has wronged him or against entire races, even if warfare with the enemy has long since ceased.
Dwarves are a careful and deliberate race, with a more serious disposition than other races, who they sometimes view as flighty or reckless. A dwarf does all things with care and a stubborn resolve, with brash or cowardly behavior unusual for the race. However, dwarves do succumb easily to wrath or greed, which are the most common vices of the race.
Dwarves who leave their homeland to become adventurers do so for a number of reasons. In part, a dwarf might be motivated by simple avarice, given the dwarven love of beautiful things. As often, however, a dwarf might be motivated by a drive to do what is right for others (particularly their clan) or a love of excitement for, as settled as dwarves are, they rarely tire of thrills. But even these wayward dwarves retain the spirit of their brethren, hoping that their accomplishments abroad can bring honor to themselves, their clan, or both. Given that successful dwarven adventurers are likely to recover rare items or defeat enemies of the dwarven people during such challenges, this is a hope not entirely without merit.
Culture
Dwarves highly value the ties between family members and friends, weaving tightly knit clans. Dwarves particularly respect elders, from whom they expect sound leadership and the wisdom of experience, as well as ancestral heroes or clan founders. This idea carries on to relations with other races and dwarves are deferential even to the elders of another, non-dwarven race.
Likewise, dwarves, perhaps moreso than most other races, turn to their gods for guidance and protection. Non-evil dwarves look to the divine for comfort and inspiration, while the wicked look to their divine overlords for methods through which to obtain power over others. Individual dwarves might be faithless, but the race as a whole, regardless of subrace, has a strong inclination for religion and almost every community maintains at least one temple or ancestral shrine
Clans
Most dwarven societies are divided into clans built along family ties and political allegiances. These clans are usually led by hereditary rulers, often monarchs of a sort and descended from the founder of the clan. Dwarves strongly value loyalty to these rulers and to the clan as a whole and even objective dwarves tend to side primarily with their kin over other races or communities.
Most dwarven clans focus on one or two kinds of crafting, such as blacksmithing, jewelry, engineering, or masonry. Dwarves strive to avoid overspecialization by sending some of their youth as apprentices to other clans, which also helps to foster racial unity. Because of the long age dwarves exhibit these apprenticeships may last decades.
Relations with other Races
Dwarves do not forgive past wrongs easily and the entire race has more or less declared war on goblins and orcs as a whole, wiping them out where they find them. Many dwarves view these races as a foul infestation of their mountain homes and their duty to purge them. Likewise, many dwarves view drow and grimlocks with a similar hatred and few dwarves have forgotten their ancestral hatred of the giants who once enslaved them. Because of this dwarves generally view related races, such as half-orcs, with distrust.
In regards to their distant cousins the azers, duergar, and galeb duhr dwarven opinions vary. Many view their distant relations with sympathy for their prior enslavement. On the other hand, duergar and dwarves have long been enemies and many dwarves view them with little more love than they do the drow who share the Underdark with the duergar.
Dwarves get along pretty well with gnomes, with whom they share a love of fine crafting, and passably with humans, half-elves, half-eladrin, and halflings. However, most dwarves commonly believe that true friendships can only be forged over long periods of time and a common saying is that “the difference between an acquaintance and a friend is about a hundred years,” meaning that few members of the shorter-lived races ever forge strong bonds with dwarves. There are exceptions, however, and some of the strongest friendships are those between a dwarf and a human whose grandparents and parents were also on good terms with the dwarf.
Subraces
Arctic Dwarf
Arctic dwarves, also known as Inugaakalikurit, are a race of dwarves located in the isolated reaches of the frozen lands of Rumeria in Airth's northernmost reaches. Artic dwarves have a different origin than most of the other dwarves in Airth as well as the duergar, and are significantly different physiologically and culturally from other members of the Stout Folk, so much that they might be considered their own race.
