Edena_of_Neith
First Post
In my thread on drow, a lot of people gave their take on the dwarves - the dwarves of Mithril Hall.
I would like to share with the ENBoard my take on dwarves, if nobody objects.
- - -
The following is my opinion only, on dwarves.
I do not presume to tell anyone how dwarves should be.
I think it is highly unfair to point at dwarves, and say they are all alike.
They aren't.
Dwarves are just as varied in behavior as humans, and perhaps more so, since dwarves come in distinctly different types.
If one uses the Dragonlance precedent, for example, there are the Hylar, Daewar, Theiwar, Duergar, Kleidar, Aghar, and Zhakar, among the Mountain Dwarves alone.
Neidar is the term given to Hill Dwarves, but again Hill Dwarves come in all different types.
In the Forgotten Realms, there are the Shield Dwarves, and other types.
- - -
My take, for this article, is based on the loftiest dwarves, the Hylar (or High Dwarves), and their equivalents in other campaign settings.
This is my impression of this particular race of dwarves.
The single biggest thing one should think of when thinking of the Hylar is: the level of comfort these dwarves have around each other.
If, for instance (theoretical situation) you put a group of Hylar in an elevator, do you know what would happen?
Among humans, there is stony silence and everyone tries to avoid touching each other.
Among the Hylar dwarves, the elevator would be deafeningly loud, as all of the Hylar talked with each other, and pressed the flesh.
If Hylar passed each other in the street, they would stop to talk, and clasp each other on the shoulders, perhaps even embrace. (Whereas, in human society they might not even look at each other, probably would not greet each other, and might very well look at each other as potential dangers.)
- - -
The second important matter that all outsiders must understand about the Hylar is that, for them, work is play.
All Hylar look upon backbreaking work as play, and they have the strength and constitution to be able to relatively painlessly avoid this attitude (average strength 15, average constitution 16, for 0 level types.)
Hylar work 12 hours a day, every day, if they can.
The entire cultural center of Hylar life is based around the workplace.
This is where Hylar meet and socialize with other Hylar.
This is where friendships are made.
This is where potential mates are wooed.
This is where one discusses one's dreams, one's goals in life, one's interests of every type.
Unlike humans, Hylar can work at a prodigious rate, and still hold a conversation with their brethren (consider this a supernatural ability.)
- - -
The third thing that must be understood about Hylar is their sense of family.
A Hylar father cares for his children and his wife more than he does about his own life, his society, or his work.
A Hylar mother cares about her husband and children in the same manner.
Hylar children instinctively respect and love their parents to an astounding degree.
Hylar adolescents respect each other, and compromise with each other, in ways that would drive human teens crazy.
- - -
The advantages of Hylar Society, then, is that the bonds of family are strong, no Hylar is without the companionship of his buddies (or her friends), work is play, and Hylar tend to be happy and well adjusted within this system.
Rulers are revered, or at the least respected.
Laws are strictly obeyed, and usually obeyed out of altruism and not fear.
Teamwork is almost universal.
Patriotism and a protective attitude towards the society are strong.
In this way, the dwarves - using their collective intelligence and creativity - have mastered the arts of craftsmanship, metallurgy, stonework, and other such skills far beyond what any other surface race has managed to achieve, and in some rare cases even rivals what the drow can produce.
Elves boast their armor is the best, but the truth is that dwarven armor is far superior, and even the patient work of centuries of elven devotion cannot match the ardent passion for creation of the dwarves, or their teamwork to accomplish the job.
Any race attempting to attack a Hylar society is in for a rude shock.
Attempts to intimidate the Hylar into surrender fail miserably.
Attempts to gain dwarven spies, or obtain the help of dwarven traitors, usually ends in disaster as the spies and traitors were really agents for the dwarves all along.
An army facing the Hylar dwarves is facing people fanatically dedicated to protecting their homes, their way of life, and also each other.
Not to mention they are facing one of the most disciplined and organized army in the world.
Dwarves DO work as a team, and teamwork is the vital winning strategy in military terms (a point the United States Army knows well.)
A willingness to sacrifice oneself for one's buddys doesn't hurt, either.
