Dwarves

Although being up in the air is as unnatural to a dwarf as a fish taking a stroll through the desert, the dwarves of The Evergreen Realms have done just that. They have opened wide their ancestral keeps and taken to the skies in floating fortress-like ships that only a dwarf could make fly. In ages past they dug deep into the world, they mined for metals, gems, and Sordalite. Being one of the few races that understood the truth of Sordalite and the power it holds, they were also one of the first to harness its power. They excelled in crafting no matter the size of the task; they poured their hearts and centuries of knowledge into anything they made. Many kingdoms of the world pride themselves on their dwarven craftsmen; it is said nearly every kingdom that has graced the land stands tall on the back of the dwarves. They are a very proud and outspoken race, often to their own detriment. The dwarves harbour no ill will towards any of the races of the world and have been known to appear in nearly every kingdom or city, where they hold honoured places in the guilds and courts. Although the old dwarven kingdoms have been long emptied out, some still hold to the ancient practices of their mountain halls where secrets lurk to be uncovered and dug up. However some of the oldest dwarves were around during the the infancy of Airship technology and as such are more reluctant than their younger kinsman to board a ship and sail the skies.

Biology

Bold and hardy from the moment they're born, dwarves grow at a similar rate to humans and reach maturity in their late teens to early 20's and can live well past 200 years old and as such the oldest dwarves remember a very different world. This longevity compared to other races, with the exceptions of the Elves, Tortles and Odari, gives the dwarves a different perspective on the world that the shorter lived races often lack.  

History

Dwarves are solid and enduring like the mountains they so deeply love, weathering the passage of centuries with stoic endurance and comparatively little change. They respect the traditions of their clans, tracing their ancestry back to the founding of their most ancient strongholds in the youth of the world and don't abandon those traditions lightly. Individual dwarves are determined to be loyal, true to their word and decisive in action, sometimes to the point of stubbornness. Most Dwarves have a strong sense of justice and they are slow to forget wrongs they have suffered. As such the older generations held a great deal of resentment after the The Conquest of the Crowanmar Mountains. This has begun to fade in recent years thanks to the DRInU which has shown a great deal of opportunity for the younger dwarves.