Dwarf
Found in kingdoms deep beneath the earth or high within the mountains, dwarves value clan and craft above all. Owing fealty to the High Kingdom of Dymkrag each dwarven clan has a place and purpose in dwarven society. With a fastidious mentality and an often stern demeanor the dwarven people have been tested and endured since the most ancient of times. Favoring stout builds with grayish tones to bronzed hues or near chalk white skin, with the ever-present beard proudly worn. Dwarven settlements are spread far and wide across Kyme's northern hemisphere, acting as a bulwark against the horrific hordes that dwell within the Depths of Kyme. The dwarves hold a founding seat on the Council of Arkyme.
Dwarf Names
From the most humble of laborers to the noblest of vassal lordships, the clan is at the heart of dwarven life and culture. Tracing histories and lineages back across the Ages, dwarven names carry with them a vast legacy. Clan names are taken from dwarvish attributes or associations or common derivation of the dwarvish names. First names are oft inherited from an ancestor of the clan, most names having been carried on through generations.
Clan Names: Algdühn, Bondstone, Dworrowhone, Dymdelver, Erldhemm, Forgethane, Gildwrïn, Gyrmgavel, Hammerwrest, Hagenòrumm, Krömmdregh, Ländtharrow, Mountainbreaker, Noryenmine, Omdenhald, Skarlbrïngr, Stadtdheur, Torvheim, Wroughtbeard, Yorundtrûss
Male Names: Aebis, Dtornn, Dualun, Fjöme, Grostäm, Hæmnun, Himr, Kyldrak, Keyr, Khurn, Magnë, Naern, Oïnduurin, Ordrhimm, Sindrelv, Thørfann, Ümbr, Vimli
Female Names: Aynawæn, Bryln, Dagma, Dendremma, Frödtya, Gryla, Hïlde, Hlynna, Jotülda, Kelsmli, Lauyindr, Morgemma, Saxa, Siegrune, Simuri, Sivöldartr, Thendādri, Wynrs, Yhemma
Dwarf Traits
Ability Score Increase - Your Constitution score increases by 2 and your Strength and Intelligence score increase by 1.
Age - Dwarves are considered grown by the age of 20, yet are thought of as youths until they are 100 years of age. Dwarves can reach ages of over 500 years.
Alignment - Dwarves share a lawful bent, as clan and kingdom guide their culture. Often good natured and fair in their dealings, though ambition and greed drive them towards oppressive ends.
Death - The dwarves, wrought by a curse upon their giant ancestors in eons past, have chosen to embrace Dilig the God of Industry and Order. This gives their souls a strong connection to the godly realm, which their souls might enter if they have lived a worthy life.
Size - Standing a stalwart 4 to 5 feet tall and weighing near 200 pounds, dwarves are distinct in their stature. You are considered size Medium.
Speed - You have a walking speed of 25 feet and are not slowed by heavy armor.
Darkvision - Living deep within the mountains and Depths of the world has granted you the ability to see up to 60 feet in dim light as if it were brightly lit, and in darkness as it were dim light. You cannot discern color in darkness only shades of gray.
Dwarven Hardiness - The harsh and toxic tunnels that you call home grant you advantage on saving throws against poison and you have resistance against poison damage.
Ore Heart - Due to the ancient curse borne by your people, you still carry a vestige of giantkin power. When you are hit by an attack, you gain a +2 bonus to AC against attacks made by that creature for the rest of the turn as your body hardens.
Stone's Reserve - You are proficient with the battleaxe, handaxe, light hammer, warhammer, light and medium armor.
Craft Culture - You gain proficiency with the one artisan's tools of your choice: smith's tools, brewer's supplies, jeweler's tools or mason's tools.
Dwarven Knack - Your natural gift for craft and skill grant you a d10 knack die that can be applied to any skill check for crafting items, practicing a trade, or researching. You regain use of the knack die upon finishing a long or short rest.
Languages - You can speak, read, and write Common and Dwarvish.
