Contracts

Contracts have been a part of Dwarven society for as long as there are records. Physically they appear to be a piece of rectangular marbled stone around one foot high, 9 inches wide and 1 inch deep. They are inscribed with the terms of the agreement in the old Dwarven language of Khazdul. The more complicated the contract, the smaller the letters of the description - some very complicated contracts require a magnifying glass to read. At the bottom of the tablet are two names and two rough patches of stone, one underneath each name. When a contract is created there are no names inscribed. Once the terms have been agreed, both people run their thumb over one of the rough stone patches, which takes a small sample of blood. The name then appears and the contract is ‘active’ and can no longer be altered. While active, the contract is basically indestructible, surviving incidents that could easily kill the mortal holding it. Once the contract is completed, both parties once again rub their thumb on the stone and the contract is ‘complete’. It can then be filed away for safekeeping or scrubbed and recycled. Completed contracts are not protected by magic and are as breakable as any other piece of stone.

The manufacture of Contracts is a complex and proprietary form of magic, closely guarded by the Dwarven guilds who practice it. Young Dwarves apprentice in the craft and it takes 10 years of training before they are able to produce viable Contracts, 20 years before they can do so unsupervised and 30 years before they can train their own apprentices. Dwarves will not hesitate to kill anyone they feel has stolen some of the secrets of their creation, as they are the bedrock on which the Dwarven economy is built. If a contract holder dies before the contract is completed, the stone continues to be ‘active’. Any person who physically possesses the Contract can then run their thumb on the stone and take over the contract for themselves, with all the obligations and potential rewards this confers. This is an artefact from older Dwarven society when miners working claims were likely to be killed in cave-ins, monster attacks or other risks of the trade. The Contract still being live meant that others in the mining company, usually a descendent, could take over if the main contract-holder died. In modern practice this has led to a lively trade in economic assassins, hired by rival companies to kill the contract holder and bring the active Contract back to the rival company instead. While in traditional Dwarven society this is considered a faux pas and will lead to social isolation within the Dwarf hold, in Anarch Dwarf society this is considered a benefit of the contract system as it guarantees work always continues to be done and gold continues to be accumulated. In fact there are whole gangs who survive only on the acquisition and sale of valuable contracts, such as the Weir Dwarf cartel The Claim Jumpers.