Dwarfs
Dwarves
Dwarfs (sometimes also "Dwarves") are a stout, furless species from the planet Abumas, located near the Null Scar. Their convergent evolution toward a Human-like appearance is strong enough to result in frequent misidentification, though there are enough deep cultural and physiological differences to justify treating them as a distinct group, outside the gamut of other near-Human subspecies like half-Felionoids and half-Vulpkanin, in addition to their unique origin as a totally separate clade.
Dwarfs have long been a space-faring people. Their homeworld of Abumas lacks significant rare earth mineral deposits near the surface, resulting in a monopoly on these resources by those dwarfs who lived in the deep parts of the planet. To break this monopoly, the surface-dwelling Dwarfs began mining asteroids and planetoids as a workaround. These space settlements, usually called Citadels, begin their lives as simple mining outposts. As they attract more families and workers, the outposts, homes, and businesses, expand into the shafts and tunnels, eventually forming splendid cities with diverse economies and populations. A fully-developed Citadel is a massive ark that can fly under its own power, though the majority of asteroid mines are abandoned once the minerals run out and never achieve this glory. Particularly impressive or culturally significant Citadels are often landed on planets to serve as museums or palaces, and there is a thriving industry of using grounded Citadels to stake a claim on newly-colonized worlds, as a 'ready-made city' that can be deployed in an afternoon. Such Citadels become permanent features of the planets they land on.
Geographically, Abumas is Earth-like and has a full complement of biomes, although its cave system is much more elaborate and interconnected, spanning continents, and housing many diverse biomes of its own. It is unknown how these cave systems became so large and expansive. At odds with this is a section of the planet characterized with large, sharp rock spires, reaching far up into the sky. The Dwarfs have taken advantage of both these extremes, with some groups farming fungus and building subterranean holds to house the majority of their populations, and others hollowing out niches in the towering stone peaks to live halfway in the sky.
Abumas's proximity to the Null Scar inevitably meant that Dwarfs would come in contact with NanoTrasen. Several Citadels now have highly profitable relationships with NT, and are under direct contract to provide certain high-demand minerals to the far-flung corners of the Sol sector, beyond the reach of the Corporation's logistical network.
Owing to its lack of a central governance structure, Abumas has not formally joined the Trans-Solar Federation, though individual Dwarf Citadels, corporations, and clans do have diplomatic ties, including extradition treaties. This legal web is so messy and complicated that many Dwarfs who want to work on NT stations have resorted to obtaining TSF citizenship papers through backdoor channels, simply to avoid the headache of going through the proper procedure, if one even exists. In doing so they often fraudulently listing their species as 'human,' which is now such a widespread practice that the TSF has largely given up on policing it, as the work required to do so far outweighs the benefit of documentary accuracy—especially if the insult to the honor of the Dwarf in question results in a net loss to the skilled labor pool.
Biology
Most Dwarfs are male (around 87%), with the rest being female. Gender-nonconforming Dwarfs are rarer than their Human counterparts. Male Dwarfs are often easily identified by their full, shaggy hair and large beards. Dwarfs with no hair, including beardless males, are generally considered unusual unless they are atoning for some slight or wrongdoing, be it real or imagined, on the dwarf's part.
The average Dwarf is around 110 cm (3' 7") in height at maturity, with no significant difference between the sexes, but exhibits much fuller, denser bones and pronounced cartilaginous features compared to humans such as larger noses and cheekbones. This robustness grants them the ability to endure 10% more damage than humans before succumbing to their injuries. Xenobiologists widely agree that Dwarfs evolved this stature to withstand the enhanced gravity of Abumas, which is around 1.3 times Earth standard.
Dwarf Alchemy
Dwarf biology is adapted to the consumption of alcoholic brews, with different brews granting different boons upon the Dwarf. This is called Dwarf Alchemy, and it is a large aspect of their culture as well.
