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Dwarves of your Worlds.

Ophiucha

Auror
In the only setting I'm working on which has dwarves, they are... oddly kind of the feminist race of the world? It doesn't really match the depictions of dwarves as the uber-masculine race, but it just sort of happened. (My elves are, correspondingly, extremely sexist, because no matter how many subversions you make elves and dwarves must be in opposition. It is law.)

I think it happened because I did keep the whole 'female dwarves have beards' bit, which led to the 'if they look the same, perhaps they also act/are allowed to act the same'. My dwarves also lean slightly more towards the crafting part of their cliche than the mining bit. Yes, they mine, but they also chop wood and sheer sheep for wool. So female-bodied dwarves get the title of being the ultimate craftsmen as they can 'craft' other dwarves. It's not quite an equal society, mind, but women can and do work most of the same jobs as men.

Oh, and my dwarves are Egyptian, so no to the Russo-Scottish accents. But I kind of love that particular trope. ;)
 

Jabrosky

Banned
I daresay this thread has inspired me to create a dwarf race of my own. Not sure if I'll ever have use for them, but if nothing else world-building exercises like this are always fun.

My dwarves come from a swampy subtropical region that vaguely resembles the American South. They are the only race in their world with gunpowder weapons and a vaguely industrial-era technology, but plantation agriculture plays a key role in their economy. Again like the Old South, these plantations depend on the labor of slaves who predominantly come from other races, especially humans. As such dwarves view their own race and civilization as inherently superior to the rest. They may justify this both with religious dogma and primitive pseudo-science much like 19th century scientific racism.

The dwarves themselves have moderately brown skin, curly red hair, and hazel eyes. Of course they have short and thickset statures, but much of their thickness comes from copious body fat acquired from their deep-fried diet. The upper echelons of dwarf society have even greater corpulence than the rest since they leave most of the hard work to lower-class dwarves and slaves. The predominantly female ruling class is fattest of all and proud of it.

One could characterize dwarf society as matriarchal insofar as dwarf-women have power over their men, albeit they express this in a different way from what you might expect. Dwarf-men are still the primary warriors and workers, but women dominate the political, religious, and any other spheres that don't require strenuous physical labor. You could say dwarf-women henpeck their men and pull their strings. There is a gendered difference in dwarf clothing, with men traditionally wearing less than women, but the sexual double standard is the reverse of human expectation. Dwarf society vilifies male sexuality much more than its female counterpart and expects dwarf-men to be sexually subservient to their women.

(I should add that in this same world, humanity represents the most truly "feminist" race in the sense of having real gender equality. Honestly, I think a conflict between a genuinely gender-equal race and a henpecking matriarchy might make for a cool story.)
 
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Jabrosky

Banned
Is significative corpulence a criteria of beauty ?
Pretty much, at least for women. It's a symbol of status more than anything else.

I actually am in the process of mapping out a story that incorporates these dwarves as villains. I'm pitting one of my black jungle girls against them in an anti-colonial rebellion.
 
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SM-Dreamer

Troubadour
I used to not pay much mind to dwarves; they never interestedme all that much. I sort of admired their technology in WoW and the use of gryphons, but otherwise, meh. I knew that they existed in my world, but they didn't play a large part and I hadn't started building on them yet.

Then, more recently, I was browsing the book store and came across the book put out for the making of the Hobbit movies, showing some of the designs they worked on. I fell in love with some of the dwarven designs and concepts, and started looking more into it. My own dwarves in my story grew, although they've still remained somewhat reclusive. Perhaps because I grow my story fairly organically; I develop it as I need it, and dwarves aren't part of the picture yet (desert-dwelling cultures are).

I admit that my dwarves are loosely based on northern europe and asia (ie, celtic, nordic, russian). they are short in stature, miners and crafters, and while I wouldn't say grumpy, they could be characterized by that. There are roughly 4 clans, each intended to be distinctive, but again, not developed as of yet (more placeholders for now). I do know that they are cousins of humans, and like humans, native to the continent the story takes place on; elves and the rest are foreigners. They have fought the elves at one point, but get on fairly well with the humans. They distrust the deimai (one of my races), and tolerate the dragons as a necessary evil.
 

Edankyn

Minstrel
I don't have Dwarves precisely, but I do have a mountain dwelling race that borrows some basic premises from the Dwarves. The Qaya are a race that spend their entire lives under the mountains. Since there is no light the Qaya do not actually have eyes, but instead rely on echo location, a form of infrared vision and vomeronasal organs. They also follow after Dwarves in their love of gems, but for an entirely different reason. One of the main food sources for the Qaya is the stone in which they live. Their bodies process this stone to create a tough external 'skin' that acts as a natural armor against the dangers of their surroundings. Gems have naturally higher scores than stone on the Mohs scale which translates to tougher 'skin.' Their society is actually pretty dark and they don't play a prominent role in my current story, but I've got a bunch of back story for them in case I decide to expand on them in the future.
 