Altruism and tight organization, teamwork and strict obedience to orders given, an absolute refusal to break morale and run, a total lack of cowardice or battle-shyness, a righteous desire to defend family, friends, home, and the way of life, makes a dwarven army into an unbeatable fighting machine.
What the Hylar achieve in war, they achieve in peace.
Hylar buildings, the wonders of their sculpting of underground caves and caverns, their architecture and engineering, surpass anything the human or elven races can accomplish (even the Arcane Age elves), and they also surpass the great dwelvings of the Underdark Races, including the drow.
Hylar engineers can even accomplish feats normally impossible, like building a city out of a single, gigantic stalagmite (as in Thorbardin.)
- - -
The Hylar view themselves as being cradled in the warm embrace of the earth.
This is not cold, dead, dark stone - this is the warm, loving embrace of the most potent of all forces - the living rock.
Let the surface races deal with their inhospitable environment: under the surface, there is a world of crystalline beauty, magnificent granite, stately chambers of limestone, the rushing eager washes of underground rivers, the vibrant magic that wells up out of every rock, crevace, the power that tingles in every block of stone cut from the towering cliffs, the great chasms, the mighty caverns.
And deep down is the blood of the earth itself, with it's endless and nigh untameable fury, which in the hands of the dwarves is a source of magic, of power unthinkable to the surface dwellers - a secret source of unquenchable might that only the dwarves know how to harness.
- - -
The Hylar look upon anyone who does not like to work with pity.
A real life analogy would be someone who was crippled by antisocial tendencies; someone who neither enjoyed doing fun things or having anything to do with others.
Such dwarves are rare, and they receive charity from those around them, and sympathy, and psychiatric counciling (but not forceful attempts to change their ways.)
Thievery among the Hylar is extremely rare, and horrifying when it occurs.
It is not simply a matter of someone taking what is yours, this thievery.
It is a repudiation of everything Hylar society stands for: trust, togetherness, teamwork, standing by the nation.
A Hylar thief is likely to be committed to their equivalent of a psychiatric institution, there to endure forced behavioral modification (along with a few Restoration spells.)
Such a thief would not be released until it was determined he or she would never again commit such a crime against society, against all the dwarves.
Murder is the equivalent of High Treason, in Hylar society.
Such a dwarf, if caught, will be placed in restraint, and Restoration spells cast upon this insane individual.
If that fails, that dwarf will be kept in isolation (a very extreme and very unfortunate necessity) until a cure can be found for him.
It goes without saying that in the social Hylar society, enforced isolation is a truly awful thing.
Rape is unheard of in Hylar society. It is a one in one hundred year crime.
The dwarf who commits this act will have a Restoration spell cast on him; if this fails, he will be killed.
Actual High Treason is a one in one thousand year crime in Hylar society.
A dwarf who commits High Treason will be killed, his body evaporated, and magics used to ensure he can never return - his name will live in infamy for all time in dwarven society.
Violence, so common among dwarves in general, is unheard of in Hylar society.
Fathers and mothers simply do not beat their children.
Children, do not fight each other in sibling rivalry.
Adults do not carry on feuds.
Politicians do not stab each other in the back.
Individuals do not connive to gain power over others.
- - -
All this is fine and well, but it has some major drawbacks.
Hylar society is very stagnant.
Although new inventions occur, anything that would unbalance society is frowned upon, and the status quo is preferred over change, which after all could be good, or very bad.
Teen rebellion does not occur, but this means there is a lack of new thinking, new ideas, to set against the old ways.
Families stick together, but this means a major loss of personal freedom, since compromise is a requirement of such an arrangement.
Individuality is severely supressed in Hylar society.
The Hylar do not look down on individuality per se, but individuality disrupts their society, and they do look down on that.
Hylar adventurers are rare.
Adventuring is a heavily individualistic affair, and most Hylar dwarves prefer to work by the forge, with their families and the others, in a quiet, safe, and unchanging world.
Hylar have great difficulty adapting to actual change, if it is forced upon them.
When this happens, these dwarves malfunction, as their safe, secure world is disrupted and they become agitated, depressed, and often are subject to nervous breakdowns.
If a Hylar society is overrun by enemies, and they are forced into exile, the Hylar will suffer massive trauma, widespread insanity, widespread violence, and fundamental shifts in personality.