Basic Brews
| Drink | Effects |
|---|---|
| Water | Worse than Ipecac; causes vomiting |
| Ale | Restores thirst; no Ethanol |
| Beer | Restores hunger |
| Mead | Equivalent to Tricordazine |
| Vodka | Equivalent to Hyronalin |
| Whiskey | 10% less Blunt damage taken |
| Rum | 10% less Slash damage taken |
| Absinthe | 10% less Piercing damage taken |
| Tequila | 10% less Heat damage taken |
| Cognac | 10% less Cold damage taken |
| Gin | 10% less Caustic damage taken |
| Vermouth | 10% less Shock damage taken |
Easy Brews
| Drink | Effects |
|---|---|
| Antifreeze | 20% less Cold damage taken |
| Manly Dorf | Equivalent to Bicardine |
| Iced Beer | Equivalent to Dermaline and Kelotane |
| Red Mead | Equivalent to Saline and Dexalin |
| White Gilgamesh | Equivalent to Dylovene |
| Martini | Equivalent to Potassium Iodide |
| Tequila Sunrise | Equivalent to Tranexamic Acid |
| Dark and Stormy | Heals Shock damage |
| Death in the Afternoon | Raises critical threshold to 129; death threshold is reduced to 130 |
| Manhattan | Immune to slippery surfaces |
| Brave Bull | Punches deal Structure damage |
| Irish Cream | Attack 25% faster with bare hands |
| Bronx | 50% more damage dealt with bare hands |
| Andalusia | 10% less Piercing and Shock damage taken; 5% more Slash and Heat damage taken |
| Grog | 10% less Slash and Heat damage taken; 5% more Blunt and Cold damage taken |
| Daiquiri | 10% less Blunt and Cold damage taken; 5% more Piercing and Shock damage taken |
| Moonshine | Heals Caustic damage |
| Amasec | Equivalent to Arithrazine |
| Hooch | Equivalent to Ephedrine |
| Moscow Mule | 10% less Poison and Radiation damage taken |
| Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster | 10% less Blunt, Slash, and Piercing damage taken |
| Erika Surprise | 15% less Heat, Cold, and Shock damage taken |
Hard Brews
| Drink | Effects |
|---|---|
| Xeno Basher | 10% faster attacks with melee weapons |
| Irish Car Bomb | 20% more damage dealt with melee weapons |
| Driest Martini | 15% less Slash, Piercing, and Blunt damage taken |
| Syndicate Bomb | 25% more interaction (DoAfter) speed |
| Radler | Heal Slash, Piercing, and Blunt damage while in critical condition |
| Allies Cocktail | Heal Caustic, Heat, and Cold damage while in critical condition |
| Irish Coffee | 10% increased movement speed |
| Budget Insuls | Insulation from shocks |
| The Sun Also Rises | Low-light vision |
| Alien Brain Hemorrhage | Heals Genetic damage |
| Rubberneck | Equivalent to Desoxyephedrine |
| Electric Shark | Ignore slowdown |
Expert Brews
| Drink | Effects |
|---|---|
| Painkiller | 100% less Bloodloss damage taken |
| Irish Bool | Ignore stun |
| Crush Depth | No damage from pressure effects |
| B52 | 25% less damage taken from explosions |
| Bacchus Blessing | Equivalent to Omnizine |
| The Highlander | Raises critical threshold to 219 damage (death threshold is still 220) |
Culture
The Dwarven race is consistently characterized by its unique industriousness. They make excellent engineers, and are well suited to tinkering, mining, stone-crafting, jewelry making, and general craftsmanship. The Dwarfs insist this characteristic is rooted in the hardness of frontier life on Abumas. Over time, they learned how to conserve materials, and implemented practices across generations to refine their crafts.
History
Dwarf society has many nuances and subdivisions, and no two Dwarf settlements are truly the same, but ethnographers have long noted a general tendency toward certain parallels with the Nordic, Celtic, and Germanic cultures of Earth in terms of their material culture. The primary weapon wielded by Dwarfs during their Iron Age was the battle-ax, followed by the war-pick and war-hammer, with relatively little emphasis on spears, bows, and swords; surviving specimens tend to be highly engraved with knot patterns and runes. The major Dwarf ethnic groups are named according to their favored biomes: Subterranean Dwarfs, Deepdwarfs, Steppedwarfs, Oceandwarfs, Spiredwarfs, Mountain Dwarfs, Jungle Dwarfs, and Forest Dwarfs.
Distinctly, tales of large humanoid structures seem to predate depictions of early Dwarf construction. Historians argue about the origins of the Dwarf race, with Dwarf Sagebeards insisting that they share a common ancestor with humans despite genetic evidence to the contrary. Sagebeards tell the story of how their ancestors were deposited by an unknown force onto their home planet Abumas near the Null Scar, and how the influence of the Scar changed their very biology. NanoTrasen's official statement is that the Dwarfs have evolved separately from humans, and that their biology only vaguely resembles human biology.
Young Dwarfs are often taught of how their ancestors came to Abumas, the name of the planet coming from the curse the first chieftain spat upon their arrival. Since then, Sagebeards have been employed to track the history of each clan, recanting the histories endlessly to beardlings, those trained to become the next Sagebeards of their clan.
Religion
Dwarf religion is rooted in a deep respect for ancestor spirits but bears strong traits of traditional polytheism, or more specifically henotheism.
There are three figures revered almost universally: Vaya the Mother, Grunn the Father, and Grimnir the Slayer. Added to this are many local deities, which are universally respected but only locally worshipped by the clans that claim descent from them. It is generally understood that these figures are deified ancestors, usually significant figures from the past whose deeds have been beatified, and that Vaya, Grunn, and Grimnir formed a family unit sometime early in Dwarf prehistory.
