Hermit Holes

It takes a strange one to look at the safety a dwarven city offers and make a conscious decision to leave it all behind yet some are rumoured to exist.  

Living the Solitary Life

  Hermits are the folk that look at the hustle and bustle of a civilised place and actively decide to leave it all behind in favour of the deep, dark tunnels of the world. Often sporting outstanding survivalist abilities from previous jobs or hobbies, these individuals are very well versed in navigating long uninhabited cave and tunnel systems.   Many things may drive an individual away from society. The lack of social cohesion could cause somedwarf to feel as though they cannot fit in with expectations. Some are drawn to a role of generalist rather than looking to become experts in a specific field. Some are simply forced into the lifestyle through outer exile for their crimes. Regardless of the reasoning, if they manage to set up a home outside of dwarven comforts, they need to have a wide set of skills to be able to live in isolation.    

A Hermit’s Home

  From roughly hewn indents in cave walls to elaborate fungal plank housing built around crystalline structures, the hermit’s home is never completed. The constant damage the homes experience from water, flora, fauna or all manner foul beasts and oddities means that they often appear ramshackle in appearance. A stark contrast to the exquisite geometric stonework of the city's artisans.   Continual efforts have to be made on an almost daily basis to keep the elements at bay. Constant minerals dripping down onto roofs can cause a build up of sedimentary stone in only a few months while simultaneously carving routes through softer stone structures. Without the correct jigs for each flagstone, the required angles for water to run off of a building in a way as to not cause damage are almost impossible to achieve. Combating subsidence is incredibly tricky even for the most schooled in the subject; The dynamics of the liquid are notoriously difficult to predict.   Animals of the depths are far more grown than their surface level equivalents and when you’re trapped inside a small cave with a gigantic cave bat crashing around outside the door, you just have to sit there and listen to your hard work being undone.   Even with the knowledge that living a solitary life is an impossibility. It doesn’t seem to deter those that make that choice or those that are forced into it.   A hermit’s work is never complete.  

This is a submission for my second Summer Camp - I hope you enjoy the world I am building!