Man-dwarves
Man-dwarfs are the relatively rare result of humans and dwarves mating.
Man-dwarves are large, combining a human's height with a dwarf's broad shoulders and muscular builds. An adult man-dwarf on average is only going to be an inch or two shorter than an average adult human of the same sex, if they are shorter at all. Female humans tend to be shorter and lighter than male humans and female dwarfs tend to be shorter and lighter than male dwarves. Man-Dwarfs probably follow the same sexual dimorphism with males being larger but a female man-dwarf is still going to be much larger than a female human or female dwarf. In fact a female man-dwarf is probably going to be at least as heavy as the largest humans and dwarves.
Man-dwarves don’t have any of a dwarf’s natural instincts for stone and they don’t have a full blooded dwarf’s innate resistance to poison and magic. Man-dwarves are very strong and very resilient though.
Scarterran man-dwarves are big as babies. Whether the mother is a human or the mother is a dwarf, child birth has a very high mortality rate for the mothers if magical healing is not available. Dwarf-human coupling is largely taboo mostly because of the danger of child birth. On top of this, humans and dwarves are not usually very close, culturally speaking.
If they don’t become heavily involved with the Lanterns. Man-dwarves rarely truly fit in anywhere. They are not exactly warmly welcomed in human lands, but in general a man-dwarf will find a better reception in human lands than dwarf lands. Stahlheimer dwarves might put a thin veil of politesse over their disdain for these half-breeds, but Meckelorners generally show open contempt. Man-dwarves of Stahlheim or Meckelorn stock nearly always fall into a professions that have no fixed address and benefit from their great strength. They are often mercenaries or sailors. They will try to find a surrogate family in their co-workers. Most Man-dwarfs find they have slightly warmer welcomes among human lands than dwarf lands. Humans tend to be more tolerant of strangeness than dwarves and they also tend to have looser sexual taboos.
In Mondert humans and dwarves tend to get along very well, so man-dwarves are logically more common in Mondert than elsewhere. it also helps that magical healing is relatively common in Modert, so there is less risk of a fatal or crippling problem during child birth. Man-dwarves are generally treated fairly well in Mondert, at least compared to man-dwarves elsewhere.
Outside of Mondert, man-dwarves are exceedingly rare. They are more likely the result of brief trysts rather than genuine romances. These man-dwarves rarely get much exposure to both human and dwarf culture. They are usually raised by their mother’s culture (whether the mother is human or dwarf) or they are left in a basket on the door step of a temple of Zarthus (Zarthus’ followers are honor bound to care for orphans and half breeds).
Basic Information
Genetics and Reproduction
Man-dwarves are the result of dwarves and humans having interspecies, a relatively rare event. Man-dwarves make very big babies. Whether the mother is a dwarf or a human, child birth is rough and the odds of the mother passing in child birth are high without a magical healer or a world class non-magical midwife.
Man-dwarves themselves are all sterile or barren.
Growth Rate & Stages
Man-dwarves age and grow closer to humans than dwarves. They are generally considered to reach the age of majority at age 20, though many don't stop growing entirely until 30. They don't typically notice a significant amount of signs of aging till around age 90, give or take.
Man-dwarves who avoid violent deaths can expect to live to be 150 years old, with a few rare individuals barely beating two centuries.
Dietary Needs and Habits
Because of their large size and muscular builds, man-dwarves tend to eat a lot relative to other Scarterran mortals. Most man-dwarves learn not to be picky eaters, especially if they were raised by dwarves.
Additional Information
Facial characteristics
Man-Dwarves facial features tend to ressemble dwarves more than humans with dwarf style noses and ears, even full dwarves begrudgingly admit this.
Geographic Origin and Distribution
The majority of Scarterra's man-dwarves are in Mondert even though they represent less than 1% of Mondert's population. Man-dwarves are usually accepted by their clans and families and human-dwarf marriages are even socially accepted in Mondert (though still rare).
Even with this acceptance, Man-dwarves are considered second class citizens of a sort. Mondarians, both human and dwarf are very family oriented and man-dwarves' sterility is considered a source of shame. Many man-dwarf are doting aunts and uncles. Also, the majority of Mondarian man-dwarves are warriors are the expected to sacrifice to lives to safeguard their families if it comes to that.
Outside of Mondert, man-dwarves are so uncommon that they cannot be said to have anything approaching a society of their own. Some choose to lean into the human or dwarf side of their lineage and become extremely patriotic and enthusiastic supporters of their homelands while others latch on to a subculture of some sort, commonly Lantern organizations, mercenary companies, guilds, or criminal outfits. A few man-dwarves remain loners in perpuity.
Man-dwarves are equally likely to become wanderers or to try to put roots down somewhere and defend their home vigorously.
Perception and Sensory Capabilities
Man-Dwarves have the sensory capabilities of humans. They have none of the underground instincts or sixth sense for stone nad metal that full dwarves have.
Civilization and Culture
History
The first man-dwarves appeared in Red Era, they obviously could not appear in any historical era where humans and dwarves did not co-exist. They were rare, as dwarves and humans rarely met, much less coupulated and a lot of man-dwarf babies died during the birth process or were left to die of exposure after birth being viewed as cursed children.
If a Man-dwarf child did grow into adulthood in the Red Era, they would count on very little acceptance from society at large. Fears of ogres were prevailent and many man-dwarves have been mistaken for ogres because of their great size and somewhat inhuman features.
The plight of man-dwarves gradually got better as Lanterns began to step up on their behalf. Once the practice of Zarthus temples accepting basket babies became a a near univeral practice, a lot of man-dwarves grew up raised by Lanterns, but it wasn't until the founding of Mondert that any secular group began to accept man-dwarves on a society-wide level.
Even eighteen centuries into the Feudal Era, man-dwarves remain rare and almost never truly accepted.
Character Creation Rules
-Man dwarves have an extra bruised health level.
-Man dwarves receive a -1 difficulty break on all non-magical Strength rolls, including damage rolls. They receive a -1 difficulty break on Willpower rolls when making feat of Strength checks.
-Dour, Man-dwarves pick up the full-dwarves’ social graces. They have a +1 difficulty penalty on all non-magical Charisma rolls with those who do not know them well.
-Man-dwarf player characters receive 8 fewer freebie points than normal.
Player characters are encouraged but not required to take on Flaws related to being a social outcast or pariah, unless they are Mondarian in which case they should probably consider taking some social Merits such as “Honorary Dwarf Clan Member.”
Average Height
6'5" with females only a tiny bit smaller than males on average
Average Physique
Man-dwarves take the basic musulature and bone structure of a dwarf and stretch it out to human size and beyond, with some of the largest man-dwarves topping seven feet. Almost all of them are above six feet tall, broad shouldered and muscular.
Geographic Distribution
Related Ethnicities
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