Dwarven religion

The Dwarven Religion is the ethnic religion of the Dwarves and Gnomes, practiced by the Dwarves and Gnomes living in Northern Etrand (Autonomous Dwarven Region), as well as by Dwarven and Gnomish diaspora in other countries. Because the agreement made between the Dwarves and the Etrandish authorities in 270 explicitly granted the Dwarves religious freedom, and also because of the practicioners of the religion largely keeping to themselves and having no ambition to convert others, the Dwarven religion is tolerated pretty much everywhere, and its practicioners have not faced persecution anywhere, with the exception of a few notable incidents.

Mythology
Dwarven mythology is regarded by most as what it's called - mythology, myths and legends that are to be taken with a grain of salt. However, in reality, there is more truth to those myths and legends than one could imagine, as many of them reveal the secret origins of the Dwarves, albeit in a distorted, heavily mythicized manner: Dwarves claim to have "descended from the skies", but after drawing the ire of "the Metal Gods", they were forced to enter "the Great Slumber", from which they were awoken by the Gnomes, hence the Dwarven worship of Qónas and other originally Gnomish deities. Nevertheless, not even after the so-called "Great Awakening" did the veneration of the old gods stop - hence their elite priests wearing jewelry made out of old pre-slumber artifacts, with more common priests wearing imitations and replicas.

As a matter of fact, the main, highest temple of this religion was in fact originally a spaceship - the materials it is made out of are considered sacred, and the patriarch's vestments contain wires from it. Other ancient, pre-slumber artifacts are all collected and locked away in the hidden and heavily guarded vaults of the main temple - considered sacred relics unfit for the hands of commoners, those not of the elite clergy. However, not all of their pre-slumber past is taboo, as golems are believed to be the imitation of the so-called "metal men" who used to serve them before the Great Slumber.

Deities
The Dwarven religion splits deities into two groups: major deities worshipped by all clans and minor (local) deities, which serve as patron deities of certain clans or professions. The major deities are further split into two groups: the so-called "Old Gods" or "Metal Gods", and the "New Gods" or "Clay Gods".

The Clay Gods
The so-called "Clay Gods" or "New Gods" are the deities assimilated from the original proto-Norlokian/Gnomish pantheon, with two out of four "clay gods" having direct parallels in Halfling Paganism.

Qónas
Chief deity of the Dwarven Religion, the frog-god Qónas (Old Dwarven: Old Dwarven language) is the god of magic, spirits and enchanting

Odhaur
Analogous with the Halfling Wodhár, Odhaur (Old Dwarven: Old Dwarven language) is the god of war, strength, honour and masculinity. Unlike his Halfling counterpart, he is portrayed as a humanoid dragon, or a humanoid reptile with pig-like features, instead of a humanoid boar.

Djólí
Djólí (Old Dwarven: Old Dwarven language) is the god of the ground, mining, and earthenware. He is depicted as a stone golem or mud golem wearing a ceramic helmet.

Bisys
Bisys (Old Dwarven: Old Dwarven language) is the goddess of eyesight, vision, (visual) arts, love and carnal desires. She is typically depicted as a red-haired woman with blue eyes.

The Metal Gods
The so-called "Metal Gods" or "Old Gods" are the deified and personified aspects of the pre-slumber technology of the Dwarves. In an ironic twist, the Gnomes came to prefer worshipping the Metal Gods, while the Dwarves focus on the Clay Gods.

Majjeb
Majjeb (Old Dwarven: Old Dwarven language) is the goddess of hearth.

Mädhbé
Mädhbé (Old Dwarven: Old Dwarven language) is the god of sleep, dreams and healing.

Póndre
Póndre (Old Dwarven: Old Dwarven language) is the god of crafts and duty.

Déd
Déd (Old Dwarven: Old Dwarven language) is the goddess of secrets, knowledge and record-keeping.

Minor deities
The aforementioned eight major deities - Qónas, Odhaur, Djólí, Bisys, Majjeb, Mädhbé, Póndre and Déd - are not the only ones worshipped in the Dwarven pantheon. Potentially hundreds of minors deities also exist, as practically every clan and every occupation has a patron deity, blurring the line between god and mere spirit.