Dwarves

The Dwarf

The Dwarf is a long living ancient race in the Alterverse. They tend to be very clannish and are the most fun loving of all the non-human races. Most all Dwarves tend to love good drink, and a dwarf will generally adventure with any race, providing it is not a half goblin, as they tend to view the half goblin as two legged vermin. They will adventure with them, but they will not trust one, as an old Dwarven proverb says….. A goblin is a goblin, enough said.

Dwarf Types

There are three main types of Dwarf, these are the Wild Dwarf, the Ice Dwarf and the Cave Dwarf, with the Common Dwarf having the largest population. All Dwarves are fiercely loyal to their home clan and all Dwarves will be a member of a clan of some type. They may not associate a lot with their clan, but they will nonetheless be a member of one.

The Common Dwarf

The common or wild dwarf as it also known as is not what one would call a typical dwarf. They are short and stocky as all dwarves are, and ten to be almost fat. They do not usually have beards, they range in skin color from Olive to Pink toned and they tend to have bright colored eyes such a green or blue, they will tend to wear their hair very long, and will usually have it curled. Dwarven females are a bit thinner than males (usually) and will have their hair in buns on the top of their head.

The Common dwarf is a wanderer, loving nature and the outdoors they will usually not be found to be settled in cities or towns. Instead they can be found living in socially modified wagons that are essentially rolling homes, traveling from one place to another. It is rumored that the Common dwarves have a hidden city containing great wealth and treasures beyond belief, but this is just a myth as no outsider can say for sure it is real, and no common dwarf ever talks about it. This hidden city is rumored to be called Dwardom.

The Common dwarf lives a very clannish life, and they will normally not associate with another clan except for possibly parking wagons together for protection, or coming to the aid of another clan in trouble. The clans, which number in the hundreds come together once a year for what they call the great fair, and to have what is called the Great Dwarf meet up. This is chance for the clans to all get together to make new rules, forge new alliances, settle disputes and to generally have a good time. Bloodshed is rarely spilt at a clan gathering. The common dwarf measures his or her wealth by their wagon, and it is generally agreed that the more highly decorated a wagon is the more wealthier the dwarf owning it is, thus others will notice that these wagons tend to be garishly decorated, and painted bright vibrant colors. All Common dwarves view Goblins as vermin, as Common Dwarven lore says that thousands of years ago the great Dwarven founder Polchack the Long had his beard stolen one night when he was asleep by a sneaky goblin, thus all common dwarves believe that the Goblins are responsible for them not having nor being able to grow beards.

Common Dwarf Revenue

The main source of revenue for the common dwarf is trade, and their main goal and past time is dealing and trading of goods, a common dwarf will deal in anything as long as they feel they can make money at it. They will travel long distances for the deal, and are expert bargainers.

The Ice Dwarf

The Ice Dwarf is like its cousins short and stocky, but unlike their Common Dwarven cousins they have long, full beards that tend to be very long and almost all white, although some Ice Dwarfs have brown or even black beards. Ice Dwarves have piercing blue or yellow eyes and have ruddy complexions that can range from pinkish to black. They are expert miners and gem smiths and will usually be found to have gems woven into their beards.

The lands of the ice dwarves are cold harsh places that are centrally located around the Ice Peaks, a huge expanse of cold barren mountains in the Alterverse, the capitol of the Ice dwarves is called Ice home and it is located high and deep in the Ice Peaks. The ice dwarf society is a monarchy and has a central ruler called King Frost Beard, and has a Dwarven Parliament or ruing council made up of 60 dwarves. Ice Dwarven law tends to be fair for the most part and they have courts and ruling judge panels that see over the various laws of the land.

Ice dwarves tend to be a peaceful people but are known to be when provoked very brutal warriors. Ice dwarves are an arcane loving society and have several deities that are believed to be responsible for magic. The main god of the Ice Dwarven society is Kotor the Long. And temples to him can be found all over ice Dwarven territories.

The Ice dwarfs as stated above are fascinated with all things arcane, and will go to great lengths to get their hands on things magical, especially rings and gems. They are accomplished magic smiths and are known to create exceptional magical items. Most ice dwarf settlements are small (except ice home) and tend to be built into the mountainsides. They are constructed mainly of the granite blocks that come from the mountains they are a part of. Ice dwarves have extensive trade with the Maldorans, Ice dwarves mine large amounts of Gold and Platinum.

The Gray Dwarf

The gray dwarf or cave dwarf as it is also known as is a short thin creature with pale skin and light colored hair. They do not have thick beards, instead their beards tend to be thin and wiry. Female cave dwarves do not have facial hair. The gray dwarf tend to be a solitary race that does not interact with other races very much. They live in what is called the under halls which are large expanses of chambers, halls and passages that are all over under the Alterverse. Not very much is really known about cave dwarf society because of the relative seclusion that they live in. Occasionally small bands or solitary cave dwarves will be encountered above ground, but this is rare.

All cave dwarves look upon all other Dwarven races as puthark or “non dwarf”. The formal written language of the cave dwarves does not really exist, instead they use a collection of symbols to communicate in written form, this symbol like written language is similar to Egyptian hieroglyphics of the non-fantasy modern world…..

The cave dwarves worship a central deity they call Jablay or the one jelly and temples are rumored to be found all over dedicated to Jablay. There are rumors that there are large cities with whole areas made out of jade crystal and topaz. These are rumored to be deep down in the under halls, however no one has really been able to confirm the existence of these areas.

Cave Dwarven law is rumored to be very loose, and some travelers claim that cave dwarf law is essentially every man for themselves, however some sages claim that cave Dwarven law is governed over by a central governor for varying parts of the under halls, and his or her decisions are final and complete.

The cave dwarves have a large and well-known secret guild of assassins, that are called the Under Brotherhood. and are widely sought after for their services. They are also accomplished extractors of information from prisoners, and they are rumored to gain information by using exotic substances that are found deep in the under halls.