Dwarves are a stoic but stern race, ensconced in cities carved from the hearts of mountains and fiercely determined to repel the depredations of savage races like orcs and goblins. More than any other race, dwarves have acquired a reputation as dour and humorless artisans of the earth. It could be said that their history shapes the dark disposition of many dwarves, for they reside in high mountains and dangerous realms below the earth, constantly at war with giants, goblins, and other such horrors.

Dwarves are lovers of history and tradition, and their long lifespan leads to far less in the way of generational shifts in attitudes, styles, fashions, and trends than shorter-lived races exhibit. If a thing is not broken, they do not fix it or change it; and if it is broken, they fix it rather than replace it. Thrifty as a rule, dwarves are loath to discard anything unless it is truly ruined and unable to be fixed. At the same time, dwarves' meticulous, near-obsessive attention to detail and durability in their craftsmanship makes that a rare occurrence, as the things they make are built to last. As a result, buildings, artwork, tools, housewares, garments, weapons, and virtually everything else made by dwarves still sees regular use at an age when such items would be relegated to museum pieces, dusty antique shelves, or junkyard fodder by other races. Taken together, these traits create the impression that dwarves are a race frozen in time.Nothing could be further from the truth, however, as dwarves are both thoughtful and imaginative, willing to experiment, if always keen to refine and perfect a new technique or product before moving on to the next one. Dwarves have achieved feats of metallurgy, stonework, and engineering that have consistently outpaced the technological advances of other races, though some non-dwarven races have used magic to supplement and perfect their own creations to achieve the same ends through mystical rather than mundane means. They are also a race typified by stubborn courage and dedication to seeing tasks through to completion, whatever the risks. These traits have led dwarves to explore and settle in extreme environments that would cause other races to quail and retreat. From the darkest depths of the underworld to the highest mountain peaks, from rusting iron citadels along desolate rocky coasts to squat jungle ziggurats, dwarves have established their enclaves and redoubts, holding them against all comers or perishing to the last and leaving only their enduring monuments to stand as their legacy. While it is said that dwarves are not venturesome or inventive, it would be more accurate to say that they maintain a focus on and dedication to each task they undertake and every change they adopt, vetting such changes thoroughly before adopting them wholeheartedly. When faced with new circumstances and new needs, they react by applying tried and true tools and techniques systematically, using existing methods whenever possible rather than trying to invent novel solutions for every situation. If necessity requires, however, they throw themselves with equal vigor into developing the next perfect procedure for demolishing the obstacles that get in their way. Once their desired goal is obtained, they focus on consolidating each new piece of territory or conceptual advance. Dwarves thus rarely overextend themselves, but they also may miss opportunities to seize the initiative and maximize the advantages they create.

Physical Description: Generally taller than humans Aldren have a slender physique that hides their strength. Their skin tends towards being pale but their eyes have a much wider range of colorations than those of humans and range including, but not limited to, red, purple, and even gold, though green is the most common. Their hair tends to be more in line with human colorations and tends towards red or blond, though rarer colors are not unheard of.

Society: Aldren society once ruled over the whole of the world, but after the Cataclysm only the Dreaming Isle remains of their once vast kingdom. There, the Eternal Emperor rules over his people and his cruel whims are law. There the old ways are kept, and both spirits and dragons find themselves honored above even the gods. Non-Aldren humanoids are forbidden from stepping foot on the isle without the Emperor's consent on pain of immediate and life long slavery. 

Away from the isle, the Aldren generally do not have enough numbers to form their own societies and instead seek to work their way into the upper echelons of whatever society they happen to find themselves a part of, often with promises of forbidden power and ancient secrets. 

Relations: Aldren have long standing positive relationships with spirits and with dragons. 

Alignment and Religion: Dwarves are driven by honor and tradition. While they are often stereotyped as standoffish, they have a strong sense of friendship and justice, and those who win their trust understand that while they work hard, they play even harder—especially when good ale is involved. Most dwarves are lawful good.

Adventurers: Although dwarven adventurers are rare compared to humans, they can be found in most regions of the world. Dwarves often leave the confines of their redoubts to seek glory for their clans, to find wealth with which to enrich the fortress-homes of their birth, or to reclaim fallen dwarven citadels from racial enemies. Dwarven warfare is often characterized by tunnel fighting and melee combat, and as such most dwarves tend toward classes such as fighters and barbarians.

