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[Idea] Cliff Dwarves


Soggy365
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Before we begin, I'd like to just mention that I'm not sure whether my Cliff Dwarf idea would be considered a subrace or a culture, but I'll let the community give their own opinions on the matter.

 

                            ~=~ Cliff Dwarves ~=~

 

     In the early days of The Fringe, a selection of ancient dwarven legends were rediscovered by the Remembrance Guild. One legend, which many thought to be mere fiction, described the story of one of Urguan's lesser known sons. 

 

    Aumi Wakebeard, a son of Urguan, was strange compared to his other brothers. He was intrigued by water, and loved to wade in the cool shallows of a river nearby his mountain home. He earned his name from the way his beard grew: curls reaching down like waves crashing on distant shores.

   Urguan often scolded his son for his "exotic" behavior, but Aumi refused to listen. He relished the feel of river-smoothed rocks beneath his feet, of the refreshing water lapping his knees. One day, as he wallowed about in the shallows as usual, he smelled a strange thing.

  It was salt, borne down the wind from the sea far away. Even though he had never heard them, Aumi imagined the cries of gulls over the bays and beaches on the coasts. His blue eyes sparkled with delight as he pictured the beautiful scenes by the sea. He took a step eagerly towards the tangy, salty smell, but his foot caught on a loose rock.

  The unfortunate dwarf was soon fully beneath the water, floundering like he was stark. He could not fight the mighty power of the river, and before long, was being carried along on the current. Urguan heard the young dwarf's wails and ran out of his underground home to locate him, only to see his son as a black dot in the distance. He sobbed and begged Yemekar to save Aumi, but it was too late. His son's terrified screams filled the air as he was cast over the edge of a thundering waterfall. The Father of The Dwarves fell upon his knees, tears streaming from his eyes and becoming entangled in his beard.

 

  The legend ends here, and was originally thought to be a warning for the dwarves against the dangers of water. Little did anyone know that it was actually a true story, until Aumi Wakebeard's descendants arrived in Kal'Arkon.

 

                                                     ~=~ Introduction ~=~

 

  What are Cliff Dwarves, and what do they have to do with this legend? As you read above, my idea is to have Aumi Wakebeard, a long-lost son of Urguan, establish a new kind of dwarf. But he must have died Soggy? Wrong. Aumi was carried by the river down to the sea.

  What happened then? Well, Aumi was immediately in love with the sea. He built his home into the side of a cliff (The first Cliff Dwarf), with windows opening over the water. He became an excellent fisherman and swimmer and, over time, his lifestyle and that of his descendants adapted to life on the sea shore. Nobody is sure how his children came to be. Some say he met a female dwarf on one of his rare travels inland, others that he fell in love with a beautiful sea creature. Though Aumi is long deceased, his kinsmen continue his way of life.

 

                                                      ~=~ Appearance ~=~

 

  Cliff Dwarves are quite different to their cousins. They have broader chests, which house larger lungs that developed to allow them to hold their breath longer underwater. They also have much larger arms, used for swimming against the powerful waves of the sea. 

  Cliff Dwarves generally have black hair, which becomes snow white in old age. They often die it a deep navy colour by using the juices of berries that grow on bushes on the edges of their cliff homes. Most male cliff dwarves are bald on the top of their heads, probably because of the long years their ancestors spent working with the hot sun beating down on them. Their beards are shorter than those of their cousins, which stops them from interfering with swimming. They are very curly like Aumi's, and years of contact with salty water has left them stiff and wiry. Their eyebrows tend to be very bushy, which keeps the salt water from stinging their eyes. Their eyes are usually light blue, deep blue or sea-green, because they prefer to marry dwarves with these characteristics, as it reminds them of the sea. Their skin is tanned from exposure to the sun, and often tough and care-worn because the salt has dried it out.

   Cliff dwarves are shorter than mountain and cave dwarves, which is thought to be because of their diets. They live mainly off fish and bread, into which they add seaweed and sea salt. Their ale can barely be stomached by the other dwarves, because it generally contains an immense amount of salt.

