DWARVES
The dwarves of the city are a mix of refugee families from the rest of the (now-fallen) empire and immigrants from Black Gorge.
Values: Dwarven values are complex and run deep in their culture. Those dwarves who consistently flout dwarven values are shunned and ostracized; after all, if one will dishonor his ancestors, who else might he betray? Dwarves consider the following to be important virtues: industriousness, honesty, social harmony, honor to the ancestors, courage, loyalty, thrift, discretion, drinking. Dwarves consider the following to be vices: social disorder, laziness, miscegenation, innovation, cowardice, talking too freely, overemotionalism, temperance.
Beards: Both male and female dwarves grow long, luxurious beards. In fact, much of a dwarf's identity is tied up in his or her beard, and a dishonored dwarf's punishment sometimes includes shaving. A dwarf without a beard is either a child or is seen as an object of pity or scorn.
Dwarves braid their beards, adorn them with jewels and thread them with precious metals. A dwarf can tell a great deal about another dwarf by “reading” his beard.
Hard and Soft: A concept that runs deep through most elements of dwarven culture is the idea of “hardness”, which might also be translated as strength, propriety, righteousness, harmony, honor or propriety. To “speak hard” means to tell the truth stringently, but it can also mean to speak kindly to someone (albeit still with stringent honesty). Males are considered hard by default, though they can lose this status through dishonoring themselves or others. A hard person honors his ancestors, keeps his word, works industriously, does not harm social order and fights to protect his family.
Softness sometimes connotes dishonor, disgrace, disharmony, chaos or impiety, but not always. Depending on the context, softness is often good. Females are (by default) soft. Soft implies flexibility and gentleness; a soft person might be indirect, deceptive, circuitous, oblique or mysterious. While hardness is always considered a good thing, softness is not always bad.
Patriarchal: Dwarven society is largely patriarchal. This doesn't mean that there are no female warriors or leaders; rather, it means that those females who take up male roles are expected to act like males (at least in most respects- they should still marry a good dwarven man, and dwarven culture strongly condemns homosexuality). This extends to naming; a female dwarf who takes up a male lifestyle usually adopts a male nickname, if she doesn't have a male-appropriate name.
Language: The Dwarven tongue is an ancient and proud one that does not easily accept change. The language has four genders: hard (or male), soft (or female), neuter and female-male, which is the gender used to describe a manly woman (such as a woman warrior or leader). Male words always begin with hard sounds- B, D, G (as in girl), K, P, S, ST, T, TH (as in this), V, Z.
The dwarven written language is runic in nature, and elder versions of dwarven runes have great power- they are connected to the Words of Creation that were used in the creation of the world. Dwarven runes form two distinct alphabets. One consists of the hard sounds (listed above) plus the hard forms of the dwarven vowels; the other consists of the soft sounds (F, H, J (as in Jon), J (as in jejune), L, M, N, R, SH, TH (as in think), W) and soft forms of the dwarven vowels. The form of the vowel used varies with the gender of the word; neutral and male-female words are context-specific (for example, a door might be spelled with hard vowels if it was a heavy barred metal door, while an unlocked, thin wooden door would be spelled with soft letters).
Dwarven written vowels are as follows: A (as in at), A (as in danger), E (as in best), E (as in eel), I (as in pin), I (as in pine), O (as in over), O (as in out), O (as in on), U (as in under). As stated above, each has two forms.
Names: Dwarven names are either 'soft' or 'hard', based on what sound they start with. No traditional dwarven name starts with a vowel, and dwarves with such atypical names are usually shunned by their own kind, as they are thought to have dishonored their 'borrowed' name. A dwarf has two names: a first (or 'borrowed') name and a second (clan) name. Dwarven first names are considered to be borrowed from the ancestors, and the actions of the current generation can increase or diminish the honor of those they are named for. A dwarf who loses his honor in the most egregious way may even be stripped of his name.
Dwarves who found new thaneholds, earn great honor or perform heroic actions in the service to their community are sometimes awarded the opportunity to found a new clan. This is a rare and signal honor reserved only for the greatest dwarven heroes. Such a dwarf adopts a third name, which becomes the name of his new clan. If he is already married, his wife (and any children) also adopt the third name. If a dwarf has three names, it is a sign that he is mighty and well-respected by his peers.
Hard names start with one of the following sounds: B, D, G (as in girl), K, P, S, ST, T, TH (as in this), V, Z. Some of the most common male dwarven names include Baldur, Braggi, Druntin, Galdor, Grunder, Grungi, Kandor, Keldon, Kulgi, Paktor, Sogrum, Sunder, Stander, Stumpar, Tordek, Vulker, Zaggi and Zotar.
Common female names include Barda, Helga, Honnid, Kagel, Kelga, Lorrid, Morrid, Muggi, Norid, Ruggi, Selda, Shapdara, Thora, Zelda and Zoral.
Other Races: Though there are naturally many exceptions, dwarves tend to stereotype other races in the following ways:
Dragonborn: Dwarves view the few dragonforged in the area with respect, as they have a reputation as fierce warriors in the army. Since there are so few dragonborn in the city, most dwarves have never actually met one.
Eladrin and Elves: Elves of all types, including eladrin, are flighty buggers who can't hold their liquor, don't grow facial hair and all look like females. Most elves are homosexuals (shudder) and libertines who wouldn't know an honest day's work if it smacked them upside the head.
Gnomes: Dwarves respect gnomes for their strong work ethic and tradition of mechanical engineering, but generally think that most gnomes are a little crazy. A common rumor is that a given gnome was exposed to alchemical fumes as a youth and that's why he's so weird. The real down side about gnomes is that everyone knows that they are hoarders of wealth and secretly pull a lot of strings from behind the scenes. Dwarves tend to like gnomes, but rarely trust them.
Goliaths: Goliaths are few enough in number that dwarves tend to have few preconceptions about them. However, the sheer size of a goliath is such that, upon encountering one, a dwarf is typically slightly intimidated and therefore somewhat put off.
Halfbreeds: It isn't their fault, the poor freaks. Dwarves tend to pity mixed-blood creatures, as they have no real legitimate place in the world- no community and impure ancestry. These poor things probably should have been killed as babies, and those who live to adulthood probably have had to do terrible things to survive. They are deeply untrustworthy.
Halflings: Halflings are untrustworthy and duplicitous, but at least they know their ancestors. As long as you watch the silverware, they make good cooks and servants.
Humans: Humans would probably be a lot better if they only remembered their ancestors. They are careless and unpredictable, including both the best and the worst among their number. Humans have great potential, but are often disappointingly unable to reach it.
Tieflings: There is no better example of why it is important to honor the ancestors than tieflings. They turned away from their own ancestors and toward fiendish powers that would have been best left untouched. As a result, they turned into the tainted creatures they are today, best shunned and avoided. It is never a good idea to enter into a contract with a tiefling.
Warforged: Dwarves look at warforged with the love and affection of an engineer looking at a finely-made great work. There is a great deal of debate among dwarves over whether the warforged are actually alive or whether they are simply extraordinarily clever machines.
