Dwarf

Dwarf
Homeworld:	Muiria / nomadic fleets
Average Height:	1,4 m to 1,6 m
Average Lifespan:	up to 450 years
Classification:	Mammalian
Language(s):	Muirak-Thol (high dwarfish), dialects Thrakul, Hedrik-Tharn, Grumnarik, Gildram and Galactic Common
Government:	Council of Clans
Notable Traits:	heavy build with thicker and stronger bones and muscles
Affiliation(s):	Neutral
Status:	Existing

Overview

Dwarf is a a member of the dwarven race. Dwarves are generally seen as strong, industrious, highly diciplined and honorable. They usually live on migrant fleets and sell their industrial might to other nations and are seen as the best engineers and logistics experts in known space. They are also known for their beards that are often used to display a dwarves wealth and status and will always be taken great care of.

Physical Characteristics

• Dwarves are in general 1,4 m to 1,6 m tall and are of strong and stocky build.
• They are often considered to be very hairy by other races and can have hair and beards of many colors. Those are usually taken great care of and often braided and styled to represent the individual dwarfs standing and wealth. Both male and female dwarves can, and usually do, grow beards.
• Dwaves have usually darker eye colors and can see well under low light level conditions. They prefer to keep lights low generally.
• Their most distinguishing feature is their short and heavy build and the beards that are often use to display the individuals status and wealth.
• Despite people claiming otherwise, it is indeed easily possible to distinguish male and female dwarves. While they do not differ in having strong and stocky bodies and can all grow beards, they have different facial features and often arrange their hair and beards in different ways. Being mammalian, female dwarves also have breasts.

Abilities & Strengths

• Dwarves have a heavy build with thicker and stronger bones and muscles. They generally have great stamina, constitution and discipline that is further reinforced by their cultural beleive in hard work and that everyone should always be ready to get their hands dirty.
• Dwarves can see very well in the dark and have a good sense for sound waves moving through solid materials.

Weaknesses & Limitations

• Dwarves are generally slower on foot and their short, stocky and often very hairy appearence often makes them appear less charismatic to other races. A common accusation is, that male and female dwarves can not be told apart and they are often described as having strong body odors when sweating.
• Dwarves can be stubborn to the point of this becoming a proverb in the languages of other races.

Culture & Society

Dwarves greatly value family connections and consider the family unit to be the core of their society. This can also include others who are not related by blood but considered to be close friends and are trusted to be considered to be part of the family. Those family ties became even stronger when the Dwarves moved to space and the family or clan spaceship became the castle and home gorund that is to be defended to the last.

When several families band together, they form a clan. Those can be everything from a band of just a few families who run a small scale mining business to large entities with massive political and industrial power. Those can have thousands of members and entire fleets of merchant and military ships. Those large clans often employ additional mercenery forces and outside specialists and workers to augment their own forces and abilities. Through long lasting faithful service, this allows even for members from other species to be accpeted as an actual clan or even a family member. But leadership roles will always be reserved for dwarves. Within those auxillary forces, can be people who are tasked with things that the clan leadership would consider dishonorable. But those large clans with a lot of political power are very aware of the fact, that sometimes, dirty things need to be done. And that having deniable assets on hand is needed.

While dwarves are pragamtic and ready to adopt and learn new things, their thinking, and especially the relationships between clans and families, are heavily influenced and guided by traditions. This is especially important in the way contracts are understood. Those are considered to be binding and have to be fulfilled. As breaking a contract without good reason is considered to be a stain on ones honor and would mean, that ones word can not be trusted anymore. The importance of contracts lead even to the development of special dialects to the dwarven language Muirak-Thol (high dwarfish meaning Tongue of Muiria) that are used in negotiations and the exact wording of any contract agreed upon between clans or with some outside entity. Those are called Grumnarik (Trade Tongue) or Gildram (Oath-speech).

In contrast to this, other dialects have developed for more precise technical situations. Thrakul (Forge Speech) or Hedrik-Tharn (Words of the Smiths) are often spoken in mines, factories or in the engine rooms of starships as those are tailored for the quick and precise transfer of commands and information.

While Dwarves use magic. They often consider it as untrustworthy and will rather like to incorporate it into machines or back it up with non-magical systems. Many Dwarves will also be outright distrustful of magic users, seeing them as people who go the easy way instead of doing things the right way.

