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[Imic]

Like, the dwarves of warhammer, or Tolkien's bunch? Or the Dwemer? Or the dwarves of Khaz modan?

[expwnent]

I'm just sick of them always being scottish.

[Iamblichos]

Pretty much every treatment of the dwarves is taken from the Norse myths by way of Tolkein... short underground-dwelling master craftsmen.  There are a number of indigenous African and American treatments of dwarves that consider them to be masters of magic rather than smithing (though smithing was considered magic in Norse times as well - turning rocks into metal into items).  Most cultures in prehistory seem to have had a shorter race of usually-invisible master magicians running around... maybe someone can mod in the Pukwudji 

[wierd]

In norse mythology, the difference between dwarves and elves is academic.

In the eddas, they appeared simultaneously as maggot like creatures on the corpse of the primal giant, and the aesir sorted the by color. The white ones were given alfhiem, and the dark ones were given the underworld. Over time, the white ones became elves, and the dark ones became dwarves. 

In Norse mythology, nearly all of the fancy things that are CLEARLY magical were made by the dwarves.  Mjolnir, the hammer wielded by thor, The golden hair of Frigga, the magical binding put on Fenrir, etc--- all made by dwarves.

The only really interesting thing about them is that they turn to stone when exposed to sunlight, while elves do not.

[LMeire]

Dragon Age has an interesting take. Orzamor Dwarves are basically on their last leg after a series of catastrophic undead/goblin conquests which has driven them into a rigid caste system just to protect their way of life. Then there's the fact that they can't have dreams or use magic because they're completely disconnected from the afterlife/spirit world- which also means that most of them are gnostic atheists in a world where emotions can personify themselves and fight with other emotions over vague concepts of power and prestige. Also, they have American accents in a world where all the humans are either English or French.

But mostly I like them because they use rivers of magma apparently just for the aesthetic of it. DF Dwarves admire flowing water, DA dwarves admire flowing magma- I think it's obvious who's the more dwarfy of dwarves.