Dwarves

Core values: Gold, work

Culture:  Dwarves make their homes in places best suited to the creation of goods.  Thus their communities are found near areas of natural resources.  Dwarves are primarily subterranean creatures, and are likely to be encountered only when their own subterranean lairs and mines intersect those of surface dwellers. 

Currency: Dwaven currency comes in a wide variety of denominations that are printed in two standards:  Silver and Gold. 
Silver: 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, 1, 1 1/2, 2, 4, 7
Gold 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, 1, 1 1/2, 2, 4, 7
2 Dwarven Silver = 1/8 Dwarven Gold
By weight value 1/2 Dwarven Gold = 1 Human Gold

Government:  Any group of Dwarves are ruled by a King, which is the one who posesses the most gold.

Judicial System:
The primary component of the Dwarves judicial system are independent lawyers who write up contracts.  The king is the ultimate judge over interpretation of any contract, though often he appoints a master judge to determine any questions of contracts.  The vast majority of Dwarves law is based upon the presence (or lack there of) of contracts, deeds and such. 
For almost any crime, the dwarf is taken to the center of town and everyone who knows the dwarfs song sings their song to them.  This is done to remind the dwarf who he/she is, and what they should stand for.If the crime consists of material items, than a debt is also incurred to replace the value of the item lost/broken/stolen.
 If the crime cannot be repaid, but could be repaid in the dwarfs lifetime, than the dwarf is indentured to his debtor until the debt is paid.
If the crime cannot be repaid, even with a lifetime of work, than the punishment is death, with the debt being passed on to the Dwarfs family.  If criminal refuses the judgment of society for any reason, than the punishment is a brand on the palm of their weapon hand and banishment from society.  This is the automatic punishment for telling a lie.

Religion:  Dwarves are monotheistic.  They view the entirety of creation as being built by a divine creator.  The creator go the world started and has left his most prized creations to continue his work to build and refine the materials he has left them.  Developing artistic talent and crafting items to beatify the world should be the life work of every creature.  Sin is failure to develop or waste of talents and abilities.  Other races are viewed as heretics not because they may worship god(s) under different names, but rather that they fail to spend their life failing to work building as is their divine purpose.
 
