Dwarf

Dwarves are very family-oriented with up to a dozen generations living together. The oldest, more experienced individuals direct able adults in their work, and children are expected to learn from and observe their elders. Extended families are often big enough to be their own communities, with enough individuals to fill every needed role, but in communities of more than one family, each family will generally specialize to different professions.

Dwarves find many different displays of physical prowess attractive, so to be well-muscled and fit is ideal. It's very difficult for Dwarves to accumulate body fat due to their fast metabolism, so most dwarves have split opinions on whether fat is appealing. Long, well-groomed beards are very beautiful, especially if they hang heavy with adornments recognizing their accomplishments. To dwarves, pronounced and bulbous features are signs of a well-developed face, as opposed to the delicate, "childish" faces of the other races.

Each gender is seen as valuable, and of equal physical strength. Professions are generally passed on through families so there are usually even spreads of each gender across a profession, but there may be disparity among the higher ups in certain fields because men and women are considered to have different mental specialties.

Dwarf women are said to better fill the roles of nurturers due to biological reasons, but the definition of a "nurturer" extends beyond child-rearing to education (nurturing the mind), healthcare (nurturing the body), and religion (nurturing the soul). Dwarf men are said to better fill the roles of producers of various forms, such as artisans (producers of crafts), merchants (producers of wealth), and miners or loggers (producers of materials). Food production is seen as a combination of both, so there is always an even spread in that field. There are also equal proportions in physical labor and the military because children are raised by their entire extended family, taking pressure off the mother.

In ancient days, marriages were arranged by the suitor's family elders and a hired matchmaker. Love between a couple was not necessary as long as they weren't butting heads. Noble families still often keep this tradition, while most leave it to the youth to decide, although the elders of both families need to approve before they can be legally married.

Dwarves value collectivism, common good, dedication, and doing your part.

Every dwarf must have a role to play in society, so couples keep their child count low because children who can't contribute are a shame on the family, to the degree of disowning. However, since societal function depends on new generations to take up the mantle, it's also dishonorable for a couple to not have children. If an arranged couple is proven infertile, their parents usually have another child each for the couple to call their own, reducing family shame. The lowest classes of dwarf culture are often those with no/odd jobs, so dwarf adventurers are consequently looked down upon. The same is not always held for adventurers of other races, since they're often held to different standards.

Food

Living throughout the tropics, dwarves have a wide variety of regional cuisines, but all share a common focus around meats, supplemented by a regional staple crop, such as rice or tubers. Dwarves of all regions aren't shy of eating bugs, which are highly nutritious and are especially fun when coated with caramelized honey or caked in excessive spices. Spices are used extensively throughout dwarven cuisine both to preserve the food and make it taste good. Their fondness for big flavor turns to pride because many other humanoids can’t handle the extent or types of spices present, sometimes finding them poisonous. A pay-to-enter winner-takes-all spicebug eating competition is a highlight or crowning event of any festival or clan gathering.

Music

Popular music consists of work shanties made to echo throughout a city and unite workers. Constant pounding beats underlie these. Major workplaces are often designed with acoustics in mind. All the pounding and singing causes many a dwarf to go deaf in their career of a few hundred years. That’s not much of a problem since many workplaces are so loud they communicate in dwarven sign language to each other regardless, and all the songs are learned by heart by then and they can still generally follow the beat.

Dwarf bards are rare, but those that exist draw heavily from the patterns and motifs in working songs or canons. Most follow the same formula while introducing new lyrics, but if a song is popular enough, it gets incorporated into the assortment of work shanties. Music is also used to coordinate attack efforts, and a new work shanty may be invented if a particularly musical dwarf improvises some catchy lyrics after a victorious battle.

A young dwarf becomes a man or woman through a special ceremony where their hair and beard are braided for the first time. As a part of this traditional ceremony, their clan, family, teachers, or other relevant people to a dwarf's development present various adornments to be braided in for notable accomplishments so far. In the days of the Ereduarn Empire, this coincided with their mandatory draft into military service.

Sparring is a prominent social activity, as it releases pent-up energy and creates unity, since any high-brow general or minor miner can go head to head, and either may win. Play-fighting is encouraged in dwarf children so they can hold their own against any dangers they may encounter in their life.