- - -
The Hylar, like other dwarves, are well known for their friendliness to other races, including elves (but not drow.)
This friendliness can be genuine and strong, in the case of gnomes, or benignly tolerant and forgiving, in the case of elves.
The Hylar love their ale, and make typically strong spirits, which they drink in excess (although, a drunk Hylar does NOT exhibit the violent, deranged, and debilitated behavior of all too many drunken humans.)
Hylar ale is not the strongest dwarven ale, but it is strong, and a human or gnome must drink sparingly and cautiously, if they are not to be laid out comatose on the floor.
Halflings, surprisingly, can drink quite a lot of Hylar ale without many side effects.
Elves and half-elves drink Hylar ale at their peril, with a good chance of going down after one drink (the stuff tastes awful to elves, in any case.)
A drow trying to drink Hylar ale would spit it out on the first sip, and one small drink would lay that dark elf out cold.
It is unwise to threaten Hylar, if you are not one of them.
Hylar are not racist, and they will mingle with other races, even elves. But they will not take insults and threats from others lightly.
A non-dwarf who threatens a Hylar will lose the goodwill and comradery of a Hylar immediately.
A non-dwarf who continues to threaten a Hylar will find himself confronted by 5 or 6 Hylar, who will politely ask him to leave the vicinity.
A non-dwarf who continues to threaten the Hylar, will find an axe at his throat, then handcuffs on his wrists after the dwarves call the law to deal with the troublemaker.
A Non-Hylar dwarf who threatens the Hylar will be met with anger and repudiation.
That dwarf will be asked what crazy notion got into his head to act like such a creep.
That dwarf will be told to leave.
If that dwarf continues to harass the Hylar, he will find himself handcuffed as the Hylar call the law down upon him.
Attacking a Hylar is foolish.
There are almost certainly a number of Hylar present.
ALL Hylar present will leap to the defense of the one under attack.
They will all immediately call for the intervention of the law, or shout for the watch if the law is not present.
A single assailant will be cuffed and subdued, if possible.
Multiple assailants will be dealt with with as little force as possible (the Hylar do not want trouble with the law either) but they WILL be dealt with, one way or another.
Hylar tend to be Lawful Good in alignment, very sociable and friendly, always willing to talk to strangers, and always enjoy a good drinking bout.
Hylar love to espound on the joys of living Below, on their personal works and achievements, and on the achievements of other Hylar.
Hylar love to dance with the ladies, to engage in athletic activities, in combat practice, in games of skill and wit, and in intellectual games (such as chess.)
Hylar will espound on the joy of work, and since they spend most of their time working, their presence in an inn or bar is swiftly terminated as they rush back to whatever work is occupying them at the present.
And that is my take on the Hylar dwarves.
Now ... all dwarves are not like this!
The Duergar, for instance, are mean.
They are mean, grim and silent in public, enjoy killing people (or engaging in blood sports), and when they beat you in a drinking bout, they will finish the job by stealing everything you have off your comatose body.
Fighting a Duergar is foolish, unless you're ready to face poisoned blades, a knife in your back (from another Duergar hoping to share the plunder off you with the first dwarf), and perhaps five or six Duergar closing in for the kill all around you.
They won't call for the law, but they most certainly WILL blame you for starting the fight, if the law appears and they can't escape before that happens.
Duergar do enjoy work, and in building wondrous items and creating great works of architecture and engineering.
Of course, if slaves are needed for mundane (read: unskilled) parts of the job, so be it.
And if the slaves are of inferior types (read: non-dwarven races) and they die from overwork, then that's too bad.
And the Duergar prefer the efficient, the practical, and often very dark expressions of creativity, as opposed to the beautiful, soaring works (often very inefficient) of the Hylar.
Duergar believe in family.
Family as in: Do what I say, or get out (this, after a sound beating.) You are unable to do this job? Incompetent, lazy oaf, there are workhouses for your type.
Duergar love drinking contests.
That is, they love it when the stupid elves and humans fall comatose (and, perhaps, even die) from the rotgut duergar ale.
And it's great fun, kicking the downed people (especially the elves), and hearing their frail ribs crack under the hits of steel-toed duergar boots.
