(BTW: Clockwork is a Hobgoblin, an Ork-Metavariant. Not a Dwarf. When posting about Netcat, however, he becomes a Matrix Troll.
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That's what I've always understood about him too. But he did make a comment about how the BTR-20 APC in Eurowar Antiques wasn't built for a dwarf because he needed a stool. I thought that made things a little confusing.
No, Clockwork is a hob. Hobs did, notably, get whacked with the short-and-skinny stick in comparison to other orks, which is probably one reason (of many) why Clockwork has such a burr up his ass. I wouldn't bet that he doesn't have a few mechanic contacts who are dwarves, though, therefore the comment.
As for dwarves in general in SR ... well, Namikaze hit it out of the park with his post, but I do know that they do tend to not be played except by people who want to play technogeeks and those few who get smart about their sorcery. (C'mon - +2 Will?) Even the sharp decker-players will go with a dwarf - again for that Will boost, this time against Black IC.
In regards to them being players racially, having a 'homeland', well, the thing about SR is that really, there's a dozen or so elves shoving the 'racial homeland' thing down other peoples' throats. How's that work, really, when culture plays the biggest part in your life? You grow up on the Indian subcontinent, you're Indian - whether you're troll, ork, elf, human, dwarf, or tiger shapeshifter, y'know? Talk to someone from Africa, and they're not 'black'; they have a culture, a tribe, and by-god you better realize it before you're chewing on your own hip, your foot is so far in your mouth.
Give it five hundred or a thousand years down the line, when elves HAVE congregated together naturally due to lifespan (who gets the 'Pinky and the Brain' jokes now, huh? And it's only been a couple dozen years ...), where ork breeding has naturally given them overwhelming dominance in an area, where Everything In the Black Forest Is Built To Very Fraggin' Big An' Tall An' Tough Dimensions - or where instead of countertops set at 6' height, they're all set at 2'4" in a buildings built for families where nobody but NOBODY is over 5' tall. Then you'll have 'racial homelands' - but to be entirely honest, I wouldn't bet on that any more. Interesting in a fantasy campaign, but in reality, not always functional - especially when interbreeding
is possible.