Hummies. Race and resource
Hummies are tall, muscular creatures. They are taller than a dwarf but a bit smaller than an elf. Most of them walk on all fours, but the leaders and the alphas mostly walk upright. Hummies don’t cut their hair, thus, the older they are, the longer their dirty matted locks. They mainly settle on the ruins of ancient towns. They are incredibly lazy, demanding, ravenous and lustful. As far as tools are concerned, they mainly use long staves which they wield as spears. They are afraid of fire and loud noises. They are also known to be quite thieving.
The Hummies were once a free, numerous, albeit rather arrogant people who lived in the North East of the Lunar mountains. The dwarves used to trade with them and they even had embassies in Diamond Stronghold. However, time passed, and the impudent Hummies wanted more and more. It got to the point that they started to go on raids to the dwarves' remote lands and trading posts! All relations with them were eventually terminated as it became impossible to believe their word and the severity of their rituals scared even the ogres of the Blackwood. When King Silverbeard became tired of their actions on the borders of his realm, he gathered the most skilled warriors which numbered around 1000 axes (this personal guard of the king then started to be called The Thunderhand of Gariot) and set off to the Hummies lands in order to knock some sense into their chieftain. After a few bloody battles, the Hummies called for peace talks which ended miserably because the great Aravorn Iron Hand, who considered himself to be the main chieftain of all the hummie clans, was not going to listen to the rules and conditions which the wise dwarf king was offering. Aravorn Iron Hand demanded freedom with no limits, weekly payments, edible gifts, vague assurances, and other inconceivable things. Gariot Silverbeard had no other choice than to free Aravorn from his frail carnal shell. After impaling the head of the defeated enemy on his diamond sword, he stepped out towards the thousands of captured hummies and declared that from now on, if the hummies wanted to be spared, they must faithfully serve the dwarves and fulfil all of their orders, otherwise they will be exterminated for the insolence. This event was recorded in the consolidated dwarf books as ‘Coercion to Repentance’. Most of the vile clan knelt before the dwarves, others left for the eastern woods where they to this day drag out their miserable existence among the toads and swamps.
A hundred years have passed since and every hummie is still bound to serve the dwarves. It has almost become absorbed into their blood and bones. However, it is rumoured that there are some troublemakers within the mix, whose blood boils and who crave freedom, but these are just probably made up goblin stories. So far, the hummies have proven to be very good workers and servants (if you discipline them regularly). Sometimes they are used for sensual pleasures, but it isn’t customary to talk about this in the respectable dwarf society.
The Hummie trade is controlled by the state. You can buy them at auction and, if you are in sudden need of gold or are simply bored of them, can be sold in the tavern. Occasionally hummies die. It isn’t known from what exactly, but no one really cares. Hummies can also periodically breed, which is very gratifying for their diligent owners. The death and fertility rate of hummies depend on the conditions of their detainment.
Hummies can be sent to work on your plots. They are rather lazy people, so you will need a couple of them in order to perform the simplest tasks, but they can still help to automate the collection of resources. Furthermore, they can also slightly increase the speed of production. But don’t forget that you need to keep a good eye on them. Otherwise, they will steal goods or ruin something due to their sheer stupidity.