The dwarves were a stout race that often lived in fortified enclaves beneath the surface. They were known for building fortresses and kingdoms that lasted centuries. Dwarves rarely dealt with other races, preferring the spirituality of their isolated enclaves under the ground.

Origins

Long before the appearance of deities, before the face of Ochebana was shaped, the world was a chaotic place. Chaotic forces were dominant, sweeping across the vast continent and spreading destruction. There was however a universal force of order, a race more powerful than any other common creatures. These were the krynn, large spirits of nature who defended sanctuaries and maintained boundaries of order. They were sworn to remain pure and impartial, as true arbiters of justice.

But one fraction of krynn, to the disgrace of their kin, moved away from their duty and founded their own community, a small settlement, in their own interest. Over time, they lost their supernatural abilities and half-spiritual form, becoming a race of flesh and blood. They also acquired their own emotions and personalities, becoming truly separate from the untouchable krynn. This was known as the Descent, and out of them were born the first dwarves.

Since then, the dwarven race spread far and wide. It founded the Eternal Empire, the "homeland of dwarvenkind", in the area where the first dwarves were born. Many established their own enclaves and clan across the world, to the point where nearly all continents and islands with mountains featured dwarves. The race withstood the destructive Celestial Wars and went on to found some of the most successful states of the mortal races, including the Dwarven Empire.

Biology

Dwarvenkind was a tough race, both in the body and in the mind.

Physiology

Dwarves were somewhat smaller than average humanoids, with a height of about 1.4 meters. They had a wide range of skin colors, but the overwhelming majority had either a light brown shade (in Waterlond) or a beige tone (in Oshmondu). Their hair was more varied, although it was most often black, brown or white. Red-haired beards with otherwise black hair were also common. Both male and female dwarves grew beards. In eye color, the variation was immense, going across the entire color spectrum and even featuring some patterned or metallic tones. Dwarven eyes were often perceived as unnatural, because they had very large black pupils that made the colored iris only a thin ring. Dwarves had only average darkvision for a subterranean race, having an effective sight range of only about 20 meters.

There was hardly any difference between male and female physiology throughout most of their lives. Male genitals were comparatively small and female breasts were not pronounced. Only when a woman was pregnant did their gender become apparent, and she had obviously larger breasts and a more feminine appearance overall for the following five years; notably, they often lost their beards entirely. This period was known as the Maternile. The breasts of a woman who had had a child never fully flattened back to original size.

Dwarves were renowned for their constitution. They could take much physical damage, and imbibe strong toxins, without flinching or suffering any grave effects. They also had a powerful physicality, packing as much force in their arms as they did in their legs. Their muscle mass was very high.

Reproduction. Dwarves reproduced through traditional sexual means. This usually required a romantic history for a couple, because it took half a year for sexual organs to grow and be ready for reproduction during what was known as blooming. These developments could usually only start when a dwarf reached about 100 years of age. After fertilization, a mother carried her fetus - double births were extremely rare - for more than a year before giving birth. Births were a relatively safe affair with rare deaths. Newborns were evenly female or male.

Growth. Children took about a decade to get out of the toddler stage, but much longer - often up to a century - to mature and complete education. Dwarves could live up to 400 years of age before their bodies grew too weak to survive.¹

Psychology

Perhaps the most powerful characteristic of the dwarven race was its sense of community and the love of a dwarf for all their kin. A dwarf always saw themselves as a part of their clan, and worked in order to help the others. Kin came before anything else, including material wealth or personal gain. This also counted for unknown or not appreciated others; "as long as he's a dwarf, he's worth more than anything out there". The necessity of working together for the common benefit was especially known in larger dwarven states.

Dwarves were also very resilient and courageous. They often described their own brains as stone tablets: emotions were hard to get to, but outside influences such as fear or doubts couldn't easily alter the mind of a dwarf. This stubbornness influenced their love for traditions and for learning, as many dwarven crafts were based to the smallest detail on the way things were done by their ancestors. If there was no need to change, a dwarf did not change. This also made it hard to compromise with a dwarf, however, because they rarely saw the value of giving up on some of their interests if they could just continue trying to push those through.

