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[Siquo]

They don't really have an equivalent to dwarves though...

Leperchauns.

Yes, that was misspelled by mistake, and left there on purpose. 

But there are many "underground diminiutive people", the Aes Sidhe, the Tuatha de Danann, and less spiritual ones... There's also stories of tribes in Scotland that were driven underground by the Gaels. I believe those inspired Tolkien's dwarves in the first place. Edit: apparently I believed wrongly

@akigagak: The Picts, perhaps?

[Vester]

Tolkien's dwarves are based partly on Norse dark elves (which are dwarves), with Semitic linguistics and various other things.

[Acanthus117]

But Faultie can take some artistic liberties, riiight?

Anyways, when he makes it, I just want the Formorians.

[Fault]

What does that do? he goes epileptic and opens Warp Portals?

Spoiler: From The Táin: (click to show/hide)

"The first warp-spasm seized Cúchulainn, and made him into a monstrous thing, hideous and shapeless, unheard of. His shanks and his joints, every knuckle and angle and organ from head to foot, shook like a tree in the flood or a reed in the stream. His body made a furious twist inside his skin, so that his feet and shins switched to the rear and his heels and calves switched to the front... On his head the temple-sinews stretched to the nape of his neck, each mighty, immense, measureless knob as big as the head of a month-old child... he sucked one eye so deep into his head that a wild crane couldn't probe it onto his cheek out of the depths of his skull; the other eye fell out along his cheek. His mouth weirdly distorted: his cheek peeled back from his jaws until the gullet appeared, his lungs and his liver flapped in his mouth and throat, his lower jaw struck the upper a lion-killing blow, and fiery flakes large as a ram's fleece reached his mouth from his throat... The hair of his head twisted like the tange of a red thornbush stuck in a gap; if a royal apple tree with all its kingly fruit were shaken above him, scarce an apple would reach the ground but each would be spiked on a bristle of his hair as it stood up on his scalp with rage."

But there are many "underground diminiutive people", the Aes Sidhe, the Tuatha de Danann, and less spiritual ones... There's also stories of tribes in Scotland that were driven underground by the Gaels.

The tuatha de danann were always more like elves than dwarves (even after they were driven underground and became the Aes Sidhe)

If you really want dwarves, you could make it a Celtic/Norse hybrid, which would be awesome. "Jörmungandr the Midgar Serpent has arrived at your fortress. You are dead." I don't really know any race that could be dwarves in Celtic myhtology though.

That may be the only way to go about it
Norse Mythology offers a few good megabeast Ideas as well: frost giants, World serpents, colossal Wolves...

@akigagak: The Picts, perhaps?

I think the celts, the gaels, the picts, and the Fir Bolg would work better as races of men.
Fomorians would obviously be the goblin equivalent (except with more castes...)
The tuatha would be noble, forest dwelling elves, and the Sidhe could dwell in those kobold mounds that they have in the new version.

I also need Ideas on plants and metals to replace those which are unique to dwarf fortress.
I'm thinking of replacing Adamantine with a legendary Norse Alloy called Orichalcum.

[Acanthus117]

Dude, that's awesome.

[Siquo]

But there are many "underground diminiutive people", the Aes Sidhe, the Tuatha de Danann, and less spiritual ones... There's also stories of tribes in Scotland that were driven underground by the Gaels.

The tuatha de danann were always more like elves than dwarves (even after they were driven underground and became the Aes Sidhe)

Yeah that's true, and the sidhe include things like banshees, which are clearly not related to the dwarves.

No, I stay with leprechauns. Although they're more hobbit-like.

Really, the only ones from Gaelic mythology that even remotely come close to dwarves are the gaels themselves 

[Fault]

*I'm not sure if this is Indian or Celtic myth, but there was a Cyclopean guy who could basically shoot a laser out of his eye. I think it's Indian.

"In Irish mythology, Balor of the Evil Eye was a king of the Fomorians, a race of giants. His father was Buarainech and his wife was Cethlenn. According to legend, he lived on Tory Island. Balor was notable for his one eye, which could kill anyone it looked upon. He gained this power as a child when watching his father's druids preparing poisonous spells, the fumes of which rose into his eye. His eye was normally kept closed, only to be opened on the battlefield by four men using a handle fitted to his eyelid, or, in some versions, a system of ropes and pulleys."

Reading further into this, it states that it was not Balor's gaze which killed people - he actually shot a fiery beam from his eye. When he died and fell to the earth, his eye burned a big hole in the ground which eventually became a lake.

EDIT: Oooh! Do Cuchulainn in the Warp Spasm!

I have finished a watercolour of warped Cuchulainn - but I can't access my scanner until three o'clock 
 

Yeah that's true, and the sidhe include things like banshees, which are clearly not related to the dwarves.
Really, the only ones from Gaelic mythology that even remotely come close to dwarves are the gaels themselves 

ooh yeah I should include Banshees! Probably as a cast of sidhe.. (they should be able to fly, though I'm not sure about giving them a wailing attack or something...)

BIG QUESTION HERE: are there any professions (mechanic, for instance) that might not fit well with the celtic setting?

[piecewise]

If anyone would like they can do some characters/things/places from mah book.

