Race Category - Dwarves

Dwarves are a stocky race of demi-humans who love gold and gems as much as a man loves breathing. They often live in the depths of mountains and hills, living out their adult lives as miners, smiths and gemcutters of great repute. There are two minor races of dwarf, the mountain dwarf and the chaos dwarf, and a third, the Khazad, we include in our description of reincs. We also include here that distant cousin of the dwarves, the gnome.

Mountain Dwarves

This dwarven subrace lives beneath the mountains in isolated strongholds. Most mountain dwarves value their privacy and avoid contact with outsiders. A typical mountain dwarf stands five feet tall and weighs 170 pounds. Their hair is lighter than their high dwarf cousins', and their skin tends to have a reddish tint. Mountain dwarves are often wary of high dwarves, as they are suspicious of their cousins' dealings with the outer world. They are the toughest of all dwarves and make good climbers. Also they are reknown for their unsurpassed skills in the art of smithing and recognizing weaponry or arcane, dwarvenbuilt structures. Most of them are neutral aligned, some of them are good.

Chaos Dwarves

The Chaos Dwarfs are a black-hearted race that has been altered by the warp. Filled with an industrious nature the Chaos Dwarfs have turned their homelands into a smoke-filled wasteland, always searching for slave labor to man their foul factories. They are similar to the other dwarves in appearance, but use to have black or white hair and dark piercing eyes. Almost all chaotic dwarves are chaotic evil, very few are neutral aligned.

Gnomes

Distantly related to dwarves, gnomes are smaller - averaging three to three and a half feet and weighing about 70 pounds. Gnomes have deep tan or brown skin and white hair. The most distinguishing feature are their noses, in which they take great pride. For some reason, all gnomes have very large noses - compared to the rest of their facial features. The average life span for a gnome is 350 years. Gnomes tend to live in hilly meadows and rocky woodlands. Their small size makes them wary of larger races, though gnomes are not hostile unless the larger folks are evil. Gnomes are much less dour than their dwarven relatives, with sly and lively senses of humor. Many people - mostly gnomes - say that gnomes have elevated practical jokes to an art form. Gnomes also love living things and finely wrought items of all types. But most especially they love gems and jewelry and are considered by many to be the best gem cutters and jewelers there are. Rock gnomes are the most common gnomes, and they can be encountered in a variety of climates and enviroments. Their eye color is predominately blue, altough brown or green are seen occasionally. Their hair is usually white or pale gray. Rock gnomes are typically neutral good, but the whole gnomen society is open to any align. Of all the mortal races, the gnomes are the most adept at mathematical and spatial manipulations, and they are thought to be the most naturally intelligent of the humanoid races. Even gnomes raised among other cultures are natural tinkerers, and have been known to drive entire villages wild with their toys.