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4th Movement - Dwarves

Adapted from forum discussions with Josh and Troels.

Dwarves are a reclusive and strange species, more likely to delve underground than make demands of other creatures for their share of Near. Humans and other creatures are untrustworthy to the dwarves; this could not be otherwise, for a dwarf is all but incapable of betrayal. A dwarf resembles a human, at least slightly. It is stockier and thicker, and bent, getting more so as age catches up on it over the decades. Were a dwarf able to stand tall, it might reach a man up to his shoulderblades.

Dwarves are creatures of tradition and purpose; purpose to change the world, tradition to constrain and regulate the limitless passion, turning it into patience and a heritage. Dwarven community is like a cornucopia of strange mystery cults scattered all over the world, cults that recognize each other by secret languages, signs and tradition.

Dwarven Rings

Dwarves live for their community, most of the time. A dwarf calls his social ties “rings”, as they connect dwarves to each other and intersect to create the mesh of larger community. Humans are rarely accepted by dwarven rings, other species even less often.

The first ring for any dwarf is his FAMILY, the immediate working unit that stands or falls together. All family members know their place in the family; the one with the most respect is called the family ALDER, who speaks for them all. Disobedience towards the alder is certain to split the family.

When several families find it well to cooperate, they form a CLAN, ruled by a THANE. Just like family members have their places in a family, families have in a clan. Additionally, individual dwarves may hold a place in the thane’s ring as clansmen, which might afford them greater prestige than merely being a member of a family within the clan.

This series of rings goes up to DOMAINS, ruled by KINGS, and finally the FEDERATION, ruled by the HIGH KING himself. Not only has the dwarven federation, parallel to the Empire of Maldor, disintegrated into kinstrife, but most if not all dwarven domains have also been lost; only clans and scattered families remain in Near today.

Aside from the vertical organization of family rings, dwarves also organize laterally into GUILDS, ruled by the GUILDMASTER. The guildmaster is like an alder, except that his ring is not connected by blood, but by craft. A single dwarf can belong in several guilds as long as he has the time for it; the SECRET OF DWARF limits how many rings the character can have without additional Secrets.

The smallest dwarven ring, and the most infamous, is that of BROTHERHOOD: in some specific circumstances a dwarven character might be obligated to offer the highest privilege to a friend or ally. This practice, while unavoidable in many legends, is a cause of great disruption and concern for dwarven society, and is therefore frowned upon when offered lightly.

In practice the dwarven rings make for a seclusive community. When dwarves live in human towns, they do so in their own quarters. When they live in the wild, they form their homesteads in places hard to reach, if at all possible. Often a dwarven ring has an assigned speaker whose job it is to deal with humans and anybody else other strangers who do not belong in rings; this is considered a very stressful task, fraught with unseen danger.

Ordination to Purpose

The central function of dwarven rings is to practice ORDINATION, the prioritization of dwarven wills in the rightful manner. Ordination is always between two dwarves, always explicit, but it is transitive: those who are lesser than I are also lesser than any towards whom I am the lesser. A dwarf of lesser ordination is expected to defer to the greater in all things, as that is what ordination means. Ordination is normally permanent, making older dwarves very likely to establish ordination towards younger ones at a very early age; only conflicting ordinations through multiple rings cause dwarves to re-examine the ordination of individuals. Dwarves of separate rings cannot normally negotiate ordination, which makes them strangers.

As to why dwarves need these stringent structures, it is because of their PURPOSE, the mental state of each dwarf individually. Dwarves are by nature fanatics, each focusing on a single purpose to the exclusion of everything else. The ordination into rings makes it possible for the dwarves to interact and cooperate meaningfully with those whose interests coincide with theirs. A dwarf whose purpose does not brook ordination to their family often becomes outcast and either finds a new family or learns to live on his own.

What all of this comes to is that dwarven families all over Near vary widely in their goals, lifestyle and philosophy. This may lead to a greater and greater seclusion for those families that do not have reasonable contact with other, amiable families. As most dwarves are keenly aware of the dangers of incest, this becomes an issue: it is not unknown for dwarves to steal human children to raise as their own, or to arrange for dwarfmeets wherein families with perpendicular interests exchange babies. This whole issue is a major reason for starting a clan or even a domain.

Dwarves wield no magics foreign to men, but their mind-set is perhaps all the more alien. Dwarven rings live in a tension that demands absolute fealty from individuals whose first instinct is to trust nobody with their secrets and goals. They often have secret languages that are trained and memorized by habit, all the better to protect the secrets and purpose of the family. Dwarven equipment is often superior to anything else, and often much too cumbersome, complex or delicate for a human to use effectively.

