A typical dwarven home, an architectural discussion

[psyekl]

This'll be a bit long, so bear with me ...

I normally post in the Art forum, but this seemed to be a more "general RPG" post. I'll present my views here, but I welcome further elaborations or even contrasting ideas, so please share

While designing parts of my dwarven keep, I kept coming across questions of how dwarves live their lives and how it affects their architecture. The most basic structure that determines how I design dwarven fortresses and the like is the Dwarve's residence. How they live at home has a lot to do with how they would build other structures: i.e. what they find comfortable.

My idea of how dwarves live is similar to a Celt's roundhouse: one room with a central hearth. Add to that a raised platform on which they sleep and room for a loom and other necessities and that's about it. Simple, comfortable with a focus around the hearth. Although dwarves are subterranean and do have low-light vision (or is it darkvision?), I don't see them living out their lives in the darkness and chill of their subterranean habitat; I see them having an affinity for fire and the warmth of the hearth. Common representations of Dwarves show them as being sociable, so I picture a round area for them to sit around the fire and share tales as seen in the film "The Thirteenth Warrior", with much laughter and conversation. The roof of the residence would be a shallow dome, with the walls ending at 6 feet (they don't need any taller). Smoke from the hearth would exit through a hole drilled into the roof leading to the nearest open space, most likeley an adjacent cavern. Fuel for the fires will be some lumber, traded from surface-dwelling folk as well as harvested from near the entrances of the citadel, and coal from their mining activities. They would tend to live in extended family groups, often having 3 generations sharing the same residence. Furniture would be almost non-existant, as Dwarves would be just as comfortable reclining on the raised platform or sitting on the floor. The cold stone would be covered with rugs, furs and tapestries, and the single entrance to the dwelling would be curtained to keep out the chill.

...that's the gist of my idea of a Dwarven home, what's yours?

 

[the shmoopie]

Yeah, acctually I like your idea just fine. It was mostly like what I had in mind, except your rooms are round and mine were square.
The one thing I would want to know is where the bathrooms are? I know they are never acctually discussed in D&D, but it always bugs me that there are never any bathrooms. My dwarves utilize an underground stream, and bored holes on a stone slab that sits over the river. Most of the homes are situated over the stream so it is pretty convinient for them, those buildings that are not over the spring are not so much fun to be in.

 

[psyekl]

I always include garderobes (fancy name for bathrooms) in my castle designs. Whenever possible emptying waste into a moving or stagnant water source is preferred, but never upstream of a potable water point. A pit under the "toilet" works well, but someone will eventually have to empty it. Otyughs are great ways of keeping waste controlled. The Romans used water piped into troughs under public toilets to sweep waste away, so there's another option. I don't picture Dwarves using an indoor "private" toilet, but rather having a communal one. Those lucky enough to live over a stream like your idea would no doubt use it, but it would be considered a luxury. Keep in mind that our modern day views of privacy weren't shared by our ancestors, so communal toilets aren't such a far-fetched idea Thanks for the reply!

 

[Tonguez]

I like your set up and pretty much agree with everything you have

the central hearth and single huge living space, I'd have a circle of short tunnels leading off it to 'private spaces' used for storing tools and where individuals can go to pray or to sleep (and yes a slightly longer dunny tunnel too).

The one thing I would want to know is where the bathrooms are? .

What do you think Darkmantles live on when no adventurers are about?

To the dwarf its just a deep hole but to the ecology below its a smorgasboard

 

[jefgorbach]

Given the resource starved underground, most communities likely have a common bathroom area, collecting the waste materials for either crop fertilizer and/or aged for burning.

 

[green slime]

Hmmm.... interesting.

I can see them trading forged items, steel, minerals, metals, and jewels for their necessities: wood (when coal or oil isn't available), food supplements (fungus must get tiresome after a few decades), and some tapestries and furs.

Otherwise, what furry underground creatures exist in DnD ecology?

 

[Imperialus]

This is from my own interpretation of dwarves. They are very communal with a great deal of time spent with their larger clans or even larger cities. It's also easier to make several smaller rooms than try and build and support one large one which is part of the reason why I decided to compartimentalize them.

Most dwarven homes are small since so much of a dwarf’s life is spent in more communal settings but most homes have at least three rooms. A master bedroom, a larger room shared by the children and a family sitting area. Dwarven homes also usually have a small vault off of the master bedroom where the family money and valuables are kept. Some homes are bigger, sometimes containing small kitchens or libraries but even among wealthy dwarves living areas reflect the relatively small amounts of time spent in them and are quite small rarely being more than about a 500 square feet in total area. Dwarves tend to spend their money and effort improving common areas for the benefit of their entire clan or city rather than on their own living area. Any thralls being trained by a man also live with his family usually sleeping in the same room as their children. Dwarven women will typically have between 6 and 10 children over the course of their lives though 7 or 8 years often separate children.

Unmarried adult dwarves sleep in large dormitories segregated by sex with chests or lockers containing personal belongings. These facilities are usually quite spartan and it varies from clan to clan whether or not individual dwarves even have private rooms.

and here is my explanation of how they go about eating

The clans whose territories bring them close to the surface oftentimes engage in a form of terrace farming providing most of the agricultural goods consumed by the city. Dwarven farmers also raise goats and sheep, animals that more closely resemble mountain goats and bighorn sheep than human versions of the same domesticates. Dwarves have bred a short stocky breed of pony that they use as a beast of burden both in the mines and on their farms. One unique aspect of the ponies bred by the dwarves is that they have evolved darkvision to 60 feet due to the centuries that they have spent underground. Dwarven farmers are typically some of the least prestigious members of dwarven society but the food they provide is nonetheless essential.

 

[Nightfall]

I've heard worse ideas...