Contents

• Society
• Art
• Pop Culture
• High Culture
• Communication And The Spread Of Ideas
• Holidays
• Gender and Gender Roles
• Subcultures and Alternative Lifestyles
• Universal Fears
• Money and Wealth
• Food, Meals, and Mealtime
• Leisure
• Charity and Wellfare
• Health, Fitness, and Beauty Standards
• Values
• Patriotism
• Diversity
• Integration and Exclusion
• Superstitions
• Bad Manners and Insults
• Family Structures
• Pregnancy, Birth, and Motherhood
• Coming of Age
• Rites of Passage
• Love and Romance
• Sexuality

Society

Dwarven Culture is enigmatic and difficult to study due to the nature of dwarves being hazardous to other forms of life. Most of what is known comes from observing the peoples of the lands above them, and limited interactions with Dwarves visiting the surface (as well as those who live near it).

The majority of Dwarvern Culture's art is exclusively commissioned by members of the government. Artistic endeavors are minimally funded through public trusts, while artists themselves are generally treated with great respect. Dwarvern Culture uses the majority of its art as a general facet of everyday life, primarily by remembering loved ones. Dwarvern Culture also uses its art for: as a means of storytelling, making certain concepts easier to understand, questioning authority, examining cultural norms, and chronicling the culture's journey through history.

Dwarvern Culture's major laws relating to the creation of art are;

Art is considered to be taboo if it conveys erotic feelings, directly criticizes the government, or depicts violence against children. Works which are illegal are destroyed, those that are taboo are censored. This censorship often does not involve the removal of the artwork, or alteration, but rather in covering the artwork, usually with a tarp. The art is then considered to be "Dead" and none acknowledge its existence.

Presently, Dwarven Culture greatly favors the performing arts. They primarily focused on theater, with their greatest works consisting of plays which are created largely in the spur of the moment during the performance by the actors based on what other actors are saying and doing, with the story being intentionally chaotic. The foremost artisan within this medium and time was the thespian Nil ​Cåqcebackhu, whose works are typically the first ones thought of and mentioned when discussing the Dwarvern Culture's artwork of the current era.

In the Visual Arts, they primarily focused on printmaking, with their greatest works consisting of images created by an artist intensely laboring over a metal plate with extremely fine point tools to in essence, draw lines into the metal in a similar fashion as one might draw with graphite on paper, though in this case, by very finely scratching the metal. These extremely fine and shallow lines are then filled with ink, and the image is stamped onto another medium. However the exceptional fineness of the linework prevents the stamp from being used more than a dozen or so times, and only the first few images will be of good quality. Their art showed a particular emphasis on intensity, shapes, and value. The foremost artisan within this medium and time was the printer Goggaginn ​Rebckezqug, whose works are typically the first ones thought of and mentioned when discussing the Dwarvern Culture's artwork of the current era.

In the Literary Arts, they primarily focused on poetry, with their greatest works consisting of poems written in the fashion of traditional folk ballads, in essence, a song without music to accompany it. Generally the poems created in this style were intended to be amusing, or even comic. The foremost artisan within this medium and time was the poet SL-42T "Tidy" Phodnezerf, whose works are typically the first ones thought of and mentioned when discussing the Dwarvern Culture's artwork of the current era.

Pop Culture

Dwarvern Culture's popular culture is dominated by drawing and dance. These arts are made available to the public through public trusts for the arts.

Dwarvern Pop Culture remains fixed in its ancient roots and traditions, refusing to change as time goes on. They prioritize and value the creation of more works rather than new works, a stance which is very difficult for most people to relate to or understand. The library of works dedicated to a single figure of Dwarvern myth or fiction can be so extensive that there is not enough time for any one individual to experience all of their stories.