Physical Characteristics
Arctic dwarves are a very small race, not only in general but in comparison with dwarves as well. The average arctic dwarf is even shorter than a gnome or halfling, standing at just over half the height of a shield dwarf. Physically, arctic dwarves are squat, with pinched faces and stubby legs, being nearly as wide as they are tall with their fingers and toes thick and blunt and their feet flat and wide. Their skin is typically quite pale, ranging from a pale shade of blue to white, except for their cheeks which are a ruddy red, although their frequent exposure to the sun means many are frequently sunburned. Arctic dwarf eyes are bright blue and their curly hair, which they usually let flow freely long to their waists, is white. Unlike most dwarves, arctic dwarf females can't grow beard, though men can, often growing short beards with twisting mustaches. Arctic dwarf dress is typically simple, most often little more than tunics of polar bear fur.
Abilities
While ostensibly dwarves, arctic dwarves have many significant physical and ability differences between themselves and other dwarves. For instance, while arctic dwarves are frequently sunburned due to their constant exposure to the sun, this causes them no harm, suggesting a resistance to radioactivity. Arctic dwarves are also significantly stronger than most dwarves, while being, in spite of their size, less dexterous. Arctic dwarves are also completely immune to the effects of extreme cold.
Psychology
In general, arctic dwarves are a gregarious people, open to the company of others. Unlike other dwarves they care little from what bloodline another dwarf comes from and have next to no materialistic drive, believing instead in living life to the fullest. In part, this is derived from the primitive nature of arctic dwarven society, which relies on hunting and foraging to sustain itself, restricting the accumulation of private property but at the same time allowing for a greater amount of free time than civilized cultures do.
While individualistic and open-minded, arctic dwarves rarely venture beyond their own homelands to adventure. Those that do are usually driven by a spirit of curiosity, falling into the life of an adventurer more by default than by conscious decision. These individuals often become rangers or barbarians, which the self-sufficient lifestyle of an arctic dwarf is well-suited for and which draw upon the long history of their people's fight against the frost giants of the north.
Culture
Given the scattered nature of their population it is remarkable that arctic dwarf society is as homogeneous as it is, most likely the result of millennia spent in isolation from other races. Unlike most dwarves, the arctic dwarves do not divide themselves by clan lineage but neither is individualism highly valued among the illiterate race, who do not frequently remember individual deeds for more than a generation. Nor do arctic dwarves value hard work or craftsmanship to the same degree as other dwarves or indeed as most other races.
Instead, arctic dwarves focus themselves on contributing to the greater communal good, which itself demands very little from them, meaning that most of the race are content to live in ease without concern for the future. Young children recieve a great deal of attention and raised by most of the community as a whole. Elders are largely devoid of any responsibility at all in arctic dwarf society, which sees it as their right to live without worries for the remainder of their days before being buried beneath the snow and ice when they finally leave the mortal world.
Arctic dwarves are few in number as it is and only very rarely have they migrated from their northern homes to more temperate regions. As a result, they integrate poorly with outside cultures and often exert a great deal of effort looking for others of similar mind to replicate the casual lifestyle of their culture.
Arctic dwarves almost exclusively speak Kurit, a rare dialect of [[Dwarvish] that is significantly influenced by Uluik, though a few also speak the Rumarian dialect of Common. Other arctic dwarves learn Uluik, Giant, Damaran, or Draconic. Although nearly all arctic dwarves are illiterate, Kurit does use a version of the Dethek alphabet and many arctic dwarves who become adventurers are literate.
Art and Leisure
Because of their hunter-gatherer lifestyle, arctic dwarves have a great degree of free time on their hands and as a result value leisure to an extent equal to and beyond that of hard work and few spend more than the minimal amount of effort necessary to accomplish survival. Among the activities enjoyed is dog riding and the arctic dwarves employ a large number of riding dogs as pets, mounts, hunting companions, and beasts of burden.
Arctic dwarf crafts are largely limited to practical items, such as hunting weapons or survival tools. Many arctic dwarfs wear hide armor, the pelts of polar bears being the most valued. Most arctic dwarfs go barefoot, in spite of the cold. For hunting tools, arctic dwarfs prefer the use of arctic harpoons, even though their size is awkward, driven on by myths about arctic dwarfs felling improbably large quarries with similar harpoons.
Magic and Religion
For the most part, arctic dwarves lack any significant magical traditions and largely view the Art as impractical. The magical items found among the race are mostly created by druids or the race's small number of arcanists, among the most common of which are amulets of natural armor and snowshoes of speed. One of the few magic items unique to arctic dwarves are kerrenderit or magically shaped ice crystals often used as arrowheads.