Rituals

Dwarven rings often practice various RITUALS, complex and codified surrogate actions towards definite goals. Mechanically rituals are exactly like equipment – invocation costs, equipment ratings and all – except that they are immaterial instead of being items. Dwarves do not distinguish much between a ritual and a piece of equipment: craftsmen of material make tools for a purpose, while craftsmen of the mind make tools for the mind. Such is typical for musicians, speakers, priests and storytellers, but nearly any Ability can be the basis of a ritual concerning its own slice of life.

Each ritual is designed for a particular ring tongue, without which it cannot be understood. A character can teach a ritual to another if both succeed in FAMILIA (R) checks and belong in the same ring that has a ring tongue through which the particular ritual can be transmitted and used. A ritual smith can modify a ritual he knows with appropriate Ability checks, paying for the changes just like if he was creating a new ritual.

A ritual always has a definite interval at which it needs to be repeated for the benefits to remain with the dwarf. When designing new rituals, consider making the ritual’s requirements or drawbacks more severe for rituals that do not require as much repetition.

Living for a Reason

Dwarves lived traditionally below-ground, in places others would not want or need. Through the latter years of the Empire of Maldor the dwarven domains unified in purpose as well, forming a strange parallel society largely hidden from human view. At this time trade and cooperation with humans was at its height as well, resulting in the underground domains (the original meaning of the word) becoming some of the most beautiful and prosperous cities in all of Maldor.

The Shadow brought a time of disunity and kin strife to the dwarves as those individuals, families and even clans obsessed with the Skyfire and the science of astrology flew into confusion and rage. Trade relations with surface people deteriorated and underground domains were abandoned as families scattered to sustain themselves without trade. The federation was lost as the High King passed into darkness.

Today many dwarves still insist on living underground, even if it is hard: an individual family is little better than a rodent in its hole, with cold and dirty environs that protect them from the world. Underground clans have more reasonable arrangements, but still most dwarves today end up living with people in their own walled enclaves or homesteads away from the human village. For most this is not a bad life, despite their inborn distrust of humanity: dwarven craftsmen and other specialists, all according to their purpose, certainly have their place in most parts of Near.

Sometimes a dwarf stops to reflect on his ultimate, perfect fidelity of purpose. Sometimes the scales even balance against continuing a life of austerity among people who might not even be friends, despite being family. Such dwarves might seek to escape the life, although the risks are high: most dwarven communities tell stories of the horrible, twisted PETTY-DWARVES, creatures crushed under the burden of purpose without the support of their family. Even if this does not deter the would-be apostate, they probably know that each and every one of their rings will do something to get them back.

Provided that their family does not retrieve them and they manage to buy off the KEY OF APOSTASY, escaping dwarves become human. Such characters forget any dwarven languages they had in time (unless preserved by SECRET OF LANGUAGE) and lose their position in dwarven rings (losing the Advances invested). They even gain height and walk more upright when they are no longer burdened by purpose.

Dwarves in Near

Dwarves are a minority even among their own kind. I imagine them as crazy survivalists, cultists, esoteric experts of forgotten arts. A dwarven family could form the kernel of a human organization – and that organization could even have heroic goals. Perhaps this would justify the state of the dwarf.

My own favorite dwarves live burrowed in certain white cliffs on the southern continental coastline. They are the Domain of Kruse, just about the last dwarven Domain in Near, thanks to how they closed themselves away from the world when the Skyfire came. The whole domain is dedicated to Luxembourgian revolutionary communism, which makes them relatively nice when compared to the average sort of foreign colonist in Near. The fearsome thing is that their social model works for them, being dwarves, and they don’t mind sharing the system with others. Fun times.

Goren is as much of a haven for dwarves as it is for the other critters; dwarven smith families are core value for the guild towns of Old Goren, and people know more or less how to handle the dwarves thanks to numerous lays that tell about heroes, magic rings and what dwarves do to you if you commission magical artifacts and don’t pay for them.

Any place in Near is good for dwarves, considering how esoteric their purposes can get and what sort of lifestyles they’re willing to adopt. There hasn’t been much play yet, but I’ve heard about dwarven scholars in the Lost Academy, farmer communities in the Oranide hills, rebel survivalists on the Abandoned Coast of Maldor, religious fanatic dwarves of all seven sorts and so on and so forth.

Abilities - Dwarves

Familia (R)
Knowledge of family history and values is of utmost importance to a dwarf. Aside from knowledge checks, this Ability is used to determine ORDINATION within a dwarven family. Ideological issues and family policy are also debated mostly with this Ability.

