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Realms of the Sky - The Dwarves

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The Races of Aerundar


The Dwarves




Dwarves are one of the most reluctant of races to be included in the Great Census of Dragon's Talon, and are considered to be part of the higher civilizations of Aerundar.  Proud warriors, excellent craftsmen, and stout backers of tradition and honor, Dwarves nevertheless feel unwelcome in Dragon's Talon and prefer the comforts of their homes in the various continents of Aerundar; what comforts can be gleaned, in any case.  This is because Dwarves were natives to the continents long before any other races colonized them, and had specifically lived in what little underground the continents have.  As a result, Dwarves have experienced first-hand just how different the world became after the Breaking, and have become a melancholy people as a result.

The Lament of the Dwarves
Say what you will of the tragedy of Elves, whose race nears extinction, or of the harshness felt to the Half-Orcs after the great Orc War, but Dwarves believe within their hearts that they are the most-suffered race in Aerundar, and in a way they are right to believe so.  It was believed by the Dwarves that their numbers were far greater and had been widespread when the world was whole, but the Breaking saw the destruction of their people as their kind were shattered and the few survivors scattered to the four winds.  The few survivors likely died away on the few islands that held them, but for those fortunate enough to have remained underground there were at least three realms that could hold their people; the three remaining continents on Aerundar today.  But what remained was not enough to keep their culture alive, as can be seen by the splits in ideals seen by the various Dwarves that exist today.
Worse still, Dwarves have lost more than just their culture and way of life.  Their god, the great Vaule, was believed to be on Aerundar when it collapsed.  Connected so to the earth, Vaule did not simply die away like many of the other gods; he was instead sundered, his form shattered into many pieces which scattered to the different islands.  Sundered in such a way, Vaule the Smith God would never return in form as he had in past centuries, and so the Dwarves instead content themselves to worship Vaule's individual pieces as demigods, hoping that they may some day reconnect and be made whole again.

Physical Appearance
Dwarves are between a head and a head and a half shorter than humans on average, though are physically broad and robust; likely a remnant of when they lived their lives digging tunnels underground.  Dwarves grow body hair fairly quickly, though only male Dwarves grow chest and facial hair, with many Dwarf females emulating the customs of humans and other folk and shaving their body hair when it gets too long.  They tend to have darker hair and eye color, though this various depending on their ethnicity.  Their pride in their beards means that Dwarves will never shave their faces unless they performed some dishonor or broke one of the ancient Dwarven codes.  Otherwise many Dwarf males commonly shave their heads and tattoo the skin atop in the fashion of their people long ago.
Dress
Dwarves are great craftsmen, but are a humble people; preferring practicality over fantastic fashion.  Commonly Dwarves of any class or prestige will wear only the clothes of their trade, or otherwise wear commoner's clothing arranged in muted tones, usually browns or grays.  The only exceptions are on formal occasions or Dwarven holidays, in which case Dwarves will often go out of their way to appear as regal as possible, with males often threading their beards in brightly colored beads or metals while females emulate the same with their long hair.
Dwarves will go a long way, however, to ensure that their body appearance addresses their regality rather than their clothes.  Braids and tattoos are a common way for Dwarves to show vanity, often depicting the various symbols and runes of their peoples' ancient heritage.  Those Dwarves native to Vulkarn, however, will take this a step further and physically brand themselves with hot iron to depict positions of importance, and they take this branding with great ceremony and importance, considering it to be a rite of passage for many of their number.

Ethnicity
Dwarves are organized into at least three known ethnic groups.  Each of these are descended from the survivors of the Breaking that managed to make a foothold on one of the three continents of Aerundar, and often have strikingly different customs as a result.  Oddly, Dwarves manage to get along despite these strange custom differences, though these often make others wary of their differences.

Dust Dwarves
The most common race of Dwarves, Dust Dwarves, or Aldrahari Dwarves as they prefer to call themselves, are the ethnic group of Dwarves that survived and dwelled within the chasms beneath the continent of Aldrahar.  The continent is said to get its name from the ancient Dwarf fortress that dwells beneath the continent, though the fortress has long since been lost and abandoned after a terrible drought and famine struck the underground of Aldrahar.  The Dwarves have since retreated to the surface, building some settlements that have largely been abandoned in favor of the great mountain strongholds that now exist along Aldrahar's mountain ranges.  After Aldrahar was discovered by mapmakers the Aldrahari Dwarves made an accord with the Cartographer's Guild of Dragon's Talon, and have served alongside the guild in order to seek out lost ruins of Dwarven culture, as well as build colonies and settlements on unclaimed islands and ply their trade in existing cities.
Dust Dwarves tend to have sun-kissed, tanned skin with dark hair, and commonly serve as adventurers across the Skystreams.