King_Cagn

Scribe
In my 'world' if I'll call it that, the concept of a dwarven race doesn't completely exist. Instead I look through mythology and found a race I liked similar to them... Thankfully, I'd already written the lore for them so here they're.

The (Sons of ) Ivaldi are like the dwarven race they are small and wise but they are not fighters such as their 'brethren' they are builders, their technology exceeds any kingdoms but they are 'gypsies', each group of these Ivaldi hold a artifact of immense power and heritage. The Ivaldi are more so archaeologists, historians, geologists etc, they don't attain to fighting but they aren't affraid to use their technology to defend themselves.
 

shangrila

Inkling
I have a dwarf-inspired race; the Senomaal.

They're short, like dwarves, averaging roughly 4.5 feet tall. They're also stocky, though part of that comes from being naturally big boned. That's about where the physical characteristics end. They have a deep blue skin tone, large eyes and a flat nose. They're industrious but without the "let's go grab a beer" mentality; they pretty much just worked, with little to no art or culture. They lived underground because they were around when the two groups of gods started warring and the surface wasn't all that safe. Technologically they were advanced, utilising magic to fuel their metallic creations, although they weren't the steampunk kind that you see in WoW.

Unfortunately in my world they fill the precursor race role, since they're more or less extinct. Their legacy lives on through their technology, which still guards their mountain and underground fortress-cities, but also through the genetic manipulation they began experimenting with close to their end, namely the strange Librarians, large living repositories of information, among others (though these kinds of things are just myths and scattered mentions in translated Senu texts, it's not like their creations wander down the street).
 
My dwarves are very Tolkien inspired. I focus mostly on Dwarven craftsmanship in my stories, granting them advanced machinery and weapons that are peerless in the world. I also grant them a very respectable, and yet proud demeanor that inspires other races.

In the world I'm currently building, Dwarves were the last created of the three Lesser Races (other two being Men and Elves) and were given the gift of Creation. So in my world, Dwarves build and design machines, buildings and many elaborate constructions. They are the most worldly of the races, as they do not often dabble in magic, pay reference to only a few gods, and prefer science and logic. This gives them a sufficiently advanced science that rivals magic in some regards. All in all, Dwarves are the engineers and warriors of my world, as well as its scientists and a formidable political power.
 

Wormtongue

Minstrel
My dwarves are eight feet tall and weigh 600 pounds. They have no body hair at all. They don't like other races and have virtually no interaction with them.

My elves, on the other hand, are the size of adolescent children. They do retain the other characteristics of elves.
 

Hagan

Dreamer
For me, I'm an old Dragonlance player, I like my Dwarfs very much and in that world only one clan would do, The Theiwar. Unlike the rest of their brethren they can be magic users, and are pure evil without the need for a god to prompt them. I love them immensely.

As for in my writing, I've used them a fair bit on some cyberpunk and fantasy, making them out to be gruff and ornery traders and merchants who terrorize the highway men they come across. They carouse, they fight, they womanize and they live life to the full during their 'down time', but once they are home they revert to the stoic warrior born they are known to be. They also have no kings, but are instead ruled by their queens, a matriarchy.

Men trade, fight and build, the women do all the important stuff.

Men leave on trips to get away from the overcrowded homes (four to six kids is standard) or lead expeditions to found new holdings, boys leave to find their fortunes and get away from 'mum and her damned plans to set me up with a woman by the time I'm 40.' I like dwarfs very much as an up and coming race. And they don't always get along with humans.

I also like to write them with plenty of personal and psychological flaws beyond the drinking and love of gold, not quite deranged by a kind of mentally unstable that 'works for them'. For example, 'The Gods Gift'. Experts to the point of madness itself, the type of people that can turn their hand to one skill and excel at it over everyone else, but are completely inept at the most basic of tasks or social intercourse (oh my).

Snorri; trader, wrangler, accountant, and the greatest thief the world has ever known. 'They wouldn't get robbed if they used better locks. Incidentally, we have these locks we could sell them, brand new, never been used by us and they already own the keys so they wont have to get new ones cut.' Unashamedly candid about his nefarious trade, its always a pleasure to sit down and write dialogue for him as he lacks the good common sense no lie about what he has been up too.

I love writing Snorri, but I have to moderate it with the rest of the cast and the story which, sadly, makes him the comedy relief rather than the tragic god touched trickster who can't stop himself becoming the most untrustworthy member of the party.

Anyway, onwards...
 

VanClash

Scribe
I built my Dwarves off the usual fantasy Dwarves, but I wasn't too keen on having them as loyal, brave soldiers like they are portrayed in a lot of worlds. I decided to make them to most cowardly of races and the most exploitive. They usual do what is best for themselves, and the only reason they are accepted by my other races is becuase they need the minerals they harvest for themselves
 
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