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40d:Dwarf
Dwarves are intelligent humanoid creatures that live in fortresses carved from mountains. They are the featured race of Fortress Mode, and also a one of the races playable in Adventure Mode. They are mainly interested in acquiring wealth and rare metals, especially adamantine. They are alcohol dependant, and work slowly if deprived of it for long. Their most hated enemies are the goblins. Dwarves and most other creatures have an incredible ability to build up enormous strength by throwing pebbles around the place.[Verify]
Dwarven children become adults at their twelfth birthday.
Dwarves in Fortress Mode
Dwarves are a trading race and will send a caravan every year in the fall. Immigrants will be attracted to your fortress as your wealth grows, prompted by the stories of your wealth and the goods that the dwarven traders bring back from your fortress. The immigrants arrive every spring. If your fortress is particularly successful, some immigrants might even decide to come early in smaller groups and arrive in late fall in addition to the wave that normally arrives during spring.
Living among them
You cannot start your fortress where another fortress exists.
Living near them
If you start your fortress near an existing fortress (not one you built), the large human caravan and dwarven traders will be replaced with a large dwarven caravan. This means you will not recieve an outpost liason (could be a bug with the current version), but you will recieve large quantities of dwarven made goods, including a few bars of random metal and several pieces of steel armor of random quality.(usually you get that anyway)
Dwarves in Adventure Mode
Dwarven mountainhomes and outposts do not have any shops, but usually have a variety of fighters to recruit. Outposts have or quest giver[Verify], but the monarch of each civilization will give quests at their capital city.
Dwarven characters always start with iron weapons and armor, making them the best-equipped race. Unfortunately, human armor is too large for them to wear, and humans are the only race with shops, so all armor upgrades will have to come from looting dwarven fortresses. Most human weapons must be wielded two-handed by dwarves, due to their size.
Dwarves have the highest natural armor of the adventuring races, at +1, but are one size smaller than elves and humans, so they cause less damage and absorb less damage. Dwarves are the only race that sometimes enters a martial trance when beset by many foes, which gives them combat bonuses.
Mythology
In real-life mythology, Dwarves are much like humans, but generally prefer to live underground and/or in mountainous areas. In their fortresses they have accumulated treasures of gold, silver, and precious stones, and pass their time fabricating costly weapons and armor. They are famed miners and smiths, although, like humans, they can specialise in any number of trades. Generally shorter than humans, they are on average stockier and hairier, and usually sport full beards. Though slow runners and poor riders, dwarves are excellent warriors and defenders of their strongholds. Dwarves have the ability to forge magical items, which shows off their culture's and species natural craftsmanship. For instance, dwarvish smiths created some of the greatest and most powerful items of power, which inspired the in-game strange moods and Legendary artifacts.
See the Wikipedia article