On Dwarven Honor

[LordKruelos]

I recently wrote this for my home game and the players (especially the Dwarven players) really liked it, so I thought I'd add it here.

In my home game, Dwarven names take the following form:
[Dwarf's name] bin [Father's name] of [Clan]

Depending on the circumstance, a Dwarf might introduce himself as:

[Dwarf's name] bin [Father's name] -- to another Dwarf inside his clan
[Dwarf's name] bin [Father's name] of [Clan] -- to another Dwarf outside his clan
[Dwarf's name] of [Clan] -- to a respected non-Dwarf in an informal setting
[Dwarf's name] bin [Father's name] of [Clan] -- to a respected non-Dwarf in a formal setting
[Dwarf's name] of the Dwarves -- to a non-Dwarf that hasn't earned any respect or reason to consider this person worth a damn. In ...of the Dwarves, there is an implied but subtle Dwarven insult -- that the person is either too stupid to know what a real Dwarf is, or "Yeah, I'm a Dwarf, Got a problem with that?"

A Dwarf's word is a tricky thing. In terms of honesty, Dwarves run the same gamut as humans -- "I promise ____" means only as much as the individual's reputation.

For a Dwarf's word to REALLY carry weight, they will append (stake) the honor of their obligations, e.g. "I give you my word, on the honor of (the Dwarves / Clan Ironfist / my Father, Drogo bin Khaled). For Super-Serious or Super-Formal effect, Dwarves may layer multiple stakes of honor (ie Clan + Father) -- among Dwarves, Clan + Sire is pretty significant, only surpassed by then also staking the honor of Grand- and Great-Grand Sires as well.
Curiously, staking the honor of "the people" (ie Dwarves) falls away in common use among Dwarves, and adding it to the stake of Clan + Family + Father is really only used to impress humans.

Dwarven Hierarchy of Respect and Honor
------- Father (Sire)
----- Family
--- Clan
- People (Dwarves)

Dwaves, being deeply hierarchical, have developed a system of honor based on their hierarchical obligations, such that the honor associated with a statement varies based on the phrasing and (most importantly) whose honor is put at stake. Staking then failing the honor of one's obligation has varied effects -- failing the honor of the Dwarves may label the offending Dwarf as reckless or hasty, giving other Dwarves a bad name, while staking and failing the honor of one's clan would bring disfavor upon the dwarf, and failing the honor of one's father might well get you disowned. Failing the honor of one's father AND grand-father might well impel one's father (or eldest male relative) to not only disown you but perhaps kill you for bringing dishonor to the line and to restore proper honor to the Sires and Grand-Sires of the family.
Swearing on the honor of the Thane (not just the Clan) is a particularly risky thing, as Thanes tend to take their honor very seriously, and invoking then failing to uphold their honor may well get the Thane to send multiple trusted agents to capture, retrieve, punish, or silence the Dwarf who dares to bring dishonor to the Thane's name.


Somewhat related to the above (again playing off the concept of Dwarves as deep lovers of hierarchical social structures), Dwarven hospitality is a subject of significant obligations and social norms, and Dwarves are very cautious as to what degree of hospitality they offer, for risk of damaging their honor.

Hierarchy of Dwarven Hospitality Obligations
--------- Blood (Family. To be offered this level of hospitality is literally to be adopted as a member of the family)
------- Alliance
----- Protection (to include long-term Hospitality)
--- Lodging (Temporary Hospitality)
- Parlay / Passage

[Dreamstreamer]

Interesting ideas! Some questions:
How is honor gained? Staking and succeeding? Is it inherited? What about brothers? Does the actions of one affect the honor of the other? Can the honor received be shared among all who make the same or similar stake?

How does honor affect the women? Can women even have honor? Is it gained/lost through marriage?

Patricide seems like it would be an incredible blow to the honor of the family. But, what happens when a father (or grandfather) fails in a stake of honor? Is it a blemish upon the entire household? Can the honor be regained by a descendant killing the dishonorable or will it remain lost regardless?

[LordKruelos]

Interesting ideas! Some questions:
How is honor gained? Staking and succeeding? Is it inherited? What about brothers? Does the actions of one affect the honor of the other? Can the honor received be shared among all who make the same or similar stake?

How does honor affect the women? Can women even have honor? Is it gained/lost through marriage?

Patricide seems like it would be an incredible blow to the honor of the family. But, what happens when a father (or grandfather) fails in a stake of honor? Is it a blemish upon the entire household? Can the honor be regained by a descendant killing the dishonorable or will it remain lost regardless?

I guess to start, I don't see this as a finite or measured thing, though I could certainly see people taking that route and turning it into a game mechanic. I see it more as a cultural artifact, a conceptual structure, that still allows for nuance and variation within the clans (some clans might be more traditional patriarchal, others may have reformed somewhat. Since this is a cultural system that evolved within Dwarf culture, I'd leave it open to adaptation.  Like most conceptions of honor, it's really about maintaining or saving face on a case by case basis rather than a cumulative bean counting. If none of the elders can remember a loss of honor that went uncorrected, it might as well not exist, though the dwarves certainly have long memories.

The dwarves in my game are mostly a balance between pragmatism and xenophobia, even to the point of having cordial (albeit heavily escorted) trade relations with some of the more peaceful goblin tribes.

[Sletchman]

I'm a little surprised your players don't try to turn it into a mechanic.  My players would immediately start planning assassinations of well renowned patriachs (through secondary means that cannot be traced back to them of course) in order to alter the balance of power in their favour.

Cool idea though - I always like seeing people work on this sort of thing.  It fascinates me in a way I can't really explain.

[LordKruelos]

I think there's already a mechanic that would handle this really well if we wanted to go down that route, I'd handle it with Reputation and Renown.

If it were a more Dwarf-society based game, I'd probably create a new Renown-like track, Dwarven Honor (or even just Honor), and handle it that way.

[LordKruelos]

Alternately, it'd be really easy to hang this on a Dwarf character in a non-Dwarf centered game via a Subpolot

DEBT
DEPENDENTS
HUNTED/WANTED
MENTOR/PATRON
MISTAKEN IDENTITY
NEMESIS/RIVAL
SECRET IDENTITY
TROUBLED ROMANCE

All speak to me as possibilities.