I always see dwarfs in CF as a dying race. At least culture-wise. In Mortorn they're all but taken over by the underdark by mining too deep, and in the Golgalath pass they're being butt raped by orcs. Akan seems to be a kind of sub-area of Mortorn, and doesn't seem to be in great shape. And all the other dwarfs scattered around in other areas are kind of nomadic and fade into whatever culture they're sharing the area with.

I don't think its too big of an RP stretch to assume a good chunk of dwarfs aren't like their mountain dwelling ancestors.