While it is not quite as necessary to discuss Dwarves via shared assumption, it should be noted that there are quite a few that need to be addressed to discuss them in detail.

Assumption One: Dwarves are primarily underground dwellers who do not have an aversion to surface life. Thus they live underground for reasons that have nothing to do with Dwarvish nature or biology, but to environmental factors external to the race itself.

Assumption Two: Dwarves exist in a clan structure, with clan seats and leaders. Note that Clans are not to be mistaken for Tribes, as with Elves. Obviously, the Clan structure is a significant factor in the cultural development of Dwarves as a whole, thus needs to be established as fact prior to continuing the study. Speak now or forever hold your peace.

Assumption Three: Dwarves appear to be dour and curmudgeonly, yet can be found regularly among other races. Likewise, dwarves apparently do not behave insularly amidst their own kind.

Assumption Four: Dwarvish women have beards? Wait for it, people.

Assumption Five: Dwarves love beer, and apparently brew the very best beer, or certainly the strongest.  No studies have shown dwarves to have any particular say about wine, with a few noted derogatory comments about 'elvish piss-water'. Possibly taken out of context.

Assumption Six: Dwarves do not like Elves, and have a long standing racial war with Goblinoids and Orciod races, while being generally a militant race all around.

Assumption Seven: Dwarves love metal and 'shiny things', and are reputed to horde all things dug from the earth.


Quite frankly, looking that the evidence it seems that, much as the Elves, there is a long of misinterpretation of the facts in the case of Dwarves.  Dwarves are not misanthropic misfits who like darkness, far from it. Let us review the facts of the matter.

Dwarves have no aversion to surface life or socializing with surface races, this is supported by the source documents in all cases. Dwarves have only the affinity to stone and underground life you'd expect from a race whose typical members spend the majority of their time in subterrainian dwellings.

Thus we can assume that Dwarves were driven underground at some point in their early 'civilization' development. Given that there seem to be some records of Dwarf/Elf tensions, but no current state of war, and given the prediliction for Elves for viscious racial wars, we can assume that long ago the Dwarves were a peaceful agricultural race living on the surface. Elves presumably took their agricultural expansion personally (chopping down forests for farmland, etc... remember that dwarves favor axes above all other weapons), and the Dwarves took Elven 'theft' of valuable crops and herd animals equally personally (remember that the typical Dwarven insults about elves relegates them to theiving magpies).  Dwarves are not Miners by nature, but Farmers, it is only the perception of them by Humans who lack records of the ancient war that see them differently.  

We can guess that even those early dwarves were stout of heart and unwilling to back down from growing Elven agression. However, as agricultural peoples, they do not think in terms of 'excess population' and would view any deaths as acts of war, rather than 'culling' the tribe. Given the well established knowledge of the Dwarven ability to carry a grudge, we can further assume that the actual fault of the war would have been the Dwarvish seriousness about the matter. Unfortunately, stout hearts are no match for the sort of magical firepower and martial skill the elves are justly known for, and we can assume that the Dwarves were slowly driven back. With a population growth, that is breeding speed, on par with the Elves, but with shorter lifespans, the Dwarves were ill prepaired for this sort of war.  Unfortunately, while the Elves don't carry grudges, they do tend to be rather through, even methodical, in their warfare. Thus, to survive, the Dwarves were eventually forced to flee for cave systems. Finding themselves secure for the first time in probably generations, the Dwarves settled in to hide and prepare for the 'inevitable' discovery of their new homes by the Elves. Of course, once again Dwarves misunderstood their enemies quirks, namely that while Elves are methodical in their campaigns, they are fractious and flighty, and with the Dwarves 'out of sight, out of mind' the Elven tribes fell to bickering about tea cosies or somesuch and eventually forgot all about those pesky farming types.

However, it is a reasonable assumption that Dwarves invented fermentation of grain alcohol, and it was undoubtedly a significant part of their culture prior to being driven underground by the Elves. Elves, having no agriculture, had presumably developed a taste for alcohol from their dwarven neighbors and lacking agriculture eventually adopted the process to fruits and berries, which were far more accessable to them.