 

                                                      ~=~ Architecture ~=~

 

  Cliff Dwarf architecture is a sight to behold. The wealthier dwarves burrow into the inland sides of cliffs, opening windows overlooking the sea. Poorer Cliff Dwarves build homes on the land above the cliffs, using sandstone and oak logs as their main materials.

 

                                                      ~=~ Occupations ~=~

 

 Cliff Dwarves tend to stray towards jobs as fishermen, brewers and bakers. As mentioned above, into their food they incorporate the characteristics of the sea; most of it containing salt and sometimes seaweed. They also make very talented sailors; their experience as fishermen and swimmers allowing this.

 

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 Well, that concludes my lore idea for Cliff Dwarves. I'd be happy to hear your opinions, positive or otherwise. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. I know this lore is quite short, but hopefully I can add your suggestions and beef it out a bit. Thanks for reading,

                                                                                                                       -Soggy365

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I quite like this. . .and the story about Aumi being carried away by the river actually sounds like a genuine legend. If this would be expanded upon more it would make for some good racial lore. +1

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This would be great if we had more players. The races are split up as it is, each sub-race will only end up to have few members.

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This would be great if we had more players. The races are split up as it is, each sub-race will only end up to have few members.

Actually, this works out well for the Cliff Dwarf idea. Considering they would be so isolated from the other dwarves, there would only be one Cliff Dwarf clan, so minimal members would be needed to play them.

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I would quite enjoy this as a culture, but maybe not a subrace. We don't really need anymore subraces, and you saw what happened to the Forest Dwarves. Also, I would really enjoy if sailing was incorporated into their culture, making them a manly sort of sea dwarf. 

 

Anyhoo, just make sure that you have the playerbase to support this, and make sure that the dwarves have the playerbase to support another split off before doing this. 

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No more sons of urugan

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I reckon all you have to do is get an LM to acknowledge this and then proceed with it in RP, which is the best way to make things happen. Don't propose ideas, make them happen through role-play ;)

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I would quite enjoy this as a culture, but maybe not a subrace. We don't really need anymore subraces, and you saw what happened to the Forest Dwarves. Also, I would really enjoy if sailing was incorporated into their culture, making them a manly sort of sea dwarf. 

 

Anyhoo, just make sure that you have the playerbase to support this, and make sure that the dwarves have the playerbase to support another split off before doing this. 

I had the same idea with the boats and all, I'll add it later. As for the playerbase, I could try and get non-dwarves to play as the Cliff Dwarves, and to have some sort of road or railway connecting their land to the capital. This way, the dwarf playerbase would be increased rather than split off.

I reckon all you have to do is get an LM to acknowledge this and then proceed with it in RP, which is the best way to make things happen. Don't propose ideas, make them happen through role-play ;)

I'd love to see this happen, but that's up to the LM's, I suppose. We'll have to wait and see,  but thanks for the advice.

 

 

No more sons of urugan

Can I ask why?

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Go make it! :)

 

It falls completely with the Mechanical Standard lore rules so you don't need any kind of acceptance from LMs or GMs or anyone else. The reason we changed the lore rules is so that you could just go and do it.

However, you won't be added to the official subrace list and thus won't get plugin benefits or Cliff Dwarf as a character card option.
Subraces can't be "approved". Most groups with subrace potential don't survive the death of the group that created them. The way you become a subrace is to become adopted into the wider community. The Snow Elves, for example, are not. The Snow Elves are all part of or connected to the Princedom of Fenn, and it's looking like the death of the Princedom might kill them off. If we destroyed Haelunor, the High Elf city, High Elves would still be around. They're more than just their nation. When people make characters of your subrace who have nothing to do with your group whatsoever, that's when they're getting there. Once they're no longer "yours" or your group's and are just another bit of the server, then they're getting there.

There have been plenty of groups that have been at some point a de facto subrace but not an official one. Dalidriad and the Snow Elves are two examples. Both of these were physically and culturally distinct. They didn't get subrace status because they were only really adopted by one group, the group that made them. When the Dalidriad's "nation" group died, so did they. The Snow Elves are also facing their first test of racial endurance with their nation in strife and on the verge of destruction. If the obliteration of the Princedom kills them off, then we're vindicated in not making them a subrace. If they endure, then that's a sign that they might just make the cut.