In addition to lacking an arcane spellcasting tradition, the arctic dwarves are not particularly religious and venerate neither the Morndinsamman nor any other gods. Instead, the arctic dwarves venerate the natural world, sometimes honoring Talos or Ulutiu in the process.[citation needed] Those few dwarves who practice any magic of any kind are most frequently druids, adepts, or rangers. Arctic dwarf druids are somewhat notable for their reliance on fire-based magic, which they employ against frost giants, frost worms, and other foes to great effectiveness.
Relations with other Races
Arctic dwarves have very little contact with anyone besides themselves, frost giants, with whom they are deadly foes, and Rumerian humans, with whom they have friendly relations. However, because arctic dwarves are a friendly and open-minded race they are usually very tolerant of outsiders. Gnomes and other dwarves are often considered amusing to arctic dwarves due to their mix of familiar and alien, an attitude that also applies to a lesser extent to humans other than the Rumarians. The most familiar of the Tel-quessir to arctic dwarves are flying avariel and as a consequence arctic dwarves typically treat elves and eladrin with a degree of awe. Most other humanoid races only rarely encounter the arctic dwarves and are considered quite exotic.
Gold Dwarves
Gold dwarves, also known as hill dwarves, are the aloof, confident and sometimes proud subrace of dwarves that predominantly come from the Ridgebacks in the Sarkotos area. They are known to be particularly stalwart warriors and shrewd traders. Gold dwarves are often trained specifically to battle the horrendous aberrations that are known to come from the Underdark.
Description
Gold dwarves are stout, tough individuals like their shield dwarven brethren but are less off-putting and gruff in nature. Conversely, gold dwarves are often less agile then other dwarves. The average gold dwarf is about four feet tall and as heavy as a full-grown human, making them somewhat squatter than the more common shield dwarves. Gold dwarves are also distinguishable by their light brown or tanned skin, significantly darker than that of most dwarves, and their brown or hazel eyes. Gold dwarves have black, gray, or brown hair, which fade to light gray over time. Gold dwarf males and some females can grow beard, which are carefully groomed and grown to great lengths.
Culture
Humans who wander into the gold dwarven strongholds may be surprised to find a people far more confident and secure in their future than most dwarves. Whereas the shield dwarves suffered serious setbacks during their history, the gold dwarves have stood firm against the challenges thrown against them and so have few doubts about their place in the world. As a result, gold dwarves can come off as haughty and almost elf-like in their pride, believing themselves culturally superior to all other races and lacking the fatalistic pessimism of their shield dwarven cousins.
Art and Leisure
Gold dwarves are a deeply materialistic race who believe that the resources of the natural world exist only to serve the purpose of conscious beings. To a gold dwarf, there is no greater purpose than to fashion the minerals of the earth into things of beauty. Gold dwarf guilds take great care in their craftsmanship, often spending centuries to perfect their work and mark it distinctively as their own, a practice which is carried down to even the most simple tools, marking such items with detailed runes and carefully shaped flairs.
Gold dwarf warriors employ a large number of finely crafted weapons and armor, often enchanted with runes or prayers. Most commonly, dwarves employ weapons that can also be used as tools, such as axes, picks, or hammers, alongside more specialized weapons like urgroshes. Some unique items of note crafted by gold dwarves are mobile braces, rope climbers, or drogue wings used for riding hippogriffs.
Gold dwarves enjoy the company of small lizards as pets such as the spitting crawler or shocker lizard. Deep rothé are frequently kept as livestock as well, alongside pack lizards and mules as beasts of burden. For mounts, gold dwarves usually use riding lizards, war ponies, or, more rarely, hippogriffs.
Magic and Religion
Unlike most dwarven peoples, the gold dwarves are not particularly superstitious about magic and while still cautious in its use, are no more so than any wise human mage, and gold dwarves have even created a number of spells unique to them. In part, gold dwarves are open to magic because of their heavy used of enchanted arms and weaponry, but primarily this tolerance comes from the age of gold dwarven civilization, which through sheer longevity has given rise to several magical traditions.