Dwarf Racial Feat
In the Stride of Giants. Prerequisite: Dwarf
You reclaim a vestige of your cursed giantkin ancestry.
Increase your Strength or Constitution by 1, to a maximum of 20.
Increase your walking speed by 5 feet.
You count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift.
Your hands are attuned to the metals in weapons. One-handed melee weapons made of metal gain the light property so long as you wield them.
Dwarf Attitudes
Dwarven clans are renown for their ancient grudges against the peoples of Kyme, and other dwarven clans. In the Age of Fire, when the dwarves toiled only to meet the tribute exacted by the Dragon Kings. Dwarven kingdoms for thousands of years committed to feudal wars, too often orchestrated by the dragons. Though as the Dragon Kings were overthrown in the Ashbreak Rebellion, the Kingdom of Dymkrag ascended to become the high kingdom, to hold the peace between dwarvenkin. Yet, the dwarves still keep archival vaults with the names and lineages of the dwarven clans and other peoples that have wronged or slighted them.
Humans - "Gone from your life as quick as they entered. Yet you might hope their descendants will be as worthy as they."
Dark Elf - "These craven fanatics are little better than the horrors that crawl up from the Depths of Kyme. Though elven cunning is not to be underestimated. They proved this as an enemy most foul during the War of Extinction."
Draconic - "If only they could take to craft or some industrious manner. They should not let greed cloud their minds. All they accomplish now is giving trouble to the dwarven people who fought hard to reclaim the tribute given to their 'once kings.'"
Eleman - "Though they are young and new to the world, they are connected to Kyme in ways unlike any other people. New ways are a dangerous precedent."
A History of Kyme's Dwarves
It was an Age of Air, of creation, of beginnings. Born from the joinings of spirits and the lands, so came into being those known as giants. Marked by their reclusive dominions, giants took to their lands and kinds rose among them. The delvers of giantkind, the ore giants as they are believed to have been called, found a voice calling to them in the darkness of the deep places of the world. But as they all pushed deeper and deeper to the core of Kyme, they came back changed. Now dwarfed by their giant kin, the "dworrow" they were now called by those that once honored them as the master crafters of the giants. No longer what they once were, they had to forge a new life for themselves. So came into being the race now known as dwarves.
No longer able to meld metal with their hands of giant's strength, they had to master the forge and craft as dwarves. As the first of ancient clans and kingdoms began to take hold in the north of Kyme, a deluge of horrors overtook the world. So began the Age of Water. Eldritch beings swarming over the lands and the dwarven people were forced to endure this maddened age hiding deep within their mountain kingdoms. Yet as the Age of Water waned the eldritch realms were unmade by dragons' fire. Ancient stories had told of their giant kin having warring with the dragons in the Age of Air, and the dwarves knew war with the dragons would be their end. For protection from the most tyrannical of the dragons the dwarves allowed them to exact a price. The wealth of the dwarves was paid allowing them to maintain an autonomy of sorts from the dragons now claiming rulership over the whole of Kyme.
As the Age of Fire raged on the dwarves proved useful vassals for the dragon kings and the deeper the dwarves mired themselves in the dragonkin's political strife, the more they broke with what they had once been. When the call of the Ashbreak Rebellion was heard, dwarves were the quickest to overthrow their dragon rulers and supplant the draconic they had once endeavored with. Long had dwarven pride been suppressed and in the final days of the Age of Fire, the last dragon was killed with a dwarven army standing alongside the others. They reforged themselves and their kingdoms in the enlightened order of the god Dilig. As to their south the Holy Orders of Synstasia, worshippers of the Lighted Path sought faith as what might guide them into the Age of Earth. A time for the dwarves and other peoples of the world to finally hold dominion over the lands they had claimed so long ago. Dwarves still contend the voice that called them into the unknown Depths so long ago, that which cursed them, was Dilig. A lesson he wished to teach the dwarven people, a lesson they still carry on to this day.
