Class: Dwarf
Cael has both the burden and privilege of being the first born son of Gardik Thoradan, Chief of the second largest Dwarven Clan in Karameikos. The Mountain Dwarves are a proud people and believe themselves to be of purer blood and truer bearers of traditional culture than their lesser cousins the Hill Dwarves, who currently comprise the largest clan.
Gardik has four children from his two wives and one concubine. His eldest son is Cael, who also has a twin sister Tela, they are the children of his deceased first wife. Cael's brother Rorur is two years younger and the son of Gardik's second wife. The fourth child Niru (also a boy) is still a babe, borne to Gardik's newest concubine.
Gardik rules his people with a will of iron, fearsome and bloodied from many battles, he commands respect from his people. However he deals mainly in Justice and barely ever in mercy. He has entered an alliance with the humans only out of necessity and believes in keeping the Dwarven race pure and unsullied with mixed blood.
Cael has always struggled to fulfil his father's expectations , although intelligent , he always preferred scouting and hunting to lessons. His sister on the other hand was always an attentive student, while Cael snuck out of lessons. Tela was a natural warrior, skilled with an axe and sword, a tactician. Cael preferred the bow as his weapon of choice, much to his father's chagrin.
Cael and his sister were always close and althrough Tela was frequently exasperated with her feckless brother, she loved him dearly. They lost their mother while still babes, a childbed fever carrying her off. It is said that was the only time anyone had ever seen Gardik express emotional weakness, when he buried his beloved. However he did not dwell on grief and soon married again, Rorur was born a year after. Cael and Rorur never saw eye to eye on anything. Rorur was serious, Cael was light-hearted. Cael had the salt to even poke fun at his stoic father (although never within ear shot!) and Rorur worshiped his father. They resented each other. Rorur was always striving for Cael's place as first born and Cael was envious of Rorur's lesser, more easy position in the clan.
As time when on, it became more and more apparent that Cael was never going to be the fierce clan leading warrior that Gardik desired. When he reached his late teens, Cael began sneaking off to the surface to go drinking at human taverns. He would turn up to his classes and his father's clan meeting, tired and his beard unkempt. Gardik began to pressure Cael, taking away privileges and using harsher and harsher words. Then finally the conflict came to a head, Cael came before his father with a human woman!
To Gardik's horror Cael had shaved his beard and proclaimed that he renounced his claim to leading the clan. He had fallen in love with the daughter of a tavern owner from a local village, they had been married secretly some months ago and she was already with child.
Gardik acted quickly and ruthlessly. He imprisoned his first-born in a dank cell for a month. By the time Cael was set free, his father coldly informed him that his 'wife' had been bribed with sufficient gold for her to proclaim that they were never truly married, she had also agreed to drink moon tea to get rid of the babe she was carrying. Cael was offered banishment with nothing but the clothes on his back or to come back to his father's court as a second son with Rorur as the new first born. Cael deeply shaken, agreed to remain on as the second son. His sister Tela had not even been considered to replace him, as she was female and therefore considered not a suitable leader in Dwarven society.
Cael took to wenching, drinking and gambling. Seemingly the happy, joking trickster that he had been previously, however those closer to him, knew that he had changed.
Gardik focused in all his attention on Rorur, grooming him to be the new leader of the clan. Until the issue with the giants arose...
DWARVES & HALF DWARVES
It is said that the Immortal Kagyar Soul-Forger crafted two dwarf males for every female, because females are twice as complicated...
Be that as it may, the shortage of dwarf females results in many liaisons between wandering male dwarfs and human or (sturdy) halfling women, even gnomes on occasion. The progency are called 'half dwarves', and may favour either parent.
Wandering Dwarf males not infrequently come together to found a new Clan under a powerful Dwarf Lord (level 9+), but in almost all cases few if any dwarf females are available. This raises a critical threat to the new settlement, as all offspring of the first generation will be half-dwarven. A few dwarf-wives might be purchased for enormous bride-sums, and occasionally this results in wife-stealing against an established clan, but such is far from easy and can easily result in destruction of the new clan. The typical solution is that half-dwarf males are not permitted to marry (and in some cases suffer infanticide), while the first generation of half-dwarf females will marry pure-blood dwarf males, either from the founding stock or later arrivals. Their offspring are typically to all appearances typical dwarves, other than the occasional sport, and thus both sexes can marry freely. At this point, after a century or so, the new clan is well on the way to being fully established.
Dwarven Society:
Cael is a very peculiar dwarf, by many standards. Light-hearted, a lover of fun and quick to make friendships, he lacks the suspicious nature that is more common of his race. However he shares one of the commonest traits of his kin, a love of beautiful things. In his case, Cael is particularly interested in attractive women. He also has a love for gold and jewellery, he actually would have made a fine craftsman, if he'd ever put his mind to concentrating on his lessons.
From what I've read about dwarves and what Simon has told me...I'd imagine females are closely guarded. One of the marks of a male dwarves success is marriage to a pure-blooded Dwarven woman. Half-Dwarven women are considered a commodity as well, but not highly sought after. For example, Gardik has one wife and one concubine, both pure-blooded. His officers, would have perhaps one pure-blooded wife, in the very high ranks. His second in command has a pure-blooded Dwarven wife and half-blood concubine. Successful merchants and craftsman would likely marry a half-Dwarven female. The poorer classes, would likely never marry, unless a love match was formed.
