Dwarfs (Warhammer Fantasy)

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TIME TO DO SOME AVENGEANCE!!!

The Dwarfs (not "Dwarves") in Warhammer Fantasy Battle are, like every other army in the game, based heavily on the corresponding archetype from The Lord of the Rings. Like Tolkein's dwarfs, they have elaborate beards, enjoy drinking and fighting, are dour and irritable, and are masters of mining and engineering; in fact, The Empire's artillery and other warmachines have their roots in Dwarfish construction. The race of men have been the allies of Warhammer Dwarfs since the first Emperor of not-Germany, Sigmar, saved their High King and was gifted Ghal Maraz, the Warhammer that gives name to the franchise, as a symbol of eternal friendship. Despite this, being absolute racists at heart, Dwarfs still made up a new word for humans which is the same word for "inferior".

Technology and Magic

Of course, the Dwarfs keep the best tech for themselves, like gyrocopters and other fun toys. Dwarfs mistrust anything new; something in their eyes must be a blueprint for multiple generations before a prototype is considered, so anything special only ever gets made in times of desperation by young and human-like Dwarf Engineers.

Dwarfs by proximity resist and disrupt magic. As such, they have no (natural) wizards and greatly distrust magic. Instead they prefer to shape magic, and bully it into lasting (and reliable) runes.

Dwarfs believe anything worth doing is worth doing right, and so that it lasts as long as possible. Dwarfs don't write often on paper, as that is the way of Humans and Elves. They inscribe on stone, or better, metal. The most important texts such as Grudges, lineage, contracts, and words of their faith are inscribed on gold.

Grudges

The Warhammer Dwarfs' main distinguishing feature is the extreme fervor with which they pursue Oaths and Grudges. A Dwarf that breaks an Oath or does something otherwise shameful -- any Oath or offense they feel is unforgivable -- takes an Oath, gets his hair cut into a mohawk, and becomes a Slayer who seeks mighty monsters to kill until he finds one that manages to kill him. Meanwhile, any Grudge that a Dwarf experiences is written in the great Book of Grudges, and will be answered for. This actually caused a war with the Elves, when the two had a disagreement (fomented by the Dark Elves) that escalated until the Elves shaved one of the Dwarf emissaries. This was unforgivable, and the resulting war caused tremendous losses on both sides. The Dwarfs call this war the "War of Vengeance," though the Elves (and anyone else, when the Dwarfs aren't around) call it the "War of the Beard."

Sexes

Dwarfs have very few females; lore from older editions states that one in every ten Dwarfs is female, and political marriages are of far more importance than any emotional attachments. In early times, before Warhammer had much of an established setting (pre-3e), Citadel produced a few pre-slotta (as in "the base is part of the model) female Dwarf villagers and adventurers, although after that point only male Dwarfs saw any releases. The clan of a Dwarf bride recieves the bride's weight in gold upon marriage, but in order to marry her the groom must be able to wrap his beard around her waist twice creating a dynamic where plump women as relatives are good, skinny woman as desired brides good, and in reverse is considered unappealing and undesirable. Female Dwarfs braid their hair into plaits, which are their equivalent to a Dwarf man's beard. Females are rarely found in positions of power, with only the Queen Helgar Longplaits described in The Grudge Of Drong confirmed, with her entire rulership being plagued with accusations of illegitimacy due to gender. Women rarely, but more often do, end up as a king's advisor.

History

Created by the Old Ones as part of their efforts to build a race that was resistant to Chaos, the dwarves were deemed a flawed success. They were almost immune to chaotic corruption, sturdy enough to withstand a long war against chaos. However, they were too stubborn to adapt to daemon trickery, and were incapable of magic. This means dwarves are actually the third eldest race in the setting, behind elves (2nd) and lizardmen (1st).