Divine spellcasters remain more common among the gold dwarves, however, though gold dwarves are less fervent in their beliefs than the openly devout shield dwarves. Gold dwarves most commonly favor the worship of Moradin and Berronar, in part due once again to the age of the gold dwarf civilization, which stretches back to when many of the Morndinsamman had not yet become widely known. While the gold dwarves are not particularly devout, clerics of Moradin and Berronar hold great prestige within gold dwarf society, the clerics of Berronar in particular for their responsibilities as genealogists and guardians of traditon.
Relationships
The gold dwarves are a proud race confident in their race's future after millennia of stability and because of this they have earned a somewhat deserved reputation for xenophobia and supremacism. Gold dwarves believe dwarves to be the greatest of all races and themselves to be the greatest of all dwarves, placing themselves at the top of the cultural pyramid. Gold dwarves in particular look down upon the Tel-quessir, whom they loathe in part due to their ancient enmity with the drow.
Of the monstrous races, the gold dwarves' opinion is even lower. Among many key differences between gold dwarves and their more common kin is that the traditional enemies of the gold dwarf are not goblinoids but aberrations and other creatures of the Underdark, against whom many gold dwarves have some defensive training. But this does not mean gold dwarves enjoy the company of goblins or orcs, whom they lump half-orcs in with.
However, gold dwarves do not see all races besides themselves with enmity. For instance, gold dwarves have an atypically high value of humans and their planetouched kin for non-human races, valuing the often profitable trading arrangements they've had with human realms going back throughout history. Similarly, gold dwarves are, as a rule, rather fond of strongheart halflings, seeing them as kindred of spirit due to the subrace's propensity for industriousness and honor.
Psychology
Gold dwarves are both materialistic and ritualistic, valuing themselves and others by what they possess and by the reputation of their family. Gold dwarves are deeply conservative, rooting their values and beliefs in traditions that have survived for millennia even as the world changed around them. From infancy, gold dwarves are taught that their life is determined by tradition, from what their profession shall be to who they shall marry. Gold dwarves who lack faith in the old ways or who go so far as to challenge cultural taboos are seen as dangerous deviants unworthy of friendship or trust by the majority of gold dwarves, creating an enormous social pressure to conform.
In part because of their conservatism and staunch belief in their own cultural superiority, gold dwarves rarely venture outside of their homelands. The Thunder Blessing was the first event in a long while to push the race out of their conformity, forcing young dwarves to seek their fortunes outside of an overcrowded Deep Realm. Other than such demographic pressures, the only motive for adventuring deemed rational to the average gold dwarf is the desire to seek out their fortune in unclaimed lands, perhaps to build a stronghold of their own.
Gold dwarves who do become adventurers are most often fighters, though clerics, paladins, rangers, rogues, or even arcanists are not unheard of, particularly sorcerers, many of whom are distantly descended from dragons or elementals. Experienced gold dwarf adventurers might become battleragers, particularly those who find the tradition-bound strictures of their society oppressive. Other gold dwarves might train as dwarven defenders or divine champions.
Shield Dwarves
Shield dwarves are among the most common of the dwarven peoples. Once the rulers of mighty kingdoms across Airth, the shield dwarves have since fallen by the wayside after centuries of warfare with their goblinoid enemies. Since then, shield dwarves have been less commonly seen throughout the lands, though during the Era of Upheaval the subrace, spurred on by the Thunder Blessing, began to retake an important role in local politics.
Physical Characteristics
The shield dwarves are on average half a foot taller than other dwarves. They are the most common dwarf in the north of Airth. They have light skin that is fair or lightly tanned and green or silvery blue eyes with long light brown or red hair, growing white or gray with age. Most males and even some females have large beards and mustaches. The females are slightly shorter and less heavy than the males.
Psychology
Shield dwarves are a cynical and gruff people, but they are, despite a reputation to the contrary, fatalistic, still possessing some hope for the future. Typically, shield dwarves take time to trust and even longer to forgive but the dwindling of their race has led many to be more open to other ways of thinking. Shield dwarven attitudes have in the past been typically divided between the Hidden and the Wanderers, two separate schools of thought amongst the race, though since the Thunder Blessing this separation has begun to erode. The Hidden, like the gold dwarves, believed it best to take an isolationist policy towards other races, fortifying their mountain homes and continuing their ancient ways, while the Wanderers have been more adventurous, seeking their fortunes on the surface world.
