Dwarf



The dwarves are one of the main humanoid races of the Dragon Age setting, and one of the three playable races in Dragon Age: Origins. Strong, stocky, and short in comparison to humans, the dwarves have a long tradition of combat that has been their saving grace for numerous times. They are a race in decline, once boasting an underground kingdom spanning much of Thedas, but devastated during the First Blight and still losing both lives and territory to the darkspawn every day. In the dwarven language, they refer to themselves as the dwarva.

Unlike elves and humans, dwarves do not naturally enter the Fade when they dream and cannot tap into it, though this does not mean they are completely barred from the Fade. Because of this, they have a resistance to magic, which also gives them a resistance to the dangerous effects of lyrium. However, dwarves who live on the surface a long time or were born under the sky appear to lose their resistance to magic, but their inability to cast spells still persists.

Dwarven Warden characters created by the player in Dragon Age: Origins can only become warriors or rogues.

Racial benefits: +1 strength, +1 dexterity, +2 constitution, 10% chance to resist hostile magic

History
Before the first Blight, the dwarven empire expanded as much underground as the Tevinter Imperium did above.

The first Blight, however, severely crippled the empire as darkspawn flooded the Deep Roads that connected the countless thaigs and cities. Political disunity and the inability to focus their defense led to the dwarves losing countless thaigs over the next couple of centuries, pushing them to the brink of extinction. In order to preserve the remnants of their kind, Orzammar closed its gates to any survivors and became the only bastion of dwarven culture. Centuries later it was discovered that the great thaig of Kal-Sharok had survived, though because of their coldness and anger over Orzammar's drastic act of isolation, any chance of restoring the dwarven empire in all its glory is bleak. So long as Orzammar stands however, so do the dwarves, though more and more lives and territory are lost every year to the darkspawn.

It seems that in ancient times, before the dwarves began recording their history, dwarven society was much different. Over time the dwarves have built cities closer and closer to the surface, but originally they lived very deep underground. The Deep Roads and its thaigs represent the historical layer of dwarven civilization, but below the Deep Roads exists an older layer of tunnels, caves, and thaigs that predate the Deep Roads and the dwarven empire. These Primeval thaigs display cultural practices that would be completely foreign to any modern dwarf, such as the construction of temples, and the veneration of a pantheon of deities.

Culture


Unlike many other cultures in Thedas, dwarves do not worship anthropomorphic gods. Instead, their philosophy promotes excellence and an almost intimate tie to the rock that houses them. Referring reverentially to the Stone, the dwarves speak of it as being alive. They are the Stone's children: they respect her, they fear her, they cherish her, and they give thanks to her for protecting them and providing them with her bounty.

Their beliefs are more akin to ancestor worship, and they also hold a sacred reverence for the stone that surrounds them throughout their entire life. Dwarves who lead a strong and noble life are said to strengthen the Stone when they die, becoming Ancestors. Those who are ignoble or disgraced would weaken the stone and are therefore rejected by it for all eternity.

Every once in a while there's a dwarf who is declared by the Assembly, a sort of ruling council, to be particularly noble. These dwarves become Paragons, and are worshipped during their lives and long after their deaths. When a dwarf is declared by the Assembly to be a Paragon, a noble house is created which bears their name. The deeds of a Paragon are carefully recorded in the Memories, which record the lineage and deeds that help determine what caste a dwarf is born into. The word of a Paragon is held in such esteem that it is sometimes equal to even that of their king.

The social structure of dwarves is broken up into castes. The casteless are the lowest rung of dwarven society: outcasts in their own city, unable to take up work even as servants among the higher castes, nor to defend their honor in the Provings. Dwarves who are exiled or born on the surface are also considered by the Shaperate to be casteless, but with an increase in the number of dwarves from high ranking castes choosing to live on the surface, it is becoming more difficult for some surface dwarves to be considered permanent exiles. The average dwarf will never see the surface, and often will have superstitious beliefs concerning surface-life (such as falling into the sky, or the sun falling to the ground). Those dwarves who are most commonly seen on the surface tend to be merchants, or on occasion smiths, but amongst the dwarves they might have been thieves, murderers or worse.

Above the casteless, numerous and distinct castes make their home in Orzammar, including merchants, smiths, warriors, and nobles. While it is possible for some dwarves to "better their position" within this rigid system, this is rare and very difficult.

