Dvergar

The Dwarves. One part of the mythology of Aihrde I have not settled upon and that I have actually written several versions of, is the role of Dwarven Women. It came to me the other day that the Dwarves have no women, that when they desire a son, they carve them from the stone and breath life into them with rune magic, thus their line carries on and their own saying upon a dwarf's death "He returned to stone" has even great meaning.

Dwarves, we know them in Middle Earth or RPGs stem largely from the Norse mythology. They appear in the Eddas, which are the written records of stories told by the norse grand-fatheres and written down by Christians (largely in Iceland). Much of what we have is slightly tainted, though there is reason to believe that the record keepings was done in an attempt to keep an honest account of the myths. But the eddas have little or nothing in them that recount the dwarves as being small, or even shorter, but that it is assumed they are simply human-like.

This interpretation is probably added by later scholars, some argue to weaken the hold Norse Mythology had on its adherents  . . . because making evil creatures short would have such an affect; however, a study of the word etymology of the word Dwarf and its relation to Dvergar would perhaps reveal a relationship that led to a mis-translation rather than some Judeo-Christian-Scholastic plot to undermine Norse Mythology.

They are creatures who shun the day and possess some magical qualities but particular skill in the mining and metal working. Their women, rarely mentioned, we must assume, were much like human women. They were generally considered greedy, if not necessarily evil.