One by one, dwarfs are as soft mud. Taking new shapes as the world moves them.
But when united into a kingdom, dwarfs are as stone! Immovable, strong and never changing.
If every dwarf is a piece of raw iron their mighty dwarven cities are as the anvil on which they are formed.
Only old and hardened dwarfs do not to change. As finished iron tools they do what they have always done.
Those are the dwarfs are first like clay and then as steel.   /Emissary Darius Felixim about dwarfs

 

Mainstays of the Culture

Unlike human, and to a lesser extent even elven, culture dwarven civilization has changed very little over the cores of time. The reason for this is most likely the fact that dwarfs are by their very nature innovators and impulsive. Early dwarven history tells us that this is not always a good thing and those dwarven culture rose to keep the dwarfs from becoming to reckless or shortsighted in their actions.   As a result most dwarven cultures seams to be one and the same. But this is not wholly true. Tho the mainstays are the same, the way this mainstays are thought of differ from culture to culture among the dwarfs.  

The Ancestors

Dwarfs are ancestor worshipers. As many human cultures, and in one could argue the elves as well, are. But unlike the human form of ancestor worship the dwarfs do not worship some vage unknown icons that may or may not have existed. Dwarfs keep detailed records of their history and the deeds of great dwarfs are most of the focus of this history. The dwarfs that prove themselves in life become dwarven paragons. Holy heroes that are worshiped as semi-gods after their death. Most dwarfs, tho not all, become normal ancestors. Only those whom have been cast out of their clans are doomed to wonder the Land of Night for the rest of time.  

The Clans

The next oldest mainstay of all dwarven civilization. A dwarfs clan are the extended family of his father and the link to the ancestors. All dwarfs see their clan as not only their heritage but also as their path to the afterlife. Those dwarven clans are always important no matter the dwarven civilization. As for the dwarfs of old we only know that it was central to their daily lives. At one point in time dwarfs where given to the clan of the parent that was of their own gender. This tradition died of for some, today unknown reason.   Leading the clans are the clan fathers. Elder dwarfs that are the descended from which ever dwarf founded the clan. New clans are not founded today. It is hinted at in old dwarven lore that to found a clan a dwarf needs to be given land by the king, a power that the dwarven kings no longer hold.  

The King

Dwarven kings are holy leaders given their power by the ancestors. Which in practice means that the clan fathers of a collection of clans chose him from among themselves. In the early years of dwarven civilization the kings of dwarfs where absolute monarchs. But whit the passage of time the title grew more and more ceremonial. Today a dwarven king only truly rules if his kingdom where to go to war. Something that next to never happens.]  

The Parliament

This is the true seat of power in all dwarven nations. They started as a means by which a dwarf king was chosen by the clan fathers from among themselves. But as time passed the parliament became more and more powerful as first the clans and later the guilds came to rule their king instead of the other way around. Today one third of the members of a dwarven parliament are the clan fathers that rules the clans, the other two thirds are made up of guild representatives. And all members of this grand institutions have one vote each. Making the dwarf guilds the true rulers of all dwarven nations.  

The Guilds

The youngest of all the dwarven civilizations mainstays. The guilds rose to power as the clans released their monopoly on their craft skills. We know that dwarfs once held tight to the trade of their clan, and would often become violent when someone tried to find out their crafting secrets. This did, ironically lead to the guilds. The guilds started as a number of alliances between clans of the same trade. This pacts would pool their resources to improve their trade and protect the secrets of said trade. This lead to a improvement of all dwarven crafts, which lead to the guilds becoming more powerful. In time the clans where more solely about family and faith and the guilds toke over dwarven crafting and trading.   And as the power of the kings fell, the power of the guilds and clans rose. Today dwarf kingdoms are more oligarchy's then kingdoms ruled, my the guilds and the laws they write to improve dwarven trade.  

Ethnic Features

See Dwarfs.  

Non Dwarf Relations

What we know today is far from all there was to know. But what we do know is that the dwarfs of old saw humans and trolls are lesser to themselves. Their reasoning for this being that other mortals where ruled by many masters while they had one kingdom and one king. The dwarfs of old would never have allowed non-dwarfs to enter their mountain halls, even to trade. Instead dwarfs traveled to human nations and traded whit them.   We also know that they where somewhat impressed whit the Old Empire during it glory years. However after utterly crushing them in combat the dwarfs lost most of that good will.