These dark skinned dwarves have made their homes in the hottest of places. Commonly found near volcanoes or in deserts, the Pyr Zhud, or Fire dwarf, has developed a tolerance to heat and fire.

Fire dwarves live just as long as any other Zhud though they tend to have shorter life expectancies due to the danger they constantly place themselves around.

These Pyr Zhud have reddish skin tones. They stand about 3 feet to 4'4" in height. Their Weight ranges from  50 to 80 pounds. They are rock solid in build.

The Pyr Zhud tend to be less tolerant of outsiders within their domains but still allow strangers to travel their lands. They have not become as reclusive as the Draven but are clearly the least friendly of the Zhud races. They are a historically hardy people with a great love of natural beauty (especially gemstones), drinking, and ferocious games and battle.

Zhud language, Region dialects, Trader's Tongue and Draveni

The Society on Pyr Zhud is organized along loose family associations. An extended family grouping is called a kiith (plural: kiithid). A kiith has a loose hierarchy based on one's social position within the family. Originally this was based primarily on seniority, but as technology has changed the face of our society, the kiithid too have changed, and now family ranking is based more on wealth or personal influence than age. 

Organization within the kiith is recursive in nature and models that of a core family unit. Where a single family has a primary leader, a secondary and then a group of dependents, the next level of kiith organization is based on the same system -- there is a primary family who makes policy decisions, a secondary family which hears disputes and makes recommendations, and a number of families of lesser power that have sworn allegiance to the primary. The primary family within a kiith is called the kiith-sa.

The structure is not static by any means and, while it is not a trivial matter, families are free to change their primary allegiances as they see fit. A family's position within the kiith rises and falls with how many swear allegiance to them. Although it is much rarer, from time to time a family will move from one kiith to another or even feel the need to become their own full kiith.

A kiith-sa can direct all within the kiith to war, demand families to dedicate time and finances to special projects, or even move the Kiith to another region. The kiith-sa is a political and financial leader in that it acts on the wishes of the entire kiith.

The Pyr Zhud love fire in all its forms. Since the "Death of the Gods" many worship fire in one form or another. Any home of the Fire Dwarves has many torches and fireplaces, not to aid in seeing, but for the love of flame. The Pyr Zhud complain about the cold outside of their hot mountain homes. Fire Dwarves from birth have many fire cleansing traditions, which mainly involve burning small portions of themselves while saying a prayer for the flames to cleanse them. Cold creatures with any intelligence fear the burning wrath of the Pyr Zhud.