Frost Dwarves
Far more xenophobic than their brethren, Frost Dwarves are native to the frozen continent of Northrond.  Unlike the Dust Dwarves or the Burned Dwarves, Frost Dwarves never dwelt in underground halls or within ancient fortresses of Dwarven make.  Instead they survived as meagerly as they could in the frozen north, attempting to survive to the best of their ability.  This changed when they met a few of the barbarian tribes of the Beolvar, who recognized their skill and strength in battle and made peace with them.  Frost Dwarves have since emulated the barbarian ways, often fighting with them side-by-side in battle, singing songs of their heroes of old and fighting larger and more terrifying foes in order to permanently engrave their deeds in story and song, and caring little for their forgotten heritage.  Frost Dwarves make for rare company due to their distrust of others, but they are fierce adventurers with a lust for blood, song, and gold.
Frost Dwarves tend to have paler skin and either black or red hair, usually with piercing blue, green, or pale colored eyes.  They are among the few whose males regularly shave themselves in order to tattoo their bodies in emulation of their barbarian friends.

Burned Dwarves
Calling themselves, 'the true Dwarves,' Burned Dwarves are natives of Vulkarn and are the least common ethnic group of Dwarvenkind.  Unlike the Frost Dwarves or even the Aldrahari Dust Dwarves, Burned Dwarves have been lucky enough to have dwelt in ancient temples and cities still surviving of old Dwarfdom; cities that have partially survived the Breaking.  Claimed to have descended from warrior-priests, Burned Dwarves have been living an eternal war against the other denizens of Vulkarn; denizens that were once invaders from the Deep Inferno, or so they claim.  Wars are often fought along the lava-filled, cracked, blackened stone of Vulkarn between the Burned Dwarves and the other beings such as the Fire Giants, Salamanders, Fire Elementals, and other unspeakable beasts that lurk within the molten region.  Burned Dwarves rarely adventure out of Vulkarn, but when they do it is often because they are outcasts or otherwise seeking aid in their fight against the Deep Inferno.
Burned Dwarves tend to have dark, almost coal-black skin and pale hair, with bright eyes of blue and yellow coloration.  They tend to brand parts of their body in a similar fashion to Dwarven tattooing, with the brands being colored brightly by ink that is said to glow under the power of spells.

Dwarven Fortitude
Dwarves are famous for their natural fortitude and internal strength, claimed to be an attribute shared by their people since before the Breaking.  This natural fortitude has allowed Dwarven fighters to endure wounds that would cripple humans, fight past the limits of their strength, and allow them to stomach greater ills that normally would harm others.  Indeed, this resistance to disease and poisons has made Dwarves tough to kill and has earned their place as some of the greatest fighters in all of Aerundar.  It's theorized that this fortitude is what makes them immune to stillsickness; the dreaded ailment that occurs whenever individuals stand on ground that rarely moves.  Regardless of how long they may stray from their homelands or how many generations pass between colonists and their forefathers, Dwarves are immune to the queasiness that is stillsickness.  However, they are still easily harmed by damages of the mind, and it is said that Dwarves can easily go insane if they stay too long on a ship without seeing land.

Religion
Save for those Dwarves who have colonized various islands near other higher races, Dwarves rarely adopt other gods for themselves.  This is due to the belief spread by many Dwarves, specifically those of Aldrahar, that their ancient god and patron, Vaule, was sundered during the Breaking and his pieces exist in near-crystal form across Aerundar, behaving as various aspects of the great smith god who gave the Dwarves form.  They believe firmly that if every Dwarf in every nation were to bring the pieces together and all Dwarves prayed, they would make the pieces whole and Vaule would be reborn.  This belief, however, is not shared by all Dwarves as many who have left Aldrahar to form colonies of their own have given up on the old, somber beliefs of Aldrahar in favor of other deities, while Frost Dwarves and Burned Dwarves worship other gods altogether.
Aldrahari Dwarves commonly worship the various sundered aspects of Vaule that have been discovered, such as Gorat, Nidarom, Nurid, Niroth Koa, and Rammazro.  Aldrahari colonists tend to worship whatever deities they think is best, usually those worshiped by nearby locals or friends in other races.  These commonly include Sulys, Tyrall, and Mahar to name a few.
Frost Dwarves rarely worship any deities, and instead perform ancestor worship and shamanistic animism similar to their Beolvar allies.  Others, however, have taken up to worship Mahar as an aspect of the hunt; it is unknown if they have been successful at this.
Burned Dwarves do not worship the sundered Vaule, instead claiming to worship the other, still-living or yet to be reborn gods of the Dwarven pantheon of old.  They are very secretive of their religion, however, and refuse to enlighten even the Aldrahari Dwarves who they believe have lost their way.