Religious wars are not uncommon on Abumas, driven mainly by rival groups with different stories about specific figures. Oftentimes two legendary heroes from rival clans will earn slightly different versions of a story about their shared interactions, and the clans will fight over which of the two was more honorable. This is called a Bludgald, or blood-feud.
Family and Community
Dwarf clans are very tightly-knit social groups, though individual Dwarfs themselves may be introverted or withdrawn. Alliances are frequently formed through marriages, even in the modern era; since adjacent clans usually have some unpleasant history, this often necessitates long travel to find someone with a clean slate. Since the sexes are quite imbalanced, it is usually the females who travel in search of mates, as only one in seven males can practically expect to become husbands. Should a married male Dwarf die, his wife is expected to remarry into another clan to prevent jealousy among his brothers.
Fashion and Aesthetics
Each Dwarf clan has its own distinct knots, runes, colors, and mode of presentation. Garments are often highly ornate and colorful, but anything that is not durable is quickly rebuked. Aesthetic merit in craftsmanship is measured not only in visual appeal and mastery of an aesthetic form, but how the form of a design effects the item's reliability and robustness; designs that are fanciful to the point of compromising practicality are seen in the same way a human culture might view a very loud or tacky piece of clothing, regardless of the object's other qualities. Styles with hard angles, triangles, or strong contiguous shapes similar to the Old Earth architectural styles of Art-Deco, Brutalism, and Futurism are popular on most dwarf worlds. Their tendency for ancestor worship also leads to a great many statues, monuments, and other memorial structures being constructed to commemorate everything from the birth of a future Thane to the anniversary of a centuries long held grudge.
Society
Governments
Abumas has no planetary government, consisting instead of small clans that keep to themselves most of the year, though the manner in which the larger society is governed ultimately falls to their ancient and complicated set of long held system of laws not dissimilar to some Old Earth Legalism frameworks. Law, fairness, and honor themselves are seen as the guiding principles for a society from which these old Dwarf laws spring, and therefore to shirk the law is to spit on a thousand generations of predecent and tradition. Due to the fact that the laws themselves are seen as permanent and unchanging as the Dwarf race itself, one of the primary mechanisms of Dwarf law is therefore the Dammaz, or grudge. This is an account of a grievance recorded by a Dwarf into his Dammaz Kron (Book of Grudges) which indicates wrongdoing by another. Grudges may be inherited, and each clan keeps a Great Book that describes the most serious complaints between clans. A grudge, once widely recognized by the community, may be avenged with impunity; over-reactions are prevented by the fear of becoming the target of further grudges. This scheme works only because the Dwarfs have little patience for reckless individuals, who are typically coerced into a more meticulous and patient mindset at a young age.
Economy
Dwarfs are generally seen by other races as strange little gold-hungry creatures with drinking problems and more beard than sense when it comes to dangerous activities that will make them wealthy, but they have well-earned reputations as fair and equitable merchants. Each clan is generally run as a self contained economy similar to countries or states from Old Earth, with their own rules and levers of control and pressure. For an economy and population as relatively small as the Dwarf one, it punches well above its weight in raw output of minerals and metals, and their goods are generally of a very high quality. Add to that, there is very little risk of deceptive practices on the part of Dwarf companies or clan traders; the loss of honour and face in dealing in such a manner would mean economic suicide for such entities. However, on the other side of the coin, it is exceptionally easy to be added to the Grudgelist of 'no-trade' entities by the Dwarf trade conglomerate known as the Abumas Commerce Authority (ACA) and frozen out from roughly 93% of the Dwarf labor and goods market for even suggesting things common in other economic climates, such as simple bribery or 'clever accounting'.
Dwarf labor, be it dumb or skilled, is some of the best any market can buy, and most things can be improved on or 'done right' if you add a Dwarf craftsman's hands or miner's strong back to the task. With this reputation for quality, reliability, and culturally inbuilt work ethic, Dwarf laborers and professionals are in high demand in most sectors of the galactic economy from NanoTrasen to Donk Co. Even traditionally ruthless entities such as those aligned with the Syndicate know it's usually better business to play by the ACA's rules than risk losing access to the vast network of Dwarf mineral wealth and the half dozen or so Citadel weapon factories throughout the galaxy.
Trivia
- During the initial stages of colonizing an asteroid or planetoid, Dwarfs use a specialized fungus called "breathcap" (Grumbakul: shathûrbund, also translated as "cloudhead") to produce a breathable gas mix inside their tunnels. These mushrooms have been bred and refined over centuries to prevent over-pressurization. NanoTrasen is in the process of negotiating access to spores of breathcaps for use on their stations.
Adapted from the Starlight wiki under CC BY-SA 4.0.