Glorantha: Dwarf SensesDwarf Senses
by Sandy Petersen
originally published in Different Worlds #24
This document is Copyright  1998 by Sandy Petersen, and is used with 
permission. It may be freely linked to, and one copy may be printed for personal 
use, but any other reproduction by photographic, electronic, or other methods of 
retrieval, is prohibited.
Dwarf Senses
Among the common races of Glorantha, only trolls and dwarfs are easily capable 
of getting around in the dark. Elves and humans both call this ability of their 
ofttimes-enemies' "Darksense."
This is an oversimplification. The darksense of trolls and that of dwarfs is 
different in almost every detail. The troll darksense is based on sonar, like 
that of a bat or whale, and is described extensively in Trollpak.
Since dwarfs do not use sonar, how do they 'see' in the dark? Dwarfs are 
creatures of Earth, in a peculiarly grim and stern form. The sense most natural 
to, and innate in, the Earthly element is that of touch. It seems reasonable 
that the dwarfish darksense is somehow connected with the sense of touch, just 
as the troll darksense is connected with the sense of hearing. (Trolls are 
creatures of the night, and hearing is the sense most associated with Darkness.)
Is there such a sense as a long-distance touch - one suitable for getting around 
in the dark? Even fighting in the dark? Yes, surprisingly.
All fish have a sensory organ known as the Lateral Line. This structure consists 
of rows of membranous sensory pits, which run down the animal's sides and are 
also located on the head. (Those pockmarks sometimes visible on a shark's face 
are actually components of this sensory organ, not symptoms of disease.) The 
function of the lateral line is to sense water pressure and currents. An average 
fish is sensitive enough to these currents to evade enemies and remain schooled 
with others of its kind, even when blinded.
It is hard for us to imagine what such a sense is like, but we can try. Picture 
yourself in a swimming pool, floating calmly underwater with your eyes closed. 
As people swim past you, waves of current brush past your body, telling you that 
someone has moved near to you. You can imagine that if you were sensitive 
enough, you could not only tell when someone nearby had moved, but you could 
sense someone far off, and tell the velocity and approximate size of any moving 
object within a certain radius from your body. This is exactly what a fish is 
capable of doing. A shark can feel an injured fish thrash (or a swimmer splash) 
from fifty yards away, in the murkiest water, just from the waves of pressure 
emanating from the creature.
Pressure is not the only component of the sense of touch. 'Touch' is actually 
composed of five different senses that we normally lump together into a single 
category. A second sense useful at a distance is that of heat-sense. All of us 
are familiar with the waves of heat proceeding from a stove or fire.
The ability to sense heat delicately and efficiently has also been exploited by 
an earthly animal - the snake. Both pit vipers and boas (including the famous 
boa constrictor) are able to sense heat radiation at a distance with extreme 
precision. Pit vipers have a pair of pits (hence the name) between their eyes 
and nostrils. Boas have a whole row of smaller pits along their lower jaws. A 
rattler, hunting its prey in the forest or desert night, can sense a difference 
in temperature as small as a half of a degree or less. To say the least, this 
makes it hard for a warm-blooded animal to hide from the snake in any sort of 
camouflage, since his body heat will lead the rattler unerringly to him no 
matter what he does.
Now we have a possibility for the dwarfish darksense; a combination of 
highly-developed pressure- and heat-sensing abilities. Dwarfs don't seem to 
obviously possess sensory pits or lateral lines, but this is a minor cavil. 
Maybe such pits are hidden underneath their beards. Maybe their skin itself is 
capable of doing such sensing. Maybe their pits and lateral line-equivalents are 
under the skin where we cannot see them. A distinct possibility as far as 
heat-sensing is concerned is that the dwarfs' eyes are sensitive to heat, and 
serve as an equivalent to the rattlesnake's paired pits. The dwarf could not 
sense heat as a visual image of course (so-called infravision is impossibility), 
but he could both take in light with his eyes, and sense heat with their 
exteriors at the same time. Of course, such dual-purpose eyes would not be quite 
as good for normal sight, but dwarfs have never been claimed to be especially 
keen in vision.
A dwarf can use this battery to senses to detect the presence and direction of a 
living thing via its heat. All living things (even cold-blooded ones) give off 
more heat than their surroundings, and warm-blooded ones give off vast amounts 
through their respiration. By feeling air currents as their enemies move, a 
dwarf can tell the velocity of a weapon swinging at him, and parry or dodge it. 
He can tell where his foe is and what their positions are, both friend and foe. 
