Dwarf

**Dwarves,** called **Dáhn** in Dír Dahnum, are a sapient species native to Trea and one most populated intelligent species on Moro alongside Humans and Thel. Dwarves were once divine creatures created by Erokan the Torturer of Gods during his time as a member of the gods of Odem.

## Origin and Reproduction

### Origin

Dwarves are not born rather they are mined from the earth. Being created by Erokan originally as divine creatures they were never touched by mortality and so they lack the relevant biological proceses for sexual reproduction. Dwarves are creatures of the earth and their essence of life is closely tied to their existence. When the first Dwarves were cast from the heavens after being found guilty by The Golden Judge they soared from the city of Odem and plummeted from the moon of Oroka all the way down to the planet of Trea beneath. The fall from the moons caused each of the 100 or so original Dwarves that landed on Trea to impact with such velocity they plummeted deep into the planetary crust where they were killed. A first taste of their newfound mortality. This original Dwarves to be cast out are known by the Dwarves as *The Tuatha dé Déithe*, meaning The Tribesmen of the Gods. *The Tuatha dé Déithe* were scattered all throughout Trea during the 2nd Epoch when the lands were frozen in eternal winter. The first of the Dwarves were awoken from their slumber by a hero in the *The Tuatha dé Déithe* known as Fatach Mhóir whose skin made from the indestructible aatanite allowed him to survive the fall from their former home on the Sapphire moon. With his bare hands he clawed at the earth, unburying his kin from all over the world, freeing them from their earthern grave.

### Reproduction

The mechanical processes for the reproduction of Dwarves is comparable to the proccesses involved in rock metamorphosis. After a Dwarf dies, what remains of their body is cremated and placed deep into the ground, usualy 7-10 kilometers in vast funerary tombs purposufully placed near violent tectonic and volcanic activity. These tombs are ancestral grounds that function for thousands of years, holding the remains of millions and millions of Dwarves. The funerary tombs are treacherous places deep underground where the mechanics of the earth produce immense heat and pressure. The abrasive motion of Trea's tectonic plates and the moving of Aatanen himself causes fissures in earth to cause lava sprouts to flood these ancestral tombs. After the tombs are flooded the remains of Dwarves held within the tombs undergo severe geological metamorphosis as their are subject to immense heat and pressure that violently compounds their remains into the rock of the ancestral tombs. This processes causes mineralization, crystalization and genetic distrubution. After thousands of years when these intense geological processes halt what is left is a fully formed Dwarf whose skin is compounded by the predominant rock of the tomb environment and whose organs are crystalized through the intense heat. The intermixture of various Dwarven remains that are present in the Ancestral tombs creatres entirely unique creatures much like sexual reproduction where the genes of two parents create a child, however in the case of Dwarves the genetic signature of thousands intermix together to create thousands more Dwarves inextricably different from the previous generation.

As a result of this, Dwarves are born fully matured and do not go through childhood, and as a result a Dwarven generation is considered be half a millenium rather than a human generation of roughly 20 years. Dwarves when born although they do not experience childhood there are biological markers than denote maturity. One biological marker is Dwarven beards. When born a Dwarf will have no beard growth for roughly the first 60 years. During this period they are considered Young with maturity increasing as geode fibres sprout. 60-100 the geode fibres are roughly 15 centimetres during which they are refered to as adult. 100-150 the geodes are roughly 25 centimetres, during which they are considered mature. 150-450 years, geodes are roughly 40-70 centimetres during which they are reffered to as elder. After 450+ years the geode beard does not stop growing and at this point the dwarf is typically referred to as ancient. Female Dwarves do not grow geode fibre beards but instead, unlike males, their head hair continues growing until they die and is the metric their maturity is measured through.

#### Process

1. A Dwarf is buried deep underground in an ancestral tomb-->
2. Violent Geological and Volcanic activity over hundreds of years break down Dwarven remains. -->
3. The remains of thousands of Dwarves intermix and reform after thousands of years in a process of metamorphic geological mineralization and crystalization where new bodies are created deep within the ancestral tombs. -->
4. Thousands of years after the original burial new Dwarves are mined from the sealed ancestral tombs where they live and die. -->
5. Next generation of Dwarves die and are buried restarting the cycle -->

## Ecotypes

During the process of Dwarven reproduction many different metamorphic rocks can intermix to greatly impact what material a Dwarf is predominantly made from. This is largely present in the organs of the Dwarf including the skin where a Dwarves geological heritage can be easily seen. This contributes to the characteristics of many Dwarves that often impacts their mental ability, physical strength, propensity for magic, temperment, stature and personality. Some of these characteristics are minor and largely societally attributed such as the discrimination against obsidian dwarves as being tyrannically in nature. Whilst others have concrete impacts on the Dwarves life such as a Pyroclast Dwarf who can withstand heat much more readily and Quartzite Dwarves being taller and broader.

### DnD 5e Subrace conversion

* **Hill Dwarves:** Sandstone, Jadeite, Marble, Gneiss, Lapis Lazuli
* **Mountain Dwarves:** Pyroclast, Quartzite, Flint, Slate, Anthracite
* **Duergar:** Serpentinite, Obsidian, Skarn