However, while shield dwarves have not always been as open-minded as they are today, there is a long tradition of adventurism in the race and many young dwarves, particularly since the Thunder Blessing, have hoped to find glory in doing great deeds in distant lands. Less self-interested shield dwarves have also taken to the adventuring life to reclaim ancient strongholds or treasures long lost. Whatever the case, most shield dwarves who venture beyond their homes are fighters or clerics trained in personal combat, leaning on the strong martial traditions of their people against the orcs, goblins, trolls, and giants that threaten the race. Experienced dwarven adventurers might well go on to become battleragers or dwarven defenders, while clerics might become runecasters. Arcanists are fairly rare, however, among shield dwarves, who distrust magic.
Culture
Traditionally, clan allegiance and caste placement meant everything among the shield dwarves but as their civilization has declined so has the importance of these identity constructs. Although bloodline is still a mark of pride for a dwarf from a particularly strong clan, personal accomplishments have come to mean more practically than the old ways, which seem increasingly irrelevant. Among the Hidden, traditions remain strong, but there is an increasing number of shield dwarves willing to leave the mountains for a life as adventurers or craftsmen among humans.
Family life remains a prime concern for dwarves, however, and while elders play a diminishing role in childrearing, the relationships between parent and child or siblings remain as strong as ever. Most dwarves are literate and are taught to read at an early age, before being handed off to an apprenticeship appropriate to their caste. In the workplace, shield dwarves are taught to work both for not only themselves and their family but for the greater whole of their clan and most shield dwarves are, while proud of their work, fairly humble and avoid ostentatious displays of decadence. After a shield dwarf has expired his or her ability to work physically, they remain a valued part of the community for their experience and wisdom and when they die they are honored with funeral rites appropriate to their legacy.
Shield dwarves speak a number of Dwarven dialects. Most shield dwarves are also fluent in Common and the extensive trading contacts of the race has encouraged many to learn Sark, Rumeric, and Doxenian and even Elven and Gnome as well. Shield dwarf warriors might also be encouraged to learn the languages of their enemies, such as Draconic, Giant, Orc, or Goblin.
Art and Leisure
Shield dwarves are fine craftsmen but more than among other dwarven races, their craft tends to be war. Shield dwarves accumulate a wide variety of weaponry in the fight to defend their homelands and unlike many dwarves do not limit themselves simply to hammers or picks, drawing upon axes, urgroshes, spears, swords, and mauls as well. Shield dwarves typically equip themselves in heavy armor fashioned from mithral, which they favor over the adamantine of gold dwarves.
For pets, shield dwarves favor bats, canaries, or small lizards such as the spitting crawler. Like other dwarves they use larger lizards or mules as beasts of burden and employ ponies as their war steeds, except in Thanes, where many ride upon riding lizards. In the Far Hills, dwarves have been known to ride dire bats, navigating the underground tunnels that make up their home upon the flying mammals' backs. Other, more adventurous shield dwarves might also try to mount dire boars.
Magic and Religion
While shield dwarves are openly dismissive of magic, they nonetheless rely on it to a significant degree in the defense of their homelands. Among the Hidden, illusionists and abjurers are immensely valued, since they can hide or protect a clan from enemy attack, layering their defenses with protective spells and rituals. Shield dwarves also make extensive used of magic items, though the Hidden and Wanderers differ over which type of items are best employed (armor and weaponry respectively). A few magic items unique to the shield dwarves include doorbreakers, hammers of staggering blows, stonereavers, and foesplitter axes.
In general, shield dwarves are more open to divine magic and clerics, paladins, runecasters, and runesmiths are all fairly common. Shield dwarf clerics have even fashioned a few prayers of their own, such as mindless rage and shape metal. Shield dwarf clerics most commonly worshiped Dumathoin, who was chosen as the chief god of Ridgebacks during the first election for the high king of the Wyrmskull Throne, for whom Moradin selected the high priest of Dumathoin, Ultoksamrin, though this eventually led Clan Duergar, the worshipers of Laduguer, to pull away from the other kingdoms of Ridgebacks, each of whom had their own patron deity but all of whom, except for Clan Duergar, recognized Ultoksamrin.