Clothing:  Dwarves favor bold colored heavy fabrics such as wool.  This serves the practical function of being able to distinguish the colors in  the dark as well as keep warm even when damp.
Food.  Heavily spiced and salted, starchy foods.  Flavored breads, Beers, fungus, roots. Few Greens. 
Government:  Dwarves government is based on a Monarchy of wealth.  The King has absolute rule.  Like all parts of Dwarven society though, rule is expressed in the form of contracts.  The king will provide services and protection.  Taxes will be claimed to pay for those services and protection.  The property of the king and state property are the same, similarly all of the kings personal debts are the kingdoms debts as well.  The king’s heir is usually a child raised by the king simply because they receive training in administration since birth.  The king may appoint any Dwarf as his heir though if they deem them to be better suited to rule, and pass all property and debts to that heir. Bribery within the dwarven government is they way of doing business as it only makes common sense that someone who pays more for their services to be performed should be served first. 
Social Status: The Dwarf with the most money is in charge.  A dwarf’s social status fluctuates with their accumulated income, thus they are cautious and greedy with their money.  Powerful families may just as easily be ones that have a well established and profitable income and display their wealth openly, or a miezer who sits upon a pile of wealth and lives in poverty because they refuse to spend any of it.   Thus being an adventurer is not just a path for the outcasts, but a successful one can raise their position in society.  Any dwarf may effectively start their own kingdom as long as they have enough money to be able to pay to support it.
Family.  Dwarves have very tight knight families that also extend to the community.  A child is raised with a personal song that is sung to them from childbirth.  This song is sung by the individual when working, and is sung by others as a means of praising accomplishments, and as a punishment (see justice) Dwarf families are independent units with  a Father, Mother and children.  Children are generally raised on at a time, with a second child not raised until the older one is full grown.  Children are considered the literal property of their parents and must obey until they are purchased by another.  All wealth gained by a child is considered its own, though it may not spend it, until it is able to afford a spouse.  Once a child is married they have no further obligation to their parents than any other member of society.  A dwarf may pick any other dwarf as their heir to pass on their wealth and debts to.  This is a mutual agreement between the one announcing their heir, and the heir apparent.  Two conditions exist when a dwarf is honor bound to accept being an heir –1)  when the dwarf was raised by the one bequeathing the birthright or 2) when the dwarf is on their deathbed.  Thus it is
Mating/courtship.   Dwarves are expected to marry as soon as they are able.  It is the first goal of any dwarf to buy their spouse.  Purchasing their spouse is considered an expression of appreciation to the dwarfs parents for all the expenses they have incurred raising the child.  An intent to purchase (or engagement) may be agreed upon, but the marriage is not conducted until both parties have purchased their spouse from their respective in-laws.  The purchase price is traditionally the spouses weight in gold.  
When a dwarf wants to have a child, he/she goes and meditates at a specific place special to them.  They stay there until they feel that they know what their child’s song will be.  They then approach a partner and request to mate with them.  Normally the spouse is the partner, however a Dwarf may choose another mating partner*.  The dwarf then teaches the child’s song to the mating partner and once they have memorized the song they will mate, and will sing the child’s song while mating.  The song is then taught to everyone connected with the child’s birth, and is sung during child birth.  
*A spousal couple is responsible for raising the child.  For the purposes of mating though, any married dwarf in the community may be approached and asked to be the birth father/mother.  Birth parents are often chosen to perpetuate some trait the dwarf feels is admirable (be that strength, intelligence, beauty, etc).  A spouse will mate at no charge as part of the marriage obligation, another dwarf will mate and continue to do so until a child is conceived for a fee (usually 50 dg).  Dwarves rarely mate outside of a planned childbirth as a child born without a song is the only form of a bastard the Dwarves have, and the dwarves libido is far less an influence than their lust for gold. 
 and pay a wage (usually 50 DG).  This is done to perpetuate whatever trait they dwarf feels is most important to their future offspring. 
Values.  Gold is the most valuable thing in dwarf culture, all other value is placed in its relevance to gold.  Truth is the next most valuable thing, Family and debt being third.
Debt and worth are the two primary concepts in Dwarven Society.  Gold is the fundamental of worth.  Actions are a derivative of worth.  A Dwarf can work, thus the work that they do provides worth, both in the labor, and in the good(s) they produce.  There is no such thing as a favor in Dwarven society, every action that is taken, is expected to be repaid, either in a material item, or an action of equal worth.   It is not uncommon to see Dwarves refuse to help someone, especially someone down on their luck, because there is a view that this person will not, or has a very slight chance, of being able to replay this debt.  There is no social services amongst dwarves then, and a dwarf who last lost all value tends to slide invariably to one of two categories of depression.  One is such a depression where the dwarf will literally remove themselves from society, and literally just sit until they expire, this is usually brought about because a dwarf feels they cannot perform even the most menial of work. 

Slavery:  Slavery is a derivative of the value of worth in Dwarf society.  A captive in warfare may be made a slave, just as loot becomes the property of the victor.  Similarly a dwarf may voluntarily sell themselves into slavery to pay off a debt.  The rules for slave ownership are:
The slave owner must pay for all food / support for the slave
A slave may not incur debt, all debt is applied to the owner of the slave
3/4 of the slaves income is the property of the owner, the slave retains ¼
A slave has a title with their value, history of owners, works, and lineage (if known).  To change the value, or chief duty/purpose of the slave the owner must appeal to a government official who regulates the value of the slave market.
A slave may buy their freedom from their owner for the value of their title.  A slave may make incremental payments, which is annotated on the slave’s title.  If the value of the slave changes, the payments to the title change proportionally. 

Magic.  Dwarves do not use, or care for magic.  They understand the power that magic has, but do not believe that living creatures and magic should mix.  Inanimate objects however, are not affected by magic’s corrupting influence.    Though every dwarf may create magical items. (The dwarf must pay all time, and material costs, which includes the material component costs of any spell that would be used, though the dwarf does not need to know any spells himself to create the object, further more the dwarf must be of an equal level requirement, though does not need to be of a spell casting class.  I.e. a magic item that requires a 9th level magic user can be created by a 9th level dwarf of any (or no) class)

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