Unfortunately for the dwarves, other races were habitually users of the same cave structure, and were very like the Elves in a tribal hunter gatherer culture, and thus the war continued, and continues to this day, underground. However, while the dwarves could NOT compete with the breeding rate of these new enemies, they proved superior in other ways, a reversal of sorts from their previous war against the elves.  Dwarves continued to hold their reverence for grain alcohol, making it a significant facet of their religious rites, how else to explain how a culture with no significant access to grain continues to produce fine alcohols? Sociological necessity is the only explanaition that fits the facts.  It is theorized that dwarves metabolism is more adapted to eating grains than meats, and that a dwarf on a high protein diet is an unhappy dwarf, however that is the realm of biology, and thus a topic for another to discuss.

Culturally, Dwarves are highly social, almost 'socialist' in outlook, taking the needs of the group beyond the needs of the individual. This is in part due to their early adoption of agricultural culture, and in part due to the tight confines of underground life. Dwarves are HIGHLY social creatures, and are quite miserable alone, going even so far as to assosiate with Elves, the very race that reduced them to living underground. However, like many races, they have an extremely hard time understanding that their way is not the same as your way, leading to frequent misunderstandings.  However, there can be some forgiveness of this attitude, as their attempts to make peace with subterrainian gobliniods and orc tribes were universally met with savagery and violence.

Like any good farmers, the Dwarves prize industry and hard work. Mining is not a pleasant activity for them, it is merely a necessity of life. New living space is needed for a growing population, as is space for more underground farms. Ironically, the farms are most likely to be situated in the middle of dwarven 'cities', rather than outlying areas.  Such areas are both the most defensible, and also the most suitable, being more 'wide open'. That such areas are never reported to exist by the source documents is indication of how seriously Dwarves defend their food supply.

As for the tendancy to Horde shiny items, gift giving is a way of life for Dwarves. It is how one builds and maintains social bonds, heals rifts in the community. Resources underground are scarce, however, so much must be made of little. Metals are preferred because they are both durable and reasonably plentiful, and heirlooms are treasured because they are a gift that keeps giving, and growing more valuable with each passing generation.  Contrary to popular belief dwarves do not horde at all. However, they have no use for charity, no room for it in their culture, and it is possible to extrapolate that they have no room for it instinctively.  Dwarves naturally cannot tolerate theft of resources, and their stubbornness in reclaiming lost resources is legendary.  On the individual level, rather than racial, this CAN be exaggerated into miserly behavior, and is tolerated among fellow dwarves as an unfortunate eccentricity, barely above theft in that it removes resources from the community. It should be noted that Gobliniods and Orcs have both manifested cultural traits that actually prize theft, making such cultures anathama to Dwarven life.

One difficulty in dealing with dwarven culture is the lingering repercussion of the genocidal war waged by the Elves in time forgotten. Elves are clever, crafty and viscious opponents with a great deal of magical power at their command, and biological warfare, attacking an enemies ability to breed is not beyond their means or minds. Wether this is true or not, Dwarves tend to revere their womenfolk, and protect them to an excessive degree as the 'future of the species'.  One can presume that Dwarven women are pampered and sheltered, but this is incorrect, and fails to account for the workaday habits of the dwarven race. Dwarves, all dwarves, work and work hard. Women and younglings are primarily responsible for the crops and brewing, as well as other infrastructure behavoirs (like cloth weaving). In fact, many Dwarves would express envy at the position womenfolk hold in their culture, males are viewed as largely expendable members of the race, fit to work the dangerous jobs. The only males with any power are the clanfathers, clanheads and kings. As Male Dwarves are responsible for mining and warfare, male dwarves decide where to mine and where to fight, as well as dealing with all outsiders. Thus it is unusual in the extreme (but hardly impossible) for an outsider to meet with a dwarven womanfolk outside the homes. The misconception of other races is that the Kings and clanfathers are the most powerful members of a given community of dwarves, far from it. It is the voices of the womenfolk (collectively, dwarves are a collective minded race mind you) that ring loudest, and every dwarven King winces at the sight of a woman in his Great Hall, for it usually spells bad tidings for him.  

Ironically, Dwarves are not the consummate bachelors, indeed every dwarf dreams of getting married. It is in many ways the ultimate status symbol for a dwarf, to win the hand of a Dwarfmaid, not even the greatest King is garaunteed such an honor.  A dwarf who talks ill of women is an outcast, most assuredly. As to dwarfmaids having beards... again, biology is outside the realm of this discussion, though it is the learned oppinion of this author that it is a myth based entirely on the lack of 'presence' of dwarven womenfolk.

