Places
- Titan’s Skull (33.00)
- The five dwarf fortresses
Ten Things of Old
Though the dwarves of Titan’s Skull are decadent, even in these days there are things of old that they remember. Things that they hold true to:
- The Hoard will have its due.
- Do not flaunt evidence of one’s gender before the eyes of outsiders.
- He who slays a dwarf will be repaid sevenfold.
- He who saves the life of a dwarf will be repaid sevenfold.
- When away from one’s home, a dwarf must carry a sharp axe and wear a stout helm.
- Do not destroy what could be of use.
- Do not sleep without one’s back to the ground.
- Do not disagree with another dwarf before the eyes of outsiders.
- Do not break one’s sworn word.
- Relieve silver from those fools who cannot keep it. At least most of the time. When it’s convenient.
Presumably other dwarves also hold these things true.
The Beard-Mask
The dwarves of Titan’s Skull place a veil beneath their nose to hide their beard and disguise their gender while in public. This is a strict interpretation of the dwarves’ second law on gender, with ‘outsiders’ sometimes interpreted to mean
anyone outside one’s immediate family.
The nature of the veil depends on the dwarf’s station and personal preferences. Particularly conservative dwarves may cover their entire face, arguing—probably correctly—that a dwarf’s gender can be surmised from facial structure. In some cases the veil is a simple cloth but in many cases it is an elaborate artificial beard, often made from race or expensive materials.
Drums
Elven music can twist a man’s wits and the vile giggles of gnollish bards can break even an archmage’s concentration, but dwarf drummers make music that sinks deeper than either. Men who have slaved in dwarfish mines hear the echoing of drums in the their dreams even decades later and awake to see their raw and bloody hands pounding against the walls to the beat of the drum.
Made of red birch and covered with elfskin (elfskin makes the best drums, see also: 39.14) dwarven drums are not easily carried but their music cannot be forgotten. It sinks deep into the soul and guides the hand, so that a thousand miners may raise and lower their picks to the tune one a single echoing drum. Humans who live in the shadows of The Grey Mountains whisper that dwarven drumming can draw a sleeping child out of their bed and into the black pits of the dwarven mines or even rouse the dreaming dead for one last dance.
The greatest dwarven drum still lies deep beneath Titan’s Skull (33.00. It is said that that when Hoth Achaar (26.01) fell to the orcs it guided the steps of refugees who marched all the way from there to safety without rest, food or sleep. They all collapsed dead at the end of the march, but no matter, they kept some of the greatest treasures of dwarfkind from falling into orcish hands.
Hooks:
- -What can you tell me of elven bards?
- -Why does elfskin make the best drums?
- -Do dwarven drummers really steal human children?
- -Can dwarf drums make the dead dance?
- -Any other stories about the great drum? What is it called?
- -What treasure was taken out of Hoth Achaar?
- -Do the dwarves have any really really stupidly big drums? Why would they need a drum so large and awesome?