Mountain dwarves are a stoic but stern ancestry, ensconced in cities carved from the hearts of mountains and fiercely determined to repel the depredations of savage ancestries like orcs and goblins. While they are often listed as a separate ancestry to dark 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 mountain dwarves and dark 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.
More than any other ancestry, mountain dwarves have acquired a reputation as dour and humorless craftsmen of the earth. It could be said that mountain dwarf history shapes the dark disposition of many dwarves, for they reside in high mountains and dangerous realms below the earth, constantly at war with certain other creatures, such as giants, goblinoids, and reptilian ancestries.
Physical Description: Mountain dwarves are a short and stocky ancestry, and stand about a foot shorter than most humans, with wide, compact bodies that account for their burly appearance. Male and female dwarves pride themselves on the length of their hair, and men often decorate their beards with a variety of clasps and intricate braids. A clean – shaven male dwarf is a sure sign of madness, or worse – no one familiar with their ancestry trusts a beardless dwarf.
Mountain 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, mountain dwarves are sexual 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: The great distances between their mountain citadels account for many of the cultural differences that exist within mountain dwarf society. Despite these schisms, mountain dwarves throughout the world are characterized by their love of stonework, their passion for stone and metal based craftsmanship and architecture, and a fierce hatred of giants, goblinoids, and reptilian ancestries.
Relations: Mountain dwarves and orcs have long dwelt in proximity with a history of violence as old as both their ancestries. Mountain dwarves generally distrust and shun the ancestry. They find halflings, elves, and gnomes to be too frail, flighty, or “pretty” to be worthy of proper respect. It is with humans and dark dwarves that mountain dwarves share the strongest link, for their industrious nature and hearty appetites come closest to matching those of the mountain dwarf ideals.
Alignment and Religion: Mountain dwarves are driven by honor and tradition, and while they are often satirized as standoffish, they have a strong sense of friendship and justice, and those who win their trust understand that, while they work hard, they play even harder –especially when good ale is involved. Most mountain dwarves are honor aligned. They prefer to worship deities whose tenets match these traits.
For Edinose specific deities, Haephet is a favorite among mountain dwarves, though Gaenos, Parnell, and Roksane are common choices as well.
Adventurers: Although mountain dwarf adventurers are rare compared to humans, they can be found in most regions of the world. Mountain dwarves often leave the confines of their redoubts to seek glory for their clans, to find wealth with which to enrich the fortress-homes of their birth, or to reclaim fallen mountain dwarf citadels from racial enemies. Mountain dwarf warfare is often characterized by tunnel fighting and melee combat, and as such most dwarves tend toward melee warriors.
Names: Agna, Bodill, Dolgrin, Grunyar, Harsk, Ingra, Kazmuk, Kotri, Morgrym, Rogar, Rusilka, Yangrit