Of Dwarves: Death

Death in dwarven culture is handled differently then in other cultures.  Being a practical race, dwarves find the rites and rituals of other cultures odd, and vice-versa.  In most other cultures, the custom is that the deceased is buried with some belongings that will aid him in the afterlife.  A period of mourning is expected for the deceased’s friends and family, and it’s generally considered a sad affair.

A dwarven funeral is completely different.  Dwarves generally do not hold funerals.  They hold celebrations.  Dwarves do not see death as a time to mourn, but as a time to celebrate the life of the deceased.  It’s a time to celebrate the accomplishments, the honor, the glory, and the exploits of the dead.  To be sure, no dwarf wants to die, but they do not see death as an end.  Merely, it’s the stage in which a dwarf leaves the material world to join Moradin in the great Mountain beneath the world.  This is the place dwarven dreams go.  The Anvil of the Earth, the Fires of Moradin, the Mines under the Mountain – these are all part of the dwarven afterlife.  But most important of all is the Hall of Dwarves.  A giant hall with ale and food always ready and waiting, and with dwarves always ready and willing to greet you.  It’s the reward for a lifetime of duty and honor.

So it’s a shock for outsiders who are unaware to see the celebration of a dwarves death.  Dwarves understand this, and take great pains to explain their actions, though rarely with success.

This of course affects the beliefs of dwarves in general.  For the most part, this creates a rather odd division in beliefs when a dwarf is accused of “grave robbing.”  In dwarven culture, grave robbing does not exist.  Rather, desecration of a grave is a crime, but robbing a grave is counter-intuitive to a dwarf.  The idea that a corpse would need material wealth in death is crazy talk to the bearded folk.  Indeed, for many of them, it’s an insult to the gods.  If the person being buried was indeed blessed by his god and was rewarded on death, what makes the mortals of the world feel that anything they could provide would be in any way needed by the dead.  Moreso, no dwarf worth his beard would want to be buried with a tool or item that could be used by others.

This is not the say dwarves are buried naked without armor or weapons.  But there are really only two reason for this to happen.  The first, and far more common is the ceremonial armors, weapons, and tools.  These items represent the tools of their trade, but in practical use, they are not useable.  They are made purely for look, and in many cases, cannot function as the represented item.  The other reason a dwarf would be buried with his tools is if the dwarf died far from home and bringing armor and weapons would be unwieldly and unwise.  Dwarves are practical folk, and while burying a dwarf with weapons and armor isn’t needed, neither is removing it for no reason.  It’s also useful because now dwarves have an easy way of retrieving said weapon or armor at a later date if the need arises.  And by Moradin’s beard, no dwarf would want his tools to go unused after his death.  It would be an insult to some to see that their tools were not wanted.

Dwarves understand that this belief is not shared by other races, but they frankly don’t understand why.  Dwarves won’t go digging up graves looking for treasures, but they have no qualm in taking a quick peak to see if something could be useful in their current situation or following a map to buried treasure in a tomb of some old dead guy.

This is not to say dwarves do not understand the importance of the body.  They won’t destroy a body for the sake of hoping to find treasures.  They’ll do their best to restore the tomb, minus treasures, to it’s original condition.

The practical dwarf – confusing and infuriating priests and religous folk of other races for centuries!

Of Dwarves: Defenders

When you are a defender, his father would say, you accept responsibility for the lives of those you defend.  It isn’t out of glory.  It isn’t out of honor.  It isn’t even because of your family.  It’s because you accepted it.  And they’ve accepted you as their defender.  As much as you depend on them to find the ore and mine the ore and smelt the ore and smith the ore into something you can wear and wield, they depend on you to defend them at every turn.

His grand-pere would look up at this, and smile, shake his head, and laugh at this.  Not because it was funny, but because What yer par is trying to say, sone, is that you watch their back so they can be doing what they be out there to do.

His par nodded to his par, but when he turn back to face his sone, his eyes gave that serious look that only means one thing, that Thoradrin better listen now, sone.  Grand-pere be right.  But you know it’s serious out there.  Twenty times you might go out, and twenty times you might come back, not a drop of blood you spilt save for when you crack your head a good one on a sharp ‘tite.  But it’s the one and twenty that will get you good, and the orc and goblin will come in to kill.  And don’t be soft when that time comes.  Always be ready.  Always be waiting.

Thoradrin would nod and accept his par’s blessing each and every time he went out, and his grand-pere would always slip him a bit of rum to keep him warm out in the dark. A nip or two in the whee cold hours ne’er hurt.  Keeps the blood boiling and the heart ready he would say.

So defending became his purpose.  Defending became his life.  And defend he did the miners and prospectors and the traders and the caravans.  Until that day.  That damned awful day.

His grand-pere once said A day will come when you all you do to defend won’t be damn near enough, and you’ll bite yer own head off to take it back.  That’s when you’ll have to make a choice.  Go back to defending, or move on.  No Mightstone ever defended clean, but damn no defender every did.  But when that day comes, and you’ll know it sure, remember this, that same be I told your par: Always be ready.  Always be waiting.