Dwarves

Arrival
Some eight millennia ago, Dwarves appeared on Othos- a savage collection of primitive tribes perpetually at war; almost as bad as the Goblinoids. For a long time- up until about five thousand years ago- their existence was analogous to the Mongolian hordes, minus the mastery of horses, until the Halflings and their grand Republic finally began spreading notions of civilization and wealth through their tribes. The dwarves quickly adapted to being civilized, and- with no real competition from their halfling friends- swiftly developed and became the dominant race through force of arms and conquest. This would make them a great many enemies, particularly out of the Elves and subterranean Aberrant races like Beholders and Illithid. Life is difficult on Othos enough without such powerful enemies; hundreds of great kingdoms and empires have been forged by Dwarven hands, only to crumble before they could make much in the way of true sociological or scientific progress. The countless setbacks suffered by the Dwarven race has seen to it that their culture is, even after thousands of years of work, barely more advanced than 'medieval'. Every golden age and renaissance that their race has entered has ended in under a century, ruined by either plague, monster invasions, or vicious and sudden civil wars.

But despite these setbacks, the Dwarves remain the dominant race. Only humans and gnomes have proven capable of competing with the sophistication of the Dwarven Clockwerks. No other race can boast huge armies spearheaded by Dwarven Steam Tanks- which, now that bombards and more efficient engines have been introduced, are even more potent- which, by themselves, make the Dwarves the most military powerful race on Othos. These works create a colossal demand for iron, steel, stone, and fuels, supported by entire cities and tremendous machines dedicated to mining and refinement. Despite their dominance however, the Dwarves have gone considerably lax in conquering other races' lands- their ruling monarchs have deemed it ultimately less destructive to focus on trying to tame the wild lands instead of dominate others, especially with the influx of new developments that are steadily equalizing military powers.

Culture
Dwarven culture focuses largely around three main factors- craftsmanship (well, craftdwarfship),