Just for fun I thought I'd brainstorm some ideas.
It is implied that male dwarves are never cleanly shaven unless something SUPER serious is going on. What kind of reasons could you think of for a dwarf to be beardless?
- They shave it as penance for some sin
- They had it burnt off and scarred
- A witch cursed them
Any others?
This thread seems to be inviting the wrath of Torag's faithful.
Sacrilege and heresy.
They may be mere words, but they are poisonous daggers pointed at the heart of the good Dwarven folk.
Tolerating such vile filth is but doing the enemy's own task for them.
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Dwarves in Starfinder would likely find clean-shaven or close-cropped facial hair more conducive for ease of wearing helmeted space suits. Likewise, elves vs. long hair.
Edit: Perhaps going clean-shaven could also be a cultural signifier of deep mourning for the loss of their god Torag and their homeworld Golarion during The Gap?
Just for fun I thought I'd brainstorm some ideas.
It is implied that male dwarves are never cleanly shaven unless something SUPER serious is going on. What kind of reasons could you think of for a dwarf to be beardless?
- They shave it as penance for some sin
- They had it burnt off and scarredAny others?
I did not think of the witch curse thing but my character Gunnar Bearchin was indeed debearded with hot irons and banished for a killing. and no, I can't think of any other reasons, though even nowadays crftsmen are close cropped (can't have the beard fal into the forge fire or receive hot coals and sparks during hot xwork).
I could see something similar to the Dothraki tradition in ASOIAF, where a defeated warrior cuts his hair: an enemy leaving defeated dwarves alive but shaving them (or dwarves shaving themselves to show their dishonor, etc).
I’m a bit hesitant to bring this up because the novel is set in a different world, but there’s a very creepy beardless dwarf who may interest readers of this thread in Erik Scott De Bie’s 2010 novel Downshadow.
One GM has Dwarves not being allowed to have beards until recognized as adults. The coming of age ceremony includes a lot of roughhousing, boasting and ribbing the new adult before the oaths to home, etc.
Females are invited to sit with the adults at mail 'knitting' or some other 'adult only' thing.
After proving ones self in battle generally rates the ceremony.
I played a hairless Duergar for a few levels.
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Dwarves in Starfinder would likely find clean-shaven or close-cropped facial hair more conducive for ease of wearing helmeted space suits. Likewise, elves vs. long hair.
Edit: Perhaps going clean-shaven could also be a cultural signifier of deep mourning for the loss of their god Torag and their homeworld Golarion during The Gap?
Nope, Nope Nope :)
In any Starfinder game I ran, Dwarven suits would include a beard sleeve/hose that makes the beard part of the filtration system...
Varric from Dragon age, best beardless dwarf. All that chest hair.
I’m a bit hesitant to bring this up because the novel is set in a different world, but there’s a very creepy beardless dwarf who may interest readers of this thread in Erik Scott De Bie’s 2010 novel Downshadow.
Erik Scott De bie? I'm there.
In Neverwinter Nights one of the companions you get is a dwarf monk named Grimgnaw who shaves his beard. I don't remember why though.
I've played two beardless dwarves. One of them just couldn't grow a beard, although he had a decent mustache. The other was an exiled bastard, and he shaved his beard to show his rejection and denunciation of dwarven culture. The second was a favourite of mine, with the determination and grit that I love about dwarves but without the stodginess or rigid adherence to tradition.
In the long ago and far away, there was an Arduin player who ran a Ustinov/Poirot influenced Dwarf. There was nothing untidy about him, especially those crude beards. Now, his mustache was magnificent.
For dwarves, facial hair or lack of it is a statement, individually and culturally. How you say whatever you are.
It's not something we like to talk about.
In Neverwinter Nights one of the companions you get is a dwarf monk named Grimgnaw who shaves his beard. I don't remember why though.
He's a monk in a death cult and it's a symbol that he's already dead.
baby dwarves?
Also, female dwarves, obviously.
I had a game where a clan of sea-faring dwarves kept themselves clean-shaven because getting their beards caught in the rigging etc. was a danger.
Athasian dwarves in Dark Sun are just that way... beardless. I think it's genetic. No hair at all. Everywhere I suppose.
Maybe they lost someone close to them?
Some real world cultures cut or shave their hair as a show of grief.
For the heck of it?
Or one I actually ran- a Dwarf monk who shaved his beard (and hair) so his enemies couldn't grab hold of it during a fight. Grunnar Hammerfist, affectionately known as "Cueball."