Lastly, let us deal with the basics of Dwarven culture. Dwarves are aligned in great clans, the greatest of which can be found in many dwarven 'kingdoms'. A clan is unlike a tribe in that a clan is made up of many families, where a tribe is essentially one great family.  Dwarven clans are unlike human clans, in that only the males belong to any given clan, womenfolk only enter clan life upon marriage into one. In essence, unmarried women are their own 'metaclan', with power to match.  Most dwarves in a single isolated hold will form a clan specific to that hold, only in wider 'kingdoms' made of linked Holds does this not hold true.  The head of each family is a power in his own right, though answerable in many ways to the head of the clan, who in turn can be responsible to a High King. Dwarven Males are both collectivists and heirarchical in habit, meaning that they naturally form a pecking order, and tend not to buck the trend. Dwarves LIKE having someone above them in power, though this is not to say they necessarily like having that someone actually ordering them about. Thus it is natural for Dwarven High Kings to pay respect to both their ancestors and the Gods, who are often viewed as just immortal Dwarves or Dwarven Spirits.  It should be noted that the Dwarven God of the Forge is also the Dwarven Sun God (though rarely listed as such), and that tales of Dwarven Gods often read much like tales of dwarven heroes, and vice versa.  Dwarves that die in battle are left on the outside of the mountains, freed from their burdens, dwarves that die peacefully after a fulfilling life are buried in the comforting shelter of stone and earth. No mention of Dwarven women have special burial rites is known, but it is suggested that they are buried among the crops. No dwarf is given grave goods, which is viewed as stealing from the living, but is always given one last drink.  If you ever stumble across a naked dwarf corpse on a mountainside smelling of booze, do not disturb it.  

There are more details, such as privacy issues (dwarves ignore things that are embarassing as if they didn't see it, whenever possible...and what a dwarf sees as normal behavior to be celebrated (sex, for example) many races view as embarrassing....

Spike, what's bringing out all this creativity?  Socialist Dwarves?!  Please tell me hivemind Hobbits are next.

Dvegr (Dwarves) in my FRPG turn to stone slowly after they die. So many halls humans think are filled with statues/ornate carvings of fallen Dvegr, are actually the Dvegr Halls of Mourning..

I think the main reason most dwarves hate to associate with other races is simply because dwarves are just the right height for everyone else to :fart: directly into their faces.

Plus with those stumpy legs of theirs you can slide in front of one, let a real wallshaker right into his face then run, he'll never catch you.

Wow, this is quite similar to the Dwarven culture/history in my own homebrew.  Only Dwarves were driven underground by dragons, not elves. After the dragons died out, the Dwarves reemerged from their underground halls to find a new race dominating the surface-Man.  The eventual idea is for a great Dwarven crusade against this upstart young race that has settled in the surface lands which rightfully belong to the Dwarves.

You've given me somethings to think about to flesh out Dwarven culture here, and why it is the way it is.  Good stuff.

Techno: Of course, we can only speculate if it was Elves that drove the Dwarves underground. As stated in the Elven monograph, it is often suggested that the Elves were once a powerful slave race, possibly to draconian overlords. If such a state once existed, the Dwarves would have never submitted to slavery and may have been driven underground by Elves WORKING for Dragons, if not the very dragons themselves...

Sadly, most records of those days are either lost or inaccessable to human researchers, and Dwarven legends are not entirely consistent on the matter.

Quote from: fonkaygarrySpike, what's bringing out all this creativity?  Socialist Dwarves?!  Please tell me hivemind Hobbits are next.

Actually, I have a mind to deal with Malthean Goblins next, but as I'm going to be away from my desk all day in a boring class it will have to wait for another day. Sorry Fonkay...

QuoteAssumption Four: Dwarvish women have beards? Wait for it, people.

Dwarven women in my game do not have beards.  They have long braided hair.

Quote from: StuartDwarven women in my game do not have beards.  They have long braided hair.

Similar in mine--and dwarves are not "fat" moreso than humans they share the variety of builds of humanity-- just smaller and DENSER. They're said to have "Hearts of Iron and Bones of Stone", and can't swim because of there denseness (they don't float)

I believe I addressed the myth of the bearded dwarf women.  As you never, or certainly rarely, see dwarven women, it should be natural to assume that you merely haven't noticed them, and thus they must look like male dwarves. Obviously, this is not taking into account a few factors, such as the previously mentioned sanctity women hold in dwarven culture. To expose a dwarven woman to a potential magical curse or poison would be unthinkable for male dwarves, whom it must be admitted are more paranoid about such things than the womenfolk.