Duergar tend to be neutral evil, of course ...
I would like to share with the ENBoard my take on dwarves, if nobody objects.
- - -
The following is my opinion only, on dwarves.
I do not presume to tell anyone how dwarves should be.
I think it is highly unfair to point at dwarves, and say they are all alike.
They aren't.
Dwarves are just as varied in behavior as humans, and perhaps more so, since dwarves come in distinctly different types.
If one uses the Dragonlance precedent, for example, there are the Hylar, Daewar, Theiwar, Duergar, Kleidar, Aghar, and Zhakar, among the Mountain Dwarves alone.
Neidar is the term given to Hill Dwarves, but again Hill Dwarves come in all different types.
In the Forgotten Realms, there are the Shield Dwarves, and other types.
- - -
My take, for this article, is based on the loftiest dwarves, the Hylar (or High Dwarves), and their equivalents in other campaign settings.
This is my impression of this particular race of dwarves.
The single biggest thing one should think of when thinking of the Hylar is: the level of comfort these dwarves have around each other.
If, for instance (theoretical situation) you put a group of Hylar in an elevator, do you know what would happen?
Among humans, there is stony silence and everyone tries to avoid touching each other.
Among the Hylar dwarves, the elevator would be deafeningly loud, as all of the Hylar talked with each other, and pressed the flesh.
If Hylar passed each other in the street, they would stop to talk, and clasp each other on the shoulders, perhaps even embrace. (Whereas, in human society they might not even look at each other, probably would not greet each other, and might very well look at each other as potential dangers.)
- - -
The second important matter that all outsiders must understand about the Hylar is that, for them, work is play.
All Hylar look upon backbreaking work as play, and they have the strength and constitution to be able to relatively painlessly avoid this attitude (average strength 15, average constitution 16, for 0 level types.)
Hylar work 12 hours a day, every day, if they can.
The entire cultural center of Hylar life is based around the workplace.
This is where Hylar meet and socialize with other Hylar.
This is where friendships are made.
This is where potential mates are wooed.
This is where one discusses one's dreams, one's goals in life, one's interests of every type.
Unlike humans, Hylar can work at a prodigious rate, and still hold a conversation with their brethren (consider this a supernatural ability.)
- - -
The third thing that must be understood about Hylar is their sense of family.
A Hylar father cares for his children and his wife more than he does about his own life, his society, or his work.
A Hylar mother cares about her husband and children in the same manner.
Hylar children instinctively respect and love their parents to an astounding degree.
Hylar adolescents respect each other, and compromise with each other, in ways that would drive human teens crazy.
- - -
The advantages of Hylar Society, then, is that the bonds of family are strong, no Hylar is without the companionship of his buddies (or her friends), work is play, and Hylar tend to be happy and well adjusted within this system.
Rulers are revered, or at the least respected.
Laws are strictly obeyed, and usually obeyed out of altruism and not fear.
Teamwork is almost universal.
Patriotism and a protective attitude towards the society are strong.
In this way, the dwarves - using their collective intelligence and creativity - have mastered the arts of craftsmanship, metallurgy, stonework, and other such skills far beyond what any other surface race has managed to achieve, and in some rare cases even rivals what the drow can produce.
Elves boast their armor is the best, but the truth is that dwarven armor is far superior, and even the patient work of centuries of elven devotion cannot match the ardent passion for creation of the dwarves, or their teamwork to accomplish the job.
Any race attempting to attack a Hylar society is in for a rude shock.
Attempts to intimidate the Hylar into surrender fail miserably.
Attempts to gain dwarven spies, or obtain the help of dwarven traitors, usually ends in disaster as the spies and traitors were really agents for the dwarves all along.
An army facing the Hylar dwarves is facing people fanatically dedicated to protecting their homes, their way of life, and also each other.
Not to mention they are facing one of the most disciplined and organized army in the world.
Dwarves DO work as a team, and teamwork is the vital winning strategy in military terms (a point the United States Army knows well.)
A willingness to sacrifice oneself for one's buddys doesn't hurt, either.
Altruism and tight organization, teamwork and strict obedience to orders given, an absolute refusal to break morale and run, a total lack of cowardice or battle-shyness, a righteous desire to defend family, friends, home, and the way of life, makes a dwarven army into an unbeatable fighting machine.
