Dwarves, Cerilian (Karamhul)

Dwarves lived in the mountains of Cerilia untold years before humans came to the land. They are a strong, enduring folk who enjoy hard living and hard work. They are known both for their skill at making and building, and for their skill at warfare. Their mysterious kingdoms, carved out from the insides of mountains, are renowned for the marvelous treasures that they produce for gift and trade.

Personality

Dwarves are suspicious and silent around strangers. To those few who earn their trust, they seem merry and filled with an irrepressible store of good cheer and song. Dwarves value gold, gems, jewelry, and precious art objects more than anything else, and they have been known to succumb to mindless fits of greed. Many of the greatest tragedies in dwarven history stem from this racial flaw. Dwarves fight neither recklessly nor timidly, but with a calculated courage and tenacity. Their sense of justice is strong, but at its worst it can turn into a thirst for vengeance.

Physical Description

The typical dwarf stands 4 to 4 ½ feet in height and has an exceptionally stocky build and thick, sturdy bones. Dwarves are truly children of the mountains and their bodies are twice as dense as other creatures'. As a result dwarves weigh 250 to 300 pounds or more. A dwarf's skin is gray, stony, and cold to the touch. All dwarves have eyes that are dark as jet and their hair and beards are generally black, gray or dark brown. Dwarven men are slightly taller and noticeably heavier than women - only males have beards. Dwarves value their personal appearances and spend time daily grooming their hair and beards. They favor simple styles with little color or ornamentation, except when it comes to stone or metalwork which is more often than not heavily gilded and inlaid with precious gems.

Dwarves are adults at about 50, and they can live to great age. Some elders have reputedly live past their 400th birthday, although most dwarves die within a few decades after celebrating their 200th birthday.

Relations

With regard to other races, Cerilian dwarves usually adhere to a friendly neutrality; thus they are on good terms with most other races, including the elves. They're masterful traders and craftsmen; dwarven caravans roam from Anuire to the Vos lands with their goods. Dwarven arms and armor are the best in Cerilia, and dwarven engineers are much sought after. Companies of dwarven mercenaries can sometimes be found for hire. They make excellent infantry and also include some of Cerilia’s best artillerists and engineers.

Alignment

Dwarves can be of any alignment, but are most often lawful. Their close ties to their clans and families are important, as are oaths and promises made to one another. Some dwarves lean toward evil, but more are neutral or good. Dwarves are usually lawful neutral.

Classes

Many dwarves are fighters, and warcraft is highly thought of among dwarves. Their endless wars against orogs, ogres, and goblins have forced them to perfect the art of war to a level unrivaled even among the Anuireans. Dwarven clerics hold much power both in the mountains and among those that live outside. Dwarven rogues are more often then not multiclass fighters that work as scouts and infiltrators for the regular dwarf soldiers.

Among the ruling class there exists a small number of blooded wizards, and a fairly large number of unblooded magicians. Sorcerers are rare, almost unheard of, except in Mur-Kilad, where dwarven sorcerer-priests worship dark and forbidden gods.

Dwarven barbarians are rare, but not unheard of; known as battleragers, they live on the fringes of dwarven society, gathering only in times of war.

The dwarven realms have a large percentage of experts; smiths and engineers for the most part.

Dwarven Lands

Dwarven kingdoms are usually deep beneath the stony face of mountains, where the dwarves mine gems and precious metals and forge items of beauty and wonder. Trustworthy members of other races are occasionally welcome here, although parts of the dwarven realm are off limits even to them. Whatever the dwarves can't find in their mountains they gain through trade. A fair number of dwarves are found in human lands where they typically find work as mercenaries, weaponsmiths, armorsmiths, jewelers, and artisans. Some of these are outcasts and are not welcome in the dwarven realms, either for a period of years or possibly forever if they have committed some grave crime. Dwarves maintain small enclaves in almost all of Cerilia’s mountain ranges, trading posts along major trade routes, and a number of large cities have their own dwarf quarters.