The fact of the matter is, Dwarven Beards are not nearly as universal as some believe. Source documents reveal beardless dwarves, though in the minority, and never stress WHY the dwarves all have beards, leaving it up to the reader to attempt to discern why.  Recall that clothing making materials are in short supply underground, thus Dwarves occasionally harvest their own prodigious facial hair to make their clothing. Naturally this isn't their sole form of clothing material, but it does supplement it. Numerous source documents relate to the usage of hair by dwarves in things like shawls or rope, often magical, suggesting that it is their most respected material.  Obviously well cared for long hairs work best for this, which explains the care Dwarves take of their beards. Long head hair is impractical to care for in mines and warfare, due to helmets, though it serves a purpose there to provide additional padding for blows.

As for Fat, I might remind you of the long hard hours of work the average dwarf puts in from birth to death. A fat dwarf is a lazy dwarf and a lazy dwarf is inevitably going to be an outcaste. Dwarves take a fair amount of pride in their physiques, and occasionally refer to even burly humans as 'somewhat weedy'.   While it is not nearly as acceptable to brag about one's dwarvish figure as it is to brag about a particularly valuable gift one has recieved (or GIVEN), it is not unheard of for younger dwarves to strut around shirtless, posing and generally playing the peacock. While this typically happens with other males, the purpose is like any other peacock behavior, to attract the females.   A little known quirk of Dwarven aesthetics: among women, a thick middle with stretch marks is particularly admirable, as it shows that the Dwarfwoman has carried a child to term... a particularly valuable fact given the low fertility and high rates of miscarriage the race suffers from.  Dwarf males also enjoy having a wife who has born them a child (naturally) but often admit to admiring the trimmer waists of Dwarfmaids, though never in the presence of womenfolk.

As for their sturdy builds and iron constituitions, well... these are things we expect the dwarves have always been blessed with.  It makes them well suited for hard labor, and dwarves are rightly proud of how tough they are. Ironically, they are less prone to 'toughness' contests than Elves. A Dwarf doesn't want to prove he is the toughest, he wants to not be the weakest, and dwarven youths are famous for showing no mercy on peers who can not keep up physically.  One famous dwarven 'game' is Boulder Breaking, where a gang of youths physically assault a large boulder with all their might, only quitting when either the boulder is reduced to rubble (rair) or when they have all exhausted themselves to the point of collapse. Traditionally they will repeat the game 'endlessly' until the boulder does break or adults force them to quit (usually after several days, done without food or water, or even propper sleep)... the dwarf who quits first in any given iteration is the closest one to the rock on the next, keeping them from falling back until the rest of the gang is done. Deaths are not unheard of.

In my game, female dwarves grow facial hair like the males, but they usually shave for aesthetic reasons.  However, if a female dwarf ever wants to go 'incognito' and pass as a  male (perhaps to avoid the overprotectiveness of the males), they can simply let their beards grow out.

Arise and seek out thine brethren. Arise and go forth to maraud the land and winnow out the week and souless alternative.

Er...


ARISE!

I was working on Dwarven culture accidentally in another milieu, which is funny since I am not one of 'those players' who always (or ever...) plays a dwarf.

Anyway, I thought I'd do a quick rundown of the sort of social strata you'd see in Dwarven Society. At least in Haven (my setting).

At the top is the 'mythical' High King, a Dwarf Clan-father who has been elected to unite multiple (technically all) Clanholds, generally in response to some crisis.  This is not a hereditary position, though being decended from a past High-King is generally a 'good thing' for an ambitious dwarf.

There is no 'High Queen' title or position, though to qualify to be High King a dwarf must be married, and more importantly must ALSO have the approval of the various Clan Mothers.  The wife of the High King may not have an official title or authority, but, as in all Dwarven marriages is considered 'in charge' of the household... which means she has a sort of Veto power over the High King, particularly in Domestic affairs. A High King generally 'rules' from his own native Clanhold, as he remains the Clan-Father of his own Clan.  