The dwarves do have a king, but heredity is not always the determining factor in who sits on the throne. When the time comes, the noble houses fight each other for the power that the throne will bring. While the king may propose an heir to the throne, ultimately, the next ruler is determined in the noble Assembly, by a vote of the deshyrs (dwarven council members).

It has been mentioned that most of the wealth of the dwarves comes from selling processed lyrium to the mages of Thedas. While the Chantry holds a monopoly on lyrium trade with the dwarves, in order to maintain control over templars and mages, the need for lyrium on the surface promotes a great deal of illegal trade.

Politics
Orzammar—and so probably the ancient dwarven empire—is a constitutional monarchy, consisting of a king and one legislative house entirely of nobles. The head of each noble house has the right to sit on the Assembly as a deshyr, representing their house. The Assembly holds the power to advise the king, approve or veto acts of the king, propose policy, declare paragons, and elect new kings.

When a king dies, the Assembly goes into deliberation and chooses one from amongst themselves to be the next king, by majority vote. Ever since the First Blight, it has been traditional for the Assembly to choose a descendant of House Aeducan to be king—the house whose paragon helped save Orzammar and dwarven civilization from destruction. On the rare occassions when this does not happen, the fighting, intrigue, and assassination can be intense, and last for a very long time, before the election is resolved.

The second most important ability of the Assembly is the authority to declare paragons. Declaring a dwarf a paragon is essentially declaring a new noble house, since that paragon and their family will be elevated to noble status. From then on, that house will have the right to have a deshyr to vote at the Assembly. If the Assembly declares no new paragons, the Assembly will stay the same size, and the number of noble houses will remain the same. All growth in the nobility will result only from natural births. If the Assembly declares many paragons over a period of time, the number of houses, and the size of the Assembly, will grow, and a larger percentage of dwarves will be nobles. Because dwarven society, in particular the nobility, is so incredibly conservative, new paragons are almost never declared.

The judicial functions of government are split between the king and the Orzammar Shaperate. The king and his warriors deal with murderers and thieves, while the Shaperate deals with civil disputes. The Shaperate is the keeper of all dwarven law, tradition, history, and records. As a result, the Shaperate holds authority over the authenticity and binding nature of contracts, as well as legal precedent. As the Shaper of Memories is considered a role of extreme impartiality in dwarven society, the Shaper has enormous respect as a disinterested third-party in legal matters.

While the king has the power to propose legislation, the Assembly has a lot of authority to block the king's actions, giving the king limited ability to affect domestic law or international relations without the approval of a majority of the noble houses. The king's primary functions are as an important figure in ceremony, and as the Commander-in-Chief. The king's greatest autonomy is in the deployment of troops in the deep roads and the training of warriors.

Castes
In Orzammar, dwarven society is divided into rigid castes with houses that compete for power and prestige. But all that is discarded when a dwarf abandons the Stone for the surface. Under the open sky, everyone is equal—or so the story goes.

The Legion of the Dead
A great deal of importance is placed on the appearance of nobility and justice amongst the dwarves. The actions of one family member can often severely diminish an entire house's place in the social hierarchy of the dwarves. Some disgraced dwarves will choose to go through a ceremonial "death" to clear their names and the names of their families. They walk out of Orzammar into the Deep Roads to fight darkspawn for the rest of their lives as a member of the Legion of the Dead. When one of their number dies, the Legion will bury him or her within the stone, and celebrate the fact that the fallen has finally found peace.

Provings


Provings are combat-arena matches between dwarves. Dwarves believe that a fighter who wins a Proving has the approval of the Paragons and so they use Provings to settle debates and honor challenges that could not be settled otherwise. This usually falls to warrior caste champions. Some Proving matches are fought to the death, but even in a dwindling society such as Orzammar, that one death is thought preferable to the widespread bloodshed of a conflict between noble houses. In recent years, the Provings have also been used for entertainment matches and events to honor special guests, and each year the best fighters in Orzammar meet for the "Trials of Blood", a great tournament that crowns the kingdom's best and most popular fighter.

The great gladiatorial battles of the ancient Tevinter Imperium are based on this dwarven tradition.

The player has the opportunity to take part in a proving, if they pick either of the Dwarvish origins or in obtaining the aid of the Dwarves and helping a candidate for the throne.

