Dwarves

As an altered race, Dwarves mostly stay true to their descriptions provided in the source books of 5e. The Players Handbook tells you all you need to know about the way they act, and their societies. However, a few notable differences are as follows:

### Suspicious of Arcane Magic

Dwarves have a suspicious disposition toward arcane magics. In ages long since passed, Dwarves were taught how to access the Terrene plane through runic magics. They were taught by the Giants - well before they became an almost monstrous race. Eventually the Giants and the Dwarves fell apart, and gave way to one of the most legendary rivalries in all of Nevandaar. But, the stocky dwarves maintained their distaste for conventional arcane magics. They are very open and accepting toward divine magics, such as those seen with Paladins or Clerics, or even natural magics with Rangers and Druids, but they are fairly bitter toward magics based around intellect.

### Hair Makes the Man...Dwarf

Many Mountain Dwarfs – and as a result, many Hill dwarfs – colour code their hair to show off what position they have within their communities. Dwarves that do not dye their hair are left well enough alone, they aren’t demonized for not accompanying the tradition, but they are not as respected either. If a dwarf dyes their hair a colour that does not pertain to their social class, they tend to be looked down upon as if they were appropriating valour. Three examples are below:

Dwarves that dye their hair and beards red are seen as the layman dwarf. They hold a fire within them that they nurture, and are able to accomplish many tasks. They are artisans, merchants, traders, farmers, miners, cooks, brewers etc.

Dwarves that dye their hair blue are fierce warriors, valiant heroes and respected fighters. Their inner fire is that of the hottest flame. Blue haired dwarves often make up guards in a stronghold, and a majority of dwarven adventurers that follow this tradition dye their hair blue.

Dwarves that dye their hair white are the brains of the clan. Their inner fire burns the brightest. They make up the artificers, scholars, religious authorities and loremasters of the clan. More often than not, it is the white-haired dwarves that try and deviate away from runic magics into the arcane.

Dwarves that dye their hair black are seen as the rulers, and leaders of a clan. Their inner fire has burnt for so long, and achieved so much that is has turned all that surrounds it to ash. A clan leader who does not dye his hair this colour is as likely to be followed by the clan as a trained mutt. This is the only instance that it is essential that a dwarf dyes their hair.

## Duergar

Unlike in the sourcebooks of 5e, Duergar are not an evil race of slaver dwarves that live in the Underdark. They are instead a much more misunderstood subtype of Dwarf:

### Sought Shelter From the Storm

As the War of Attrition broke out, a number of races attempted to escape the lands of Nevandaar in hopes of not being plunged in the midst of a divine war. The Deurgar were a collection of mountain dwarves who decided to hide within the deepest confines of stone, in place of taking part in the war. They buried into the earth when the war began, and were discovered 5 decades after it had concluded.

### Subterranean Dwellers

As the Duergar lived under the ground, not so much as seeing the light for a close to a millennia and a half, their appearance changed to suit their new surroundings. They still remain consistent with the design of Duergar from the Faerun setting.

### 'Coward' Dwarves

The Duergar are lacking in knowledge of the 'topside' world. When they emerge from the Stoney embrace of the earth, they are often mistaken for albino dwarves, or ones that had been in an accident. It is eventually revealed what a Duergar is, to which most races would still embrace them with open arms, Hill and Mountain Dwarves however, despise Duergar. The Duergar are seen as cowards by most other Dwarf subtypes, as the Hill and Mountain Dwarves died in the tens of thousands over the course of the War, the Duergar were 'hiding in fear' under the surface of the world. Most Dwarves do not forgive them for that.

### Magically Gifted

During their time in the earth, the first of the Duergar clans came into contact with fonts of deep, primordial magic. The fonts of power that the Duergar dug through, affected their physiology to a great degree. It sped up their evolution in a way, and what would normally take generations on top of generations of living underground to evolve happened over the course of a few short years. This power also granted them the ability to go invisible in times of great stress, and to Enlarge or Reduce their size through magic. However, it also meant that their eyes whilst adapting infinitely quicker to the pitch black of the earth, soon developed an aversion for light.