Spoiler: Dwarves
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Dwarves:
"In your Imperium, you build great statues and monuments to your gods; creatures much like you or me, but with great power and destiny, yes? In Dwarren Dwa, we do much the same: to honor the great Music of Creation, we add to it, imitate it if we can, for its chords and notes are beyond anything we can create." -High Priest Rowlin Dvelf VII, while leading a group of human priests through Dwarren Dwa.
Dwarves are perhaps the least bothersome and most reclusive of the Imperium's subjects. They reside underneath the Mountains of Teeth, centered in the mighty mountain-city of Dwarren Dwa. They are primarily known for their long and deep traditions of music, the arts and magic.
In the Dwarven cosmology, the world has neither beginning nor end. The Music of Creation is the framework upon which everything else rests, a "background" noise for everything else. Some Dwarven philosophers equate the Music of Creation directly with the fabric of magic, which appears to be all-encompassing and eternal. Others contend that magic is simply a symptom of the Music, as it can be dispelled, negated, even purged from an area for a time. Nevertheless, the Dwarven faith sees all things as arising from the Music of Creation, and it is their sacred task to understand and shape it and in doing so, understand and shape themselves and the world around them.
Dwarves are, as their name suggests, significantly smaller than the average human, standing between four and four-and-a-half feet tall. They are skinny creatures, but with very large, prominent chests to hold their enormous lungs. Their heads are overly large, with enormous eyes to match, and always heavily bearded. Their ears (also overly large) stick out from either side of their head, but can swivel around to better hear from all directions. Their other features are as normal for humans, albeit very slim ones.
Dwarren Dwa is ruled by The Concord for most day to day affairs, consisting of seven respected members of society. At least two must be priests, two artisans, and two warriors, while the seventh seat is open to anyone, even a non-Dwarf. For major decisions, the city relies upon a voice vote: those who are able gather into a large, domed chamber and shout yea or nay for various proposals. Those who are unable to attend in person use long, narrow stone pipes, built into the city in a grid pattern, to project their voices at the appropriate times. The farther one is from the chamber, the less one's vote will add to the contest, but this is expected as a part of the system.
There are signs that Dwarren Dwa is not the only Dwarf city: in one memorable instance, when the city was breached during the Second Dragon War, a legion of unknown dwarves emerged in the lowest tunnels, drove off the Dragonborn, and disappeared. However, even most citizens of Dwarren Dwa do not know where these other cities might be, and The Concord refuses to acknowledge their existence, claiming that the citizens of Dwarren Dwa fended off the attack themselves.
One oddity that has recently emerged among the dwarves is the Cult of The Stars, following the teachings of one Adeia the Ascended. These Dwarves believe that the Music of Creation finds its origins in the stars themselves, and the most devout worshippers of said cult claim to have heard the "Song of The Stars" in person. They tend to live aboveground high on the slopes of the Mountains of Teeth, or in tunnels dug out very close to the peaks themselves, in order to hear better. It was expected that this cult would be severely damaged by the armies of Esharhaddon passing over the Mountains of Teeth, they seem to have been able to intimidate even the mighty dragon into leaving their outposts unmolested.
-Template: (Total Cost: 10)
-Advantages: IQ+1, Parabolic Hearing, Acute Hearing 2, Night Vision 1, Penetrating Voice, Magery 0. (35) SM-1
-Disadvantages: ST-1, No Depth Perception. (-25)