Editing Dwarfs (Warhammer Fantasy) (section)

==Technology and Magic==
===Runesmithing===
Dwarfs, as previously mentioned, cannot simply cast magic. Their bodies resist it, their presence weakens and disrupts it, and the mental energy of Dwarfs can outright negate it as if it isn't even present (this is very comparable to a [[Blank]] in [[Warhammer 40000]], although Blanks are described as being soulless and nightmarish on an emotional level to be around whereas Dwarfs simply force magic to sit still and shut the fuck up). While all Elves and certain members of other races can be born with the ability to see magic, and most individuals can feel it to some degree (usually as a feeling of unease or sense that something is different, like Athel Loren feeling primal and sentient), Dwarfs have absolutely no ability to sense magic in any form unless its literally lighting something up or it producing a physical effect. This is a benefit in that morale of Dwarf troops marching through an area simply grumble as they would anywhere else while the landscape would be causing humans to piss themselves in place and flee the moment they heard the wind blow.

Either as the invention of Valaya and Grungni or as a gift from the Old Ones, Dwarfs can smith the letters of their language in different ways into objects to produce magic. This magic is permanent or contains a set amount of charges, being completely transformed into something even safer than High Magic. These vary from the Rune Of Stone, a very basic Rune that is first taught to apprentices in the craft and only requires them to carve it right (which in human terms means perfect) to complex runes requiring a far more complex process. For example: on the last day of the third full moon of the year at midnight at the heart of a mountain the furnace is heated, the ore hammered before dawn and folded seven times while each time singing a song of forging, dipped in dragon blood and cooled in quicksilver from Karak Ungol while praising the ancestor god Haki, tempered in the water of Varn, sharpened with dragon horn. Then on the third moon of winter the Rune is carved on the finished surface, daubed with troll blood that was killed on Grungni's Day, the hilt then bound in dragon hide with the horns on the inside, hafted with gold from Azgal and bound with metal from Azul, given a pommel made from an Orc's fang covered in Grimnir's runes, blessed with ale on an altar of Valaya, and finished by killing a Troll at midnight which finishes the magic and activates the rune.
All runes trap small amounts of magic, making a Dwarf letter to a friend technically infused with magic that races capable of seeing it can discern information beyond the text from. But magic runes trap a large amount of magic, forcing it to behave a specific way without any of its unpredictable or Chaos effects that an unlucky wizard can cause.

Runesmiths are what the Dwarfs who practice runelore are called, their craft handed down from the gods themselves. While not technically the priesthood, they are closely tied to the faiths and the shrines. Absolute perfection is required in their craft as all other aspects of Dwarf society rely on runes, from the simple miners requiring runes allowing them to break through harder rock on a timetable to the machinists who use the runes to give their creations extra security in continuing to function to kings whose runed crowns protect them from assassins.

There are rules to how many and what kind of runes may be placed on an object. Technically this was providing a lore explanation for the crunch rules for runes, back when Games Workshop Army Book designers gave a fuck.

* The Rule Of Three: No object may have more than three runes, as things from the material plane cannot take that much magic.
* The Rule Of Form: Runes are specific to the type of object. Runes for machines cannot be placed on armor, weapons on the mundane. How exactly the rune figures out the difference between a pickaxe used as a weapon and one used for work isn't clear...this may simply be a rule of Runesmithing and not how runes work.
* The Rule Of Pride: Duplicate choices of runes cannot be used in the same army. A Thane may have a Rune Of Stone for example, but then literally no other Dwarf may have a Rune Of Stone. The Thane can have a Rune Of Stone and a Rune Of Protection, allowing any other Dwarf to have a Rune Of Stone OR a Rune Of Protection but not both. This is almost certainly a rule for mechanics, with the lore explanation being that Runesmiths dislike repeating themselves or copying the work of others beyond their apprenticeships (note that since every single rune option is preexisting on top of the basic Dwarf idea of older being better and new being shit, there is a lore contradiction here).
* Jealous Runes: Master runes cannot be used more than once per army, and no more than one master rune can be on any object. They also cannot be combined together and refuse to work if there's more than one on the same battlefield. How this works for two opposing armies is unstated.

Note that unless otherwise stated, runes can be used more than once on the same object to amplify their effect.

Of course this doesn't mean every rune and symbol on an object is a magic rune carved by a Runesmith. Some runes are just good luck symbols, slogans, and decorations (but since all runes are magic, that doesn't necessarily mean that there's no effect at all...).

===Engineering===
By themselves, the Elves invented complex seafaring. Humans invented bronze age technology, seen in the [[Tomb Kings]]. Ogres invented the basics of carts and wheels as well as animal husbandry. Orcs... well, they exist and usually figure out which end of sharp things to stick in other things and eventually learned that you could beat hot iron into something stabby.

But virtually every piece of true technology in the setting comes from Dwarfs. Elves received their crossbows and Bolt Throwers and mankind the secrets of [[Gunpowder (Warhammer Fantasy)|gunpowder]], gears, and steam from the Dawi.

Of course, the Dwarfs keep the best tech for themselves, like Gyrocopters and other fun toys. The basics were gifts to protect their allies from the forces of Chaos, things that Dwarfs have long since surpassed that would not be effective if turned against them.