Golems
In ages past, the Paragon Caridin magically crafted huge stone and metal golems to act as war machines for the dwarven armies. The craft of making new golems was lost with Caridin himself, and the main body of war golems, known as the Legion of Steel, was lost in a futile search for him.

Dwarven cities


There are two known dwarven cities. Orzammar is said to be the largest and proudest of the two. The other dwarven city is Kal-Sharok. It was thought to be lost to the darkspawn, but after centuries it was discovered to have survived—although it had done so only at great cost, and with a great deal of resentment against the cousins in Orzammar who had sealed off the Deep Roads and given them up for dead. Other now lost cities were Hormak and Gundaar, both lost at roughly the same time as Kal-Sharok, and Darmallon, which was lost at an indefinite time.

Dwarven language and phrases
The dwarves once had their own language, but (at least in Orzammar), it is no longer generally spoken, and only a few phrases remain in common usage.


 * Amgarrak: "Victory."
 * Amgeforn (ahm-geh-forn): "Sacrifice."
 * Atrast nal tunsha (a-TRAST NAWL TON-shah): A formal farewell. Possibly an archaic form of atrast tunsha, since it is only spoken by Caridin. May translate as "may you always find your way in the dark."
 * Atrast tunsha (a-TRAST TON-shah): A formal farewell.
 * Atrast vala (a-TRAST VA-la): A formal greeting. Literally, "speak" or "find your tongue."
 * Deshyr: Title given to nobles who are members of the Assembly.
 * Dwarva: The word dwarves use to refer to themselves. The human word most likely derives from it.
 * Kalna (KAL-nah): "House" or "lineage."
 * Salroka (sal-ROW-cah): "Friend." Most commonly used by the casteless.
 * Stalata Negat: Part of the title of a book of dwarven history, "Stalata Negat: The Stone Unheld: A Commentary on the Roll of Years."
 * Tezpadam: "Deep Stalker."
 * Thaig (TAIG): A dwarven colony. Generally founded by, and named after, a particular house.
 * Valos atredum (VAH-lows a-TRAY-doom): May translate as "the favor of the ancestors," "the voice of the ancestors" or "the ancestor's blessing."
 * Veata (VEE-et-ah): "Stop" or "halt."
 * Atrast tunsha. Totarnia amgetol tavash aeduc. : words of a formal dwarven rite for the dead.

There are also traces of the dwarven language in some place names. "Gwaren" comes from the combination of two dwarven words, gwah (salt) and ren (pool).

Trivia



 * The dwarven diet includes nug, and much of their ale is brewed from things found within their caves, the most notable of which can be found in sulfuric pools.
 * Early in development it was planned that dwarves would speak with a German accent. It was, however, scrapped and dwarves now speak with an American accent of English. This is a departure from typical dwarven archetype in other fantasy settings, where they usually speak with a thick Scottish accent.
 * The dwarves bear a striking similarity with the Vikings of Scandinavia, given the influence of their names, (Ansgar, Bhelen, Helmi, Sigrun) and the Berserker training that they began, their preference towards combat and drinking, invoking the stereotypical image of the Vikings as barbaric warriors. Reinforcing this point is the presence of Runestones in their cities. However, in contrast, their caste system is very lightly reminiscent of Hinduism.
 * Acording to dialogue between Oghren and Zevran, dwarves are 100 times less numberous than humans.
 * As well as there being no female Kossith Qunari, there are no female dwarves in Dragon Age II.
 * Having a hardy constitution, sickness is thought to be rare among the dwarven folk. But their proximity to the darkspawn means their numbers are dwindling—a low fertility rate, combined with the steady rate of fatalities in battle, means the population of dwarves has been falling steadily for nearly a thousand years.
 * Dwarves have developed their engineering to a level of technology that surpasses everyone but the Qunari (the dwarves have mastered clockwork and limited steam power).
 * Dwarves of Dragon Age also have a number of similarities with the "Dwarfs" of Warhammer from Games Workshop, both are a dying civilization caught in many years of underground wars against monsters, both have had many members of their race escape to human lands for various reasons, both have a disdain for living on the surface (Warhammer Dwarfs are less extreme about it though), and both have a group of disgraced warriors who can only find redemption through death in combat.