Dwarves and Domestication! - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 fenrir7139 Feb 07, 2010 2:15:00	For many, this thread may not be as enticing as it first appeared, as this refers to dwarves domesticating dungeon denizens, as opposed to dwarves being domesticated. So, I want to flesh out my dwarves. One step for this (I think) is to go into their use of animals. Not a whole lot of animals (that I know of) enjoy living in solid-stone tunnels. Anyway, my first idea was the Mole. Moles Dwarves make heavy use of domesticated Moles; however, these moles are not the type one would see in the average back yard. Most are the size of a German Shepard, and some grow to sizes even greater than that. They are used for milk, meat, hides, companions, guard-dogs, and, when not excavating solid rock, mining tools. Some are also used as pack animals, pulling materials on sleds, similar to dogs of native american tribes. Obviously, due to size differences, they are not used as mounts; generally, dwarves do not use mounts below ground, though they sometimes use particularly large moles to pull wagons and mine carts. Use of moles in surface settlements is uncommon; though moles can run at a fair pace, they are outmatched by horses and other means of conveyance, and larger animals, like cattle, are often used to fill the roles for food and milk, though some above-ground dwarf clans still keep a few moles as pets, and some dwarves have a particular taste for their meat and milk. It is not uncommon for dwarven rangers to take moles as animal companions (utilizing the statistics for Lizards or Bears), and some dwarven druids choose Moles as their default animal form. Likewise, Dwarf shamans often attract mole spirits, and the Rage of the Stone-Mole is well documented among dwarven barbarians.
#2 dragom Feb 07, 2010 2:49:33	Mostly too cuddly... How about a kind of iridescent small to tiny Earth Fey that looks like precious gemstones.
#3 fenrir7139 Feb 07, 2010 7:58:15	Hm... Never thought about Elementals. Those could work. But it seems like any culture that's been around for a decent length of time would have at least SOME domesticated animals...
#4 ToeSama Feb 08, 2010 6:21:48	in the classic D&D tradition of the Owlbear, why not combine two different creatures into a single type of creature to fill the need. Beetlemoles sound awesome.
#5 lokust Feb 08, 2010 7:19:20	Some kind of insectoid. The queen (with humanoid intelligence or close) is treated as a queen by the dwarfs and in return she orders her underlings to work for the dwarfs. When opening a new mining colony dwarfs bring a newborn queen with them. Thus every dwarfen city and village has its own insect queen. Some isolated towns could even worship their queen. This could probably not fill the role as meat source as the queen might be upset if her children are eaten. There could be fungus farms covering old mine shafts. Maybe even with different tastes for different locations. And the insects could be used to gather fungi or even work as farmers full time, bringing down nutrients and redirecting water flows. Edit: Newly hatched larvas could help with digging in relatively safe places. Call 'em Diglets for cutie points.
#6 fenrir7139 Feb 09, 2010 19:18:49	Thanks for all your ideas, everybody! I really like the beetlemole, and the whole "symbiotic relationship with giant bugs" thing seems awesome, as does the earth elemental thing... I'll probably end up using all of them! Hell, maybe each clan has their own signiture animal... Hmm...
#7 TalonofTiamat Feb 11, 2010 16:51:52	Y'know, I was wondering about this awhile ago. Somewhere, I found something that said "fine dwarven cheese" and it got me thinking about what dwarves would make their cheese out of. I defintiely think they would have some sort of underground cow-like animal though. Dwarves stirke me as the type to enjoy a good steak. Also, same place I found the "fine dwarven cheese" mentioned also mentioned "bulette steak."
#8 yellowdingo Feb 13, 2010 1:13:56	I though this was one of those racist threads where you talk about domesticating the Dwarf... As it aint...Perhaps you should think of a Dungeon as a Zoo, and the Role of the Dwarf as its guardian. Suddenly the Dwarf is an Ecosystem Specialist or or Zoo Keeper (depending on their Alignment and cultural trends.

