Dwarves

Dwarves are among the most respected races in The Empire, and its closest ally. They are a common sight in the great cities, and some dwarf clans have moved into imperial cities to spend their lives there.¹

Halls beneath the mountains

Beneath Caligran run the deep tunnels of the dwarves. Their ancient fortresses stand as strong keeps on the mountaintops in the north-east of the Empire, and these castles are only the peaks of tunnel systems that spread underground like the roots of a tree, reaching much further below the ground than above it.² Each underground city seems a small kingdom, but most of their vast halls, enormous corridors and bewildering tunnels now lie in ruin. Proud dwarves will not admit it, yet dwarven strength and glory are dying.³

Dwarves seldom leave their underground fortress-cities, and they rely on highly trained rangers to keep the routes above and below ground safe. To surface peoples hiding and ambushing may not seem fitting for a dwarf, but against enemies in the dark these skills are held essential and honourable, and a ranger serves as the eyes and ears of the clan, a sacred role.⁴

Character and custom

Dwarves are known for their stubbornness and fixed ways. This can make them seem contrary, but it has also made them resilient against corruption and hopelessness. A dwarf's body does not weaken with age; to the last days of life a dwarf keeps the strength of youth.³

At the core of dwarven culture are respect and a kept word, and a dwarf should never break a promise. The respect owed to a dwarf grows with age, wealth and skill: long beards, skilled hands and a full purse. In dwarven society the community almost always comes before the individual, crime is very rare, and above all else a dwarf guards the family name.⁵ Military service is considered an honourable duty in dwarven culture.⁶ Dwarven surnames ending in "beard" mark a noble bloodline.⁷

Magic and craft

Dwarves cannot use arcane magic: something in their nature keeps them from touching the Aether. Underground, a dwarf always senses how deep below the surface they are, as if by a sense organ made for the purpose.³ Their knowledge of materials, especially metals and natural minerals, is unmatched.⁹

Arcane metallurgy, the carving of ancient symbols that can bend reality into items and places and filling them with layers of precious molten metal, is practised almost only by dwarf runesmiths, who teach it only to those they judge worthy; to see it in the hands of a non-dwarf is extraordinary, though not unheard of.¹⁰ The Hearthfire Binding is an ancient dwarven rite that sanctifies a dwelling, tying its safety to the ever-burning flame of its hearth, which becomes a guardian spirit protecting all who honour it.¹¹ Dwarves believe that bloodstones form from the remains of dead wizards or magical beings pressed between layers of earth.¹²

Gunpowder was first invented and made by dwarves and gnomes working together; today it is produced by imperial engineers and Archon wizards.¹³ Gnomes usually live in dwarf cities, where their intelligence, curiosity and love of craftsmanship suit them well.¹⁴

Faith

Although the High Church rejects the belief, dwarves hold that Volkan shapes them from stone, places their lost souls in anvils and calls them back from the void with a whistle; he may not have created their souls, but he saves them from being lost. Their nature and culture run parallel to his teachings. One need not be a dwarf to be a priest of the god of blacksmiths, but a human life is short for making masterpieces worthy of his name, and most of his priests do come from dwarven communities.¹⁵ Like the elves, dwarves have roots beyond the Lands of Exile and bring with them shades of belief from the past.¹⁶

Reckoning time

Living mostly in vast underground cities and fortresses, dwarves cannot track time by the sun or the stars. Their Ten Decade Calendar uses peculiar metal rods with precisely known decay times: set upright in properly blended soil, they crumble to dust in exactly a hundred years, and rods of other materials measure spans from a decade to a century. Outsiders cannot read the passage of time in them, but a dwarven master can tell it at a glance. For days and hours, temples use sacred light stones of a mineral called gamgam, while ordinary people use carefully made candles marked with the hours.¹⁷

Dwarves and the Empire

Dwarves are respected in the Empire, though other non-humans find it hard to rise within their social class.¹⁸ High King Gilmor Ironbeard is among the heroes immortalised by Victory Day.¹⁹ Experienced longbeard dwarf miners went with Emperor Conrad II into the underdark in The Underdark Campaign, and he drew heavily on the dwarves' experience and strength; later, dwarf reinforcements joined the imperial forces at Dwarf Gate.²⁰ Dwarves, like elves, can be knights of the Order of Palanthor as an allied race.²¹

Their mark on the Empire is plainest in Nearpeak, a province bordering the great dwarf kingdoms, where buildings, like those of dwarf cities, run partly underground; it is said that a three-storey stone house there probably has three more storeys below. Those seeking dwarf-made weapons, jewellery, tools and armour travel there.⁸

The eight volumes of Hammerhome by Ginrom Orefoot delve deeply into dwarven history and culture, though a complete set is exceptionally rare to find.²²