Religion

Moradin is the legendary creator of dwarves and the chief deity of a mysterious pantheon of dwarven gods. The dwarves don't speak of their beliefs to nondwarves and hold their religious observances only in the sanctuary of their hidden fortress cities. In fact, the name Moradin is known outside dwarven halls only because the dwarves call on him for aid during battle.

Language

Dwarves speak Karamhul as their racial language. Karamhul is a very rigid language, with many grammatical rules. The written form has probably not changed at all over the past five thousand years. The oral form is more fluid; every dwarven realm (and to some extent every clan) have developed their own distinct dialect.

Names

A dwarf is given a name at birth and keeps it for the rest of his life. Dwarven names are steeped in tradition and follows rigid rules for what goes and what does not. As with many things dwarven, the naming conventions are quite incomprehensible to humans. Dwarves have a personal name, a family name and a clan name. Many dwarves also identify themselves by the name of the realm they come from.

Male Names

Barrendd, Born, Brottor, Eberk, Einkil, Glarin, Oin, Olin, Taklinn, Thorin, Traubon, Ulfgar, and Tveit.

Female Names

Artin, Aulhil, Dagnal, Diesa, Gunnloda, Hiln, Ilde, Liftrasa, Sannl, and Trogga.

Family Names

Baldrek, Dankil, Gorunn, Holderhek, loderr, Lutgehr, Rumnaheim, Strakeln, Torunn, and Ungart.

Clan Names

Arakh-Kahl ("Orogslayer"), Harldan-Erh ("Strongarm"), Stork-Khul ("Greystone"), and Zhus-Khel ("Swift vengeance").

Adventurers

A dwarven adventurer may be motivated by crusading zeal, a love of excitement, or simple greed. As long as his accomplishments bring honor to family and clan, his deeds will earn him respect and status. Defeating ogres and orogs, or reclaiming lost dwarven treasure are sure ways for a dwarf to earn the respect of the clan elders.

Dwarven Racial Traits

• +2 Strength, +4 Constitution, -2 Dexterity, -2 Charisma: Dwarves are as strong and enduring as the rock they love, but are clumsy and coarse.
• Medium-size Humanoid (Dwarf) [Earth]: No modifier.
• Base Speed: 20 feet.
• Ancestral Enemies (Ex): +2 dodge bonus to AC and +1 competence bonus to attack rolls against orogs, ogres and trolls. The dwarves have been fighting these creatures since the beginning of time, and have developed special techniques for dealing with them.
• Craftsmanship (Ex): +2 racial bonus on Appraise and Craft checks that are related to stone (including gems) or metal. Appraise and Craft are always considered class skills.
• Darkvision (Ex): Dwarves can see in the dark, this ability is effective up to 90 feet, but large objects and shadowy contours can be seen at greater distances. Darkvision is in black and white, and reading is impossible when using it.
• Enduring Strength (Ex): Dwarves can carry amazing burdens. They receive a +4 bonus to strength when determining carrying capacity.
• Great Fortitude (Ex): +2 racial bonus on saving throws against poison and disease.
• Greed (Ex): Dwarves love gold, gems, and other precious objects. When tempted by great wealth, dwarves change alignment one step towards chaos and one step towards evil. This means that the average dwarf has an effective alignment of Neutral Evil when tempted. Will save (DC 5-25) negates.
• Increased Density (Ex): Dwarves have about twice the density of other creatures. A dwarf's dense body has damage reduction 2/- against all bludgeoning attacks, including unarmed attacks.
• Magic Resistance (Ex): +2 racial bonus on saving throws against spells and spell-like effects.
• Stonecunning (Ex): +2 racial bonus on checks to notice unusual stonework, such as sliding walls, stonework traps, unsafe surfaces, shaky ceilings, and the like. When underground, a dwarf may use the Intuit Direction skill to determine his depth underground. Intuit Direction is always a class skill.
• Swimming Deficiency (Ex): -4 racial penalty to Swim checks. Their high density makes staying afloat a difficult enterprise. Swim is never a class skill.
• Level Adjustment +2: Dwarves are powerful warriors, easily outmatching any lesser race. NOTE: I have humans as ECL +1, so the effective ECL for dwarves is +1.