Introduction
James “Flighty Familiar” Kidd
Freeman “Talkin’ Dwarves” Iceton
Source: Bestiary 2, pg. 103
Pathfinder Lore
• Pronunciation: Let’s get this outta the wayyyyyy.
o Various opinions exist (no surprise). Some say DWEH-mer, some say DWEE-mer.
o I’m going with one that follows an alternate spelling: DWIM-mer.
o More on this in the next section.
• “Magically gifted” felines (read: kitty cats:) from the First World.
o (Not sure who gifted it to them….:P)
• Within the First World they like to feed on Primal Energy.
o Though they are occasionally found on the Material Plane.
o Where the veil to the FW is thin or in places where magic has been warped beyond repair (Magic Wastes?)
• If they are notorious for anything it is for their unique ability to “twist the metaphorical strings of spells” that are directed at them or at least near them.
o Basically this “twisting” is having their own magical defenses quickly adapt or change in reaction to the magic.
Mythology & Folklore
• Let’s talk about the word…..Dweomer!
• (And let me say….it has nothing to do with Cats…)
o Proto-Germanic is the reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages..
o That sentence barely makes sense to me. But that’s where this word starts (circa 500 B.C.E.)
(Actually that’s not true….it starts with the Proto-Indo-European language…which is also reconstructed with out any actual direct records existing).
o From there it appears in Old English (5th-7th century) as dwimor and then Middle English (11th-16th century) as the current spelling dweomer.
Mix in a little Old Norse….
o And you’ve got something that means “witchcraft”!
Or rather the Old Norse term meant “dwarf talk”, which referred to the secret knowledge or magic that dwarves had in Norse Mythology
o For Middle English I found references of it to be related to “occult” magic specifically.
And it makes a classic guest appearance in LotR as a Rohirric phrase for magic.
(no citation) According to the dungeonsanddragons.fandom wiki dweomer is what you call the the magical aura around an enchanted item.
Also found references to a couple book series called the Fabled Lands and the Deverry Cycle.
o Most notably for me is the obvious connection to the Dwemer from the Elder Scrolls series.
I don’t know a huge amount about ES lore, but Dwemer are essentially (and colloquially referred to as) Dwarves (though technically in the ES world they are classified as a variety of elf).
Subterranean, expert masons and metallurgists, technologically advanced.
Massive ruins of their technology and civilizations are left behind.
o The fact that the ES Dwemer are Dwarves…but technically Elves falls in line with some confusion from Norse Mythology and the Prose Edda (Icelandic text written or compiled by ‘friend of the show’ Snorri Sturluson).
“Dwarfs” appear to be the same as the Svartálfar (black elves).
But also with reference to to dökkálfar (dark elves), though it’s unclear if there is a difference between the two.
For clarity, there also exists Ljósálfar (light elves).
• Dark being subterranean and dark skinned. And Light being surface-dwelling and light-skinned.
• Which is sorta hilariously backwards for…. evolutionary purposes.
o All-in-all…it just means Magic really..