It is traditional for the Clanholds that elect or agree to a High King (not the same thing, voting against a High King does not mean you get a free pass to oppose his rule if you lose the vote. There are rules to 'opt out' of a High King's reign and its considered dishonorable under most circumstances) to provide Gifts to the High King, usually appropriate to whatever caused him to be elevated in the first place.  This may be the product of your forges or warriors for a war.  This is a sort of ritual way of gathering the materials for a purpose as there is no provision for taxation, particularly between clanholds.   In this regard the High King has very little authority of his own.

Below the High King (currently there is none, and the Dwarves prefer it that way...) there are the Various Clan-Fathers, and the Clan Mothers beside them. A Clanfather must be married to qualify.  These are also non-hereditary positions, though being from the right family (that of the most recent clanfather) provides a huge boost. It is notable that the Clanfather must be approved by the males and females of his clan while the clanmother merely has to be wedded to him.  These are 'co-rulers' with different areas of responsibility, though many clanfathers have been widowers, leaving the council of Mothers to handle the traditional duties of his deceased wife.  The CF is responsible for matters of war, trade and industry while the CM is responsible for food stocks, medicines and other 'support' industries.  Generally the Clan Father is the oldest member of the most prominant family within the clan and is more a director than a ruler.

Below the ClanFather is the Paterfamilias, the heads of the various families within the Clanholds.  These Dwarves have a lot of political and practical authority over the Clan, and are held to have near total authority over their own families.  There is no female equivilent here, though an 'equal' or perhaps even greater 'power group' is the Council of Mothers.  Dwarven Women, particularly unmarried women, are viewed as a clan resource rather than a family resource. A married dwarf female is dutybound to her new Family, while unmarried Dwarfmaids are considered, politically anyway, a 'Family', ruled by the oldest mothers in the Clan (generally widows. There are many Dwarf widows. Once her children are grown and her husband dead (usually in war) a dwarven woman has 'officially' discharged her Duty to her Family and returns to the 'Clan', though she will probably still dote on grandchildren. The Widows form a deliberative body responsible for chosing dwarven males as husbands for the dwarfmaids and ensuring clan cohesion, and serve as a powerful check on the various Males. An official censure from the Council of Mothers (despite the name, barren females (sadly too common) make up half of the average council, though age and wisdom are still respected) can end the prospects of the most ambitious male, and bring down even a High King. Note: the worst official punishment they can mete out, legally, is to deny the offender's family wives.  THe power of this censure can not be underestimated.

Alongside the paterfamilias and the Widows, there exists a sort of third party, called 'Kazkarka' or 'Uncles'. Dwarves of exceptional talent are particularly respected. A skilled war leader or a master craftsman with many apprentices, a particular devout priest all may be considered Kazkarka.  These Dwarves generally have, or soon recieve, the ear of the Clanfather in council, despite their status within their own families. Even bachelors may be Kazkarka, and age isn't a requirement.  The Kazkarka are, individually, at least as powerful and respected as the Paterfamilias or the Council, but as a collective group they have less influence due to their solitary natures.

The next 'tier' of power is the Durkuna, or "Brothers". These are the Dwarven equivilent to knights, respected and admired, often with presitious ancestors, but unproven. Many Durkuna will rise to the ranks of the Kazkarka or perhaps become Paterfamilias themselves, too many others will die in battle or simply not live up to their potential.  

Under the Durkuna are the Craftsmen, those who have managed to set up their own 'business' making goods for their fellow dwarves, under them are the veteran warriors and under them are the tradesmen and under them are the various apprentises and trainees.  In all cases, the Honorific of "Husband" grants a measure of Prestige over the epithet 'Bachelor'.  To a Dwarf a bachelor is a Dwarf who has turned down a marriage or has been denied a marriage when he has otherwise earned one.  It is frequently used as an insult.

A better honorific than Husband is Father.  There is no term for 'Bastard', though there have been rare cases of unmarried Dwarfmaids having indiscretions with dwarves who are not yet worthy of marriage.   The lucky Dwarf who successfully fathers a child out of wedlock still earns the honorific of Father and, unless he is a total waste of a beard has a leg up in the marriage game.  Otherwise he is on the road to Exile anyway (rapes, while rare, do occur. To produce a child is still a blessed event to the infertile dwarves, but in this case the child is raised by the Council. If female, it is completely unmentionable, if male he is considered, officially, part of the Clan-Father's family.).  Most Dwarven fathers pray for daughters, and it is unofficially considered a mark of distinction to have several children, moreso if they are mostly female.