A dwarf can parry and attack in the dark. If a foe quietly closes a door far 
down a hall from a band of guard dwarfs, the dwarfs will feel the difference in 
pressure, and immediately know something is wrong. If a door is opened, they 
will feel that, too.
These senses are perfectly designed for underground living. Underground, the 
temperature remains constant and the air is calm and still all the time. Any 
heat source or moving object will stand out like a beacon, and call attention to 
itself against this background. A foe will broadcast his presence by every warm 
breath of air he takes, and by every motion he makes.
A person could try to make himself hidden from even dwarfish darksense by 
remaining absolutely immobile, so as to keep from generating air currents. 
Remember that the dwarfs can even fell your character's breathing! So hold your 
breath when the dwarf guard passes by, don't make a move, and pray to whatever 
gods there be that he doesn't pick up your body heat. If you are downwind of the 
dwarf, then your body heat will take much longer to reach the dwarf, though he 
will still be able to sense pressure differences.
This power and great ability becomes much less impressive out-of-doors. There, 
the dwarfs are at a disadvantage. Amid the continually changing currents and 
breezes of air, the dwarf's pressure sense is only good at very close range 
(varying with the irregularity of the wind, but usually only twenty feet or 
less). The varied background of temperature in the hostile outer world helps to 
confuse a dwarf's heat sense, except at very close range (three feet or so).
Experienced dwarfs, wise in the ways of the surface world, are less dissociated 
by the confusion of the upper earth, but they are still much worse off than when 
they are in their static tunnels. Basically, the dwarf's senses are 
shorter-ranged than those of the troll, though they are more flexible. In the 
cloistered caverns and underground cities where dwarfs live and work, this 
shortened range makes little difference. In the outside world, a troll sees 
better in the dark, and can see further than a dwarf. In an underground cave or 
structure, dwarfs and trolls are approximately equal, though their senses are 
useful for different things. Even in the most chaotic, stormy night, a dwarf 
will sense things better than a human. In daylight, the human will sense much 
better than a dwarf, and at longer range than the notoriously nearsighted dwarf 
- of course, in the caves, there is no need for distance vision.
A dwarf's darksense is good for things besides moving about, sensing intruders, 
and fighting in the dark. A dwarf smith can tell with his heat sense just how 
hot a bar of iron is that he is forging, and when it has cooled to the point 
that he must quench it. He can tell how hot a fire is, and whether he should 
stoke it up more. A dwarf medic can tell precisely how much of a fever an 
individual has, and how heavily he is breathing. A dwarf standing almost 
anywhere in a cavern complex can tell when a door is opened somewhere, or any 
other change in air pressure takes place. An obvious corollary to this is that a 
dwarf can always tell what altitude or depth he is at (within a range of a 
half-kilometer or so) simply by feeling the air pressure.
In the dark, on the surface, dwarfs must usually close to be able to fight 
effectively. Their vaunted missile weapons of repeating crossbows and firearms 
are not as valuable simply because the dwarfs can't sense their foes that far 
away. Even in their caverns, the dwarfs can't be too far from their enemies - 
certainly no more than 50 meters or so for precise aiming and firing. On the 
surface during a normally breezy time, they would be able to accurately aim and 
fire at targets no further away than 10 meters or so. If there is light 
available, they can, of course, sight normally. In their caverns, the dwarfs can 
sense intruders from distances by their movement, and prepare ambushes for them, 
waiting stolidly for their signal to attack. Dwarfs are natural experts at 
remaining rock-still when needed.
Summing up, just like the stereotype, dwarfs are good in the dark (though not 
quite as good as trolls in the open), great in their caverns, and incapable of 
truly long-distance combat actions.
A properly-played dwarf assault is performed by having the dwarfs close to 10-20 
meters, fire their crossbows and flintlocks to disorganize and slay their foes, 
then charge their enemy in a compact mass and hit them while they are still 
disrupted from the firing. This is the proven dwarf method of warfare, and has 
served them well against humans, trolls, elves, and other, more alien races. 
Dwarfs, with their ingrained conservatism, are unlikely to experiment or use 
untried tactics in war, and who can blame them? Their ancient techniques are 
still good and almost foolproof. The dwarf senses serve them well in battle, at 
work, and in leisure. They are ideally suited for dwarfish preferences and 
habits. The Gloranthan dwarf is truly a well-rounded individual by his own 
lights, and can bless his Maker for the senses he possesses, which complement 
his desires and abilities so well.


See also:
Non-Human Races: Dwarfs
A Personal View of Dwarf Culture
The Foreman's Words
Why I Dislike Mostali
Mostal-Dwarfs: Mythos, Heresies, and Lore
Creating Jolanti


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