What the Hylar achieve in war, they achieve in peace.
Hylar buildings, the wonders of their sculpting of underground caves and caverns, their architecture and engineering, surpass anything the human or elven races can accomplish (even the Arcane Age elves), and they also surpass the great dwelvings of the Underdark Races, including the drow.
Hylar engineers can even accomplish feats normally impossible, like building a city out of a single, gigantic stalagmite (as in Thorbardin.)
- - -
The Hylar view themselves as being cradled in the warm embrace of the earth.
This is not cold, dead, dark stone - this is the warm, loving embrace of the most potent of all forces - the living rock.
Let the surface races deal with their inhospitable environment: under the surface, there is a world of crystalline beauty, magnificent granite, stately chambers of limestone, the rushing eager washes of underground rivers, the vibrant magic that wells up out of every rock, crevace, the power that tingles in every block of stone cut from the towering cliffs, the great chasms, the mighty caverns.
And deep down is the blood of the earth itself, with it's endless and nigh untameable fury, which in the hands of the dwarves is a source of magic, of power unthinkable to the surface dwellers - a secret source of unquenchable might that only the dwarves know how to harness.
- - -
The Hylar look upon anyone who does not like to work with pity.
A real life analogy would be someone who was crippled by antisocial tendencies; someone who neither enjoyed doing fun things or having anything to do with others.
Such dwarves are rare, and they receive charity from those around them, and sympathy, and psychiatric counciling (but not forceful attempts to change their ways.)
Thievery among the Hylar is extremely rare, and horrifying when it occurs.
It is not simply a matter of someone taking what is yours, this thievery.
It is a repudiation of everything Hylar society stands for: trust, togetherness, teamwork, standing by the nation.
A Hylar thief is likely to be committed to their equivalent of a psychiatric institution, there to endure forced behavioral modification (along with a few Restoration spells.)
Such a thief would not be released until it was determined he or she would never again commit such a crime against society, against all the dwarves.
Murder is the equivalent of High Treason, in Hylar society.
Such a dwarf, if caught, will be placed in restraint, and Restoration spells cast upon this insane individual.
If that fails, that dwarf will be kept in isolation (a very extreme and very unfortunate necessity) until a cure can be found for him.
It goes without saying that in the social Hylar society, enforced isolation is a truly awful thing.
Rape is unheard of in Hylar society. It is a one in one hundred year crime.
The dwarf who commits this act will have a Restoration spell cast on him; if this fails, he will be killed.
Actual High Treason is a one in one thousand year crime in Hylar society.
A dwarf who commits High Treason will be killed, his body evaporated, and magics used to ensure he can never return - his name will live in infamy for all time in dwarven society.
Violence, so common among dwarves in general, is unheard of in Hylar society.
Fathers and mothers simply do not beat their children.
Children, do not fight each other in sibling rivalry.
Adults do not carry on feuds.
Politicians do not stab each other in the back.
Individuals do not connive to gain power over others.
- - -
All this is fine and well, but it has some major drawbacks.
Hylar society is very stagnant.
Although new inventions occur, anything that would unbalance society is frowned upon, and the status quo is preferred over change, which after all could be good, or very bad.
Teen rebellion does not occur, but this means there is a lack of new thinking, new ideas, to set against the old ways.
Families stick together, but this means a major loss of personal freedom, since compromise is a requirement of such an arrangement.
Individuality is severely supressed in Hylar society.
The Hylar do not look down on individuality per se, but individuality disrupts their society, and they do look down on that.
Hylar adventurers are rare.
Adventuring is a heavily individualistic affair, and most Hylar dwarves prefer to work by the forge, with their families and the others, in a quiet, safe, and unchanging world.
Hylar have great difficulty adapting to actual change, if it is forced upon them.
When this happens, these dwarves malfunction, as their safe, secure world is disrupted and they become agitated, depressed, and often are subject to nervous breakdowns.
If a Hylar society is overrun by enemies, and they are forced into exile, the Hylar will suffer massive trauma, widespread insanity, widespread violence, and fundamental shifts in personality.
