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Born and bred in a land twisted and made barren by the ancient (~10,000 years old) taint of arcane magic, Badlands dwarves are extremely resistant to its effects. Despite their resistance to arcane magic the Badlands dwarves show several signs of their homeland’s taint. They are larger than normal dwarves, standing just over 5’ in height. Their hair and beards continue onto their necks and down their backs forming something like a mane.
Unlike most dwarves, the Badlands dwarves dwell near the surface of their territory, in tribal villages little more than caves. The Badlands lack numerous mountains to make dwellings in, and deep caves run the risk of digging into ancient ruins now filled with aberrant monsters. They are desert dwelling, bandits whose villages are supplied primarily through raiding other settlements. They have little of the work ethic of normal dwarves, or cunning that many evil subraces of dwarf show, and often end up the slaves and servants of more powerful creatures of the Badlands; if not snacks.
Badlands dwarves have a tribal society, where rule is based on combat prowess. They are extremely loyal to family, and have been known to give their lives for their next of kin. Members of the same clan will almost always be a tight knit group, and within a clan they manage to avoid the backstabbing machinations so often the downfall of evil groups. Within a tribe they are not as fortunate, but even so every member of the tribe is brought up to believe one thing as an un-alterable truth: the survival of the tribe matters more than all else. To save their tribe most any Badlands dwarf would give his life. This does not mean that they will not murder, lie, and cheat fellow tribesmen for power, but that they will not push it to the point that it endangers the tribe. Inter-tribal warfare is common, though.
Their society is fairly barbaric and oppressive. Other races have no place in it, except as easy sources of resources and occasionally food (within the harsh Badlands, humans are a relatively good food source). Slavery is not uncommon, whether captives from other tribes (normally female, they tend to give the males a mercifully quick death) or even members of the tribe. In some cases entire clans exist as slaves to another higher ranking clan.
Despite the high level of importance Badlands dwarves place on family there are those dwarves who choose to (or are force to) give up all claims off relation to their kin. These dwarves are called the Kinless, although another type “the Forsaken” also lose all claims of kinship. The Kinless can either be those who enter into one of the two priesthoods approved by Bad Lands dwarf tribes, or those born with psionic powers.
The former give up their clan and family when entering the priesthood, and in exchange for living on the outskirts of the clan and providing such necessary services as in-battle buffs for raiders, after battle healing, and communing with the ancestor spirits, are provided with the largest (all next to the chief’s) dwelling, share of wealth, food, and women. Despite this even a priest’s children are not considered his blood, and if the mother is not a member of the tribe by blood then the children will be given to the chief’s clan as adopted members, in truth little more than slaves.
These priests serve one of two orders. There are the Speakers of the Dead (typically adepts, rarely clerics), distinguished by their black robes and completely shaved heads and bodies. These priests serve as the link between the tribe and its ancestors and are said to channel the spirits of these ancestors. They gain their spells from said ancestral spirits, and other death spirits, although the powers these spirits can grant is limited to 5th or in exceptional cases 6th level spells. Occasionally a priest attracts the attention of Hades who will agree to empower them further in the name of said spirits, but these cases are rare. The Speakers of the Dead are exclusively male and their children are considered to be chosen champions of the tribe reborn anew.
The second order is the Scions of the High Blood. These priests (typically clerics, and occasionally paladins of tyranny) normally wear heavy armor with red sigils painted onto it, and they completely shave the front of their head and their face, placing red battle paints across it in the name of their lord. They serve the High Blood, whose exact identity is uncertain. He is apparently some sort of high king over all the varied Badlands dwarf tribes as all chiefs ultimately swear allegiance to him. Their legends even place him as a member of their species, and state that he is still alive. Few, if any, have ever seen him though, so his true nature is in doubt. His priests are able to use up to 5th, and occasionally 6th, level spells like those in the service of divine spirits. Unlike the Speakers of the Dead, Scions of the High Blood may be both male and female, and have a greater proportion of female warriors compared to male warriors than is average amongst the Badlands dwarves.
Psions, and other forms of psionics users, are also considered Kinless. Although the honors reaped upon them do not rival those of the priests, they are still cared for by the tribe as long as they get results in battle and raiding. When their powers develop they are ejected from their clan and forced to become Kinless. They are tolerated for their usefulness, and recognized as a necessity for survival in the harsh environment of the Badlands by the tribes. They are given enough to live comfortably, by the uncomfortable standards of the Badlands, but not in the (relative) luxury the priests and chief enjoy. Unlike priests they are never allowed slaves of any sort, nor wives. During the Full Moon they are given greater privileges and can even break many tribal laws (including the one just mentioned), and during this time their word is next to only the chief’s in importance. During the first full moon of Winter they are even allowed to return to their clan and cast off their Kinless status for 3 days.
The Forsaken are those Badlands dwarves who have turned to non-native gods for worship, or otherwise turned to forbidden arts or grievously broken tribal law. Depending upon their transgression they are killed, or banished. The most minor form, allows them to stay near to the tribe and even work with the tribe during raids and missions, but be unable to participate in the daily life of the tribe and given only the slimmest pickings from the raids.