Note: Under no circumstances do Dwarves execute their criminals. Dwarven life is too precious to be spilt by another dwarf. Exile is the primary punishment for all serious crimes. However, prior to the Gobln Wars, exile WAS a death sentence.  Helping an Exile is asking to share his punishment, and seeing as most Clanholds are/were under near constant siege, not being allowed within usually meant a 'redeeming' suicide charge into enemy ranks. With the return to the surface this has changed significantly and many clanholds debate the mercy of allowing 'non-persons' to leave for the welcoming arms of non-dwarven communities and over the last thousand years or so many have begun pushing for official executions of the worst offenders.  Several Clanholds have unofficial assassins, as Murder is not an exile worthy crime, and murder of an exile is not even considered noteworthy, these 'assassins' see to it that some offenders do not make it to the surface alive.


None of this, however, applies to the Southern Clanholds.  While they still suffer from the same infertility problems of their northern cousins, they have traditionally suffered less from the constant subterranian wars. Female Dwarves are considered property and are bought by the wealthiest or most powerful dwarves, and having multiple wives is a sign of greatness, though of course it is possible to steal women from other Dwarves, or to father your own children on them if you can. Obviously sons are preferred, with daughters being a source of wealth.  Their rank structure is similar but they use far less familial terms for various ranks and replace the honorifics with a sort of informal 'number of wives'.  They still view hoarding as a great sin, so having more wives than you can comfortably squire is viewed with some disdain. Barren females are generally put to work in brothels to keep the vastly greater numbers of unmarried dwarves from revolting.   Families are formed through adoptive bonds as frequently blood ties.  The Southern Clans have no equivilent to a High King, and in fact are said to have split off over the very first High King's election... which if legends are correct was to address the problem of the Curse, which primarily aflicted dwarfmaids.  The Southern Clans are less unified culturally than their more numerous northern kin, and some clans do allow more freedom for their womenfolk than others, and at least one Clan-Father from the south was a Dwarfmaid who ruled from behind an iron beard and a ruthless temperment. The oppressive 'slaveholding' nature of the southern clans does lead to more tyrannical political structures, though the deeply ingrained mertiocratic/pragmatic nature of Dwarves keeps them from ever adopting formalized hereditary rulership.  

Paravail's Clanhold, in their artificial mountain, deserves some note as well. While structurally similar to Northern Clans, their urban existance and the presence of orcs and halforcs among the Clan changes quite a bit, as does the influences from the Southern dwarves.  While still protected the female dwarves of Paravail have no seperate, parallel ranks and are not as isolated from outsiders.  Many families in Clanhold Paravail are lead by Materfamilias, especially among those families with many adopted orcs.    Females still have a lot of political power in Paravail's Clanhold, but it is more direct and overt, relying on the general reverence the Dwarves have and the matrilinial tendencies of their adopted orcish brethren.  They are less militant as well, putting far more emphasis on crafting, particularly architectural, meaning warriors slip below traders in the hierarchy, though they are above the spies at least.

Slavery is tolerated in Paravails clanhold, though here it must be noted that they have the same problem as the rest of Paravail: While slavery is technically legal, anyone can become a citizen of Paravail, and the moment they do they can not be slaves any longer.  This tolerance appears to be an influence from those dwarven families who trace their ancestry to the South, though it no longer is gender biased.  The preferred slave stock of Clanhold Paravail is Goblinoid, and it is one of their former slaves that became Paravails first (and currently only) Goblin Citizen.  This practice is particularly abominable to most Dwarven Clans due to the historical hatred between the two races.  Goblins are to be slain not fed and housed!   One response has been that a properly trained Goblin (of the smaller sorts) makes a particularly effective vermin hunter, keeping rats and kobolds alike out of the Clanhold.  And if you lose a few to the kobolds, better they then a child.

Clan Paravail has no official duties to a High King, being a relatively new and 'ad hoc' Clanhold.  However, their long experience with politics in the city means they are probably willing to 'play the game' to ensure some gains for themselves, relying on their ability to opt out if things don't go their way to profit from the election. The chances of a Paravailian Clan Father are, due to the peculiarities of Dwarven Politics, no worse than any other Clan's despite all this.

