Dwarves: Difference between revisions
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* '''Hill and Vale Dwarves''' — Terraces, beer, bridges between human towns; '''guest law''' as binding as contract. | * '''Hill and Vale Dwarves''' — Terraces, beer, bridges between human towns; '''guest law''' as binding as contract. | ||
* '''Deep Dwarves''' — Old vaults and pre-[[Chronicles of Faeloria|Faefall]] seals; '''binding''' and '''warding''' first. Tale warns that '''[[The Realms of Faeloria#The_Danger_of_Artificial_Crossing|forced crossings]]''' crack stone as surely as soul—a lesson dwarves carve in rune and sermon. | * '''Deep Dwarves''' — Old vaults and pre-[[Chronicles of Faeloria|Faefall]] seals; '''binding''' and '''warding''' first. Tale warns that '''[[The Realms of Faeloria#The_Danger_of_Artificial_Crossing|forced crossings]]''' crack stone as surely as soul—a lesson dwarves carve in rune and sermon. | ||
* '''City Dwarves''' — Banks, docks, cranes, public works; | * '''City Dwarves''' — Banks, docks, cranes, public works; '''charter''' matters more than mountain dress; outsiders '''wrongly''' expect every clerk to wear a beard. | ||
== Magic == | == Magic == | ||
Latest revision as of 17:57, 22 April 2026
Dwarves
Dwarves are mortals of the Sunworld: stocky, stubborn, and famed for stone, forge, and ledger—the trades that help a kingdom outlast one lifetime. They are not one culture. Mountain holds, green valleys, and guild rows in human cities (Crystalport, Norin, the Free City of Ix in tale) all hold large dwarven communities beside humans, elves, and others.
Place in the wider world
Dwarves share the same Great Cycle as every mortal people. What story loves about them is a knack for things that must not bend—vault arches, bridge footings, clan law-books, runes that bear weight, and oaths sworn so hard they outlive the hand that signed.
Preachers sometimes compare dwarven patience to Chronos's steady time; dwarves reply with a hammer-stroke: craft, not sermon, built the hold.
What most dwarves share
- Craft and repetition — Deep mines, long sieges, rune-lines checked year after year.
- Clan memory — Rings of debt, stone tablets, charter language that binds guild to crown.
- Stone-truth magic — A common folk name for traditions that treat a spell like a bridge: a ward built on a lie is worse than no ward at all.
Kindreds
Kindreds follow land and trade, not separate creation myths.
- Mountain Dwarves — High peaks, sky-iron, grudges older than human kings.
- Hill and Vale Dwarves — Terraces, beer, bridges between human towns; guest law as binding as contract.
- Deep Dwarves — Old vaults and pre-Faefall seals; binding and warding first. Tale warns that forced crossings crack stone as surely as soul—a lesson dwarves carve in rune and sermon.
- City Dwarves — Banks, docks, cranes, public works; charter matters more than mountain dress; outsiders wrongly expect every clerk to wear a beard.
Magic
Dwarves draw on Magic in Faeloria like anyone else:
- Learned magic — Rune-guild training and forge-scale workings.
- Innate magic — Bloodlines tied to heat, stone, or grit in regional tale.
- Gifted magic — Oaths to powers below the mountain or to Cryos-leaning cults in some holds—local faith varies a lot.
- Bound magic — Runes, locks, and public works the whole city uses.
Where dwarves are common
- Dalr — Many dwarves in the Iron Range mines and forges beside a mostly human north.
- Avaria and Luxor — Guild halls, banks, and harbours in mixed cities.
- Kokoro — Smiths and masters appear in trade logs as honoured guests more often than as a majority enclave.
Relations
- Humans — Crowns haggle over charters; dwarven banks fund wars humans later forget to pay for.
- Elves — Respect and eye-rolling; long jobs align, surface politics grates.
- Halflings — River barges and inn-tables; dwarves like halfling honesty over bread when sealing a deal.
- Kith — Same Sunworld rights as any mortal; law decides welcome, not holy books.