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 (or completely fucking insane) Dwarf Engineers. Seriously, the Engineers Guild will normally only consider accepting a design after it's been criticized and picked apart after decades if not centuries of work on it (it's not unheard for a design to be accepted years after the original engineer was expelled and died), though arguably given Dwarf psychology, this saves many lives as not only would a disasterous accident resulting from a piece of equipment's design flaw injure or kill Dwarfs, probably every Dwarf involved in the design and approval process of it would soon take the Slayer oath. As it is, only the desperation after the Time Of Woes has seen such new devices given the 'okay' stamp, and even then only by more liberal "if it works, do it" and "if it kills Grobi and Urk, put some Slayers on it" leaders like Thorgrim and Ungrim.

Revolutionary devices include gigantic zeppelins carrying bombs, cannons, machine guns on a 360 degree swivel, and rockets which can ram other things called [[Thunderbarge|Thunderbarges]]. Even better, in [[Dreadfleet]] the Dwarfs have a gigantic aircraft carrier/submarine that launched Thunderbarges. [[Goblin-hewer]]s are tank-like machines that throw volleys of axes, and [[Deathroller|Deathrollers]] are the unholy combination of motorcycle and steamroller.

Needless to say, this technological conservatism is perhaps the biggest weakness of the dwarfen army; though their head start over races in the technological field gave them a huge edge, with each generation gone past, technological advancement (at least amongst elves, humans and skaven) closes that gap due to the slow, near-stagnant pace that dwarfs continue to innovate and expand upon what they have. Just how much of an issue this actually is varies depending on the edition book. It's also one of the things that marks the [[Skaven]] out as their most hated antithesis; because Skaven embrace innovation and don't give so much of a whisker's twitch for the cost in lives of progress, they are erratically but rapidly catching up to or even surpassing dwarf work, at least in theoretical terms.

No, seriously. Skaven work is shoddily made and won't last for shit, not like dwarf work. But dwarfs have reliable steam power (and, it's implied, alcohol-burning diesel engines) they do very little with (even the Empire makes use of [[Steam Tank]]s), very-well-designed rifled flintlocks, cannons, gyrocopters, and at least the basic principles of clockpunk bionic limbs. Skaven have mastered electricity, cartridge-based gun technology, regularly use bionics on a wide scale, make use of an (admittedly unpredictable) ''giant laser cannon'' on the battlefield, and commonly wield things like flamethrowers and gatling guns. That said, in modern times occasionally an engineer will take some example of non-dwarfish workmanship "for scrap" or "to show the beardlings how not to do it", quietly take notes behind a locked door and produce a TOTALLY ORIGINAL MACHINE similar to those that the Manlings/Ratguys OBVIOUSLY STOLE FROM US!

Dwarfs believe anything worth doing is worth doing right, and in such a way that it lasts as long as possible. Dwarfs of Holds 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 (though all depictions of a Book of Grudges in art and models have paper pages). Which aside from being valuable does not rust or tarnish (which is why in real life we use gold for the records and plaques on the Voyager and Pioneer space craft).

In contrast, in real life Engineers don't try to get everything right on the first go. The first cars were slow, fuel inefficient, unreliable, tricky to operate and basically dangerous toys for the rich. Never the less, once the basics of "go forward, turn and stop when desired" were met the engineers could move on to solve the various other problems. This includes problems which only become apparent once a mechanism is used. "Perfect" is the enemy of "Good Enough".

===Smithing===
Of course science and 100% reliable magic aren't the only Dwarf advantages, they still have the standard "better than anyone" smithing.

The most important resource to Dwarfs, beyond even ale, is the magical metal '''[[Gromril]]'''. Gromril is meteoric iron AKA "Starmetal". The typical fantasy trope is that meteoric iron is rare and magical, but in real life it was mundane; today we use telluric iron which is common and occurs naturally on Earth, but in the Bronze Age and earlier, before advanced techniques of mining and smelting, meteoric iron was a rare alternative and indeed was one of the hardest materials for weapons available at the time. Today it is a curiosity only, and a gimmick for mid-price jewelry.
That being said, Warhammer Gromril is different from real life meteoric iron in that Gromril originates in the Warp, crashing down in comets in the time of the Old Ones and even somewhat rarely in the modern day. The more ancient veins of Gromril are found deep below the planet surface and are relatively safe to mine if discovered, while recent fallen Gromril is found in dangerous places due to [[Warpstone]] always accompanying its fall. Of course any time a Skaven spy hears a Dwarf say Gromril, they hear Warpstone and they plan the ruin of yet another Hold.

Gromril is extremely important to Dwarfs and is almost never given to non-Dwarfs. Their most valuable currency is made from it due to its value far surpassing gold, and Gromril is a major component of major Runesmithing. It has little value to any other race other than as a trade good as nobody else can smith using it.

Gromril can be worked into three forms:
* Refined Gromril: Also called Mithril. Used for common items like coins and cheaper armor.
* Adamant: Only the Master Smiths know how to make this, and it is far superior metal for important items.
* Laihtero: Crystalline Gromril, mythical with properties largely unknown. It was able to contain [[Arianka|a Chaos God]] in a sarcophagus.

Many people paint Gromril as bronze, but it is in fact silvery (hence why Eavy Metal paintjobs cover the more important Dwarfs like Hammerers in it).The oldest of Dwarf objects are made of precious metals, while the newest are made of increasingly large amounts of the Elgi material. Dwarfs dislike wood and generally avoid using it when possible, but when they do, they favor wutroth, also called ironbark or stonetrunk. It is a very rare mountain tree, whose forest were all but destroyed during the Time of Woes, that produces extremely hard wood (its nuts were used as sling bullets by dwarfs in ancient times).