Dwarves do not tend to draw people, animals, or landscapes. Rather they focus on technical drawings, even if said devices are entirely impossible to construct. The beauty in the art for them is in envisioning mechanisms, machines, and systems, and ways in which they can be applied. Consequently, more advanced Dwarvern art is often mistaken for blueprints, leading to the Dwarvern reputation for creating "inherent flaws" within blueprints to prevent their technology from being copied. This is but a myth, and the other people's engineers are simply attempting to construct a fictional device from a work of wall art.

High Culture

Dwarvern Culture's high culture is dominated by architecture and architectural accessories. These arts are made available to everyone as they comprise the whole of that which Dwarvern society constructs in terms of buildings, infrastructure, defensive fortifications, and all other practical works.

Dwarvern Culture venerates their architects, who take the place of famous actors, well known bards, and other "civilian heroes" which are venerated and admired by the common folk of the realm. These individuals thus have great followings, with their names being publicly known (and often becoming the middle names of children), and most people are able to visually identify their specific stylings in the world around them.

Communication And The Spread Of Ideas

Dwarvern Culture has many forms of advanced communication via magical and technological means, all formal communications from legal missives, military orders (outside of wartime), and even family letters to keep in touch with relatives are delivered by couriers. This process takes advantage of the Dwarves excellent transportation network, and some of their basic technological and arcane achievements (if the message needs to cross more distance than a runner can cover in a workshift).

All Dwarvern settlements house a massive library. These libraries are always public accessible, such that any can come to learn, refresh their memory, or contribute to the "body of public knowledge". These libraries are located underground in Dwarvern inhabited zones and are thus unsafe for others to visit or make use of (The city guides within this Encyclopedia only track surface accessible libraries).

Most Dwarvern Communication is nonverbal. They make extensive use of body language, sufficient to replace signing in most cases. Their vocal language is robust and as complete as any other people's but is used for addressing many people at once, or otherwise ensuring one's words and thus mind are fully understood. Such cases are used primarily for conveying new concepts and correcting mistakes or misconceptions.

Holidays

The major Dwarvern Culture holidays are:

1. The Day of Taking - A harvest festival celebrated when the Elders have finished their count and totaling of the year's bounty. Prizes are given to the most productive and most notable clan members, and typically a feast is thrown where dwarves will engage in romantic dances with suitors.
2. Midwinter's Blaze - A holiday intended to bring a point of light in the dark of winter and to make the solstice less oppressive and gloomy. It is a day reserved for honoring the gods, when stories are told around fires.
3. The Feast of Sage's Grace - A ceremony of gift-giving for all great craftsdwarves, who are expected to be as familiar of the arcane as they are with the needs of their family. On this day (Usually held on the first full moon of Toolmend) they give gifts and are fed, celebrated, and sung to.
4. Ancestor's Day - A day occurring "some time in the coming months" after the first day of spring, wherein the ghosts of a young dwarf's ancestors will appear before them and do their best to "embiggen their spirits" by offering advice, anecdotes, and the wisdom of ages so the youngster can be all they can be.
5. Voice Week - Any time a dwarven kingdom formally recognises they are ahead of their quotas and all is well, a "Voice Week" is declared. This formal recognition of a job well done is the dwarven equivalent of a vacation, and is notably spent with one's colleagues, typically singing and making merry. Most traditional dwarven work songs are written during or about a Voice Week.

Gender and Gender Roles

Dwarvern Culture recognises four genders: Engineer, Miner, Pathfinder, and Warrior. We do not as of yet know the difference, nor how they are applied to individuals.

Subcultures and Alternative Lifestyles

The majority of Dwarves remain underground, but a few do live on the surface. These individuals are typically seen as brash and roguish by their subterranean kin, largely for dwelling in "unsafe" and "exposed" areas. In truth, most of these Dwarves prefer to live in shallow burrows with direct surface access, as they are descended from the Dwarves who worked the exterior of mountains (or still work the exteriors) during the many great projects.

