Dwarves

Dwarves are the most recently documented race on Lumora. Living nearly exclusively within Uthar, a mountain that was untouched before the cataclysm, they developed quite differently than the other humanoid races of Lumora. With the shifting of the landscape due to the eruption of the Weeping Summit, the dwarves have made their debut to the rest of the world after millenia underground. The great city of Uthar is a strictly hierarchical place, and the caste system that has emerged within the city has left many in Uthar with no place to turn to besides the gangs that run the lower levels of the city. They have a particular mastery of runic magic that surpasses much of what is seen on the surface, empowered especially by ancestral traditions that leave dwarvish rune-chanters unmatched within the mountain range they call home.

Dwarves are a short and hairy race, with milky or stone grey skin, large eyes, and square sort of faces. Standing around 4’ tall, the men cultivate long and decorated beards, while the women spend nearly as much time on their own hair decoration. They’re a relatively long lived race, with many dwarves reaching 200 or more years before succumbing to age.

## Racial Traits

### Standard Racial Traits

* **Ability Score Modifiers**: Dwarves are both tough and wise, but also a bit gruff. They gain +2 Constitution, +2 Wisdom, and –2 Charisma.
* **Size**: Dwarves are Medium creatures and thus receive no bonuses or penalties due to their size.
* **Base Speed**: (Slow and Steady) Dwarves have a base speed of 20 feet, but their speed is never modified by armor or encumbrance.
* **Languages**: Dwarves begin play speaking Low Elven and Dwarven.

### Other Racial Traits

* **Darkvision**: Dwarves can see perfectly in the dark up to 60 feet.
* **Deep Warrior**: Dwarves receive a +2 dodge bonus to AC against monsters of the aberration type and a +2 racial bonus on combat maneuver checks made to grapple such creatures (or to continue a grapple).
* **Hardy**: Dwarves gain a +2 racial bonus on saving throws against poison, spells, and spell-like abilities.
* **Stability**: Dwarves gain a +4 racial bonus to their Combat Maneuver Defense when resisting a bull rush or trip attempt while standing on the ground.
* **Greed**: Dwarves gain a +2 racial bonus on Appraise checks made to determine the price of non-magical goods that contain precious metals or gemstones.
* **Caste Trait**: Dwarves are raised in an extremely regimented society that developed as a result of the strict rationing required prior to the discovery of the surface. Choose one of the following to represent your station in the city.
	+ **Celestite** - Born and raised in the Noble caste of Uthar. Dwarves of this caste gain a +2 racial bonus in Sense Motive.
	+ **Iron** - A trained merchant that has left the City State. Dwarves of this caste gain a +2 racial bonus to Diplomacy, and may use Wisdom instead of Charisma for Diplomacy checks
	+ **Clay** - A skilled craftsman that has journeyed abroad. Dwarves of this caste gain a +2 racial bonus to a Craft skill of their choice, and may use Wisdom instead of Intelligence on any Craft skill they are trained in.
	+ **Free** - A dwarf born outside the restrictive caste system. Dwarves raised outside the caste system pick up more from the humans that surround them, and gain an additional trait.

* **Suffer Not the Mutant**: A dwarves gain a +1 bonus on melee attack rolls against, and a +1 bonus to AC against attacks of opportunity made by creatures of the aberration type, or creatures with the Soul Shattered racial trait.
* **Weapon Familiarity**: Dwarves are proficient with battleaxes, heavy picks, and warhammers, and treat any weapon with the word “dwarven” in its name as a martial weapon.

## On Dwarves

Following the Cataclysm, much of the continent’s landscape had changed. The earthquakes which ravaged the land shifted the architecture of many locations all across Lumora. Hillsides in Etraine rose above the others into mesas, while mountain ranges within the Barrier Mountains shifted and cracked. Revealed in the wake of these quakes was an underground passage that the first dwarves emerged from, into the sun. It would be months before they made contact with our empire, and even longer before we would have any chance to see their Underpolis for ourselves. Man’s rebellion needed to be faced first.

It was to our regret, perhaps. The Dwarves, had we taken the time to learn their language and arrange for trade, they may have been able to provide us the tools to put down the rebellion and restore order, instead, Man beat us to it. To this day, the grand city of the dwarves maintains good relationships with Mistyvale and Portabria.

The dwarves stand nearly half the height of a grown elf, having wide, stocky builds, pale skin and large eyes. Ones who dwell on the surface instead of within the Underpolis of Uthar tend towards much tanner tones and freckles. The style for dwarves is to grow out their hair, decorating it with clips, rings, and other jewelry, with the men doing similarly for their beards. Notably, those underground tend towards darker hair colors, browns and blacks, but those born on the surface tend towards auburn or lighter shades of hair.

Uthar itself is massive. Much larger than any city on the continent, a complex web of pathways and buildings carved into the cavern of the mountain. The size of the thing is such that even underground, a weather system emerges, rain that burns like acid falling from the sky beneath the upper reaches of the city, to the point that much of the city is warded to prevent deterioration. In fact, the dwarves seem to produce some of the most impressive runeworks and enchantments on the continent, outstripping all except the Empress’s own Palace of Whispers

Interestingly, the Dwarves do not put the same importance on life after death as the other shorter lived races, instead they view death as nothing more than an end, except for the chosen few who request to be honored by soul entombment. Their honored dead, instead of receiving blessed rest, are shackled to the realm of mortals through runic bindings, entombed in either suits of complex armor or stone tablets. Either to rise in defense of the city, or to be consulted on matters of state. It appears such magic requires the immense system of runic magic to maintain, and the tombslates and ancestral guardians grow dormant as they draw farther from Uthar.

*The dwarves are no threat, your Highness. Be polite and straightforward with their council, and we’ll see no problems in the future. - S.H.*