Sonzturfs (Sønztuɾfs)
"Alright here, we've not lost our minds, it's you lot who have lost yours. Under the mountains is dangerous, and up here we have more trade than we ever had under the mountains. Now, you're welcome to come on up to the Sunlit Lands whenever you'd like. And stop calling us 'Søŋnɘstuɾves,' no one up here talks like that when it's Sonzturfs."
The tense relations between the Sonzturfs, or Sunlit Dwarves, and their under-mountain dwelling kin, the Turves, has been described as a long-standing fued between in-laws over the cooking recipe of a beef roast.
Language
Sonturfs typically speak Turfzin amongst each other or to their Turves cousins.
Common is spoken more by Sonturfs than Turvs, but it is a trade language, so the less mercantile Turvs are less likely to speak Common fluently beyond a few basic phrases.
Dialect
It has been suggested Turfzin is a dialect of Turvdzind, typically by Turves, though the presence of phones foreign to Turdzind or the two's parent Turvesdzint, but found in Adrakian, or the old languages behind Tormian, Thydian, and Goltherine, languages that also feed into Common.
Unlike Turvdzind, Turfzind has multiple accents and a handful of dialects based on the languages the speakers are geographically closer to. Most speakers can understand each other in general in cross-dialect or cross-accented conversations.
Traditions and Customs
Garments
Materials
Life on the Sunlit Lands means a loss of ready material for Turves fashion. Instead of silk and chitin from spiders, or Undermountain leathers.
However, Sonzturfs set towards changing from the old traditions to adopting cloth making practices of other surface dwellers.
Dress Styles
Casual dress for the Sonzturfs typically appears as layers, wraps, and . While they generally will not wear as little or as lightweight of fabric as the Turves, their dress resembles styles of the Turves who come up to the surface - layers and bundles of fabric. While the Sonzturfs are acclimated to the environments of the Sunlit Lands, they are not inclined towards dressing like their cousins in their respective home environments. Most surfacer stereotypes of the more rotund Dwarves is a result of Turves who come to the surface being heavily bundled, and the Sonzturfs dressing in multiple layers.Armor
Most Sonzturfs wear the same kinds of armors as their Sunlit neighbors, though a few have the armor brought up by their ancestors who left the Undermountains. Armorsmiths will use symbology with roots in Turvesdzint, and similar piece shapes to the ancient pieces. Spidersilk is more expensive, though the weaker silk-materials found on the surface have taken on the same use in more layers.Social Connections
I suspect the Sonzturfs are the source of most assumed expectations of Dwarven behavior when among dwarves - traditional values but adaptable, loud, willing to try new foods, and competitive. When I was granted permission to visit and tour the Undermountains, I quickly learned how wrong I was.
I went down thinking I could make trade connections easily. I was wrong - I have no family legacy in what I was trading with or in trading at all. I was ruthlessly grilled over what my family had experience in, and if it were a test, I failed to impress with my family history of farming. My only saving grace appeared to be in my choice to become a merchant in an effort to provide for my farming family.
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