To marry is a complex and lengthy process. It is also very expensive. The more pure-blooded the female (the longer they can trace back their heritage) the more expensive the bridal price. Dwarven men traditionally give three gifts, one crafted by their own hand (a demonstration of skill), one gained through battle (a demonstration of strength) and one of great value (a demonstration of wealth).
If a female accepts the first gift, she has entered into a pact of courtship and the bond cannot be broken, unless the male Dwarf is outmatched by a rival. It is common for a Dwarven female to be courted by multiple males at once. The penultimate act of courtship, is when the two opposing parties, either two males courting the female (or in the case of only one male, a champion selected by the females family). The two males engage in battle to win the ladies hand. The female can choose to endorse either male by giving her favor but the male who wins the battle is the one who she must marry by law. Historically they have been many acts of foul play in the suitor battle, most commonly bribing the other champion to take the fall.
After marriage the female dwarf is given greater freedoms within the community, as it is a grievous crime to harm or steal another Dwarven males property, wives are left alone, in most cases. In Dwarven society, rape is punishable by death and the perpetrators family is forced to pay the females family a heavy price of gold, as the female will be 'spoiled' and therefore no longer as valuable a financial asset.
Older Dwarven females or 'Dwarrow-dames' are seen as wise and learned within Dwarven society, they have a social rank and oldest of the clan have their own small council, which the clan leader goes to for advice. Dwarrow-dames oversee the females of clan and ensure that there is adequate protection for them. They also officiate marriages and bless newborns. They hold a role similar to that of human priests.
Females are generally strictly controlled by the clan authorities and are usually not allowed to leave the safety of the stronghold. When they do travel outside of the safety of the clan, they travel with a close guard.
Cael's sister Tela's fondest dream is to escape her father's clan and go out to adventure in the wider world, however she is bound by her feelings of duty to her father. Tela has been given a very through and extensive education, this is not uncommon for high ranking females as Dwarven society is never wasteful, wives are used not only as a source of children but to help their husbands manage their households. Tela has been trained more extensively in combat than normal for Dwarven females, but then again Gardik hopes to marry Tela to the head of another suitable Dwarven clan and therefore Tela may need one day to defend her family in battle.
Dwarven Society:
Cael is a very peculiar dwarf, by many standards. Light-hearted, a lover of fun and quick to make friendships, he lacks the suspicious nature that is more common of his race. However he shares one of the commonest traits of his kin, a love of beautiful things. In his case, Cael is particularly interested in attractive women. He also has a love for gold and jewellery, he actually would have made a fine craftsman, if he'd ever put his mind to concentrating on his lessons.
From what I've read about dwarves and what Simon has told me...I'd imagine females are closely guarded. One of the marks of a male dwarves success is marriage to a pure-blooded Dwarven woman. Half-Dwarven women are considered a commodity as well, but not highly sought after. For example, Gardik has one wife and one concubine, both pure-blooded. His officers, would have perhaps one pure-blooded wife, in the very high ranks. His second in command has a pure-blooded Dwarven wife and half-blood concubine. Successful merchants and craftsman would likely marry a half-Dwarven female. The poorer classes, would likely never marry, unless a love match was formed.
To marry is a complex and lengthy process. It is also very expensive. The more pure-blooded the female (the longer they can trace back their heritage) the more expensive the bridal price. Dwarven men traditionally give three gifts, one crafted by their own hand (a demonstration of skill), one gained through battle (a demonstration of strength) and one of great value (a demonstration of wealth).
If a female accepts the first gift, she has entered into a pact of courtship and the bond cannot be broken, unless the male Dwarf is outmatched by a rival. It is common for a Dwarven female to be courted by multiple males at once. The penultimate act of courtship, is when the two opposing parties, either two males courting the female (or in the case of only one male, a champion selected by the females family). The two males engage in battle to win the ladies hand. The female can choose to endorse either male by giving her favor but the male who wins the battle is the one who she must marry by law. Historically they have been many acts of foul play in the suitor battle, most commonly bribing the other champion to take the fall.
After marriage the female dwarf is given greater freedoms within the community, as it is a grievous crime to harm or steal another Dwarven males property, wives are left alone, in most cases. In Dwarven society, rape is punishable by death and the perpetrators family is forced to pay the females family a heavy price of gold, as the female will be 'spoiled' and therefore no longer as valuable a financial asset.
Older Dwarven females or 'Dwarrow-dames' are seen as wise and learned within Dwarven society, they have a social rank and oldest of the clan have their own small council, which the clan leader goes to for advice. Dwarrow-dames oversee the females of clan and ensure that there is adequate protection for them. They also officiate marriages and bless newborns. They hold a role similar to that of human priests.
Females are generally strictly controlled by the clan authorities and are usually not allowed to leave the safety of the stronghold. When they do travel outside of the safety of the clan, they travel with a close guard.
Cael's sister Tela's fondest dream is to escape her father's clan and go out to adventure in the wider world, however she is bound by her feelings of duty to her father. Tela has been given a very through and extensive education, this is not uncommon for high ranking females as Dwarven society is never wasteful, wives are used not only as a source of children but to help their husbands manage their households. Tela has been trained more extensively in combat than normal for Dwarven females, but then again Gardik hopes to marry Tela to the head of another suitable Dwarven clan and therefore Tela may need one day to defend her family in battle.
Ages for the Thoradan clan.
Cael: 90 Tela: 90. Gardik: 230. Rorur: 75
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