For the most part, shield dwarves venerate all the Morndinsamman and even before Dumathoin perished nearly all of the pantheon besides Laduguer and Deep Duerra had followers among the race. In practice, however, where Dumathoin did not dominate, Moradin and Berronar, the patrons of Alatorin, or Marthammor Duin, the patron of adventurers and explorers, did. Most prominent were Dumathoin's priests, who oversaw all burials among the race before the god's demise.
Relations with other Races
Shield dwarves, while gruff, are not acidic in personality and generally enjoy the company of others, even if they are not of their own kind. Most of all, shield dwarves get along with other dwarves, even for gold dwarves, who they believe naive and overconfident. Although shield dwarves lay claim to a long history of disputes with the Tel-quessir races, most among both peoples are tolerant and even fond of the other. For gnomes, shield dwarves have nothing but fondness, particularly the rock gnomes and deep gnomes, and dwarves have a long tradition of friendship with most of their human neighbors.
There are exceptions to the shield dwarves' tolerance, however, and the race is openly hostile with their kin the duergar, who blame the shield dwarves for their enslavement by the mind flayers. Shield dwarves also have little tolerance for either half-orcs or planetouched, who are either too alien to their experiences to understand or too much like previous enemies. Earthsoul genasi are the only planetouched shield dwarves will easily trust and are in fact welcomed into most delves across Airth.
Wild Dwarves
Wild dwarves, who call themselves "dur Authalar" (the People), were the primitive inhabitants of the Jungles of madder. They largely rejected the clan-based, craft-and-smith-oriented culture of their gold, gray, and shield dwarf cousins, choosing instead to live in hunting bands with ever-shifting memberships. Eschewing all trappings of civilization, wild dwarves lived like beasts, engaged in an endless hunt for survival.
Duergar
Duergar, also known as gray dwarves, are a subterranean race. They are close kin to dwarves, but with a diabolic taint to their blood. They now carve out their existence in the Underdark, often near volcanoes. Their kinship to surface dwarves can be compared to that of the drow to surface elves.
Physical Characteristics
Like their dwarven brethren, duergar are typically stocky figures, though beyond this there are many differences. Both male and female duergar are typically bald, with females also lacking the capacity to grow facial hair. When they are not bald, however, duergar grow spiny quills like those of a porcupine rather than typical hair, both along their scalp and in their beards, which they can shoot at their enemies. Many are also thinner than their dwarven brethren. Most obvious, however, is their dull gray skin and hair, often matched with an equally stolid expression.
Because many duergar found on the surface world are criminal exiles, a surface dweller who encounters one of the gray dwarves is likely to notice facial and arm tattoos that mark the duergar as a traitor to his or her people.
Abilities
Duergar are in some ways even better adapted to underground living than dwarves. While dwarves lack the capacity to see completely in the deepest darkness, this is not a problem for duergar, who are so adapted. Duergar are also immune to many of the ancient techniques used by the mind flayers to control them, such as paralysis, phantasms, alchemical poisons, or some types of illusion, as well as having a general resistance to fire or poison.
Duergar are also a sneaky, crafty people, unlike their honor-bound cousins and often excel at setting up ambushes or moving out of sight. Conversely, many also are good at detecting hidden objects. A few duergar also possess natural abilities akin to the enlarge and invisibility spells. This comes at a cost, however, and duergar, like drow of the past, have a special vulnerability to sunlight.
Psychology
Duergar are at their heart a grim and bitter race, pessimistic of their future and deeply cynical regarding the motives of others. In a dark inversion of the strong family bonds typical of their dwarven kin, duergar view their kin and clan as adversaries set on holding them back, an expectation that becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy since every duergar is taught to believe this from their early childhood. As a result, duergar are a dark and cruel race, who show no mercy to their foes and who take great pleasure in inflicting pain on others, a welcome relief from what they believe is a meaningless life ended with betrayal.
