Imperial Dwarfs are an extremely minute fraction of the overall dwarf race. There are more Chaos Dwarfs than Imperial Dwarfs. More Norscan Dwarfs than Imperial Dwarfs.
They are prominent in a lot of Empire-focused material because, well, they're dwarfs. Superlative craftsmen, stronger and tougher, can live for many centuries, meaning that you could have a dwarf family of say four become a notable bedrock part of a smaller Imperial town because people are literally growing up, having children, dying, all while the dwarfs remain nominally the same. Multiple generations growing up around the same dwarfs. The mythological relationship between Sigmar and the dwarfs emphasizes them further as well.
But, very importantly, the Imperial Dwarfs also hold a lot of respect, oaths, wishes, and so on about the Karaz Ankor. They sometimes feel compelled to leave and sign up to help reclaim a hold or something. Are just as angry - angrier, even - to try and avenge Grudges formed from the greater race. There's a minor inferiority complex there, where they aren't as 'dwarfy' as 'true' dwarfs, and often do as much as possible to be as dwarfy as they can be. A lot of Imperial Dwarfs, also it should be remembered, are not there because they strictly wanted to be. For instance, there is a notable dwarf clan in, I believe, Helmgart, who have a whole clan fortress setup thing...in basically a two-three story tavern building. Their hold is somewhere in the mountains, but lost to them, and there's an entire minor adventure setup in the newer material about how ABSOLUTELY FURIOUS they are when people pop up professing to have a map leading to their lost hold and trying to get treasure hunters to go sack it. What they WANT is the map, to go there, relcaim it, uproot themselves from Helmgart entirely, and go HOME. Something that multiple generations of these dwarfs have stewed over. But they can't, they don't have the knowledge, the money, the bodies.
But they want to.
There are a lot of Imperial Dwarfs that are there out of circumstance, not out of desire, at least not initially. Dwarfs, as we all know, like comfort, stability, disdain change a lot of the time, and if given enough time there are plenty of Imperial Dwarfs that admittedly are just fine being in the Empire for the rest of their lives, and so on. Josef Bugman, for instance, was nowhere near a hold, but he's still very well regarded by the dawi. But there are also plenty of Imperial Dwarfs that would, if given the proper opportunity and backing, leave the Empire to try and reclaim their ancestral homes. Or be offered new ones, as shown by the Goldeneye Throng being basically a travelling clan seeking to eventually one day return to help reclaim and then resettle back into Karak Ungor, because all of them descended from there or married into it. As you may remember, a significant quantity of the Goldeneye Throng returned to Wulfenburg instead, and settled down there, a bit of passive below the table protection and offer from the Princess for your aid there for Wulfenburg, but a good amount of the Throng returned home to Karak Ungor happily.
They are prominent in a lot of Empire-focused material because, well, they're dwarfs. Superlative craftsmen, stronger and tougher, can live for many centuries, meaning that you could have a dwarf family of say four become a notable bedrock part of a smaller Imperial town because people are literally growing up, having children, dying, all while the dwarfs remain nominally the same. Multiple generations growing up around the same dwarfs. The mythological relationship between Sigmar and the dwarfs emphasizes them further as well.
But, very importantly, the Imperial Dwarfs also hold a lot of respect, oaths, wishes, and so on about the Karaz Ankor. They sometimes feel compelled to leave and sign up to help reclaim a hold or something. Are just as angry - angrier, even - to try and avenge Grudges formed from the greater race. There's a minor inferiority complex there, where they aren't as 'dwarfy' as 'true' dwarfs, and often do as much as possible to be as dwarfy as they can be. A lot of Imperial Dwarfs, also it should be remembered, are not there because they strictly wanted to be. For instance, there is a notable dwarf clan in, I believe, Helmgart, who have a whole clan fortress setup thing...in basically a two-three story tavern building. Their hold is somewhere in the mountains, but lost to them, and there's an entire minor adventure setup in the newer material about how ABSOLUTELY FURIOUS they are when people pop up professing to have a map leading to their lost hold and trying to get treasure hunters to go sack it. What they WANT is the map, to go there, relcaim it, uproot themselves from Helmgart entirely, and go HOME. Something that multiple generations of these dwarfs have stewed over. But they can't, they don't have the knowledge, the money, the bodies.
But they want to.
There are a lot of Imperial Dwarfs that are there out of circumstance, not out of desire, at least not initially. Dwarfs, as we all know, like comfort, stability, disdain change a lot of the time, and if given enough time there are plenty of Imperial Dwarfs that admittedly are just fine being in the Empire for the rest of their lives, and so on. Josef Bugman, for instance, was nowhere near a hold, but he's still very well regarded by the dawi. But there are also plenty of Imperial Dwarfs that would, if given the proper opportunity and backing, leave the Empire to try and reclaim their ancestral homes. Or be offered new ones, as shown by the Goldeneye Throng being basically a travelling clan seeking to eventually one day return to help reclaim and then resettle back into Karak Ungor, because all of them descended from there or married into it. As you may remember, a significant quantity of the Goldeneye Throng returned to Wulfenburg instead, and settled down there, a bit of passive below the table protection and offer from the Princess for your aid there for Wulfenburg, but a good amount of the Throng returned home to Karak Ungor happily.