Male Names: Dolgrin, Grunyar, Harsk, Kazmuk, Morgrym, Rogar.

Female Names: Agna, Bodill, Ingra, Kotri, Rusilka, Yangrit.

Standard Racial Traits

• Ability Score Racial Traits: Aldren are strong in body and personality, but they lack humility and wisdom. Their attribute modifiers are +2 str, +2 cha, -2 wis
  
• Size: Aldren are Medium creatures and thus receive no bonuses or penalties due to their size.
• Type: Aldren are humanoids with the elven subtype.
• Base Speed: Aldren have a base speed of 30 feet.
• Languages: Aldren begin play speaking Common and Elven. Aldren with high Intelligence scores can choose from the following: Draconic, ???, ???, ???, ???. See the Linguistics skill page for more information about these languages.

Defense Racial Traits

• Unnatural: Aldren normal animals, and train to defend themselves against the inevitable attacks from such creatures. They take a –4 penalty on all Charisma-based skill checks to affect creatures of the animal type, and receive a +4 dodge bonus to AC against animals. Animals' starting attitude toward members of this race is one step worse than normal.

Feat and Skill Racial Traits

• Natural Pact Makers: Aldren receive Minor Binding as a bonus feat.
• Silver Tongued: Aldren gain a +2 bonus on Diplomacy and Bluff checks. In addition, when they use Diplomacy to shift a creature's attitude, they can do so up to three steps up rather than just two.

Senses Racial Traits

• Low Light Vision: Aldren can see twice as far as a race with normal vision in conditions of dim light.

Offense Racial Traits

• Weapon Familiarity: Aldren are familiar with the bastard sword (both 1 and 2 handed fighting styles), short bow (including composite short bows) and long bow (including composite long bow). 
• Poison Use: Aldren are skilled with poison and never risk accidentally poisoning themselves when applying it to weapons.

Alternate Racial Traits

The following alternate racial traits may be selected in place of one or more of the standard racial traits above. Consult your GM before selecting any of these new options.

• Elven Magic: Aldren gain a +2 bonus on caster level checks made to overcome spell resistance. In addition, they also receive a +2 racial bonus on Spellcraft checks made to identify the properties of magic items.

Racial Subtypes

You can combine various alternate racial traits above to create subraces or variant races, such as the following:

• Deep Delver: Dwarves living far below the earth have the minesight and deep warrior racial traits. Deep delver spellcasters may exchange stonecunning for the stonesinger trait.
• Elder Dwarf: Traditionalist dwarves of ancient lineage have the ancient enmity, lorekeeper, and either the magic resistant or stubborn racial traits.
• Exiled Dwarf: Dwarves who have lost their homelands usually have the relentless and stubborn racial traits, and often have wyrmscourged as well.
• Mountain Dwarf: Dwarves living atop high peaks have the mountaineer racial trait and often surface survivalist as well. Mountain dwarves are also trained to defend their homes, and may take the sky sentinel and xenophobic traits instead.

Favored Class Options

The following favored class options are available to all characters of this race who have the listed favored class, and unless otherwise stated, the bonus applies each time you select the favored class reward.

• Alchemist: Gain 1/6th a new discovery. (+1 discovery for every 6 times you select this option.)
• Dragon Rider: Add +1/4 of a die of damage to dragon steed's breath weapon. (+1 die of damage for every four times you select this option.)
• Occultist: Gain +1/2 to the roll to bind a specific spirit. (+1 to the roll for every two times you select this option.) 
• Time Thief: + 1/2 of a mote / day. (+1 mote for every two times you select this option.)
• Sorcerer: Add one spell known from the sorcerer spell list. This spell must be at least one level below the highest spell level the sorcerer can cast.

Racial Archetypes

The following racial archetypes are available to dwarves:

Racial Feats

The following feats are available to a dwarf character who meets the prerequisites.

• Breadth of Experience
• Brewmaster
• Cleave Through
• Cloven Helm
• Dented Helm
• Fight On
• Giant Killer
• Goblin Cleaver
• Hard-headed
• Improved Stonecunning
• Ironguts
• Ironhide
• Ledge Walker
• Let Them Come
• Orc Hewer
• Shatterspell
• Steel Soul
• Stone-Faced
• Stone Singer
• Toxic Recovery
• Twin Thunders