The Stone
The dwarves believe that they are the Children of the Stone, born of the earth itself. According to Shaper Czibor, this veneration of the Stone has been practiced for two thousand years by the dwarves.
They refer to the Stone as "she". Being practical, the dwarves venerate her, but do not worship her as a god. The Stone is believed to be a living and a shifting entity with a will that surrounds and guides the dwarves.
She supports them, shelters them, and offers them the most priceless gifts of the earth, such as ore, gems, and lyrium.
Influence
Dwarves experience a unique and all-encompassing relationship to their progenitor, the Stone. They are born of it, they serve it in their deeds, and they feel its impact upon their lives in many ways.
In Orzammar, the Shapers who maintain written records in lyrium are said to document the Stone. Dwarves from the mining caste are able to find lyrium veins by ear and some of them claim that they hear the Stone sing.
Before the darkspawn, the Stone once held an empire—dozens of thaigs—and according to the dwarves, the Old Gods are sleeping deep within the very Stone itself. The dwarves who fight the darkspawn, including the Legion of the Dead, are believed to fight for her.
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Dwarves who have lived underground possess an ability called "Stone sense". This ability provides subterranean navigation and dwarves believe that it is derived from their connection to the Stone. Amongst dwarves, Shapers reportedly possess remarkable Stone sense.
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The dwarves who leave the Stone's embrace to live on the surface are so reviled by their brethren that their caste and status is lost and their deeds forever removed from the Memories. The only exception to this rule are dwarves who join the Grey Wardens, though this is reserved for dwarves who had still lived underground and retain their standings by the time they join.
Due to the Blight, there has been lesser restriction imposed in practicality. However, those Dwarves who go without any attempt to find sanctuary by the Stone are considered lost.
The subterranean dwarves' wariness of losing their connection to the Stone is so great that their embassies in Tevinter are underground, and the dwarves within never step out of them.
Core Beliefs
Drink deep of the ale while it's still cold.
Marvel at the breadth of the hall.
Once you couldn't move for the host.
The Stone now embraces them all.
Dwarves entomb their dead to return them to the Stone. Nobles and Paragons are entombed in vast and elaborate crypts while commoners are encased within stone cairns. Dwarves of lesser caste are buried in mausoleums in which the dead from many houses are interred together. Failing that, they are buried in the dirt, though this is never ideal.
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The soul of the worthy who were not blind to the Stone's influence and lived by her are believed to return to and to rest in the Stone after the words of a ritual are said. In death their spirits become part of the Ancestors who guide and care for their descendants for eternity as well as make the Stone stronger.
Dwarves also believe that the victors of the Provings are favored by the Ancestors who "speak" by showing their favor. The most worthy, the Paragons who are the greatest examples of lives spent in service to fellow dwarves, are believed to join with the Stone in life and to become the living Ancestors.
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Dwarves believe that the Stone is not pure, for she bears a corruption as old as balance. For the dwarves to prosper the gangue — the waste and unstable rock — must be cut away from the raw Stone. Each dwarf must carve the worst of themselves away. The gangue can also be translated from Old Dwarven as "impure spirit-of-the-stone" and manifests as demons bound into the rock.
The Memories tell us that our kingdom once reached far beneath the mountains, and that the thaigs were almost beyond counting.
