Post by Kaez on Sept 26, 2016 2:41:26 GMT -5
Dwarves
The precise nature of the cosmos is a mystery for scholars to debate. Most Dwarves are not particularly interested in discussing the matter. But one cannot begin to understand Dwarven history on the Tor without the question being raised: how, exactly, did they get here? Where did they come from? And how is any of that possible?
The Dwarves arrived on the Tor nearly two millennia ago during the Raze, simultaneous with the Fall of the Sundrian Empire, the Shadrasi Invasion, and the rise of the Vor-of-Vors. They arrived in a massive, underground cavern that they called Yhok, and which has since been more elaborately named Yhok Qarzeth (borrowing the term 'Qarzeth' from the Baksami word for 'universe'). But precisely how they arrived here is perhaps one of the greatest mysteries of modern times.
"The Dwarves' homeland cannot be found on any map of known lands on Amostine. They did not arrive at their mountain halls from above, burrowing down, but from beneath, burrowing up. And yet nor is there home, supposedly, to be found buried beneath the Yhok. The tunnels through which they arrived in Amostine are bridges between our world and theirs; they burrowed not through rock, but through the walls between our world and others." - Perion the Elder
The White Tunnels, from which the first of the Tor's Dwarves emerged those many centuries ago, are a closely guarded secret. Most Dwarves know little more about them than outsiders do. The only passageway that leads to them, the Jeweled Gate, is guarded perpetually by four members of the Dwarven elite guard, the Stonewardens. Though no outsiders have ever been permitted entrance into the White Tunnels, they are not completely forbidden, and indeed are frequented by fully ordained Geophyst monastics. They are described as a vast, complex network of perfectly smooth, square, featureless tunnels of warm, white stone which occasionally open into wide, roofless galleries that branch off in every direction. Though there are no torches in the White Tunnels, they are evenly lit with a dim, warm, ambient lighting which is directionless and which casts no shadows. Geophyst aspirants undergo ritual pilgrimages in the White Tunnels, alone, without guides or maps (indeed, no such maps exist of the Tunnels). The aspirants who enter do not return for weeks, sometimes months, and bring with them no food, water, or provisions. When they finally ascend again, they are greeted by the ringing of great bells and the chanting of their kin in elaborate ceremonies, and their eyes have developed a rich, amber luminescence characteristic of all fully-ordained Geophyst monastics. "Thus evidence of their having found the Source."
Geophysm is the Dwarven religion, shared by all Dwarves without exception. It is mysterious and poorly understood by outsiders, and its rituals are not freely shared, nor its ceremonies open to public scrutiny.
Its best-known practice is beholding, a meditative endeavor of staring unblinking and unmoving at objects or expanses. Dwarves on the surface of Yhok Qarzeth may settle on cliffside and behold the sky, while Dwarves underground more typically choose blank stone walls, open flames, or gemstones as the objects to behold. Beholding may last thirty minutes or two or three days, while those in the White Tunnels are said to behold for weeks on end in the claustrophobic silence of the labyrinth. The process of beholding leaves one "Source-struck", a state which persists for anywhere between a few hours to a few weeks, depending on the length and intensity of the beholding experience. A Source-struck Dwarf's eyes gain a faint amber glow, their senses are heightened, and many other subjective effects are reported, ranging from increase in creativity or libido to a tempering of the emotions or an intense increase in empathy and compassion. Geophyst monastics, who are perpetually Source-struck, gain even more impressive results from practicing beholding, often gaining the ability to see spirits and attaining magical capabilities.