Secrets - Dwarves

Secret of Dwarf
The character belongs in a number of dwarven rings at most equal to a FAMILIA (R) check, made into a free Effect associated with this Secret. He can determine ordinance with his ring-fellows, and may share Pools with them by simple companionship. Players may assume for simplicity’s sake that a character has a FAMILIA (R) check’s worth of points available in this manner at any given time; the obligation runs both ways, though.
Secret of Purpose
The character has a personal PURPOSE in harmony with those of his rings. He may convert experience points into Pool points of his choice.
Secret of Alder
The character is the head of a family of dwarves, forming a family ring. By definition, he needs to have the highest ordination, others are expected to either relinquish ordination to him or leave the family. The alder phrases the family’s overall purpose.
Requirements: SECRET OF PURPOSE
Secret of Guildmaster
The character is the head of a dwarven guild. Guilds are like families, except that they count ordination with an appropriate craft Ability instead of FAMILIA (R). A dwarf may belong in both a family and a guild, and a guild may have members of several families. The guildmaster is treated like an alder for the purposes of other crunch if the guild has members of several families; like a thane if it has members from several clans and so on.
Requirements: SECRET OF PURPOSE
Secret of Thane
The character leads several dwarven families as a thane, forming a clan ring. Alders of the clan automatically belong in the clan ring and determine family ordination against each other and individual dwarves in the clan ring; dwarves in the clan families may use this family ordination when they do not have any mutual rings. Requirements: SECRET OF PURPOSE, three alders willing to obey the thane.
Secret of Brotherhood (person)
The character shares his ordination with another; the two characters are considered of equal ordination, a concept otherwise unknown to dwarven society. The target of brotherhood may make free use of the rings of this character; the two are considered spiritually and legally same by other dwarves, to such an extent that one killing the other would not be seen as murder, but as self-amputation.
Secret of True Brothers (person)
The two characters are bonded not only in form, but in spirit as well. Either may use the other’s Secrets when the two are together, and now both characters can use the rings of either character interchangeably.
Cost: 1 POOL appropriate to the Secret.
Requirement: the target has a matching SECRET OF BROTHERHOOD.
Secret of Ring Tongue (specify)
The character has invented a secret language supporting a particular ring’s purpose. The player gets to choose one Ability that gains a bonus die to all characters that learn the language. Members of the ring learn it automatically within a year and a day of its release at the latest, and need no Secrets to know it. Others need the SECRET OF LANGUAGE.
Secret of Ringcraft
The character has learned secrets that are not even expressible in natural languages, which lack the necessary grammar. He can create equipment and rituals using any Ability a ring tongue of his supports, just like if he had the SECRET OF CREATION. All equipment created by him has the DWARVEN IMBUEMENT for free.
All dwarven items have this imbuement, reflecting their stark, alien function. The item’s creator chooses one ring tongue for which the equipment has been designed; users of that ring tongue pay any introduction costs the item has only once per session, instead of per scene. An item may have this imbuement several times to make it usable for several languages.
Secret of the Wondersmith (theme)
The character has become a master of his craft, creating new things in obsession. Equipment and rituals created by the character do not need to be mundane, and may in fact be built to use any Secret mechanics in the game as long as they follow the THEME: the wondersmith has to choose a particular material, topic or function he specializes in, and all of his wondrous creations have to accord with it. The character can take this Secret several times to broaden his horizons, of course.
Cost: An additional 1 INSTINCT per magical rating and 2 INSTINCT per magical Imbuement.
Requirements: SECRET OF RINGCRAFT
An Example Rite
The war-dance of this dwarven clan in Qek helps them remove the heads of the unworthy to store zamani in. It allows the dwarf to use the SECRET OF SUDDEN STRIKE. The ritual remains in effect until the next time the dwarf sleeps.
Ratings: +3 for removing the heads of the wicked. +2 for removing heads. +1 for fighting with an axe.
Imbuements: Dwarven (chadu, the fighting tongue) (V) Sudden Strike (I)
Cost: 1 VIGOR and 1 INSTINCT per session
Requirement: Know chadu, the fighting tongue of the Headhunter clan.
Secret of Law-speak
The character can use FAMILIA (R) as a social Ability to issue orders to others of lower ordination, but only if he is speaking a mutually intelligible ring tongue.
Dwarven Imbuement (language)

Keys - Dwarves

Key of Apostasy
The character tries to refute his rings, breaking all connections. Whether he can survive without his people is an open question.
1xp: Interact with non-dwarves.
2xp: Disagree with members of your ring.
5xp: Break away from a ring.
Buyoff: Become a human by either being defended against your rings by another, or by settling down in a human community.
Key of Ring-Heart
The character is very committed to his responsibilities towards his rings.
1xp: Help your ring.
2xp: Gain the praise of a higher ordinance dwarf.
5xp: The needs of two of your rings conflict.
Buyoff: Prioritize your own purpose over the needs of a ring.
Key of Kept Secrets
The character has heavy secrets he has sworn to keep for his ring.
1xp: Secrets are discussed.
2xp: Refuse to divulge a secret.
5xp: Prevent a secret from falling into enemy hands.
Buyoff: Reveal a secret to someone who shouldn’t know it.
Key of Shame
The character is ashamed by some past misdeed that casts a shadow on his honor and ordinance.
1xp: Discourse upon your shame.
2xp: Get shunned.
5xp: Suffer a drop in ordinance.
Buyoff: Recover your lost honor.