Editing Dwarfs (Warhammer Fantasy) (section)

==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, or else seeks Dwarfs in conflict to aid and hopefully die in battle.
[[File:A Grudge Too Far.jpg|400px|thumb|right|TOUGH DECISIONS ARE TOUGH]]
Meanwhile, any Grudge that a Dwarf experiences is written in a [[Book of Grudges]] with one for every settlement and some even for individual Dwarfs or clans, and each entry ''will'' be answered for. Every 50 years the Dwarfs send representatives to Karaz-a-Karak on a holiday called "The Grudgement" where all Grudges that have been suffered and all Grudges that have been avenged are told to the rest of the assembled ambassadors which are then recorded in the master copy of the Dammaz Kron that is owned by the High King. The Great Book of Grudges is magical and no matter how many or few entries there are, it looks the same size (explaining why they can make a model of it) so only the High King is aware of how many there are yet unavenged and it is a large part of his responsibility to note which have been avenged while pursuing the others. Oh, and he's gotta record the new Grudges in his blood. So yeah, try not to get too pissed off because you're basically causing stigmata to the king.

Dwarfs don't necessarily need to kill to avenge a Grudge. Gold can be used if the Dwarf most in charge of the Grudge is willing to accept it. For example, at the start of the War Of Vengeance the Dwarfs were unaware of the concept of a civil war and thus assumed that when Elves dressed as High Elves attacked their caravans the Holds affected declared Grudges and demanded Elf blood be spilled. The High King at the time called for calm and sent a representative to ask the High Elves what happened, although the Phoenix King at the time had no respect at all for non-Elves and refused to meet with a "lesser race". So the demand was changed from explanation to gold, equal to what was lost. That earned the diplomat being shaved thus ruining his life as he had to take the Slayer Oath, and at this point the High King finally demanded blood. He earned it as well as gold when he beheaded the Phoenix King and took the Phoenix Crown, for which he struck the Grudge out of the Dammaz Kron.

Revenge is literally seen as a holy mandate in Dwarven culture. One comic has a pair of dwarf thanes decide to settle a long-running inter-clan grudge through a ritual that entails tying their beards together and letting them bash each other with axes; as they fight, each cites older and older grievances against the other until they realize that they've actually forgotten how this whole fight started in the first place. When they declare that this makes the whole grudge thing pointless and stupid, and they decide to call it quits, the stand on which their Book of Grudges sat suddenly falls on them - and because they can't decide which way to run, they get squashed by the hefty tome. Their followers promptly decide this is an omen from the gods and continue the fight until they mutually exterminate each other.

More so than their glacial technological advancement or social conservatism, this obsession with revenge is generally portrayed as the dwarfs' biggest failing, and one of the main reasons that they are going extinct; they constantly fight battles they don't need to fight, as well as getting members of their race killed for the sake of avenging dead dwarves (who were often killed avenging ''their'' predecessors). This constant cycle of endless war is slowly grinding them into nothing, because dwarves simply cannot breed quickly enough to even hope to replenish their losses, thanks to the lethal dearth of fertile females in their ranks.