Regions

Warhammer Dwarfs live in huge underground citadels called Holds (Dwarf Fortress anyone?). These Holds are spread all around the world, remnants of an ancient empire that once spanned most of the Old World, but only a few remain standing, and even less are anywhere near their former glory thanks to (unknown to the Dwarfs) Lizardmen reshaping the geography of the Old World (AKA not-Europe) thinking it would somehow aid in the Order VS Chaos conflict. Of course, the giant earthquake set off by the Skaven to try and expand their subterranean kingdom didn't help much either.

Politics

• Inter-Dwarf relations are the basis of comparison by which you can see Dwarfs at their best. Which indicates Dwarfs are by and far poor allies and illogical. Dwarf relations are marked by intense pursuit of Grudges, and a general irritability and stubborness with a self-superiority complex that leads to Grudges occurring in the first place. In White Dwarf Warhammer comics, two Dwarf holds that have warred for centuries are all but depleted, with a full-scale WAAAGH of Night Goblins at their doors which, if they break through, threatens extinction for the entire Dwarfish race. Unwilling to abandon the Grudge war even then, the armies suit the last of their non-combatants, including the last three women of one of the clans, in armor and charge into a last battle. When in a personal challenge, the patriarchs of both clans argue with each blow about who's clan slighted who, and realized neither had recorded the original Grudge; only those caused by it. Both clans set to make peace, but at the banquet of celebration Grimnir caused his statue to crush both patriarchs for the dishonor of not avenging Grudges regardless of whether or not they are remembered or even happened at all, resulting in both clans wiping each other completely out and the Goblins claiming two holds without effort.
• Dwarfs hate Beastmen. There has never been a recorded circumstance of the two working together, and they are inferior to Dwarfs.
• Dwarfs are respectful of Bretonnians, although their Elvish influence and use of horses are things Dwarfs mistrust greatly and hold against them. Regardless, Dwarfs see Bretonnians as the best of mankind due to their rigid gender roles, adherence to tradition, codes of conduct, martial strength, and mistrust of magic. Altogether, inferior to Dwarfs.
• Dwarfs have a slightly better relationship with the Empire, as they have age-old oaths of friendship due to the efforts of Sigmar. They still consider humans inferior, but unlike Bretonnians, have deigned to share some of their secrets of smithing, stonecraft and the use of gunpowder with humanity.
• Dwarfs have a Chaos counterpart, creatively called the Chaos Dwarfs, who were formed when they dug too far out into Chaos-infested land. They sell weaponry to those Chaos worshiping Vikings north of them and are insane Babylonians. Chaos Dwarfs have wizards and brute-force magic through their bodies, which turns them slowly to stone and radically alters their appearance. Other Dwarfs have no love for Chaos Dwarfs; at one point in Gotrek & Felix, Dwarfs engage in the time-honored tradition of verbally bashing Elves, and the claim is made that the actions of the Druchii reflect all Elves. When Felix brings up Chaos Dwarfs, the Dwarfs simply glare at him with such ferocity he feels as much fear of his friends as he does Vampires and Daemons elsewhere in their adventures.
• Dwarfs hate Daemons. There has never been a recorded circumstance of the two working together, and during the first Chaos invasion of the world, Grimnir ascended to godhood by establishing a one-man hold in the Warp to oppose them making them possibly the worst enemies of the Dwarfs. They are inferior to Dwarfs, regardless of what Chaos cultists say.

Religion

Dwarfs worship a trinity of gods. Valaya, Grungni, and Grimnir. They are referred to as the Ancestor-Gods, as they are believed to be the deities who created the dwarfs and taught them all they needed to know. They're fairly vanilla in concept, really.

Grungni is your generic patriarch-god; a stern, all-knowing, wise all-father, responsible for teaching dwarfs everything about runes, crafting, mining, smithing, building, whatever.

Valya is, again, a fairly bogstandard matriarch-god; a protector, healer and nurturer.

Grimnir is the dwarf god of war and honor, founder of the Slayer cult.

Characters

• High King Thorgrim Grudgebearer
• Slayer King Ungrim Ironfist
• Josef Bugman
• Gotrek Gurnisson
• Master Engineer Burlok Dammison