Dwarf

Dwarves, sometimes called dwemer, are a humanoid race common throughout Terus. They are a tough, tradition-abiding folk known for their strong martial traditions and craftsmanship.

## Physical Description

Dwarves are a short race standing from 4'3" to 4'9" on average. What dwarves lack in height they make up for in bulk; they are, on average, about as heavy as humans. A Dwarf could weigh anywhere from around 160 to 220 lbs. Males are a bit taller and heavier than their female counterparts. Like humans, dwarves have a wide variety of skin, eye, and hair colors. Brown, hazel, and green eye colors are all equally common, with blue eyes being more of a rarity.

Dwarves grow full and thick hair on their heads, bodies, and, if male, faces. Brown, blonde, and red hair are equally common.

## Abilities

Dwarves are unusually tough for humanoids, in more ways than one. Their stomachs, for instance, are resistant to virtually all poisons and it takes less effort for a dwarf to get back on their feet than other races. Dwarves also have dense bodies and are difficult to push around as result, as well as having the capacity to bear loads that other races might find hindering with little ill effect.

Many dwarves are difficult to like and lacked the charm of many of the other smaller races, such as halflings or gnomes, though this was not always the case and some possessed a great deal of charismatic power. Furthermore, dwarves are not entirely unsocial and more than a few have a natural knack for bartering and judging the value of an offer, something that sits well with their famed crafting abilities.

## Personality

Whether the claims that Moradin carved the dwarves from the world's stone is true, dwarves share many qualities similar to the stone they live with. Strong, hardy, and dependable. They value their traditions and look for inspiration from ancestral heroes. Dwarves are also known for their stubborn nature and cynicism, traits widespread amongst the dwarves but is commonly offset by bravery and tenacity.

Dwarven friendship tends to be hard to earn, but is strong once won. Naturally dour and suspicious, the stout folk are slow to trust others. Once this trust is gained, dwarves hold their friends to it and view betrayals, even minor ones, with a vicious propensity for vengeance. A common gnomish oath, remarking on this dwarven sense of justice, is "if I'm lying, may I cross a dwarf."

For the dwarves, loyalty is more than a word and should be valued and rewarded. They believe it a gift and mark of respect to stand beside a friend in combat, and an even deeper one to protect that ally from harm. Many dwarves tales subsequently revolve around the sacrifice of dwarves for their friends and family. Just as dwarves are known for their dependability as friends and allies, they also harbor grudges far longer than many other races. This may be on an individual basis between a dwarf and one who had wronged him or against entire races, even if warfare with the enemy has long since ceased.

Dwarves are a careful and deliberate race, with a more serious disposition than other races, who they sometimes view as flighty or reckless. A dwarf does all things with care and a stubborn resolve, with brash or cowardly behavior unusual for the race. However, dwarves do succumb easily to wrath or greed, which are the most common vices of the race.

Dwarves who leave their homeland to become adventurers do so for a number of reasons. In part, a dwarf might be motivated by simple avarice, given their love of beautiful things. As often, however, a dwarf might be motivated by a drive to do what is right for others (particularly their clan) or a love of excitement for, as settled as dwarves are, they rarely tire of thrills. But even these wayward dwarves retain the spirit of their brethren, hoping that their accomplishments abroad could bring honor to themselves, their clan, or both. Given that successful dwarven adventurers are likely to recover rare items or defeat enemies of the dwarven people during such challenges, this is a hope that is not entirely without merit.

## Culture

Dwarves highly value the ties between family members and friends, weaving tightly knit clans. Dwarves particularly respect elders, from whom they expect sound leadership and the wisdom of experience, as well as ancestral heroes or clan founders. This idea carries on to relations with other races and dwarves are deferential even to the elders of another, non-dwarven race.

Likewise, dwarves, perhaps more so than most other races, turn to their gods for guidance and protection. Good-hearted dwarves often look to the divine for comfort and inspiration, while the wicked look to their divine overlords for methods through which to obtain power over others. Individual dwarves might be faithless, but the race as a whole, regardless of subrace, has a strong inclination for religion and almost every community maintains at least one temple or ancestral shrine.

## Clans

Dwarven societies are divided into clans built along family ties and political allegiances. These clans are usually led by hereditary rulers, often monarchs of a sort and descended from the founder of the clan. Dwarves strongly value loyalty to these rulers and to the clan as a whole and even objective dwarves tend to side primarily with their kin over other races or communities. These clan-structures promoted a tradition of inbreeding in the past. This was so excessive, that it was considered one of the reasons for the dwarves' low birth rate.

Most dwarven clans focus on one or two kinds of crafting, such as blacksmithing, jewelry, engineering, or masonry. They strive to avoid overspecialization by sending some of their youth as apprentices to other clans, which also helps to foster racial unity. Because of the long age dwarves exhibit, these apprenticeships might last for decades.

## Interracial Relations

Dwarves do not forgive past wrongs easily. Long ago, the dwarves and the elves were in an alliance together to overthrow the Wizard King. At first, their attempts were unsuccessful. In a moment of desperation, the queen of the elves released a power now referred to as orcism. Humanoids afflicted showed increased strength and size, and a resistance to magical effects.

After successfully overthrowing the Wizard King, orcism was left to run rampant. Eventually, the first full-blooded orcs started appearing. Orcs, included half-orcs, began to be purged. They fled beyond the safety of civilization to the badlands. Now, hordes of full blooded orcs flood the lands that the dwarves border.

Resulting from this, relations between the dwarves and elves spiked downwards rapidly, until they were in a full-scale open war. This would go down as the deadliest war in history. A rogue faction of elves unleashed a terrible evil within the underworld, corrupting themselves and everything within it. The dwarven homelands were lost, along with hundreds of thousands of dwarves. The drow and duergar are the result of this evil.

Needless to say, many dwarves are not fans of elves.

Dwarves get along decently with humans, finding them to be excellent trading partners. Dwarves seem to match perfectly with gnomes, and together they create wonderful things. Halflings tend to make excellent drinking partners.