Notes on Terminan Dwarves

The dwarves of Termina are not born, they are made. More specifically they are fired in a kiln. 

The secrets of this process are known only to dwarves and usually entrusted only to the eldest among them. It is however known that all dwarves of a clan are produced from the same kiln and that all kiln mates bear some mark that clearly identifies them as such. As they do not reproduce in the common fashion dwarves do not carry a reproductive instinct and whether or not to fire new dwarves into existence is a simple matter of management for Wisedwarves.

• Do we have enough workers to exploit our current resources ?
• What population can our current resources sustain ?
• Is there a conflict foreseen in our future ?

Exactly how complete a dwarf is at its creation is unknown, however there does not seem to be any reference to an infant like stage of dwarvern development in any of their broader mythology and they hide their children from outsiders.

So far as can be seen dwarves come out the kiln comparable to human young adults and accordingly they seem to be able to walk, as well as speak, read, and write in dwarvern. There are even some stories of desperate clans in sieges taking newly fired dwarves directly from the kiln dressing them in armour, thrusting a battle-axe and shield into their arms and sending them directly off to the frontlines. They supposedly possess innate knowledge of some tools in the same fashion as a foal that knows how to walk upon birth.

Mytho-History

Dwarves are from a different world. Or so they say. The tale they tell is that they were created as tools of a being they call Mostal to aid him in maintenance of the World Machine. Some kind of great mechanism they liken to a windmill or a winch, but vast and extending throughout the world unseen. It is perhaps their description of the Spirit World or the Formal plane.

Mostal is often referred to only as 'the Maker' and occupies a similar place in Dwarvern religion as the Authority does amongst Astralians, architect and creator of the world. The sagas of their lives in the city of Nilnulla - the city at the centre of creation - and their subsequent exodus to this world in the wake of its destruction form the greater part of their religion. 

They say that at the end of this world their dead will rise to join the living and all will venture to the old world to take part in the Reconstruction, recreating their prelapsarian paradise in Nilnulla, a myth which curiously shares many elements with the end-of-the-world myths of major Astralian sects.

Perhaps due to this belief that they are from another world entirely and that they have a central role in the birth and end of the greater universe which contains all worlds, dwarves are in general dismissive of the religions of others and actively and aggressively resistant to conversion. They do however recognise other religions and when in other lands will pay heed to the customs of others, even if only as a matter of practicality.

Culture

Clans

Dwarvern society is organised around the clan. Each dwarf born from a single sacred kiln bears a mark which all their kiln-mates share and when the clan is not named for some historical feat of it or one of its members it is often named for this distinguishing mark. All dwarves of the clan are educated the same, there are no mothers and fathers to pass on their own eccentricities to their children, newly created dwarves get the eccentricities of those members of the community chosen to instruct them.

These simple facts mean that dwarvern kinship is extremely strong. It’s only natural that you’d help a clan member in need, and betraying a clan member is like stabbing yourself in the hand. This drives a dizzying intensity of feuding; if you’re wronged by a Blackeye dwarf, the blame lies with Clan Blackeye, not simply the individual, and retribution may be taken upon any of them.

There are in essence two kinds of major dwarvern settlement, the clan hold and the city. Clan holds are held singly by one clan whereas cities are groupings of one or more clans in one settlement. The nature of city arrangements varies, occasionally when one clan defeats a rival they will absorb them into their city, transporting their clan kiln to the victors hold. The level of freedom afforded to these conquered populations varies from total slavery to relative freedom aside from disenfranchisement. Others are formal alliances, for example in Five-Clan-City at the centre of the Mrorian peninsula the titular clans and their members share equal representation and they jointly manage their populations so that no clan grows dominant over another.

Cuisine

Possessed by the dwarves is the secret of the creation of a specially treated mineral paste that is known to outsiders, quite euphemistically, as dwarvern bread. Others can gain sustenance from it but it is absolutely vile - even dogs and pigs will turn up their noses - it is like eating a soft and bitter metal. Dwarves bafflingly consider it to be merely bland. Dwarvern bread does however carry one advantage over other foods, it is effectively imperishable. As a result any clan which can stockpile it does, contributing to the years long sieges that punctuate dwarvern history.

In holds and cities with easy access to dwarvern bread other foods are often considered to be luxury items. Dwarves do farm but often little grain, and where they do grow grains they are almost invariably fermented for the production of truly staggering amounts and strengths of alcohol. Otherwise they maintain orchards of apples, fields of strawberries, and other such plants. 

Where they rear animals they do so for milk and the subsequent cheeses (which are of similarly exaggerated potencies to their alcohols), meats which they also regularly ferment to produce foods truly inedible to humans, and other animal products gained in slaughter such as leather and glues. Almost all of their delicacies are produced from food mismanagement, badly stored milk leads to cheese, rotting fruits produce ciders and all other kinds of alcoholic beverages, where they live along the sea fermented fish heads are often consumed, and so on.