What do dwarves eat?

[H.GrenadeFrenzy]

But what do they make beer from?

And dwarves are supposed to have developed industry for the time. What do they do with all the waste (and large of it will be toxic fumes)?

They burn the waste in furnaces. The heat and steam make perfect conditions for mushrooms and other humid, mineral depended plants and the pot ash increases the soil value for the purposes of any grain. Light comes from skylights, phlorescent linchen and crystal reflection chambers. Beer is safer than water because of the distilation process. It also is food. Others don't like it because it is layered with different flavors suited to the dwarven tongue. The are rewarded by their god for these practices and they love meat. Dwarven cooks are so beloved they never leave home and the clanniness of the dwarves allows for more honored guests from among the dwarvish peoples......All of this is basic dwarven knowledge and is unknown to nearly all outsiders............the dwarves have blessed you with this knowledge by honor you've earned among them.....We laugh at your jokes......yet know our waste has nothing to do with our beer Kael....that is an orcish tradition. However we appriciate your steadfast representation of us. Water is for blessing and then making ale/beer, craft, farming and tending livestock. Bathing is done in hot mineral springs..........the location of everything I have mentioned is always secret for the privacy of a dwarf is both sacred and a matter of State.

 

[Gladi]

They burn the waste in furnaces. The heat and steam make perfect conditions for mushrooms and other humid, mineral depended plants and the pot ash increases the soil value for the purposes of any grain. Light comes from skylights, phlorescent linchen and crystal reflection chambers. Beer is safer than water because of the distilation process. It also is food. Others don't like it because it is layered with different flavors suited to the dwarven tongue. The are rewarded by their god for these practices and they love meat. Dwarven cooks are so beloved they never leave home and the clanniness of the dwarves allows for more honored guests from among the dwarvish peoples......All of this is basic dwarven knowledge and is unknown to nearly all outsiders............the dwarves have blessed you with this knowledge by honor you've earned among them.....We laugh at your jokes......yet know our waste has nothing to do with our beer Kael....that is an orcish tradition. However we appriciate your steadfast representation of us. Water is for blessing and then making ale/beer, craft, farming and tending livestock. Bathing is done in hot mineral springs..........the location of everything I have mentioned is always secret for the privacy of a dwarf is both sacred and a matter of State.

Bright day
Ahem ahem I highly doubt things like sulphur are good for mushroom growth. Yes organic waste is highly valuale resource. But industrial waste is killer. IMO dwarves are resistant to poisons not because all dwarves were made like that, but because not being resistant was bred out of them.

Oh and dwarven industries are metalurgy and mushroom fiber prouction at the very least. (and what do dwarves burn in their fires, and how is reasonable water distribution cared for in large cities and...)

 

[YNCS]

Beer is safer than water because of the distillation process.

Beer isn't distilled, it's fermented. That's a completely different process. In fermentation, yeast converts sugars and starches into alcohol. Distillation doesn't produce alcohol, it just concentrates it.

 

[H.GrenadeFrenzy]

Bright day
Ahem ahem I highly doubt things like sulphur are good for mushroom growth. Yes organic waste is highly valuale resource. But industrial waste is killer. IMO dwarves are resistant to poisons not because all dwarves were made like that, but because not being resistant was bred out of them.

Oh and dwarven industries are metalurgy and mushroom fiber prouction at the very least. (and what do dwarves burn in their fires, and how is reasonable water distribution cared for in large cities and...)

First:Sulfur is far to important for other things such as gunpowder. So we remove it. Secondly humans have had catastrophies as well and our disasters may not all be known to you but thats the facts when it comes to volcanoes and other forms of explosions, poisons, disease, reproduction difficulties, mutation, genetic intollerance and such. Not to mention the problems early dwarves had with dehydration.
Second :Metallurgy, mushrooms, fungi, mycophagy, and mycology are vital parts of dwarven life, this I never disputed or claimed otherwise.
But you asked specific questions, if you want a complete biographical and biological workup of all dwarves everywhere you had better stop insulting people and behaving like you are the only expert here or go imagine one up all by yourself and not ask for any input because I don't need to post or ever visit anything to do with this ever again if I am going to be talked to like the kids do online for SoCom 3......Ahem Ahem do I hear an appology or a good riddance. and on the next post so I won't post again.........We are talking about dwarves which beverages are highly condensed alcohol in comparison.....also used(distilation) for removing other things such as dibilitating toxins...Humans have this in their own history....Plumber the term comes from latin, It means basically lead caster because putting wine in lead ceases the fermentation process. This is one of the reasons for the fall of the Roman Empire and their genetic defects, lead poisoning...but some peoples whom loved Roman wine figured out how to distill it...after it killed large amounts of their population.......The Celts among others.

