Dwarves

## Dwarf

Dwarves are the most militarily powerful and successful race in Serntal, their natural practicality and love of wealth serving them well. Dwarf culture and power is mostly limited to the mountains and land immediately surrounding their respective homelands due to the people's innate love of stone, but at least a few dwarves can be found almost anywhere habitable, the choice largely dependent on whether the specific dwarf prefers wealth or solitude.

### Physiology

A dwarf stands 4'7" and weighs 180 pounds on average. Males weigh slightly more than females, but the height difference between is negligible. Males grow beards at roughly twice the rate of an average male human. Their skin is usally fair due to their living largely underground, but given enough exposure to sunlight, a wide range of skin tones exist. All hair and eye colors represented in humans are also present in dwarves; blue eyes also occur exclusively in dwarfkind.

### Karken

#### Culture

Karken lifestyle revolves largely around managing the endless conflicts imposed upon them by encroaching hostile humanoids and wild creatures on their territories. As a result, nearly all Karken men and most women are trained in combat and are skilled with a number of armaments. They tend to be pragmatic except in the field of weapon design, which are famed for their creativity and effectiveness. Karken buildings and cities are primarily subterranean, but most have above-ground sections where business and commerce is conducted during the day.

The primary recurring themes in the history and culture of the western dwarves include maintaining dwarf culture, rugged individualism, and preventing the ruination of all things. In keeping with these themes, dwarf high society is primarily occupied by high-ranking soldiers and military leaders as well as dwarf nobility. Masters of the wilds are also held in high esteem, though they rarely venture into the tunneled cities of their kin. The lower classes are made up of merchants and other, more common folk.

#### Race Relations

Western dwarves are constantly at odds with both the wilderness along their western border and the more civilized races in East Serntal. Though the kingdoms tend to get on fine with neighboring humans, the dwarves often rely on lumber when other materials are in short supply, bringing them into conflict with Elves, especially those from the city-states of Sarias and Resilnin. They tolerate the dragonborn tribes that live in their regions, and half-orcs and half-elves are infrequent enough to be judged on an individual basis. Tieflings are similarly underrepresented in the Karken regions.

Karken dwarves get along famously with Fel-el due to syncretization of the Fel-el during the Dwarvish Age of Exploration. Fel-el from Serntal are considered by the dwarves to be more or less kin because of their historical affiliation.

#### Combat

Centuries of near-constant war have galvanized the advancement of metalwork and stonework in the region, especially in the development of new weapons. The Forge Lords develop specialized weapons far beyond the capacity of other people and even other dwarf cultures to reproduce, which see use among the most elite soldiers. These masterfully forged items are a point of pride to the dwarves, and so weapons like the buckler blade and krakust are never mass-produced; they do not wish for others to find and learn to reverse-engineer their armaments.

### Gare'el

#### Culture

Gare'el, or eastern dwarves, are far removed from the life of tunnel warfare to which other dwarves are accustomed. The principal virtue of the Gare'el is mastery of the self before the mastery of others, and on this point, they reject the racial warfare of their descendants, though they have been at war numerous times with neighboring giants and continue to contend with creatures of a different variety from those in the Homeland. Gare'el written and spoken language is considerably more fluid than that of other races, and they tend to prefer loose, comfortable clothing. Gare'el dwarves created and uphold the Monastic Traditions.

#### Physiology

Gare'el are physiologically similar to other dwarves, with short, bulky builds and rapidly growing beards. However, as they do not spend the majority of their time underground, they are slightly taller and darker than other members of the same species. An average Gare'el dwarf stands 4'10" tall and weighs 170 pounds, with slightly slimmer females. A tiny percentage of Gare'el male dwarves grow blonde beards, though these individuals usually have brown hair on their heads and bodies. Gare'el tend to live slightly longer than other dwarves, with ages of 430 years recorded.

#### Race Relations

The eastern dwarves get on passably with members of other races. Their interaction with elves is limited by geography, and they maintain trade relationships with humans of neighboring areas. As with Karken dwarves, Gare'el's largest minority group is Fel-el, which are more or less accepted as a subset of dwarves.