In brief, nobody can make a physically distinct culture into a subrace. It's a state they have to reach themselves. You become an official subrace when you're one already.

Does that make sense?

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Go make it! :)

 

It falls completely with the Mechanical Standard lore rules so you don't need any kind of acceptance from LMs or GMs or anyone else. The reason we changed the lore rules is so that you could just go and do it.

However, you won't be added to the official subrace list and thus won't get plugin benefits or Cliff Dwarf as a character card option.

Subraces can't be "approved". Most groups with subrace potential don't survive the death of the group that created them. The way you become a subrace is to become adopted into the wider community. The Snow Elves, for example, are not. The Snow Elves are all part of or connected to the Princedom of Fenn, and it's looking like the death of the Princedom might kill them off. If we destroyed Haelunor, the High Elf city, High Elves would still be around. They're more than just their nation. When people make characters of your subrace who have nothing to do with your group whatsoever, that's when they're getting there. Once they're no longer "yours" or your group's and are just another bit of the server, then they're getting there.

There have been plenty of groups that have been at some point a de facto subrace but not an official one. Dalidriad and the Snow Elves are two examples. Both of these were physically and culturally distinct. They didn't get subrace status because they were only really adopted by one group, the group that made them. When the Dalidriad's "nation" group died, so did they. The Snow Elves are also facing their first test of racial endurance with their nation in strife and on the verge of destruction. If the obliteration of the Princedom kills them off, then we're vindicated in not making them a subrace. If they endure, then that's a sign that they might just make the cut.

In brief, nobody can make a physically distinct culture into a subrace. It's a state they have to reach themselves. You become an official subrace when you're one already.

Does that make sense?

Ah, I understand now. Thanks for clearing this up Lago.

If anyone reading this thread is interested in playing one of these characters, shoot me a PM. I'll make things more official later, this is just to get started up.

((Written on a phone, sorry for any mistakes ))

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Why?

 

We argeed in Asulon that our lore needs to be stable with no big surprises and such coming in. We have three subraces and on of them is open for lots of players. Cliff dwarves arnt that much different. Cave dwarves and mountian could do it both.

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I wouldn't call a new dwarf clan with a unique culture a "big surprise." We've already established that this is not a subrace, just a prototype culture. If we get a few players, it'll be a unique clan. If we get a few more, it'll be a unique culture. But, let's be honest, the chances of this becoming a subrace are quite slim.

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As Hiebe stated, no more sons of Urguan. It helps keep stability, not to mention saves us a lot of issues with people claiming they have things from Urguan because they're a son, ect. I would be more of a lost clan with it's founders father not known. Like most clans are these days. The way it works there are eight sons of Urguan. But Dwarves in rp state seven, calling the eight (the Ironborn) the "Forbidden son." Saves us a lot of issues that way, rather than everyone claiming they are Urguans sons. Changing things to suit their clan, such as making out they were favoured with gifts or abilities, ect. Cliff Dwarves, can just be the characteristics of the founder dwarf. Doesn't need to be a son of Urguan.
 
Personally I'm against this, seeing I don't really see the point in another subrace. It just further divides the playerbase, which to be honest isn't as big as people think. But go for making a clan with this culture. I just feel that the forest dwarves tried the whole, "we're isolated." It doesn't work, the Dwarves have shown that they want the subraces/clans to interact to mesh in their cities. Not for one of them to kinda go off on their own. 
 
Edit: Just a note with subraces, take the recent Doomforge or the Thunderfirst wierd mutation. You don't have to be a son of Urguan to have "unique traits". Could come from simple evolution, or mutation.

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  Like I said, this is not a subrace. As Lago explained, it doesn't work that way. It is, as you suggested,  more of a unique clan or culture. I'll take your "unknown founding father" idea; I hadn't realised the "no more sons of Urguan" discussion was had. As for the evolution thing, this is what I wrote in the lore. The founding father wasn't physically akin to his descendants, but he had their love for the sea and cliffs. The physical traits only appeared after years of adaption to life on the coast.

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