Dwarves
The Dwarves are a proud and stoic people, rooted deep within the frozen mountains they call home. Known for their sophisticated speech, refined tastes, and masterful craftsmanship, They dwell beneath the mountains in vast tunnel networks, where the weight of the earth and the heat of the deep drive the great machines that grind stone and gem alike. Organized into Forges, both cities and clans, they value tradition, honor, and the totems of their earth-bound faith.
Dwarven Biology
The Mountain Dwarf has deep black eyes with white pupils, a feature that allows them to see in the dark with a sensitivity to bright light. They relatively pale skin with bulky, naturally muscular bodies that make them appear somewhat rounded. It is traditional to dreadlock hair and have long bushy beards.
The Mesa Dwarf, on the other hand, has slightly darker skin which is more accustomed to the sun, with large noses for filtering sand and silt from the air. They often have shorter hair and beards due to the heat of their homes.
Victims of Oppression
Centuries ago, the Dwarves were pushed back to the Hymian Rises by Human occupation of their old homelands under the Pranian Empire. Those who were unfortunate enough to get trapped or caught by them were subjected to oppresive rule and sometimes even slave-like conditions. This has given all Dwarves a deep hatred and mistrust of humans, even if now all Dwarves are free in the reformed human territories.
Among a child of Sesmi
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Light Sensitivity
Due to the time spent in dark environment over time, the Dwarves’ eyes developed a unique feature that allowed them to see in the dark. The only issue is that this has worked against seeing in daylight or bright light, meaning that they struggle to cope with it. To counteract this, they developed special goggle-like glasses called Gem Glasses with a crystal that allows them to filter light and see as normal in bright-light. These are seen as necessities to life as a Dwarf, and different cuts and frames are often used to show wealth and power.
Scavengers and Inventors
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Dwarven Traits
All Dwarves share a few common traits.
Stat Increase: Your Courage stat increases by 5 points.
Life: Dwarves typically reach adulthoot at the age of 50 and live well into their second century (around 250-275).
Nature: Dwarves generally believe themselves to be much more intelligent than most other races, and have a specific dislike of humans due to their history. They worship the Earth Divine, Terra, and are deeply mistrustful of any non-Dwarf who enters their home lands. But within their own communities they are very supportive of one another, treating their Forges as family.
Size: The average Dwarf height is somewhere around 4 feet tall, weighing approximately 100 pounds.
Movement: Your base movement speed is 8 metres.
Darksense: Your eyes are well adjusted to see in the dark caves and caverns of your native homes, allowing you to see in darkness as if it were normal. However, it also means that in bright light your eyes struggle to pick out details and have disadvantage on Physique checks in it. This can be averted with Dwarven gem-glasses, specially made to shade the eyes from the sun.
Natural Forager: When travelling through any landscape with natural food and water resources, you are able to passively produce food for up to four people per day.
Languages: You can speak High Common and Common.
Subraces
Mountain Dwarves
Heiling from your homes in the snow-covered Hymian Rises, your one of a proud people who put their own Forge community at the forefront of their every action. A common greeting between Mountain Dwarves is “Greetings, what forged you?” which essentially asks where their home is.
Stat Increase: Your Constitution stat increases by 3 points.
Natural Prospectors: Because of your races long standing relationship with the earth and its bounty, you are able to accurately identify gems and metals thus knowing forgeries and fakes at a glance.
Mesa Dwarves
Once denisens of the Mesas of the Western Continent, few of these Dwarves remained when the Great Dividing took their homes. Those that did survive were in their fort in the mountain pass to the North, guarding from the Humans of the Aeros Rises. They watched their homes get obliterated, but still hold hope that through expeditions back over time they’ll be able to reclaim them once more with the help of the Vetara at their side.
Stat Increase: Your Awareness stat increases by 3 points.
Sand Shifter: Living in the Mesa, your people have adapted to shifting and uneven grounds of the sands, even evolving larger feet to stop sinking. As such you gain a passive x1.5 to movement speed on sand.