 

[H.GrenadeFrenzy]

Beer isn't distilled, it's fermented. That's a completely different process. In fermentation, yeast converts sugars and starches into alcohol. Distillation doesn't produce alcohol, it just concentrates it.

I make beer quarterly

 

[Gladi]

So now I am insulting? If you are so easily angered I suggest anger managment lessons <- now that is an insult

I never said to be "expert" on dwarves. Heck, how can one be an expert on something that does not exist? (aside from several mutations of humans) But I unfortunately know something of caves (if you spend days locked in them you learn). And for most they are closed enviroments poor in sources of organic matter and energy, whatever it be solar, thermal of by decompassion of nitrates.

So I merely made point that only way dwarves can live underground is "suspension of disbelief".

And please do not show your "expertise" with fake sounding unfounded data. (now I am taking about lead containers for wine, not that plumber is derived from plumbum- it is. But as far as I know it is about pipes, which is something that was going on for many centuries on. Further I never saw any evidence of Roman Empire being destroyed by lead poisoning. Though I saw evidence of it being severaly hurt by social stagnation, unequal economic distribution and political corruption).

Also, I think, that to add to insult, I should introduce you to somebody.
H.GrenadeFrenzy meet . also known as fullstop. Fullstop meet H.GrenadeFrenzy. (this is an insult if you are wondering, btw)

 

[wilboman]

OK, funny thread, folks (I'm playing with the idea of nicking some of it for flavour, maybe something to do with the Luichurp). But please don't unleash the first flame-fight in the new forum, huh?

 

[kevjm]

And please do not show your "expertise" with fake sounding unfounded data. (now I am taking about lead containers for wine, not that plumber is derived from plumbum- it is. But as far as I know it is about pipes, which is something that was going on for many centuries on. Further I never saw any evidence of Roman Empire being destroyed by lead poisoning. Though I saw evidence of it being severaly hurt by social stagnation, unequal economic distribution and political corruption).

Well Roman emporers did have a habit of going crazy...

Lead was also used in some food flavouring, as well as in the wine making process. With the lead piping, the pure volume of water which went through the pipes actually meant that the lead levels in the water weren't actually that high. This is all according to some documentary I watched recently, anyways . I'm not a historian or a doctor. But the program seemed well researched

 

[wilboman]

Lead was popular in a ridiculous number of things (including the thick white makeup Lizzie the first wore) until someone discovered that in addition to being highly pliable, tough and handy, it was also highly poisonous.

 

[Gladi]

Lead was popular in a ridiculous number of things (including the thick white makeup Lizzie the first wore) until someone discovered that in addition to being highly pliable, tough and handy, it was also highly poisonous.

Well they also used to colour with arsenic.

And Kevjm- and how was lead used in wine-making?

 

[Hans Lemurson]

It's obvious...they mine for fish.

I'd actually go for terracing mountainsides for farmland. Because of their subterrainian networks, they would not suffer the transportation difficulties that most others would have in reaching high mountain pastures and secluded glens. The dwarves would be the masters of the mountains, both above and below. Dwarves should be able to make good use of land that nobody else would eb able to, they have their own nice little niche in the world.

To improve the diversity of their food, they could harvest subterrainian mushrooms and the like, and maybe make use of some thermophyllic organisms in the depths.

They most likely also trade with the outside world for some more variety in their diet, in exchange for their skillfully forged goods (and documents). The Dwarves could probably also make a niche in the exotic foods market, exporting some of their surplus mineral aquatics; rock cod, orefish, stonefish, steelhead, goldfish...silver fish. They'd probably sell by the tuna!

 

[kevjm]

And Kevjm- and how was lead used in wine-making?

I honestly can't remember :/

 

[H.GrenadeFrenzy]

My source for the lead comments is a Master Plumber and former Special Forces operative whom has direct access to a storehouse of information on the topic. He often points out information flaws on such topics because the records he uses are more accurate and pertain to his trade.

The distillation comment was intentionally contriversial because like the claims of Egyptologists masquarading under the profession of anthropology many would have you believe distillation did not occur until the middle ages even though documention from other sociaties and civilization claim that others had discovered and taught it earlier.

