Gromril/Gold Addiction and Grudges
For some unknown reasons, dwarfs have a strong attraction to gold. Dwarfs will seek to amass gold, even to the point of acting unreasonably (such as refusing to abandon gold in order to save their lives). The exception to this refusal to leave gold is any gold that is going to be buried (such as by a cave in). As far as a Dwarf is concerned, any gold that is "lost" underground is as easy to regain as a coin dropped in the street. This addiction is sometimes called "gold lust."
What most people do not know is that the Dwarf's true favourite metal is Gromril, a fictional metal which is said to be harder than diamond. The Dwarfs take this metal much more seriously than Gold and only Royalty, Generals and the Legendary Ironbreakers can afford to have it as their armour. In Warhammer, where "Armour Saves" that are taken after a model takes a wound are governed by a roll of a die, Gromril Armour lets the Character survive on a roll of 4 or more while normal heavy armour only gives a save of 5+.
Dwarfs take their obsession with gold seriously, but they take grudges even more seriously. A Dwarf is said to never forget a grudge. A Dwarf will even end a lifelong friendship over a grudge of the "lightest" matter. To a Dwarf, the source of the grudge (no matter how absurd) does not matter so much as that it is a grudge. Grudges can be ended amicably, though the stubborn nature of Dwarfs makes compromises difficult and grudges must always be fulfilled. In the case of "lesser matters" gold can suffice to end a grudge. Felix Jaeger did end a grudge between Gotrek Gurnisson and Gotrek's childhood friend by taking the source of their grudge, a book of bad poetry, and ripping it in half, giving half to each (all the Dwarfs present found this incredibly funny, which is probably the only reason they did not kill Felix on the spot or declare a grudge upon him). Killing a Dwarf sparks a grudge that is similar to a vendetta, in that the grudge will transfer down the generations (both in the dwarf family and the family of the focus of the grudge) and it MUST be paid in blood. The only offence worse than killing a dwarf is damaging or destroying a Dwarf's beard - such an offence sparked the devastating decade long War of the Beard.
Read more about this topic: Dwarf (Warhammer)
Famous quotes containing the words gold, addiction and/or grudges:
“We are educated in the grossest ignorance, and no art omitted to stifle our natural reason; if some few get above their nurses’ instructions, our knowledge must rest concealed and be as useless to the world as gold in the mine.”
—Mary Wortley, Lady Montagu (1689–1762)
“All sin tends to be addictive, and the terminal point of addiction is what is called damnation.”
—W.H. (Wystan Hugh)
“The earth is not earth but a stone,
Not the mother that held men as they fell
But stone, but like a stone, no: not
The mother, but an oppressor, but like
An oppressor that grudges them their death,
As it grudges the living that they live.”
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)