Guardian statue:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Lining the edge of this walkway were hundreds of statues. They were easily fifteen feet tall, humanoid but unnaturally slim, skeletal figures that had been stretched unnaturally into the proportions of giants. Their arms hung limp beside them, their long, delicate fingers slightly curled. Their faces resembled wet cloth stretched tightly over an elongated skull, its features, both seen and unseen, were uncanny.

And later

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The Guardians dove into the ranks of the rebels with fearless abandon, their dagger like fingers becoming little more then a blur as they tore through the hapless soldiers. They fought not like men but like the machines they were, with unflinching efficiency. Sharpened digits punctured armor, tearing through skin and bone and impaling vital organs. Hearts were skewered, spines were snapped, skulls were caved in as a single skeletal finger pierced from forehead to brain stem. Death came with instant and brutal efficiency. As they slaughtered, the Guardians continued to screech and warble in their inhuman metallic voices, their calls mixing with the death rattles of the broken men they left behind.

Or this happy camper

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Almost the instant he said this, something came into view, rounding the corner at the end of the corridor. A massive hand thrust forward and gripped the corner, its black talons glinting horrifically in the artificial light.  The hand was birdlike, encased in pale scales, but bore five elongated digits. Next the creature’s head bobbed into view, its milky, seemingly blind eyes darting about as it lurched forward. The creature’s face was dominated by a single feature: a long, fleshy, beak-like protuberance which jutted from the creature’s otherwise humanlike head. Beyond this the head was featureless, lacking any form of mouth, nose or ears. The body, which almost appeared to be dragged behind the ever advancing head, was mostly lost within a ragged cloak which draped from the creature’s sickly  shoulders to just above its avian feet. What little was visible made it obvious that the creature, despite its apparent great size, was actually slouching; moving along with a crouched, predatory gait. In spite of its ailing appearance the creature moved with palpable strength, its long arms and half bent knees propelling it along with alarming speed.

Or Appcendra

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

What greeted them was a sight almost unimaginable even in the clockwork wonder that was engine city. They stood in an open pipe, looking out over a colossal expanse of open air, a man made cavern miles high and wide. All around them thousands of pipes, wires, gears and mechanisms worked continuously, filling the cavern with the heat and light of the living machine. And there in the center of it all stood a city, suspended above an ocean of molten metal by a spider web of millions of pipes of all sizes, weaving and braiding into the foundation of the strangely beautiful scrap amalgam . Above it hundreds of electrical cables hung like silk treads, arcing bolts of electricity back and forth before connecting to the city. Buildings of all sizes and dimensions from tiny scrap metal shacks to towering tin cathedrals lay clustered together and reflected the brilliant glow of the furnaces like a million faceted ruby. Under the buildings, and their dream catcher of pipes, waterfalls of liquid metal poured out into the white hot ocean below. The city glowed and arced and sparkled as though part of the machine itself, the perfect harmony of clockwork and culture

go ahead and use them for inspiration if you feel like it.

[Siquo]

BIG QUESTION HERE: are there any professions (mechanic, for instance) that might not fit well with the celtic setting?

Soap maker?

There's a lot on the aes sidhe and fae on the internet though, there's quite a few subcastes and differentiation in "subspecies".

[piecewise]

BIG QUESTION HERE: are there any professions (mechanic, for instance) that might not fit well with the Celtic setting?

Doctor seems a little out of place
I don't remember any Philosophers hailing from celtic culture either

[Fault]

cuchulainn, in the throes of a warp-spasm.



he wields Gáe Bulg, a terrible barbed spear (which you apparently have to throw with your foot...). Once Gáe Bulg has pierced its victim, the victim's body must be carved into pieces before the spear can be removed.

[piecewise]

that be a bit different from what I remember of Cuchulainn...

Apperently when they say that his berserker rage makes him into a monstrous forms they really mean that it turns him inside out.

Also, why doesn't he have 7 fingers, 7 toes and 7 pupils?

[Fault]

If I had followed the exact description (eyeballs hanging out, backwards legs, balls of sinew everywhere) he would have ended up looking ungainly and comical.

I went with the "turned around in his skin" and the "face pulled back until his gullet appeared" thing. his legs could be all bent up for all we know - they just aren't visible in the picture.

[piecewise]

If I had followed the exact description (eyeballs hanging out, backwards legs, balls of sinew everywhere) he would have ended up looking ungainly and comical.

I went with the "turned around in his skin" and the "face pulled back until his gullet appeared" thing. his legs could be all bent up for all we know - they just aren't visible in the picture.

Yeah, that tends to be a problem with these mythical creatures and figures: their forms are often impossible to really visually represent as anything except bizarre clusters of madness. Like the hindu gods with the thousand heads and 40 legs and and 67 penises in the shape of bull intestines or something.

[Rashilul]

cuchulainn, in the throes of a warp-spasm.

[/img]

he wields Gáe Bulg, a terrible barbed spear (which you apparently have to throw with your foot...). Once Gáe Bulg has pierced its victim, the victim's body must be carved into pieces before the spear can be removed.

This is how he greets his wife, hugs and kisses golem, every day.

"Hooooneeeeyy, IIII'mmmm HOOOOooooome!"