Dwarves of the Bersi Mountains

The Dwarf-Lords of the Bersi Mountains

To the west of Saromatia lies a high range of mountains. The women of Saromatia call them the Baset (bah-SAY, rhymes with valet). Dwarves know that the correct, ancient pronunciation is Bersi (BEAR-see). Still, it's in their names for the mountains that the two peoples are most alike.

Dwarven Politics

Dwarven government is far more decentralized than Saromatia's. Each Dwarf-Lord rules a small patch of mountainside from his underground Hall. His clan - for no dwarf would be the subject of another - lives on the mountainside itself, in rocky houses which are often set, as much as possible, into the mountain face. The clan ekes out a living on the mountainside, which feeds them and their Lord. In times of trouble, the entire clan retreats to the Hall for defense.

A group of Lords often elects a regional King, who moderates interclan disputes in what is hoped to be an evenhanded fashion. Only a few times in dwarven history have the Kings gotten together to choose a High King, a leader (often a war leader) to whom they give the temporary priviledge of commanding all dwarves.

Dwarves do not like or understand Saromatia's idea of "divine rule." The Lordships are usually hereditary, but clans can and have gotten rid of inept sons and put more worthy leaders in their place.

Dwarven Society

Dwarves love tradition. The only good poem, to a dwarf, is an old poem. A new poem that sounds like an old poem is all right. The same is true of just about everything else.

Dwarven society is also traditional. Dwarven men are the war-leaders, the Lords, and the warriors. They plan battles or raids, discuss feuds, and make alliances. Some are craftsmen; while dwarf craftsmen can be found making nearly any useful item, metalsmiths are held in the highest regard. Armorers and weaponsmiths are the aristocracy of the smiths.

Dwarven women are guardians of the home and stewards of culture. They protect all that dwarfs hold dear while the men are out sacking and pillaging the neighbors. Dwarven women are some of the most cunning and skilled crafters of traps and ambuscades around. They are the planners of the dwarven buildings, finding ways for three women and an old man to defend an entire Hall. They are also the greatest skalds, transforming dwarven history into poems and stories to be told to the next generation around the fire.

Dwarves do not like farming, and their mountain home makes it difficult at best. To their great satisfaction, they have learned to cultivate a tuber known as kort. Kort isn't terribly flavorful, but can be seasoned with herbs, spices, and so forth. It grows abundantly in poor and rocky soil, requires little attention, and a small garden's worth can feed a family. Kort can even be fermented and distilled to make a flavorless alcoholic beverage. Dwarves drink kortai because it's traditional, and it's good for getting even a dwarf drunk fairly quickly. But many secretly prefer the tastier ales and wines of Saromatia, when they can get them.

Dwarves do like to hunt. Children and women may go slinging for rock hoppers, small, furry mammals that live in den-like colonies on the mountainside. (The parallels to dwarven communities have not been missed by humans, to the dwarves' chagrin). Some dwarves actually raise rock hoppers like humans do chickens. Men will make a great ceremony of hunting. Mountain goats are a favorite game. A pair of fire cats in the area is a fine excuse for some young dwarves to go off and prove their manhood.

Not every dwarf is a miner. A few clans are well-known for their mining skills and mineral riches. They trade the ores they mine with the other clans, often for finished goods. Clans tend to have family specialties; one who mines will have good miners, not good metalsmiths.

Dwarves and War

Dwarves tend to be belligerent. They like a good fight. A male and female dwarf aren't considered happily married unless they fight several times a week!

When no other target presents itself, dwarves will quarrel with rival clans. These feuds have, over the years, largely become traditional and fairly bloodless. Raiding parties are sent, some goods are stolen, and a few blows exchanged. Deaths can and do occur, but it's not the primary goal of the raid. Occassionally, an ambitious Lord will actually try to expand his clan by taking over another clan's Hall and "adopting" them all. While the rival Lord and some of his retainers will probably die in the process, wholesale slaughter is obviously counterproductive here.

Sometimes there will be a genuine blood-feud between two clans. This can continue for a long time if no one else notices. In theory, the King should be sent for, to mediate between the disputants.

The dwarves have never fought against the centaurs; they don't go down into the plains, and the centaurs don't come up into the mountains. But they have fought with Saromatia on several occassions over the centuries. Typically, the human queendom has tried to expand its territory up the slopes of the Bersis, to acquire access to the veins of ore within. The dwarves always resist this heartily.

Dwarven Gods

Thordar is the master-smith who used the sun to forge the world. He is widely worshipped as the head of the pantheon.

Inge is his wife, who gave birth to the dwarven race and showed them how to dig out the first Hall. She is the patroness of dwarven women and their duties to the home.

Ragi and Kokul are Thordar and Inge's two twin sons. Ragi is the Berserker, the dwarven god of passion and fury in battle. Kokul has the cooler head, and is a god of strategy, cunning and trickery.

Dyri is the Underlord, god of metals, riches, and death. He is greedy and scheming, causing dwarves to fight each other and die so that their souls will go down to his realm and add to his horde.

Fjorgyn holds the strands of Fate. She weaves the great poem of the world, in which all deeds are written.

Dwarves in Saromatia

Saromatia runs right up to the edge of the Bersi mountains. Over the years, some dwarves have actually come down and tentatively settled within the human realm. Many of these are outcasts of various stripes. The most common are family groups who have left their clan over a minor grudge. (Always return a borrowed chafing dish!) They aren't officially cast-out, and so may return when they will. They set themselves up as traders, bringing Saromatian cloth, wine, and medicinals up to the clan in exchange for ore or finished metal goods. Some have become quite wealthy this way.

Saromatians think of the dwarves as somewhat savage, with little sense of culture or refinement. The constant squabbling and feuding shows just what will happen if you let hormonal men be in charge! The dwarves, for their part, think the humans are sheeplike for allowing their queen and countesses to rule over them without question. The general peace in Saromatia looks suspiciously like torpor to a dwarf.

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