>Dwarves are not born >Dwarves are forged How would you

>>54151762
quite simple. Read about the mountain folk in exalted, and do pretty much that.

tldr carved from jade and infused with life.

>>54151762
Dwarf god makes new dwarves every day, they come to each individual mountain home in a stork style way.

So when the dwarf god stops hammering out dwarves, its the end of the dwarven race.

>>54151762
Have dwarves lose control of their great forge to a twisted enemy which smith's mockeries of their form: goblins.

From there, Id just have them be a dwindling race of once-great warriors like the Varl in Banner Saga.

>>54151762
So... tranny gnomes of some type?

>>54151762
Female dwarves are anvils.

>>54151762
Dwarves are literally made out of stone. A magical stone to be specific that allows life to be imbued into it by someone else. Elves made and used dwarves as a slave species with only a few magic using dwarves at the top to guide the others. Eventually a revolution happened and the Dwarves went underground to find more magic stones to make more dwarves.

>>54151762
Dwarves are droids. Elves are clones. Orcs are mutated raider humans.
what fantasy race are uplifted octopi

>>54151762
Birth for a dwarf is an agonising process that all dwarves remember. Their rock forms are made sentient then moulded on the furnace by powerful runesmiths. They feel every blow of the hammer and searing scorch of the furnace but are paralysed to do anything. Many die in this process and their deformed still petrified forms grimacing in pain line the outskirts of dwarf holds as a reminder of the life of pain and sacrifice a dwarf is meant to endure.

>>54151762
I probably wouldn't and make it metaphorical as a dwarf is to by tempered by hard work and it would suck.

>>54152023

Halflings. Think about it - they're nimble and flexible, they're masters of stealth, they're great at escaping from cages, and every so often you get one that's incredibly deadly despite its size. Not to mention the tentacles.

>>54151762
The children of dwarves are not culturally considered true dwarves until they have been metaphorically "forged" by trials that mark them as a member of the clan. Non-dwarfborn can also take these trials to join a clan and be considered a dwarf.

In my sci-fi setting, dwarfs can't reproduce - they use the genetic material of their mother and are selectively edited and perfected by the father in the Great Forge, center of their colony ships with long lost and sought after genetic tech. Does that count?

THEY'RE FORGED WITH MY HAMMER

THE HAMMER IS MY PENIS