Dvergar
Appearance
Dwarves stand around half as high as the average man, and they usually have thick beards, heavy brows, and relatively large noses. Most dwarf clans put great value in their beards, and traditional dwarven societies judge an individual by the length, thickness, and neatness of his beard, even using terms like “shortbeard” for younger individuals and “longbeard” for clan elders.
Culture
Most humans view dwarves as ugly, short-tempered, stuffy, and stubborn. These are common dwarf personality traits, but so are loyalty, honesty, and steadfast (even hard-headed) determination. It is also a mistake to assume that dwarves are “fat” because of their short and broad physique. If an individual makes the mistake of mentioning this in the presence of a dwarf, they might just learn the hard way that most dwarves are made almost entirely of muscle.
Dwarves are considered a magical race because of their innate connection to the elements of earth and fire, and their knowledge of ancient runes. This adds to the humans' mistrust of them. Their home realm is Nidavellir, where they build great underground cities and ride Khepridnir beetle mounts.
Of all the magical races, the dwarves probably have the most dealings with humans, since men place great value in the gold, gems, and metals they mine and craft. Dwarves are exceptionally skilled craftsmen, and legend has it that the Aesir gifted them with all their power of craftsmanship upon their creation. They are masters at forging from the rarest of metals that they mine deep within the earth, such as Deepsilver, Deepgold, and Void Iron. They guard their trade secrets closely and have a reputation for greed because they value their merchandise so highly. They have a very powerful trading guild on the surface called the Iron Gauntlet.
Races
For a list of the dwarven races, see Category:Dwarves.