Dwarves that got expelled from their families or clans or left them for a various number of reasons often form what is referred to as Rogue Clans. Those can be just clans that decided to cut their ties with the Council of Clans or have become pirates or have formed out of exiled criminals. Such clans might work as mercenaries or be emplyoed on hidden stations where pirates, smugglers or slavers can find ship repairs and supplies. Incidently, such Rogue Clans might at times find themselves be employed by Clans belonging to the Council as deniable assets, but such a thing would be rare, as to the wider dwarven society, the members of a Rogue Clan are untrustworthy and lacking honor.

Government

The dwarven nation can be most closely compared to a federation of autonomous states. While the individual clans govern themselves, they all defer to the central authority of the Council of Clans and the Clan Assembly.

The Clan Assembly can be seen as the parliament. It resides on a station in orbit around their now mostly empty home world. All the clans, big and small, send representatives to the Clan Assembly. The assembly offers the chance to debate and decide about things that would be of importance to the dwarven race and nation as a whole and also offers a place, where disagreements between clans can be talked about and solved to prevent conflict to break out between clans. It offers various institutions to facilitate information transfer, assistance and law and contract enforcement services to all the clans, should they require it. It also offers a way to keep the clan militaries on a level where they can cooperate and fight as a unified force in case of a larger conflict.

The actual governing body is represented by the Council of Clans that is responsible for presenting a unified face of the dwarves in cases of contact or negotiations with larger star empires or nations. It also is responsible to keep the autonomous clans united and to ensure the general prosperity of all the dwarves and their allies. Positions on the Council are given by election in the Assembly.

The Dwarves united under the Council of Clans are also members of the Anti-Slavery-Coalition as dwarves believe in fair pay for fair work. This view might however differ between clans as some clans are more generous and fair then others. But overall, they will all have a dislike for slaves as no slave can work as well as a free worker.

Economy

Dwarven economy is based around ressource extraction and processing on truly gigantic scales. A migrand clan fleet would make contracts with variosu customers and then select a fititng solar system to set up their operation. Usually it would be one that is uninhabited and is lacking any sort of life. They will then move their factory and mining ships there and start ot develop the system and beginn to strip mine everything to turn it into ressources and products to fulfill their own needs and their customers orders.

Such operations often take many centuries to run and so the stations and outpost develop into large hive-cities that fill up with people in search of work and profit. The clans often even leave those hives to govern themselves and only oversee the industrial parts to make sure, that nothing disrupts the operations.

With a network of such highly developed systems and many supply routes running between them, other clan holdings and the various customers, the dwarven economic might is considerable and even when they do not hold as much space systems as other empires, their economic might and logistical abilities would easily crush even much bigger powers. This economic power and staggering output of fully developed systems is the main defence of the dwarves. As they count on people rather wanting to trade then fight.

To facilitate all this, the Dwarves have built a vast network of industrial freighters, mobile shipyards, and mining fleets. Their colossal freighters, known as "Forge Ships," are legendary across the galaxy. Dwarves control vast industrial supply chains, making them indispensable to other species. They own and operate entire jump networks, regulating access and pricing. And they count on everyone keeping their word and uphold contracts, as breaking a deal with a dwarven clan means being cut off from their trade empire.

Examples of types of Dwarven starships

Forge Havens (Hub System Stations):

Dwarves maintain massive, mobile, trade stations at key intersections and on the jump points of imprtant systems, where merchants can dock, trade, and refuel. In usual dwarven fashion those stations are massive, have massive production and procesing abilities and are covered in armor and weapons.

Forge Ships (Massive Super Freighters):

Those starships are the backbone of dwarven industry and often serve as the homes for entire clans and command and control centers form where the exploitation of an entire solar system is directed. These colossal factory ships refine raw materials, producing alloys, components, and other goods. Their industrtial capacity allow them to take entire asteroid belts apart on is own, process them, and deliver the goods to client worlds. But for the most part, such tasks would be taken over by smaller specialised ships that would ship material between the places it need to go to.

Mining Hulks (Mobile Refinery Stations):

Smaller starships by dwarven standards but often still seen as absolutely massive from the view of other races. Those starships move from asteroid to asteroid, extracting and refining rare metals. Such starships can be part of bigger fleets or operate independently, as the home starship and production facility of smaller families and clans. As such, they will be heavily armored and bristling with weapons. Pirates do not mess with dwarven miners.

Anvil-Class Jump Ships (Deep-Vault Drive Equipped):

Heavily armored and massive jump freighters designed for long-haul, multi-jump routes. They often carry critical supplies between industrial hubs and are fortified with gun platforms and escort drones to deter raiders.