These sorts of errors in information are common and one source to show how it happens is Economics & Cultures:Foundations of Economic Anthropology by Richard R. Wilk. I list this because while to record of facts rarely distinguishes the opposing discussions in anything but a self righteous club over the head(I am right and you are wrong) tone. This causes not only a loss of data but a misinterpertation of facts to the extend that culture is lost forever. And often the academics lie to cover up their previois shortcummings and deceptons, social positions ie...pristiege(mispelling intentional),property and power over others.

Another example from my own history: In 1998 August I attended a Sundance in South Dakota. After the very Beutiful opening dance a lead dancer spoke",We are Aztec dancers and we have heard that we are extinct. We find this to be very strange.....We have been here the whole time!." His first name is Hector and they still offer live shows to the public in Denver, Colorado

 

[H.GrenadeFrenzy]

These comments were and are for role-playing flavor add or subtract at will but if all you do is poke holes in peoples statements withou offering more contribution the name of this game according to Transactional Analysis is Inquistion and is often used in court rooms and academics to destroy anothers presentation without merit. Unfortunately if usually works to the debasement of all

....Gladi I forgive you for it is probraly simply in you nature as your posts and signature imply. Plus you get points from me for being a fellow spelunker(deep enough to avoid snakes damn the spiders damn them to hell...........I wish I could eat centipeeds....and whatever those freakish flat silver/gray insects are that the AOutobon Society hasn't helped me with damn manuals.) To quote a misadventure.
But we can still agree to disagree. And rember(please) playfull banter and reeducation can be good but bulldozer aproach is best saved for the game..Thanx and this should apply to everbody in forrums like this lest the creativity in people be dried up and parched beyond quelching.

Dwarves should definitely not be afraid of crustations(from insects on up) and the use of them for food should be normal as well as a bonus of some sort for posion use, identification and antiodotes. Most games ignore this inevitablity. Salamaders? Posion extraction from posionous prey possibly. Little white blind creatures abnormal for surface dwellers maybe?

 

[Oldfrt]

I honestly can't remember :/

I thought, from memory (damned, where are those crows when you need them!), that the lead was actually in the container/stopper - and that is where the buildup came from. also in the tankards & ewers.....

 

[Oldfrt]

Also, somehow I think most Dwarfs should have Scottish accents (just feels soooooo right).... in which case, having a wee drop of something more potent than mead or ale woud'na go astray!

 

[Kael]

Also, somehow I think most Dwarfs should have Scottish accents (just feels soooooo right).... in which case, having a wee drop of something more potent than mead or ale woud'na go astray!

That was actually the concensus of the team (well, a few members that weighed in on it) but I vetoed the idea. I never liked or understood giving a real world regional accent to any fantasy group. Be that vampires with transylvanian accents or dwarves with scottish accents. I blame tolkien.

I tend to prefer writing that focuses on what that creature would emphasize, instead of giving them an accent.

 

[Yakk]

Here is something interesting...

I believe the original implementation of "can cross mountains" code prevented the units from boarding boats, other than at a city.

Make dwarven units only able to board a boat in a real port, because they are heavier than water, and boarding elsewhere isn't safe.

Have dwarven herders that cannot leave hills/mountain terrain, and can build "dwarven deep hunting camps" (+2/3 food mountains, +1 food +0/2 trade hills).

At a later tech, have "dwarven untouchables" who have been expelled from dwarven cities, who can build some non-hill/mountain improvements (the ability to harvest non-hill/mountain resources is required by game balance).

 

[Oldfrt]

That was actually the concensus of the team (well, a few members that weighed in on it) but I vetoed the idea. I never liked or understood giving a real world regional accent to any fantasy group. Be that vampires with transylvanian accents or dwarves with scottish accents. I blame tolkien.

I tend to prefer writing that focuses on what that creature would emphasize, instead of giving them an accent.

I accept what you say, but isnt giving them an "accepted" accent the same as giving them normally "accepted" attributes?

.... waiting now to see the Dwarfs as a bunch of tree huggers.......

(no offence woodelf!)

 

[Kael]

I accept what you say, but isnt giving them an "accepted" accent the same as giving them normally "accepted" attributes?

.... waiting now to see the Dwarfs as a bunch of tree huggers.......

(no offence woodelf!)

Yeap! But (just my personal opinion here) the scottish accent is a real world thing that seems to break the illusion of the fantasy world. I don't have a problem with the dwarven fondness for beer, which is a part of their accepted flavor. But I would have a problem if they prefered Guiness or some other earth specific brand.

Again, just one guys opinion.