DWARVEN
MARRIAGE,
MATING
AND REPRODUCTION |
Gender Roles. We should begin by saying
that physical gender issues are non-issues among the
Thergerim: that is, the secondary sexual characteristics are not as
immediately evident, and while jobs are indeed divided according to gender,
there is no bias (training children is as prestigious as hunting, digging up
gems as worthwhile as providing food for the community). All occupations are
recognized as contributing to the well being of the clan as a whole, and
accepted matter of factly.
Although dwarves can tell instantly which gender is
which, humans have a more difficult time distinguishing
upon first acquaintance. This may be the basis for the old belief that female
dwarves never came above ground... or even more
ludicrous, that there WERE no female dwarves! Since
both sexes are bearded and long-haired, and young dwarves
(pre-maturity) look very similar when clothed, our human
confusion was understandable, if not particularly sensitive. However, now that
some of the more ‘liberal’ clans are beginning to favour depilation for their
women, it is becoming more obvious which gender is which. And of course, even in
the more traditional clans, if you are favoured enough to visit among the
dwarven caverns, you have only to observe what task a
dwarf is performing to know his or her gender!
Maturity.
Dwarves have a fairly long adolescence, approximately
eighty-five to ninety years of age before sexual maturity. This time of passage
into adulthood is known as "Huregozar" for females, "Baregozar" for males, and
is indicated by various subtle external and internal physical changes, and a new
emotional steadiness and decisiveness (compared to adolescence, that is…). We
may only guess at the qualifications for Hu/Baregozar, as they are determined
individually in consultation with each young adult by the Denirim of the clan.
The root words of this expression appear to come from the
dwarven for ‘female’ and ‘male’ - Hut and Bar respectively - plus the
archaic word for ‘hand’ - Goz - or possibly the word Regonz, meaning ‘achieved’
(literally, ‘no longer waiting’).
Once a group of dwarven adolescents have achieved
Hu/Baregozar, there is a significant ceremony which takes place to recognize
them as adults. The “Wirrutharoon” (roughly translatable as
‘Well-Made-Thing-Time’) is held fairly frequently by
dwarven standards, roughly every ten years, so that there is always a group
of youngsters who will go through the experience together. Each individual must
prepare a “Wirrurt” or ‘showpiece’ – a presentation of their chosen craft or
profession. For some it is simple; the apprentice smith sets forth his best
sword or beautifully crafted necklace, the
young baker slices a huge savory pastry and shares it out, the lass who has been
learning under the Weavemistress is decked in her finest cloths. For others,
their skill is demonstrated in less tangible forms; the Singspeaker apprentice
must call down a pre-trained bat, ‘translate’
its vibrations, and successfully encode a responding message. (See the
Mitharim Clans entry for a list of
other typical dwarven occupations.)
The male and female elders of the clan will inspect every Wirrurt in detail and
test it to capacity. They will also take the time to call each aspirant aside
and speak with him about the chosen profession and about how he hopes to fill a
place in clan life as an adult. This is mostly a token discussion, as in the
months preceeding the ceremony the elders have been particularly observant of
their youth, encouraging and guiding them as necessary to develop the physical,
emotional, and social maturity required as Thergerim
adults. Again, the Denirim have quite a bit of responsibility to assist the
elders in determining this, and his spiritual authority is such that he may
recommend that a certain individual be held back from the Wirrutharoon till the
next decade - though this is rare - and the elders will uphold his suggestion.
It is at this point that no Thergerim, even
Compendium authors, will speak
further on the events of the Wirrutharoon except to say that each individual is
‘marked’ in some way to confirm her transition. It has been suggested that this
‘mark’ is physical, in the nature of a tattoo, brand, or scar, while other
scholars claim that it is set magically in the mind, or through the direct
involvement of TrumBarol (the dwarven deity, similar to our
Urtengor) as a
spiritual transition. However that may be, we have no confirmation of these
theories, and can only say that at the conclusion of the ceremony each young
dwarf is considered irrevocably an adult who has the right to participate in all
of the duties and privileges of the community – and the responsibility to find a
mate.
Engagement & Marriage Rituals.
As you might expect in a society where there are three males to every two
females, there is some competition for the dwarfmaidens’ favours, and until the
Time of Choosing is over (about two years after the Wirrutharoon) there is a lot
of activity, high feeling, and disruption in the clan.