Because of their pessimism, duergar rarely adventure of their own free will and are instead most commonly exiles cast out of their society. These adventurers, most commonly concerned with personal gratification, are frequently fighters or rogues, leaning on their training against the threats of the Underdark. Clerics are fairly common as well, serving the duergar gods in order to gain power and influence within society. Unlike the dwarves, duergar have no particular prejudices against arcanists and both smiths specializing in the smithy of enchanted items and wizards are well respected. Because of their cruel nature, experienced duergar adventurers often become assassins or blackguards, though the veneration of runes in duergar culture also leads many to become runecasters.
Culture
Duergar are, as a whole, generally cruel and malevolent creatures, but as in most evil races this is as much a cultural affectation as a psychological trait. In the past, a few duergar turned away from the worship of the wicked gods who ruled over the Duergar such as Laduguer and Deep Duerra and found salvation through the Morndinsamman. Other duergar have found escape from their society through petty crime, tattooed and cast out from their cities beneath the surface and driven into the arms of other races. Their grim disposition, however, makes them unlikely to form many lasting friendships.
Duergar primarily speak Duergan, a dialect of Dwarven descended from the dialect of the shield dwarves and heavily influenced by mind flayer and drow words found in Undercommon. Duergar themselves are commonly fluent in Undercommon, the lingua franca of the Underdark. Other common second languages for duergar are those of their enemies, such as Draconic, Drow, Giant, Goblin, or Orc. Others might learn Terran in order to conduct trade with earth elementals, while others learn Common to trade with the surface world.
Art and Leisure
As the worshipers of Laduguer, the duergar have a long tradition of crafting that goes back to their days as as part of the shield dwarven society. Like the dwarves, duergar are fine craftsmen with an eye for detail, though they are often pragmatic enough to eschew the ostentatious decorations of their kin, which they feel not only is wasteful, but which could potentially give away their presence when treading the Underdark. Additionally, the art of duergar is, unlike that of their brethren, notable for its veneration of blood and cruelty, with scenes of warfare marking much of their art.
Most of all, duergar are concerned with practicality, peddling military saddles, thunderstones, poisons, and an extraordinarily effective form of armor lubricant. Like their dwarven kin, duergar prefer weapons that can serve as tools on the fly, such as hammers or picks.
For pets or familiars, duergar often enjoy the company of Underdark creatures, such as bats, spiders, osquips, or spitting crawlers. For beasts of burden, duergar use large lizards or steeders.
Magic and Religion
Unlike dwarves, duergar have a strong tradition of magic, both in the divine and arcane varieties and duergar clerics, runecasters, runesmiths, and wizards are highly respected for their skill. In particular, the duergar have a fondness for magically crafted items which they can use to aid them in combat, protect their minds against tampering, or to hide from enemy senses. Duergar have crafted many magic items unique to them, such as absorbing shields, bolts of battering, and stonereaver axes.
In the past the chief god of the duergar was Laduguer, the dwarven god of crafting, a tradition going back to the days of Clan Duergar, when the god served as the house's divine patron. Early on, the veneration of Laduguer led to disputes with many of the other kingdoms of the Ridgebacks, who chose to venerate Dumathoin as the patron of the entire shield dwarven race. When Clan Duergar was enslaved by the mind flayers the duergar carried on their worship in captivity, although many secretly formed pacts with the devils of the Nine Hells as well.
Although the duergar formally venerated all the Morndinsamman, the duergar in their captivity became only more devout in their exclusive worship of Laduguer and, later on, his adopted daughter Deep Duerra. Duerra, initially a duergar herself, was beloved among the duergar for having stolen the Invisible Art from the mind flayers during her campaign against them. Laduguer and Duerra would perish however during a Spellplague and, in their desperation, the duergar turned to Asmodeus.
Relations with other races
Duergar are a coarse and distrustful race who feel that other races are out to get them, whether they be from the Underdark or the surface world. In spite of this, duergar are usually willing to trade with outside races, particularly from the surface world, for the sake of profit and the relations between duergar and their sometime enemies, sometimes friends the drow and deep gnomes are especially complicated. However, the duergar have absolutely no love in their heart for their closest of kin, the shield dwarves, who the duergar feel abandoned them to the onslaught of the mind flayers. Since then, the duergar have waged war time and time again against the shield dwarves, demonstrating a deep-seated loathing.