I was never all that fond of Dwarves in fantasy settings... just too uninterestingly heroic and noble and stoic...
Whenever I've played them in RPGs I've assumed that all the stories of their glorious underhomes are bunk... that they're really a bunch of pretentious little boasters who live in dank smelly 'man-caves', have bad personal hygiene and can't hold their liquor worth snot. The reason you never see Dwarf women is because the males a bunch of domineering wife-beaters who keep them chained to bed and hearth and never let them out into the world.
The bad blood between elves and dwarves is because the dwarves see the elves as effete ninnys who take baths and empty their piss-pots... whereas the Elves see the Dwarves as nose-picking Neanderthals with last week's lunch still rotting in their beards.

I like Confrontation/Cadwallon's take on Dwarf-Goblin relations... in that game the Goblins were a subterranean race discovered and enslaved by the Dwarves. Enslaved for centuries until the Goblins got religion and organized their chaotic selves enough to organize a breakout.
Now the Dwarves' attitude toward the goblins (and their derived race of Orks) is the long-standing resentment of a master toward his emancipated servant.
It's also mentioned that the Dwarves NEVER let anyone from the other races into their underground homes... which fits in with my other presumptions.

Nice Job, here my treatment of dwarves, hopefully you find something useful.

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Dwarves
The dwarves were one of the earliest races breed from Man by the Demons. They were breed to act as underground workers. Unfortunately the hardiness given to them also resulted in a legendary stubbornness. The early dwarves were not easily terrorized by the demons and soon revolted. They took readily to the metalsmith arts. The discovery of iron is credited to the Dwarves. After the wars they returned to the mountains where they still dwell today.

• Dwarves are long lived and have triple the lifespan of Man.
• Dwarves are +2 to Constitution, -1 to Charisma.
• Dwarves are gain +4 saving throw vs poisons.
• Dwarves gain +2 to any Athletic task.


Veritas
Veritas is the god of creation, craftsmen, and truth. He is revered by the Dwarves. He is the eldest of the gods and the first to come to the Wilderlands. He is known as the High Lord among the elves. In lands influenced by Elven culture he forms a trinity with Dannu, and Silvanus.

The Dwarves revere Veritas as their patron and teacher. They call him the Soul light because he led them into freedom from being enslaved by the demons. Veritas taught the Dwarves their skills as craftsmen. The Dwarves believe that Veritas continues to inspire their greatest craftsmen.

Rune-casters

Rune-casters originated among the Dwarves shortly after the chaos of the Uttermost War. While the Elves offered to teach all allied races their way of magic, the pride of the Dwarves led them to develop an independent method of creating spells.

The dwarves found that certain runes have magical properties. When properly inscribed the runes can be used create magic items that allowed the maker to cast spells. Over the centuries they refined rune inscription into a high art.

The dwarves are secretive and taught little of their art to the other races. However during the Crystal Wars, which brought down the Founder Empire, many dwarves immigrated to other regions of the Wilderlands. This was a time chaos and of great peril. For the first time dwarves taught allied races the secrets of rune casting. It would not be the last time.

Cultural Notes
Short and stocky, the Dwarves were created as a hardy races designed to endure the worse conditions in the mines of the Demons. However along with their bodies their spirit proved to be hardy as well. The demon could never break them as slaves and many escaped into the wilderness to join the rebellion against the Demons.

Because of this Dwarves feel most at home underground in deep mines and caverns. Their homes are magnificent works of art hewn from the living rock. They revel in work and will pursue a task for days without rest. Dwarves are the finest craftsmen of the Wilderlands, while the Elves can match in quality Dwarves out produce in quantity. They are also innovators in metallurgy and engineering; many of the advances in these two fields originated in Dwarven Halls.

The Dwarves are extremely protective of their family. A legacy of their creation by the Demon Lords has left them with the ability to produce only a few children. Among those who are born 75% are male. With so many without a spouse or immediate family the clan has become the focus of the ambition of many Dwarves. A dwarf will fight as fiercely for a nephew or niece as they would their own children. Dwarves hold their feelings in reserve and are perceived as a dour and cheerless race. Privately their halls ring with song and laughter shared with family and good friends.

Their infertility has caused them to regard their home as sacred and its defense the most important priority. Many of the Dwarves who adventure do so in hopes of gaining for their home a decisive advantage.