Physiology
Dwarves are renowned for their hardy resilience and formidable immune system.
Similar to Fae Elves, dwarves possess remarkable restorative cell-life, allowing them to live far longer than most galactic races. They do however possess remarkably low birth rates.
Dwarves are much shorter than many other humanoids, standing on average at 3’8”. It is thought this is due to hormonal growth at a young age being restricted by dwarves’ dense bones and musculature.
Dwarves have average life spans of 225 stellar years. reaching adulthood at the age of 21.
Early Sapient Life
The first dwarves are recorded to have lived within the Kamalian Mountains upon the diverse planet of Padia. For much of their civilisation’s lifetime, dwarves would make this mountain range their home, thanks to religious beliefs adopted early into their sapience, at the core of which was the idea that one’s soul would be carried through an underground River of Death to the afterlife. To die outside of the mountains, was to doom one’s soul.
Significant Historical Events
Given they share the same homeworld, much of orcish history is weaved into that of humanity and the other Padian races. Referencing the spotlights of other Padian races may help build a clearer picture of how these races developed and grew together.
Founding of the Dwarven Archives, GY 3706 / 164 PPT – The Dwarven Archives were established in their holy capital of Khim Dural. Dwarven society established strong traditional of preservation of both knowledge, and physical spaces. If a blacksmith were to pass away for example, his forge would be held as a monument, for future generations to study and learn from his techniques. This same attitude extended to information and eventually academia. The Dwarven Archives would keep records of every text, census, research paper, etc that would pass through their halls. Over the two thousand years after its founding, the Dwarven Archives would be a peerless and well-preserved institute.
The Academic Emigration, GY 5666-5788 / 2124-2246 PPT – After the Convergence of Time and Space, academic institutes, once almost solely established by dwarven societies, began to crop up all over the world. The leading academy would soon become the Hall of Memories, based in Nerita and founded by the dwarven hero Demosthenes. This academic wave that swept over the planet began to draw competition with the older, traditional institutes in the Dwarven Holds. With most institutes outside the Dwarven Holds focussing on new and bold research methods, many dwarves were drawn away from their homes to study and the old institutes became a novelty, a relic of the past.
The Clustered Schism, GY 6154 / 2612 PPT – As years went by and dwarven society grew, the same could not be said for the space within their ancestral mountain range. The Kamalian Mountains were vast, but not endless. As population grew, overcrowding became and issue, and once preserved monuments of the past would become illegally occupied as dissent and deviancy became rife. After some time, dwarven society developed a clear schism, those dwarves that still believed in living close to the River of Death, and those that would travel and settle beyond their ancestral home, and defy their beliefs. Over the next millennia fewer and fewer dwarves would spend their entire life within the Kamalian Mountains, especially as the study and understanding of the Celestial Wars came to the forefront of their knowledge.
Shared Values/Beliefs
Despite their traditional society, dwarves are incredibly academically minded, having been consistently practicing academia for well over three millennia. Dwarves will often be found at the forefront of pioneering research, and even leading large research collectives, funded by Stellar Empires or even the Galactic High Republic.
Despite the departure from their ancestral roots, many dwarves still find themselves more comfortable living around either mountains or rivers. Whilst some of this could be pinned to ingrained beliefs, it is thought that they have become environments that more naturally sustain dwarven needs, desires and diets.
Significant Figures
Dr Antopholes – A prominent dwarven researcher and de-facto head of the Corbyx Collective. Dr Antopholes is an older dwarf who is incredibly well respected for his study of arcane and celestial history.
Significant Enclaves
Corbyx Collective (System: Whenan) – An enormous research collective based on the crystalline mountainous planet of Corbyx in the Whenan system. Much of their study is done on Corbyx Crystals, twinned arcane crystals that allow near instantaneous communication over large distances. Finding twinned crystals that can work in this way is rare and a sub-optimal task. Because of this, much of their research is into methods of finding paired crystals and of potentially replicating their power.
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