Emotions become more obvious (that is, for the normally steady
dwarves), young
bachelors lock horns at every opportunity, with plenty of display and male
pride. Beards are curried to a reflective gloss and
weapons honed to
shaving-sharpness – vests are embroidered with plenty of grimacing and
eye-strain – the oresacks are never filled closer to bursting, and the
rock-barrows are laden so full that one can hear their rivets crackling as the
young males charge along the tunnels with them. New cavelets, or individual
homes, are excavated by the bachelors, with all the furniture and hearthplaces
carved carefully and artistically from the living rock, and when the maidens are
beginning to be ready to make their choices, they traipse round the new homes in
a merry group, taking meticulous mental notes, critiquing the décor, airily
commenting on the mens’ grooming, and keeping their true counsel to themselves.
If dwarfmaids could ever be accused of giggling, it might be during this time,
when every word and glance between the sexes is laden with innuendo and
suggestion, every unattached male eye is rife with hopeful passion, and every
lass is wooed by a variety of suitors.
Although there is plenty of competition (for the young men are opportunists who
will gladly court more than one dwarfmaid at a time, to broaden their chances of
mating at all), the elders of the clan keep a sharp eye on the youngsters and
provide numerous options to channel their energy into non-confrontational
pursuits. Games of strength and speed are often organised at this time;
dwarven
wrestling, weightlifting, barrowraces, bellows-pumping, and so on are all
excellent ways for the dwarflads to flex their muscles and compete without harm.
The bachelors from previous seasons may or may not be resigned to their state,
either, and the field is free for them if they wish to woo a girl who has just
come of age, at least for the next two or three Wirrutharoonerons! After that
time they have generally poured their energies into their work or gone
aboveground. Denirims of the various clans that live close enough may sometimes
send out messages to each other so that a few young adults of both genders can
be ‘exchanged’, thus bringing new blood into the clan. The ratio must remain the
same, however, so tradition dictates that a group of five is always sent – three
males and two females.
Eventually the women make their choice – and almost always that choice is
respected. It has been known for a parent or elder-of-authority to intervene in
certain matches, usually with the argument that the two personalities will
‘clash’, or ‘strike sparks from each other’, as the Thergerim put it. There is
also the possibility that the rejected suitor or suitors will continue to press
their respective claims, making it difficult for the girl, or that she is
unable/unwilling to decide. In either case, the council of elders usually
imposes their will, either by choosing the mating they believe to be the most
suitable, or by ‘trading’ the girl to another clan if necessary to bring peace
to the cavern!
The few males who remain unmated often take the title of “Kavoninn Yabarrah”.
They leave their caverns in order to sublimate their unmet sexual energies in
their craftsmanship and dedication to another cause. They may join one of the
famous dwarven mercenary troops, or settle in a
human town and set up a
business, sending much of their profits back to their home clan. This title is
sometimes mistranslated as ‘Exile’ by humans who do not understand the
complexity of dwarven relationships, or as ‘Thwarted Lover’ by sentimental
poets. However, according to our Thergerim sources, it simply means ‘Travelling
Bachelor’ – an unwed male who goes out from the clan…
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Once the couples are ‘safely’
paired off and officially betrothed, things settle
down and everyone can get back to work again. An understanding established, a
troth pledge given, and trothspoons traded are all the mark of a settled bargain
which will be followed shortly by a wedding.
It has, in the last few decades, become fashionable for dwarven couples to
exchange various precious stones and jewelry pieces as betrothal gifts, rather
than the traditional utensils and tools, and quite frequently Trumvil's Rune has
appeared as a common decorative motif on these betrothal pieces. Some more
liberal dwarven priests currently name Trumvil as the
Wedding Presider, who aids in the joining of man and wife, but this is a fairly
recent belief…
One of our Compendium authors was recently privileged to be present at a
dwarven wedding - the first such case of a
human in attendance which we have been able
to record - and we give her notes verbatim below for your interest. Please note
that this may or may not be typical of all clans and places, and specific
details such as the names and the location have been removed from her notes for
the privacy of the newly-wed couple and their clan! This has been indicated,
where necessary, by brackets enclosing a section of changed or omitted text,
thus: {omitted}
“The great cavern was brightly lit, with tiny metal lamps burning in every
cranny as high as a stout dwarf could reach from the top of his climbing ladder.
Huge sheets of some trailing, richly green moss were hung here and there like
tapestries, while a silvery, glowing moss had obviously just been transplanted
into a semicircular area in front of the Main Hearth. The hearth itself, shaped
like the face and muzzle area of a gigantic cave drell with jaws agape, was
polished to brazen glory and the lights reflected from its hammered surface.