These surface Dwarves are responsible for the above ground territory of Undermountain remaining in Dwarvern hands, as without their presence most people wouldn't know the Dwarves even existed until accidently tunneling into one of their mines.

Universal Fears

The top five most common fears found within Dwarvern Culture's members are:

1. Devastating Hurricane
2. Pollution of Oceans, Rivers and Lakes
3. A distinct and sudden lack of aberrations
4. Being unemployable
5. Pollution of Drinking Water

Food, Meals, and Mealtime

Dwarvern Culture's members typically eat one large meal at dusk with many small personal snacks throughout the day, which are eaten communally, with groups of families rotating the responsibility of providing everyone's meals between themselves. This structure appears to be a highly developed workshift tradition, rooted in the Dwarvern worth ethic, which can see them choosing to work to the point of physical exhaustion on occasion. Consequently, this deeply rooted tradition ensures everyone is at least eating once a day.

Dwarvern Culture makes extensive use of potatoes, beans, dairy products and seafood in its cuisine. Corn [primarily sweet corn although flint corn is grown as well] is also widely used, notably in hasty puddings, cornbreads and corn chowders. Three prominent characteristic foodstuffs native to Dwarvern Culture are maple syrup, cranberries, and blueberries. Traditional Dwarvern Culture cuisine is known for a lack of strong spices. Ground black pepper, parsley, garlic, and sage are common, with a few "exotic" additions such as nutmeg. The favored cooking techniques are stewing, steaming, and baking.

Dwarvern Culture culture has several prominent summer festivals, which are culinarily significant due to culinary competitions being a popular part of the festivals

Not throwin down a mug and demanding a second of whatever the beverage was is seen as shockingly rude, and a jabbing criticism of the brewer and/or host's ability to store and keep beverages. Small (and reinforced) mugs are provided for this reason. Dwarvern culture has yet to realize they ought to reinforce their various tabletops.

Dwarves believe that Goblin food will make you sick. This is, in many cases, correct. However for Dwarves this belief extends to anything invented by Goblins (even if safe for other species), or prepared by goblins. A goblin perfectly cooking a traditional dwarven banquet, making no errors nor deviations could not escape this stigma. This exact situation was the start of one of the many Dwarvern/Goblin wars.

Dwarves consider the age of adulthood to be the point where one is capable of drinking an entire keg of ale in a day. The youth is made to do exactly that, so they know why not to do it. On a workday.

Leisure

Dwarvern Culture's members typically prefer a decent balance between labor and leisure which favors labor. Leisure is a pleasure regularly enjoyed by everyone who isn't a general laborer, and less frequently by the working class, though plenty of average people still find time for recreation.

Popular adult pastimes include:

1. pyrography
2. foreign language learning
3. refinishing
4. machining
5. playing musical instruments

Popular pastimes for children include:

1. diorama
2. jigsaw puzzles
3. furniture building
4. playing musical instruments
5. string figures

Charity and Welfare

In Dwarvern Culture, acts of charity are generally performed out of a sense of guilt. Donors are typically seen as kind and compassionate individuals by the rest of their culture. Donations are typically made to assist the clergy (generally to fund church sponsored digs and other labors), with notably less going to other groups in need.

As with all of Eyom's cultures, general welfare is of excellent quality and reach. Food and shelter programs are ubiquitous, even if only due to work rations being free and Dwarves constructing buildings of all kinds because that's just what they do. Programs to assist the poor with acquiring basic necessities such as clothing, tools for their profession, etc are also quite common. These institutions are typically backed by Gnollish banks, though most nations have set up their own financial institutions to handle these programs' affairs more efficiently. Such acts are seen as a means of keeping society at large healthy and prosperous by limiting non-contributors to those who either cannot, or simply will not be productive members of society.

Health, Fitness, and Beauty Standards

Regardless of one's physical appearance, build, or shape, Dwarves consider individuals to be physically healthy if they can reduce a boulder to rubble within 3 minutes, using only common hand tools. Or explosives, if you're Constructi.

