Dwarves

Dwarves are an ancient race of humanoids. Shorter than the average human, and taller than halflings, they are built solidly and squarely, with barrel chests, long torsos, and heavy bone structures. They tend to be hirsute, with olive-colored skin, and hair ranging from dark auburn to coal black. Their eyes are generally brown, but can be hazel or green.

History

The continent of Broadholm is steeped in dwarven history; every mountain and cavern is said to hold their enduring fingerprints, if only one searches hard enough. For three long millennia, the dwarves ruled over the continent, building structures only vaguely remembered today, creating weaponry and technology long since forgotten, and worshipping inscrutable, cruel deities with hearts of stone. Their roots are now myth and mystery, relagated to oral history and haphazard discovery in dusty or dark digs.

Their culture hit a pinnacle at some point, a height that was unable to be sustained, and it collapsed. The population shrank drastically, and for some reason, the dwarves began a mass exodus from their population centers, leaving behind empty vaults and crumbling temples. The city-states broke up into roving, nomadic clans, and the dwarves spent the following few thousand years living a transient existence, passing their traditions down through story-tellers, and keeping to themselves.

The orcs rose during that spell, and the dwarves watched as they built a great civilization in the land parched by dwarven hubris. They made war with one another at times, but by the time the orcs began faltering against the growing human kingdoms, the dwarves had disappeared into human culture.

When humans became more than just scattered hunter-gatherer bands, the lands once stripped bare by the dwarves were flourishing once again. By the time they became small kingdoms, dwarves began moving through human culture, teaching humans what little knowledge of law and technology they had left, and humans in turn embraced them as equals. For centuries, the two cultures thrived together, and dwarves became part of the population of the Lands of Man.

Culture and costume

The last remnants of the dwarven culture are ingrained in the very fabric of their concept of family. Dwarves were a matrilineal, matriarchal civilization, ruled by the educated. To this day, dwarven clans are lorded over by the eldest female mothers of bloodline, and elders who continue to engage in the oral traditions of yore hold the title of Storyteller. This acts as an infra-culture of sorts, since long before the rise of the Silvertree Empire, dwarves have held human titles and peerage, and holding conflicting feelings about family and cultural patrimony are common. The tendency towards superstition, and being fearful of arcane magic, is a persistent belief, and talismans and wards are common.

In statuary and wall carvings, ancient dwarves were known to wear long, flowing robes and light sandals, and the elders would wear elaborate golden headdresses. Following the collapse, and the eventual abandonment of their underground existence, dwarves adopted clothes and accessories of natural fibers and leathers, which were designed for more utilitarian uses. Their long hair was cropped short, but the men still wore beards.

This strain of leaving behind old customs has continued, and now dwarven clothing and hairstyling is identical to human customs, and dwarven men have now stopped wearing beards as well. Since the passage of the Western Settlement Act, however, there has been a resurgence in ancient dwarven traditions, or at least the flawed, contemporary understanding of them. As adventuring archeologists discover artifacts, more and more glimpses into the past come to light. Elders and Storytellers worry about these discoveries, and warn against digging up the past, but young, moneyed dwarves have begun putting on vignettes taken from the histories, and have parties around showing off their most recent acquisitions.