Aside of those, the dwarven clans emply a large number of other starships for various needs. Small scout ships and much bigger exploration vessels to find suitable systems to gargantuan freighters that transport and deliver massive ammount of goods and materials. As each clan designs and builds their own ships and individual families heavily customise their home-ships, those ships can look very different. But at a core, they all follow the same consturction logic and dwarven engineers will go to great lengths to make sure, that everything remaisn interchangable between the ships of various clans.

Military

Even when dwarves consider commerce to be always preferable to warfare, they are prepared to defend themselves and their interests. They fortify their jump points heavily. Key dwarven Jump Points are protected by gigantic orbital defence stations, bristling with various weapons and missile batteries making surprise invasions nearly impossible. If threatened, dwarves employ blockades and sieges and lock down entire supply chains, crippling enemy industries.

When dwarves go to war, then they rather use the hammer then the dagger. Preferring to conduct warfare with a strong emphasis on heavy fortifications, overwhelming firepower, and unbreakable formations. Their fleets and military doctrines prioritize defensive strength, resilience, and long-term sustainability over speed and manoeuvrability. According to this, their ships tend to be big, very heavily armoured and are equipped have massive gun batteries. Those ships are less manoeuvrable but incredibly tough and well equipped.

Their war fleets operate under the axiom of "Industrial Warfare". Aside of fighting, dwarven ships act as mobile foundries, salvaging wrecks mid-battle and repairing ships on the fly. Dwarves view warfare as an economic and industrial endeavour, ensuring logistical superiority. Instead of quick hit-and-run tactics, dwarves establish impenetrable fleet formations that force enemies into war-of-attrition scenarios. They use minefields, drone turrets, and automated defence stations to lock down entire systems and deny the enemy freedom of movement, forcing them to take dwarven forces head on and in the way the dwarves prefer to fight. When needed, dwarven clans will however also employ auxiliary forces that supplement their own abilities are are meant to surprise the enemy with tactics and strategies they would not expect from a purely dwarven force.

Examples of types of Dwarven military spacecraft

Ironclad War Barges:

Those massive, armed and armoured, transport ships are used to transport troops for ground invasions or entire fleets of smaller warships. They are also employed in orbital bombardment and support of ground invasions. Their long range fire power is especially good for defeating planetary defences no matter if in orbit or on the surface or even deep below it. They also often double as mobile command centres and supply stations.

Juggernaut Warships:

Dwarven warships are floating fortresses, built to absorb damage and outlast opponents. Spotting massive firepower and equipped with colossal railguns, plasma cannons, and missile silos designed for devastating bombardment Juggernauts are considered the battleships of dwarven fleets and will usually take the point in any attack. They are also able to transport fleets of support craft and smaller warships and are, in dwarven fashion, equipped with extensive production and processing abilities.

Hammers:

Hammers are what a destroyer class vessel would be referred to in the dwarven fleet. Other then what destroyers do in other fleets, those are heavily armoured and will seek out to close the distance to enemy ships to deliver boarding parties and to disrupt enemy formations and tactics.

Fortified Trade Stations:

While dwarven trade hubs are mainly for civilian use, they also double as fortresses, ensuring key supply routes remain under dwarven control. These massive structures act as command centres, launching military operations when needed.

Ground Combat

In ground combat dwarves act in similar ways as in space. Preferring large and heavy formations and forcing the enemy into situations, where the overwhelming firepower of their heavy mech-suits, tanks and artillery can quickly ensure victory. They also employ shock tactics and use drop pods to deliver troops quickly or drop them right into enemy positions or cities. Those mech suits come in various models. Lighter versions are used in security roles while the heavier ones are meant for boarding operations and planetary assaults. They increase the individual soldiers abilities and allow them to carry heavy weapons. Dwarven soldiers are also always equipped with melee weapons like big combat knives, hammers or power-swords in addition to their ranged weapons.

Dwarven War-Speach

In battle, dwarves can often appear to be singing. But that comes from a misunderstanding of the war-speach Kazag-Thrul (The Tongue of the Anvil). Dwarves use Kazag-Thrul when engaging in battle. It is a ritualistic, booming form of High Dwarven, filled with oaths, battle-calls, and defiant proclamations. It is meant to boast ones courage and create a bond in the fighting unit as well as have the opposite effect on the enemy.

It comes in various forms. Examples of this are:

Oath-Driven Commands:

Orders are often given in the form of oaths to ancestors or the forge, making retreat dishonourable. Example: "By stone and steel, we shall not yield!" (Kazag-an-Durum, Thrul-vak Khazad!)