The nature of the Source is clouded in mysticism and mystery. It shares some traits in common with a monotheistic religion, and the Source is spoken of not unlike the way the Nascheiters speak of the Lord: a force that underlies the fates of individuals and which compels them toward certain paths of action. Though the Dwarves do not speak in detail of their homeworld, and indeed doing so is considered a legal offense in Yhok Qarzeth, it appears to be at least partially synonymous with the Source, or perhaps contains the Source itself or a route to it within its boundaries. "Our ancestors came from the Source as each new kin born to us does. When we die, we return to it again, and more yet are born." This cryptic language is common to Dwarven descriptions of their ancient history. What is know clearly is that Dwarven funeral rites involve, as their last step, the procession of the body into the White Tunnels; Dwarven children are born quite normally from their mothers wombs. The Dwarves do clearly believe in a variant of reincarnation, though the details of this doctrine, like all other Geophyst doctrines, are not entirely clear. What is known is that the current Stoneking of the Tor is the seventh such reincarnation of the first Stoneking of the Tor, who led the first Dwarves into the Yhok. The reigning Stoneking Thoruz-Bor is 183-years old and widely revered for his traditionalism and religiosity.*
Beholding is reflective of a larger Dwarven cultural admiration of patience, carefulness, and examination. This is not, of course, to imply that Dwarven minds are slower than the minds of Men -- indeed, their minds are quite comparable in many ways, and when it comes to the arts of haggling or debating, a Dwarf easily matches any Man in mental agility and cunning. Their keen attention to detail is the result of training, and a virtue taught to all Dwarven children is making an effort to identify all of the flaws and virtues in something by means of obsessive and prolonged examination. When carving a tunnel, crafting their famous metalworking, or even cooking a meal, a Dwarven artisan may find a comfortable position and stare at the object of their craft for several minute to several hours -- sometimes contemplatively and sometimes more passively as a form of very intentional beholding. Dwarven craftsman are known to spend nearly as much time simply staring at their raw materials as they do physically working the objects. It is no surprise, then, that Dwarven craftsmanship is widely considered unparalleled, especially with regards to jewelry, stone and metalwork, and brewing.
Both rambunctious and reverently serious by turns, Dwarves are firm believers in the philosophy of 'work hard; play hard' and consider the two activities separate but equal and it is not uncommon for them to do both to the point of exhaustion within the span of a day, punctuated by deep sleep. When they are crafting or carving or praying, they are intense, focused, silent, and almost impossible to distract. When they are feasting, singing, dancing, or brawling, they are cheery, chatty, relaxed, and even wild. Each has its time and place, but outsiders or casual acquaintances are much more likely to see the guarded vigilance of the craftsman and to be the object of his relentless scrutiny than to be invited to their lively parties. Essential to nearly all forms of Dwarven play is music, something held in high regard in Dwarven culture. Dwarven music is richly polyphonic and makes heavy use of dissonance and reverberation; their singing (read: yodeling) competitions are alien and often unsettling to outside ears.
The Dwarves have a reputation as a materialistic people, and this is not unfounded, though it is simplistic. Dwarves self-identify as greedy and possessive, a racial trait which they do not feel particularly ashamed about, though they are generally kind enough to warn outsiders who have little experience in dealing with them. "We are all greedy, we are all looking out for ourselves. Men, Dwarves, it makes no difference. Men find it impolite to point this out and have agreed to disregard this truth about themselves; we don't." In fact, Dwarves largely share their sense of morality with Men, though there are a few differences, and their blatant materialism reveals just one such difference: cheating, theft, and fraud are crimes as unforgivable as murder or torture in Dwarven eyes. Particularly audacious acts of thievery have even been the cause for executions, a rare punishment in Dwarven law, and these have largely been reserved for Men (as rare is the Dwarf stupid or insane enough to steal from his own kin). Other exceptions to moral divergences between Dwarves and Men include, for example, the morality of threats. Dwarves are much less inclined to take words or threats seriously unless those words are backed by corresponding actions. Dwarves often make threats to one another jokingly or in the midst of intense debate which Men might find extremely serious; Dwarves forget about such threats moments after they are uttered.
