Dwarves

Dwarves are a race of elder peoples who spread across the known world in the First Age. Notable for their hardiness, rigid social structure, and propensity for greed, Dwarves are nonetheless considered free people.

Characteristics
Dwarves are short, usually standing between 2 and 4 feet high and are generally stockier than humans or Elves. It is not unheard of for a Dwarf to reach 5 feet in height, but it is extremely uncommon, and often rumored to be the result of mixing with Humans.

While short, Dwarves are singularly tough creatures, able to withstand blows that could fell a man. Their natural toughness comes at the cost of a general slowness - Dwarves take their time in all things, and generally prefer walking to running.

As an Elder race, Dwarves are immortal, although their physiology is different from that of Elves. Dwarves can get sick, starve, or die from exposure. Additionally, they can suffer and perish from disease such as Black Lung or Miners' Pox; common ailments among Dwarven communities. The limitations of their nature means that death is known, but not common, in Dwarven societies.

Although it may seem strange given their history of living under ground, Dwarves cannot see in pitch darkness. However, their eyes are accustomed to most other forms of darkness, and Dwarves can see quite well even under only the light of the stars.

Male Dwarves are, almost entirely, bearded. The beard in Dwarven culture represents experience, social status, and maturity, and are often woven and braided in complex fashions. For a Dwarven man to shave his face would be singularly odd, and an embarrassment for the Dwarf. Dwarven women perform similar rituals with their hair, although it is permissible for that to be cut.

Greed
Main article: Greed

Endemic in every Dwarf is a lust for wealth, beauty, and power. The greed of Dwarves is so strong that it compels them to perform deeds that are both great and terrible.

Nearly every Dwarf, if they live long enough, will succumb to their greed. This is a slow process, but one that ultimately ends in complete madness. Dwarves who have lost themselves to greed are cast out from their communities, usually left to wander the Deeping Roads or lostlands until they meet their end.

Oaths
Main article: Oath

Dwarven culture is steeped around the swearing and keeping of oaths, so much so that they hold an instrumental position in Dwarven social politics and legal practice. All Dwarves are Oadenworen ("oathsworn"), bound to a complex web of promises that uphold their honor.

History
Main article: History of the Dwarven People

Dwarves are among the elder folk, born under the earth not long after the dawn of the Elves. As such, their histories are incredibly long and scrupulously detailed.

Prehistory and Antiquity
The predominant Dwarven creation myth claims Dwarves were created at the Dawn of the World by Nozastelagen Norkoz Oldatelro ("He Who Most Dearly Loves to Shape With His Hands"). They were born deep under the earth in glittering caves, and learned to live on moss and what animals one may find in the heart of the world. He Who Most Dearly Loves to Shape With His Hands taught them how to write, craft, speak, and become civilized. The Dwarves then spread out, and eventually upward.

The Great Ascent
Somewhere in the time before the First Age (c. 350), the Dwarves began to rapidly tunnel upwards towards the surface. This is where their formally recorded histories begin, as well as the early conceptions of the Guilds, Host, and Dwarven nobility. The Great Ascent lasted many generations, ending with the the Unveiling in the first year of the First Age (1000). By the end of the Great Ascent, the mainstays of Dwarven culture had been firmly established, as had the Many-Headed Empire, led by Emperor Durgar XV the Great.

The Gilded Age
The Great Ascent had not only established Dwarven society; it had also created a huge empire under the earth that spread across the width and breadth of the known world. Connected by Deep Roads, ruled by the Many-Headed Empire, and now just beginning to breach the surface, Dwarven momentum shifted to creating wealth. During this age (c. 1000-1500), the Many-Headed Empire was immensely wealthy.

Around this time, surface Dwarves met Elves. The Many-Headed Empire and the Elven Kingdoms clashed on more than one occasion, but never truly went to war. Elves and Dwarves squabbled over land and natural resources on and off for half an age after Dwarves reached the surface.

The Sundering and First Black March
In 1509, Dwarves in the Far Mines below the city of Roscozellic were attacked by a massive horde of Orcs. Almost simultaneously, four other cities were besieged by Orcish armies of similar sizes. Caught completely off-guard, the Many-Headed Empire could not bring their Hosts to bear in time to respond to the threat. Emperor Durgar XVI, who historians believe had succumbed to greed, simply walled Drimûz off and left the rest of the empire to fend for themselves. Over the course of the next twenty-five years (1509-1536), much of the Empire fell either to Orcish invaders or infighting between its rulers.

Finally, the Orc hordes breached the surface and began to raze surface colonies and Elven kingdoms. The Black March was only nearly halted in time by a final alliance of Dwarves and Elves, who pushed the Orcs back to the far reaches of the North. The Many Headed Empire, however, was broken; a unified Dwarven nation has never been seen since.

The Second Age
In the wake of the first Black March, Dwarves and Elves banded together briefly to rebuild their cities. The Elder Truce was struck at this time, and is honored by both peoples to this day.

Expeditions into the Deeping Roads and Far Mines proved wholly unsuccessful; Orcs had dug their own tunnels throughout conquered Dwarven lands during the Sundering and most tunnels proved simply too difficult to make safe. Individual Dwarven clan-leaders, longbeards, and guildmasters set their eyes on lost territories and led their armies to reclaim them. The recaptured lands became small kingdoms, independent of one another and oftentimes far off from one another.

Drimûz, the ancient capitol city of the Many-Headed Empire, was reclaimed from Durgar by Thrundgrim, son of Thran, in 2022. Drimûz became the capitol city of the Dwarven nation Thrania.

As the nations of Men began to expand across the continent, many Dwarven kings bartered agreements with human kings, usually exchanging Dwarven craftsmanship for human food, unskilled labor, or raw materials.

The Second Black March
When Orcish hordes descended from the North, Dwarves were the first to respond. Hosts organized quickly, fighting alongside Elves and eventually humans. Orcs once again ravaged the world, but this time the response of the Dwarves was far more organized. The result is that Dwarves rebuilt quickly and lost far less than they did during the Sundering.

The Third Age
Dwarves in the Third Age are a fractured people, living somewhat in the shadow of their former greatness. Most Dwarves live quietly among their clans, or else in human lands.

Relations with Other Folk
The politically fractured nature of the Dwarves' nations combined with their long cultural memory results in convoluted relations with other folk of the earth. Below are general rules of thumb, not fast rules.

Elves
After the Unveiling, surface Dwarves clashed with Elves throughout the First Age until the first Black March forced the warring peoples into action. The destruction of the invading Orcs led to an uneasy truce between Dwarves and Elves, but the Elves' inaction during the Sundering left Dwarves with a firm distrust of Elves.