Cavern dwarves are given this name for their lives spent away from the sun as they dwell in subterranean caverns. While they are often listed as a separate ancestry to mountain dwarves, many scholars argue whether they are truly a separate ancestry or just a life choice a dwarf makes about their career. The attitude of mutual dislike between cavern dwarves and mountain dwarves, which stems from a sense of inferiority that each regards the other with, has caused even more confusion about their status as a separate ancestry. Despite this, there are dozens of cities where the two ancestries live together near the surface of the earth.
Cavern dwarves are often quiet and determined. Many who choose to follow a life of crafting are superior craftspeople, rivaled only by mountain dwarves. While often seen as humorless, those who are accepted into their societies find that cavern dwarves have a very dry sense of comedy and have an adept skill at delivering one-liners. Their communities often see all deep ground, with the darkest caverns and mines, to be theirs by right as most other ancestries often do not elect to go that far. In appearance, cavern dwarves are stout and heavy set with ashen – almost sickly looking – skin. Most are bearded and have pale colored eyes. They are often merciful in battle, choosing to let their opponents live. Cavern dwarves view hard work as the foundation for most of life. They value honor and rarely break their word.
Physical Description: Cavern dwarves dwell in communities deep underground. Their skin is a dull gray, as though rubbed with dust or ash, but this is a natural coloration that better allows them to blend with their underground surroundings. They often have pale eye colors, but truly white eyes are rare – most commonly they have silvery blue eye color.
Cavern dwarves mature around 40, with middle age at 125 and old age around 188. The most venerable of this ancestry live into their late two hundreds. Despite the difficulty in spotting it, cavern dwarves are sexually dimorphic, with the average height of males just over 4 feet and females a couple inches shorter. Their body mass is similar, making most females weigh slightly less than males.
Society: Cavern dwarves believe their society is the ideal state of the dwarves. Within their community, rivalries can be fierce. But, work is revered and cavern dwarves are famous for their underground rock carvings and engineering. The entire structure of their society is around hard work and loyalty. Many cavern dwarves hold loyalty and the honor of their word in highest order.
Cavern dwarves divide themselves into large kinship clans, forming alliances through marriage. The priesthood stands apart and arbitrates in legal and familial conflicts. Cavern dwarves who enter the clergy are bound to sever their ties with family and clan, but this is rarely the case in practice. Obligations to kin often outweigh priests’ sense of duty, resulting in a system of law that is sometimes questionable. Devotion to the faith of their liberator and a strict adherence to the common law are lauded in cavern dwarves’ society, so much so that cavern dwarves’s word is rarely broken. In truth, though, a canny cavern dwarf uses their words very carefully in order to keep their options flexible. A common cavern dwarf expression is “Dealings done within sight are bound to law; deeds done in secret are bound only to purpose.”
Relations: Clannish and often secretive, the cavern dwarves accept the consequences of their own actions. With one exception: they believe — with an iron-hard certainty — that they are superior to their cousins, the mountain dwarf ancestry. Beyond this, many cavern dwarves get along relatively well with the other ancestries and it is only their more secretive ways that shut them off from others.
Alignment and Religion: Most cavern dwarves follow the teachings of their communities’ chosen deity and tend towards believe structured around their clans and communities. Additionally, conviction to law and justice are found as common themes within most cavern dwarf faiths.
Adventurers: Some cavern dwarves go adventuring to see the wider world, seeking a life beyond their societies. Unfortunately few actually succeed in such endeavors. Most of them go adventuring at the behest of their communities.
Names: Agna, Bodill, Dolgrin, Grunyar, Harsk, Ingra, Kazmuk, Kotri, Morgrym, Rogar, Rusilka, Yangrit