Dwarves have always produced more male children than female, a ratio of roughly 1.5 to 1. As a result, Dwarven women tend to be powerful matriarchs and it is not uncommon for them to take two, or more rarely three, husbands. Courtship of any eligible lady is competitive and can be a cause for quite serious feuds. Consequently, Dwarven men of the appropriate inclination may marry each other, and this is no less socially acceptable than male-female marriage. Dwarven engagements are slow-paced and rigorous, with extended family members arranging many meetings with the prospective match, and the culture of the Dwarves doesn't encourage acts of spontaneous passion; Dwarves make unexciting lovers, but excellent spouses. Dwarves have been known to marry Humans as well, a practice which has been increasing in popularity in recent years (nearly always with Ostovans and nearly always male Dwarves marrying female Humans, as female dwarves are too bombarded with suitors). Befitting their pragmatic nature, Dwarves hold no particular taboos against interracial marriage provided that the humans evince themselves worthy. Though it was once believed that Dwarves and Men could not produce offspring, this has since been found to be false, and a rare few Half-Dwarves can be found in the hills of Ostova or the caverns of the Yhok. Half-Dwarves are a recent phenomenon, and they are still finding their niche in their respective societies, the social norms surrounding them still in development.
Though nearly all Dwarves make their primary homes in the Yhok, about 2% of the Dwarven population lives primarily above ground, in homes with large basements carved into the scenic valleys of Yhok Qarzeth. These Dwarves comprise nearly all of those Dwarves in interracial marriages, and they have become a distinct subculture unto themselves. These Dwarves make their living through hunting and trapping, as traders with Men from any of the five countries which border Dwarven lands, and through farming and shepherding. Dwarves understand soil well, but are awkward at best with surface plants - a job reserved for the Human wives of the Dwarven men who take them. Such surface Dwarves maintain farmsteads wherein the husband creates and repairs tools, manages the buildings, tills and maintains the soil, and cooks meals, while his wife is responsible for the crops, herbs, livestock, and children. Over the course of the last few decades, nearly half of all of the cultivatable land on the roof of Yhok Qarzeth been divided up by mixed-race families.
Surface crops and foods have, in turn, become increasingly common features of the Dwarven diet, though these foods are still regarded as distinctly nontraditional and often disliked by elders (with one exception, as will be discussed). Traditional dwarven dishes consist primarily of "flowers and fish", terms which, for the Dwarves, take on unconditional meanings. "Flowers" of the Dwarven diet are fungi - fungi of a vast diversity make up the bulk of the Dwarven diet, and the fungi that grow in the Yhok are quite unlike anything found in the forests or fields on the surface of the Tor. Huge, several-pound mushrooms, tiny bioluminescent caps, fleshy bunches of sprigs, and spore-littered balloons are the hallmarks of any Dwarven kitchen, and these foods grow plentifully in the well-tilled and nutrient-rich black soils found deep in the Yhok. "Fish" for the Dwarves refers to any of the variety of animals that can be found in the Yhok, nearly all born of its subterranean river, the Yhokspring. Salamanders and other aquatic critters are baked with fungal seasonings and make up the main course of most Dwarven suppers. Meat, grains, herbs, and vegetables from the surface are common garnishes to dinner plates now and particularly enjoyed for breakfast. The sole exception to the general Dwarven preference for subterranean foods is beer. Beer of all and any variety has been known to the Dwarves since not long after they arrived on the Tor, and it was embraced widely long before the Dwarves began to grow their own surface crops. The richest and oldest of the surface families are those who grow barley for the brewing of beers, families who often have long-standing trade connections for other ingredients, like hops and honey, from afar. Dwarves have, unsurprisingly, taken quickly to the art of brewing, and have managed to produce some of the most widely-revered brews in all of the West.
* As an aside, Dwarves are considered adults when they reach the age of 36. Dwarves begin to develop 'elderly' features in their 170's to 190's, and the average Dwarven lifespan is about 240 years. The oldest living Dwarf on the Tor, a Geophyst monastic named Horgaz, is 311; his father lived to 315.