Hammering Cadence:

The language is structured in rhythmic, chant-like sentences, making it ideal for battle cries and synchronized war chants. Before battle, dwarves often stomp in unison, echoing the sound of hammers on anvils.

Defiant Challenge-Rituals:

Before major engagements, dwarves send formal declarations of war, often in the form of sung or recited poetry that mocks the enemy. Example War Speech and Dwarven Combat Philosophy Before Battle:

"We are the sons of the anvil, the unyielding wall! The stars may burn, but our forges blaze brighter! Bring forth your storms, your fire, your war-machines—none shall break the anvil!" (Kazag-dum, az-anvilar, thrul-garaz! Durin-rak tan, dor-an-zak! Vuk-um-Rakha, marz-khul! Kazag-Thrul-Khazad!)

"Steel endures. Fire fades." (Dwarven belief that patience and resilience win wars.)

"A broken line is a broken oath." (Dwarves do not retreat unless absolutely necessary.)

"The forge that burns the hottest tempers the strongest steel." (War, like any challenge, is seen as both a test and a means of proving one's worth.)

Fittingly to the war-chants and its use in and before battles, each dwarven warrior, once they earned it through deeds in battle, receives a war-name. This name can be passed down through generations an is often the founding name of new clans and families.

Example: Thruk-Forged (meaning "Survivor of the Forge-Fire")

But what mostly is not openly known about Kazag-Thrul by other races is, that it also includes many ways to precisely give commands and share information. Sometimes it can even hide within war chants or songs, what leads to the idea that dwarves sing during battle. This way of speaking is very hard to get into and understand by non dwarves and can be actually both boasting and loud and very subtle allowing dwarves to exchange information without others often even noticing it.

History

Before dwarves become a unified species and took to space, they inhabited their home world of Muiria and the near area of space around its star. They already had developed orbital installations and asteroid mining. But dwarven society was still divided with wars and conflicts between the clans happening regularly. Those conflicts and the industrial development eventually lead to massive damage to the eco-system and problems with food production all over the planet.

Technological progress has solved some of the issues the dwarven society was facing, but it did nothing to stop the conflicts. With dwindling natural resources, those even become worse. Still some dwarves worked towards unification and a society that would work together to solve the looming problems and possible eventual extinction of the species. And eventually they succeeded and after many years of work, the clans decided to find other ways to solve their disagreements and agreed, that space is big enough for everyone. But it was too late for the planet and its habitability already dropped to a level where most dwarves lived in underground shelters. So when the final agreements got signed and the Council of Clans and the Assembly created, almost all dwarves evacuated their home world, leaving it, so that it would, over time, regenerate itself again.

This lead to a new golden age, where advanced technology got developed and dwarves expanded outwards in their solar system and then, once they developed their first jump engines, outside of it as well.

The Muiria Cataclysm or the failure of the Iron Nexus

But this is just the official history as the truth about The Muiria Cataclysm is well hidden by the highest circles of dwarven society. The truth is, that in the last years before the dwarves left their planet, an experiment, lead by Arch-Engineer Haldrek Stonevein, was attempted in the depths of Muiria. The goal was to use both magic and technology to break the limits of matter itself. To combine metallurgical and engineering mastery with experimental etheric manipulation. The projected device was meant to be a stable, self-perpetuating power source to bind raw entropy into usable energy and forge a new age of limitless power for the clan who was strong enough to undertake such a monumental task.

But it all went wrong and when the device was turned on, it first hummed and seemed to fail to activate. Only to then suddenly twist into itself and rip the facility apart, throwing it and everyone in it right into the other plane of existence called the Maw of Iron. A realm of endless, cold industry. A vast, alien forge where machines built themselves, spreading like an infection across all matter. And with the rift open, the mindless machine infection spread into Muiriamquickly filling the hole that the opening of the rift ripped into the rocks surrounding it. And with it came Iron-bound horrors, constructs of shifting gears and razor limbs. The beings inhabiting the plane spilled forth from the fissure. Mindless but driven by eternal hunger, they started to consume everything they came across to grind it all down for more material for the endless, twisted machines on the other side of the rift.