Post/Author/DateTime

Post

fenrir7139

Feb 07, 2010 2:15:00

For many, this thread may not be as enticing as it first appeared, as this refers to dwarves domesticating dungeon denizens, as opposed to dwarves being domesticated.

So, I want to flesh out my dwarves. One step for this (I think) is to go into their use of animals. Not a whole lot of animals (that I know of) enjoy living in solid-stone tunnels. Anyway, my first idea was the Mole.

Moles

Dwarves make heavy use of domesticated Moles; however, these moles are not the type one would see in the average back yard. Most are the size of a German Shepard, and some grow to sizes even greater than that. They are used for milk, meat, hides, companions, guard-dogs, and, when not excavating solid rock, mining tools. Some are also used as pack animals, pulling materials on sleds, similar to dogs of native american tribes. Obviously, due to size differences, they are not used as mounts; generally, dwarves do not use mounts below ground, though they sometimes use particularly large moles to pull wagons and mine carts.

Use of moles in surface settlements is uncommon; though moles can run at a fair pace, they are outmatched by horses and other means of conveyance, and larger animals, like cattle, are often used to fill the roles for food and milk, though some above-ground dwarf clans still keep a few moles as pets, and some dwarves have a particular taste for their meat and milk.

It is not uncommon for dwarven rangers to take moles as animal companions (utilizing the statistics for Lizards or Bears), and some dwarven druids choose Moles as their default animal form. Likewise, Dwarf shamans often attract mole spirits, and the Rage of the Stone-Mole is well documented among dwarven barbarians.

dragom

Feb 07, 2010 2:49:33

Mostly too cuddly...

How about a kind of iridescent small to tiny Earth Fey that looks like precious gemstones.

fenrir7139

Feb 07, 2010 7:58:15

Hm... Never thought about Elementals. Those could work. But it seems like any culture that's been around for a decent length of time would have at least SOME domesticated animals...

ToeSama

Feb 08, 2010 6:21:48

in the classic D&D tradition of the Owlbear, why not combine two different creatures into a single type of creature to fill the need. Beetlemoles sound awesome.

lokust

Feb 08, 2010 7:19:20

Some kind of insectoid. The queen (with humanoid intelligence or close) is treated as a queen by the dwarfs and in return she orders her underlings to work for the dwarfs. When opening a new mining colony dwarfs bring a newborn queen with them. Thus every dwarfen city and village has its own insect queen. Some isolated towns could even worship their queen.

This could probably not fill the role as meat source as the queen might be upset if her children are eaten. There could be fungus farms covering old mine shafts. Maybe even with different tastes for different locations. And the insects could be used to gather fungi or even work as farmers full time, bringing down nutrients and redirecting water flows.

Edit: Newly hatched larvas could help with digging in relatively safe places. Call 'em Diglets for cutie points.

fenrir7139

Feb 09, 2010 19:18:49

Thanks for all your ideas, everybody! I really like the beetlemole, and the whole "symbiotic relationship with giant bugs" thing seems awesome, as does the earth elemental thing... I'll probably end up using all of them! Hell, maybe each clan has their own signiture animal... Hmm...

TalonofTiamat

Feb 11, 2010 16:51:52

Y'know, I was wondering about this awhile ago. Somewhere, I found something that said "fine dwarven cheese" and it got me thinking about what dwarves would make their cheese out of. I defintiely think they would have some sort of underground cow-like animal though. Dwarves stirke me as the type to enjoy a good steak.

Also, same place I found the "fine dwarven cheese" mentioned also mentioned "bulette steak."

yellowdingo

Feb 13, 2010 1:13:56

I though this was one of those racist threads where you talk about domesticating the Dwarf...

As it aint...Perhaps you should think of a Dungeon as a Zoo, and the Role of the Dwarf as its guardian. Suddenly the Dwarf is an Ecosystem Specialist or or Zoo Keeper (depending on their Alignment and cultural trends.