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[Willfor]

It is no secret that Dwarves a damn proud of their beards. As they should be! They have the finest facial hair of any of the races in existance. What shouldn't they be proud about?

HOWEVER. Being the owner of a beard myself, I realise the challenges associated with maintaining a fine crop of chin hair. It seems to me that Dwarves would probably pay more attention to a well groomed beard than any of the other races would. I can see them shelling out good money to have someone with expertise in caring for them was behind the scizzors.

In a fortress with an economy, one way a person could make money would be to provide a hair care service. I am not just talking fine trims (and lovely braids for those who picture females with the beards), I'm talking a full care profession. After all, not every dwarf is blessed with a perfect mane. Remedies for patchy beards must have been experimented with at some point!

Obviously fashion comes into play here a lot, but Dwarves are social creatures. Can you picture many women overlooking an unkempt beard after a fortress has pulled itself out of the status of being a boony-fort?

Obviously it would be a skill-type. Legendary barbers could work feats of pure awesomeness on our beloved retards' cheek warmers, while dabbling barbers would take forever to get basic results. And of course, nobles could demand only the finest for themselves. A happy King is a King with a triple-folded dreadlocked beard menacing with spikes of platinum and gold! Can anyone say artifact beard decorations?

[Jreengus]

Ahhh a whole new workshop for those fell mood dwarfs to use. King goes in for a shave and finds that it is a lot closer than normal and you get an artifact Dwarf Head helm.

[Mechanoid]

beard care - a use for soap

[God of Toast]

Dwarfy McShortyDwarf has withdrawn from society.
Dwarfy McShortyDwarf has kidnapped Dwarfum McDwarfo!
Dwarfy McShortyDwarf has claimed a Barber's Workshop.
Dwarfy McShortyDwarf has begun a mysterious haircut!
Dwarfy McShortyDwarf has created Aludkor Sebshosfath, a braided beard!

[ March 13, 2008: Message edited by: God of Toast ]

[DJ]

Now this is what I call an awesome suggestion. As long as barbers don't throw tantrums when the clients get blood and vomit on their masterpieces.

[AlienChickenPie]

A workshop that allows dwarves to work on other dwarves opens up lots of possibilities of varying dirtiness levels.

[Drakale]

Heh yeah this just have to be implemented at some point, the only downside is that the barber will not have much work unless you got a 100+ dwarves fortress and even then only one would be necessary...

Maybe he could be some sort a noble, like the BeardMaster or something  

[Wiles]

quote:Originally posted by AlienChickenPie:
<STRONG>A workshop that allows dwarves to work on other dwarves opens up lots of possibilities of varying dirtiness levels.</STRONG>

Dwarven massage parlours?   :eek:

[Puzzlemaker]

This could be tied into a healthcare workshop.

[winner]

and dwarven "palm reading" shops

[Inquisitor Saturn]

quote:Originally posted by Drakale:
<STRONG>
Maybe he could be some sort a noble, like the BeardMaster or something    </STRONG>

...You know...

That would seem fitting.
But it would mean it couldn't be an actual skill. It would just give Dwarves a big happiness boost.

[Lyrax]

Or it IS a skill that only HE can practice.  And he sucks at the start.

Maybe he'd be a new 'peasant noble' like the Sheriff or Mayor?

[Willfor]

So, basically, the dwarves think of him as such an important part of daily life, that they get together and raise a barber's status in the community for caring for their beards? This actually fits well with how I picture their culture. Those who care about appearance in our own world tend to elevate those who do good work for them. In a culture where the face farm is all important to the appearance, the barber would certainly get a lot of respect.

[Quift]

Im all for this. having a beard myself which needs constant attention and trimming.

Golden beard decorations, stone beard decorations etc is a great idea, and would also finally provide a use for all these crafts. The Craftdwarfes create high value, decorated crafts, which in a barber shop are "set" like gems into the dwarfes beards. The better quality the craft, the skill applied to the trimming, the happier the dwarf. a dwarf with a high enough income, such as a legendary mason, would have 20 trinkets in his beard of varying quality, from when he was young and bought his first cat bone amulet, to the artifact platinum mini ax with pictures of dwarfes slaying goblins in diamond. The higher the total value of the beard decorations, the higher status for the dwarf (increase in social skills).

Would be great if the barber also cleaned the dwarves. They do need it.

[antymattar]

I thought I should necro this just because people are talking about the same thing. plus, when are they going to kill all the old threads anyway? The problem with this barber shop thing is that you are basically assigning an invisible stat to people. First you should actually make them care about who they make friends with and who they like or what not. Adding this makes dwarfs look like this
"Hey, You look beutiful today with that new beard! Too bad about your legs...and arms...and nose, but that beard is AWESOMESAUCE!!!"