Inside its maw a bonfire leaped and roared, burning scented fruitwoods…” {other
specific descriptions of cave ornamentation omitted} |
Reproduction.
In the dwarfmatron’s reproductive years she is able to have two pregnancies,
almost always of two children - sometimes identical twins, but not always. (A
passage from the writings of a respected female dwarf healer, roughly
translated, says, "StoneFather gave us two hands, two feet, two eyes, two ears,
and two milkfalls that we might increase the race of Thergerim two babes at a
time.") It has happened that a dwarfmatron has had a third pregnancy, though it
is very unusual – about as often as a human might give birth to triplets. The
gestation period is roughly four to five human years. It is not obvious that a
female is pregnant until her third year, and sometimes not even then, as
dwarves
are a deep-chested, full-bellied race and their women carry deep and low.
Although dwarves are somewhat reticent on this subject as well, dwarfmaids do
not appear to have their ‘courses’ (a monthly issue of bleeding) as
human females do; as far as we are able to determine, around the time of Huregozar
their wombs begin to store up energy and nutrients for two double ‘ovuum’ (the
gnomish way of naming the female egg), one on either
side of the double horns of the womb. Our dwarven authors claim that the ceremony of marriage, the
subsequent Ennkafer (see below), and the consummation of the marriage are
somehow all necessary to stimulate the release of one of these double eggs.
At some point thereafter the dwarf female becomes impregnated just as in the
human woman, and carries her twins for the four to five year gestational period
until her due time. (Side note: A time roughly equivalent to
human menopause
does exist, called "Huar Voka", when this ovum is no longer viable and is
ejected from the reproductive system. However, since this only occurs in females
who have never had intercourse, or at least never conceived - and recall that
males outnumber females by almost two-thirds - it is rare, to say the least…)
Exactly what stimulates the release of the second egg is not clear, but since it
appears that dwarves consider the Ennkafer time of seclusion essential to
conception, and dwarven women nurse communally, we may theorize that it has
something to do with the weaning of the first two dwarfbabes, just as it does in
human women. The optimum time is apparently from between four to ten years after
the first birth, and again, two children are almost always the result. A female
can usually count on having one daughter in her reproductive lifetime (one out
of four children ), sometimes two. This is so consistent that it can be
calculated, as the male-female ratio almost always hovers around two to one.
It is clear that this method of reproduction has contributed to the equality of
their society, in that each dwarfmatron is only out of the workcycle for two
relatively short periods in her life - and she and her mate have some control
over exactly when those are, as well. She may then go on to care for her own as
well as others' children (childcare, like cooking, is a communal duty in
dwarf
caverns) or return to her previous employment. Corunvil the GraniteLord, an
arch-ancestor or demi-god (see the entry on the
UnSthommerons) is invoked during
pregnancy and labour to ensure healthy children and a short and painless
delivery.
Very few birth mishaps, deformities, miscarriages and the like are recorded
among dwarves. Human healers who have been lucky enough to form close
friendships with a dwarven community are still uncertain as to why this is. They
postulate that the enclosed, communal areas of the caverns which keep females
around the hearth and away from the more dangerous mining environments (with its
attendant foul airs, ores which radiate strange energies, rockfalls, coaldust,
and the like) may help protect the pregnancy; and there is also the sturdy,
wide-hipped build of the female dwarf to consider. Finally, the Ennkafer seems a
very sensible innovation which might well be adopted among
humans... if only they could figure out WHY it works....
The Ennkafer.
There is a period of seclusion ("Ennkafer", Love Time Away) rather like an
intensive pre natal course, in which both the husband and wife remove themselves
from society for a predetermined time, eating only the foods thought to be the
healthiest, refraining from dwarf ale and other alcoholic imports, spending time
in meditation, discussion, and various intimacies eventually leading up to
union. This is believed to be the only way to ensure pregnancy, although the
occasional three year baby has been known to occur (three years from the time of
the wedding ceremony, that is, invariably causing ancient dwarf
grannies to
click their fingernails together knowingly and mutter numbers under their
breath).
Generally, however, the consummation of the marriage does not take place on the
wedding night, as is commonly supposed to be the human custom. From our point of
view this may seem to simply prolong sexual tension and frustration, but
according to the few dwarves who have been forthright enough to speak with our
recorders on the matter, it instead relieves any anxieties that either male or
female may have and allows them to deepen their intimacy without pressure. A
sensible custom, though perhaps only feasible for the patient and longlived
Thergerim!
Information provided by
Bard Judith
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