Language
The Dwarven language is a strange thing.  No one knows for certain if it is the same language of old or if it is simply a new language adapted by the Aldrahari Dwarves, but Kaz is itself a difficult language to learn by other races due to its strange, alien use of consonants and possession.  Burned Dwarves have confirmed that Kaz is little more than a pidgin language adapted from Kazgrommar, the Old Tongue of Dwarves, though they themselves are secretive of it and will not reveal its entirety.  Scholars theorize, however, that Kazgrommar is in fact not the actual Dwarven native tongue but is instead a language adapted from one of its various dialects.  The few Burned Dwarves who have been plied with this idea have not denied it, but neither have they accepted the theory as truth.

Equipment
Dwarven equipment is famous for being some of the best ever made.  As famous craftsmen, Dwarves can work wonders with stone, wood, and even the few metals that they have at their disposal, creating various works of beauty and art as well as practical tools that have no rival in the known world.  Burned Dwarf weaponry and armor is the most sought after, as they are among the few capable of mining native metal ores of iron and higher quality, which they openly trade in return for various materials they find necessary for their continued war with the other inhabitants of Vulkarn.
Dwarves have also invented a type of weapon known as Sparkpowder; an explosive used to manufacture firearms, fireworks, and other wonders.  Created by Aldrahari Dwarven alchemists experimenting on the surface of Aldrahar, Sparkpowder has since become a staple for many military powers in Aerundar, especially Dragon's Talon's famous navy.  Burned Dwarves took this a step further and used their natural stores of iron to build cannons capable of lobbing chunks of stone or metal at foes, thus adding to their own arsenal a formidable weapon.
The only substance Dwarves refuse to build anything out of is Ironwood, the common, enchanted replacement for iron in Aerundar.  It is likely in part due to their natural resistance to magic, though many claim that Ironwood physically hurts them when touched.  It is a knowledge taken advantage of by many bandits seeking to use Dwarven craftsmanship to aid them in future conquests, as it is easier than simply breaking a Dwarf's mind by threat of falling into the Cloud Sea.
(Edit: had to fix something involving Frost Dwarves.)

Another entry for Realms of the Sky, been a while since I did one of these.  Though it's taking me a while to actually write anything in the way of books, when it comes to worldbuilding I've been doing stuff non-stop.  It'll be nice if it turns out that I can maybe make this into an actual campaign setting for D&D or some other form of Roleplay Pen and Paper system.

Dwarves in Aerundar are very out of their element.  Almost all the other races in some fashion have managed to adapt to their new environment; humans have their Skyships, Drow their floating city-fortress of Arachnaag, and Gnomes have their giant floating spaceship hidden beneath the clouds.  But Dwarves have never gotten used to the reality of their world, and it has visibly affected them; they are a sullen, melancholy people, often prone to depression in old age.  However despite this they are still a proud people, conservative and preferring tradition, and they greatly respect honor and wisdom.  Dwarven craftsmanship is admired far and wide by the people of Aerundar, and they often take to adventuring; more often than not they do so on a quest to seek out the few remaining ruins of their ancestry, as well as to find artifacts linked to their long-lost heritage.

There are some things I need to stress, especially for people looking to play Dwarven characters in this campaign setting once it is finished:

- Most players will likely be playing Aldrahari Dwarves, the most common ethnicity
- Dwarven mages are NOT allowed; I am a traditionalist, dwarves are resistant to magic.  Bad juju and all that
- Dwarves panic when out in airships for too long, and there will likely be rules regarding dwarves going insane from long voyages across the Skystreams
- Dwarven clerics will be interesting to set up, due to their nature of worshiping a broken god, will have to work on some rules regarding that

The timing of posting this couldn't have been more appropriate, as Clamavi de Profundis, the YouTube family group that sang that famous cover of Misty Mountains Cold we all know and love, have posted a couple of new songs, particularly a couple of covers of the Song of Durin - www.youtube.com/watch?v=gt9He6… You guys should check it out, it's amazing!

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Realms of the Sky is a work-in-progress pen and paper campaign setting, being adapted for either D&D 5.0 or Pathfinder rules, potentially even its own homebrew rules, and (c) Kerian Halcyon
D&D is (c) Wizards of the Coast

-Kerian
© 2016 - 2024 Kerian-halcyon
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BandanaBlue's avatar
This was a neat read. I like what you have going for the dwarves. Good luck with continuing this!