- - -
The Hylar, like other dwarves, are well known for their friendliness to other races, including elves (but not drow.)
This friendliness can be genuine and strong, in the case of gnomes, or benignly tolerant and forgiving, in the case of elves.
The Hylar love their ale, and make typically strong spirits, which they drink in excess (although, a drunk Hylar does NOT exhibit the violent, deranged, and debilitated behavior of all too many drunken humans.)
Hylar ale is not the strongest dwarven ale, but it is strong, and a human or gnome must drink sparingly and cautiously, if they are not to be laid out comatose on the floor.
Halflings, surprisingly, can drink quite a lot of Hylar ale without many side effects.
Elves and half-elves drink Hylar ale at their peril, with a good chance of going down after one drink (the stuff tastes awful to elves, in any case.)
A drow trying to drink Hylar ale would spit it out on the first sip, and one small drink would lay that dark elf out cold.
It is unwise to threaten Hylar, if you are not one of them.
Hylar are not racist, and they will mingle with other races, even elves. But they will not take insults and threats from others lightly.
A non-dwarf who threatens a Hylar will lose the goodwill and comradery of a Hylar immediately.
A non-dwarf who continues to threaten a Hylar will find himself confronted by 5 or 6 Hylar, who will politely ask him to leave the vicinity.
A non-dwarf who continues to threaten the Hylar, will find an axe at his throat, then handcuffs on his wrists after the dwarves call the law to deal with the troublemaker.
A Non-Hylar dwarf who threatens the Hylar will be met with anger and repudiation.
That dwarf will be asked what crazy notion got into his head to act like such a creep.
That dwarf will be told to leave.
If that dwarf continues to harass the Hylar, he will find himself handcuffed as the Hylar call the law down upon him.
Attacking a Hylar is foolish.
There are almost certainly a number of Hylar present.
ALL Hylar present will leap to the defense of the one under attack.
They will all immediately call for the intervention of the law, or shout for the watch if the law is not present.
A single assailant will be cuffed and subdued, if possible.
Multiple assailants will be dealt with with as little force as possible (the Hylar do not want trouble with the law either) but they WILL be dealt with, one way or another.
Hylar tend to be Lawful Good in alignment, very sociable and friendly, always willing to talk to strangers, and always enjoy a good drinking bout.
Hylar love to espound on the joys of living Below, on their personal works and achievements, and on the achievements of other Hylar.
Hylar love to dance with the ladies, to engage in athletic activities, in combat practice, in games of skill and wit, and in intellectual games (such as chess.)
Hylar will espound on the joy of work, and since they spend most of their time working, their presence in an inn or bar is swiftly terminated as they rush back to whatever work is occupying them at the present.
And that is my take on the Hylar dwarves.
Now ... all dwarves are not like this!
The Duergar, for instance, are mean.
They are mean, grim and silent in public, enjoy killing people (or engaging in blood sports), and when they beat you in a drinking bout, they will finish the job by stealing everything you have off your comatose body.
Fighting a Duergar is foolish, unless you're ready to face poisoned blades, a knife in your back (from another Duergar hoping to share the plunder off you with the first dwarf), and perhaps five or six Duergar closing in for the kill all around you.
They won't call for the law, but they most certainly WILL blame you for starting the fight, if the law appears and they can't escape before that happens.
Duergar do enjoy work, and in building wondrous items and creating great works of architecture and engineering.
Of course, if slaves are needed for mundane (read: unskilled) parts of the job, so be it.
And if the slaves are of inferior types (read: non-dwarven races) and they die from overwork, then that's too bad.
And the Duergar prefer the efficient, the practical, and often very dark expressions of creativity, as opposed to the beautiful, soaring works (often very inefficient) of the Hylar.
Duergar believe in family.
Family as in: Do what I say, or get out (this, after a sound beating.) You are unable to do this job? Incompetent, lazy oaf, there are workhouses for your type.
Duergar love drinking contests.
That is, they love it when the stupid elves and humans fall comatose (and, perhaps, even die) from the rotgut duergar ale.
And it's great fun, kicking the downed people (especially the elves), and hearing their frail ribs crack under the hits of steel-toed duergar boots.
Duergar tend to be neutral evil, of course ...