In terms of mental health, Dwarves do not care much about the details and nuance of the minds of people. So long as a brother can work and sing with their work crew, they are seen as perfectly fine in Dwarvern eyes. Individuals may have problems, and these problems are often addressed by their friends, but largely, mental health isn't seen as something to obsess over.

Dwarvern culture has an idea of an "ideal body". When rendered as an illustration for our scholars, the image was simply a mining drill.

Patriotism

Dwarven Kingdoms are divinely mandated administrative zones. Each has a function, or functions, which it performs out of a sense of duty. Thus, Dwarves do not have any sort of patriotism, or even pride in their country as others see it. They see nations and states as cogs within the machine of a nation, and a nation as the people united under a common goal, rather than a state or government.

Diversity

Dwarven Culture welcomes anyone who wishes to move to the surface above their lands to live and work there as they please. So long as they follow the laws of the surface and do not interfere with any of the great works. They do not care if those who come practice their own religion, culture, and ways. To the Dwarves, the surface dwellers are there to provide them with that which cannot be obtained within their halls of stone.

However, due to dwarves presence sickening and killing other peoples, Dwarves expressly forbid other species from living within their communities. With the exception of constructs (if shielded from radiation), kobolds (who find radiation basking to be relaxing and revitalizing), and very, very, very rarely, elves.

Integration and Exclusion

Eyom's family of Elves are notable in that they do not suffer radiation sickness as most peoples do. They still suffer from the other effects, reduced lifespan, inevitable cancer, and blindness, but do not suffer from the short term effects of exposure. This is due to a form of limited radioresistance, and in the past it was believed that Elves might be able to live with Dwarves if they so choose. The truth was discovered after roughly a century, and led to a mass purge of elves from Dwarven subterranean areas.

In an extremely rare case, some elves are almost as resistant to radiation as Dwarves, and while they cannot safely live in a Dwarven city, they can participate in a Dwarven work crew. This is still not allowed as no Dwarf would associate with a Wood Elf, and in their own words "Iron Elves try to automate the fun out of everything."

Superstitions

Some superstitions common to Dwarvern Culture culture are:

1. Yo-Yos can cause drought if used incorrectly.
2. If you see or hear an owl, terrible news is coming.
3. A specific number is so unlucky, no one will even tell you which number it is.
4. Wearing a charm in the shape of an eye will protect you from the evil eye.
5. The Kami are listening during awkward silences.

Bad Manners and Insults

Some rude behaviors common to Dwarvern Culture culture are:

1. Failing to share gossip.
2. Using the last of a communal resource and not replenishing it.
3. Grooming yourself in public spaces.
4. Being noisy in the sleeping quarters.
5. Not thanking public servants and public service clerks.

Some commonly used insults in Dwarvern Culture culture are:

1. snake
2. ape
3. oaf
4. toenail
5. cloudscraper

Family Structures

Dwarvern households are run by the oldest living member with a keen mind. This role is not gendered, and any who hold it are known as the Clan Lord or Elder in mixed-clan households. Clan Lords and Elders form the core of dwarven society itself, as Dwarves see most anyone within their daily life as family.

This extends to non-dwarves as well, as Dwarves will attempt to extend a familial-like relationship to pretty much anyone. This makes determining the boundaries of specific dwarven families and clans quite difficult as it's impossible to know if a particular cousin, uncle, aunt, or even sibling are blood relations, if they are not present at the time of asking.

In fact, tracking any kind of family tree with true accuracy is a fool's errand. There are millions of progenitor dwarves within their shared history, and dwarves simply take part of the family name of each and every one they believe themselves to share blood with as part of their own name. Many Eyomic scholars define this arrangement as a "family hedge".

This is compounded and solidified by the only answer our Explorers could get in response to "how does your culture organize or arrange for a marriage?" was "You ask a Dwarf."