This mental durability carried over to the way a dwarven mind learned. They could immediately take in information and process it, and could learn for hours on end. Dwarven minds didn't need breaks to settle and fully process information, but immediately jotted down everything in their short-term memory, their "dirt head". However, it was difficult to get knowledge to stay for longer periods of time, and dwarves needed numerous repetitions - often as many as thirty times, on thirty consecutive days - for information to stay in their long-term memory, what they called the "granite head".

A dwarf needed incentives or goals to do something. Often, the good of their community sufficed to get them working the mushroom fields to get food. Achieving something worthy of their beloved gods, such as a magnificent hammer in their honor, could be a drive for less obviously practical projects. Once they succeeded in their goal, however, dwarves were very content. This necessity also encouraged piety. Religious practices were very extensive in dwarven society and the gods were very important to individuals.

While they required incentives to get working, they hated not working. A dwarf always needed to be occupied, or they would go mad. They saw every day alive as a day in which they could get something done for the benefit or their kin and themselves. This need to do something, to fill every moment and never miss a day, was one of the reasons why dwarvenkind was often the driving force in technological progress across the mortal worlds.

The dwarven ideal of "purpose" carried over to their sense of loyalty. They were hard to convince to believe in a non-dwarf, but once someone gained a dwarf's allegiance, that dwarf remained loyal throughout the greatest hardships. They also had a clear idea of justice, in which each dwarf had an honor code engraved in their "granite head" which dictated their actions to some extent. This made dwarven mercenaries popular, because while they weren't actually loyal, they still felt the duty of honoring their contract. However, this innate sense of loyalty could cause clashes when it conflicted with other rules, such as non-dwarven laws or even clan rules. Questions of morality and similar philosophical topics were widely discussed in dwarven communities.

Culture

Naming

A clan gave a child their surname around the age where they were seen as "joining the community". This could happen at birth or as late as around ten years of age. Last names were always those of the clan. In larger clans with multiple smaller "families" distinguished in it had two last names, first the family and then the clan, but most often still called themselves only by their first and clan names. For example, a Dain Fireforge had the surname - in this case, given by his father, a king - Dain and the last name Fireforge, from the powerful Clan Fireforge. Some royalty and other prominents of huge clans didn't attribute themselves to any smaller family, but as unconditional members of the whole clan.

Architecture

Most dwarven buildings were located underground, either by terraforming existing caves or digging out smaller rooms. Because of the stone pressure, most dwarven buildings featured arches and domes that redistributed the weight of the stone above to the stone below. Very thick pillars were also common. Only the most grand of buildings had hard edges, and square columns or flat walls were often a sign of wealth.

This style reflected in surface buildings as well, which were most often low-slung round huts with domed roofs.

To a dwarf, endurance and safety of the community was more important than grandeur or personal prominence. For this reason, most entrances to important buildings, such as libraries, churches or palaces, were located somewhat below ground level, with broad flights of stairs leading down to them. This gave the impression of security and also reflected the coziness of underground constructions, rather than the glory other races' elevated entrances tried to reflect.

Society

Dwarves venturing alone were a rarity, and even then, they only went on relatively short voyages before regaining one or another community. The very social mentality of dwarvenkind encouraged them to form larger groupings, commonly called clans. The social element of the family did not exist: young children relatively quickly left the direct care of their mother to be raised communally instead, and dwarven couples rarely lived separately from the others. Children essentially never stayed solely with their parents after reaching ten years of age. Thus, the smallest social building block was the clan, a larger self-sustaining group that could reach anywhere between 50 and many hundreds. Forming mating couples between clans was common and encouraged.

Traditional clans, which reached around the thousand mark, lived in their independent enclave, often located in the upper Caverealm. They grew their own food and had their own source of water. Sometimes, larger enclaves were called "alliances", while fractions within them were called "clans". Often, an enclave was connected with others - either through Caverealm highways or over the surface - for trade, military and diplomatic purposes.

It occurred often that multiple enclaves banded together under a common ruler, as a kingdom. These states were more or less centrally administered and rarely shattered without outside influence. Some larger states, including the Eternal and Dwarven Empires, led to the creation of huge clans, called clan-myrs. These were absolutely massive and didn't all live in a single enclave, but rather a vast network of smaller communities, "families", seeing themselves as part of the same clan and obeying its chieftains.