The opening of the rift send tremors over the entire planet, but at first only a few knew of the desperate battle fought deep below their feet. The forces thrown against the relentless and twisted living machines got overwhelmed quickly and even when they fought bravely, they could only slow down the assault. Room by room and tunnel by tunnel, the machines moved on. Consuming and rebuilding everything in their path. In the desperation the Stonevein clan called out to their friends and enemies alike. They needed help and called upon everyone to unite in order to save the dwarven race. And the other clans responded. The best Soldiers, engineers and scientists gathered and marched against the living machines. Led by general Vakka "Ironwall" Torngrim, wielder of the power-armour that later became known as the legendary Bulwark of Muiria, the soldiers threw themselves against the machines and halted their advance. The depths of Muiria became a battleground. But there was no way to win. The dwarves could only halt the advance as more and more living machines kept spilling out of the rift. And with more and more of the planet consumed, the rift would become stronger. And since the laws of one planes are so different to the other and one can not exist within the other, it was only a matter of time until the corruption would become so big, that both rift, planet and most of the solar system would collapse into itself and rip itself apart.

Finally, the plan was devised to detonate the core of the planet and to direct its energy right into the rift to overpower it and to seal it. It was a gamble but no other plan promised any chance of success. So more dwarves from more clans got pulled in. Every available resource got used and stripped from the cities in order to create the device that would do it. Working day and night without rest, the drill that could drill into the planetary core itself was created and massive explosives triggered, flooding magma into the tunnels even while volunteers of the dwarven forces still fought the living machines in them.

The big gamble worked and the flood of the living machines stopped. Most of them wiped out by the detonation of the core. But it left the core broken and the planet crippled. The side effects of the fight and the influence of the other plane rendered it increasingly uninhabitable. Muiria ceased to be a living world. What remained was a tomb. A cold, dead husk of metal and silence, where machines still stir in the darkness and the ghosts of the dwarves’ greatest mistake whisper through the ruined forges. And the rift itself, while closed, was still present. It never vanished.

The only way to survive for the dwarves was to leave the planet.

The Aftermath

Arch-Engineer Haldrek Stonevein however, gathered what was left of his clan and took responsibility for his creation. He forsake all his clans possessions and declare, that he would not leave the planet or even see the sun again until he sealed the rift for good. He swore an oath that, in later days, become a secret greeting between the dwarves who are in the know about the extend of what really happened in the depths of Muiria:

“Never again shall we tamper with the fabric of reality. Never again shall we wake the Maw.”

Together with Runesmith Ingrun Emberforge and Grand Engineer Thalgrim Ironhand, he finally devised a plan to do so. But it needed a special magically infused metal called Mythril. All the clans now carry the secret order to look for this metal and extract it secretly to bring back to their former home, so that those who follow the original scientists and engineers can finish creating the seal that would close the rift for good.

Together with the plan for sealing the rift, Haldrek Stonevein created the Deep-Vault Keepers, a secret order that now exist in secret within the dwarven society and act as an independent agency with full authority to do what is needed to watch for any signs that the Maw of Iron might stir again and to stop anyone from attempting to open such rifts again. The members of this group swear oaths and forsake their clans in order to focus only on this one mission. And all clans in turn swear oaths that the members of this group will be given all support they might request and that their authority is absolute when it comes to stopping anyone from attempting to work with the powers of those outer planes. Be it cultists, scientists or even entire governments.

Technology & Notable Creations

Dwarven FTL Travel

Dwarves, being an industry-focused and pragmatic species, have tailored FTL travel to their needs. While they use the same Jump Capacitor System as other species, they have adapted it to suit their massive-scale mining, refining, and industrial operations. The version of this technology is referred to as the Deep-Vault Drive.

It utilizes the same solar sail-charged capacitor jumps as other species, with travel between Lagrange Points and instant jumps between systems. But does so with a much greater level of efficiency and reliability. Unlike standard jump vessels, dwarven Deep-Vault Drives can store excess energy, allowing three to five consecutive jumps before requiring a recharge. This makes dwarven jump ships the most efficient in the galaxy, able to traverse multiple systems in one trade circuit. This system gives dwarven ships massive energy reserves, but the recharge time is still extensive. Usually three weeks or more, requiring dedicated charging stations at key industrial hubs.

Notable Members

• Arch-Engineer Haldrek Stonevein: the lead scientist and creator of the Iron Nexus project. During the disaster he took responsibility for his creation. He stayed behind on the planet to close the rift. He also created the secret organisation Deep-Vault Keepers

• General Vakka "Ironwall" Torngrim, wielder of the legendary power-armour Bulwark of Muiria. She led the defense at the gates of the Iron Nexus. Her troops held back the horrors until the very end, with her fighting with them in the first line.

Quotes

• “Never again shall we tamper with the fabric of reality. Never again shall we wake the Maw.”