Has dwarven death been covered in the new rules? According to the rules when someone is vanquished by wound damage and fails a death check, they die. Currently there is no means of return. Is this true of dwarves with their soul shards? If they die, but healing is immediately available (PC with mend wound, for example, or a nearby temple with powerful casters), can they be returned to life? That used to be possible, but I don't know how the rule/campaign changes effected that aspect of the death.

According to the rules as written presently, when a Dwarf dies, their soul goes into their Soul Shard, do not pass go, do not collect $200 (or Imperials?). The previous 'ruling' for Dwarves in the 3.5 campaign reflected the mechanics of that rules system, rather than the realities of the universe.

The above quote is from the story part of the text of the codex arcanis, not a mechanics part. So I thought this was the "reality of the universe." It seemed like the rules about healing dwarves are supposed to reflect this, aren't they?

Unless the PCI folks disagree, the answer is no it doesn't work that way. This was a major plus for Dwarves in 3.5 and Codex Arcanis was written in the 3.0 era as a reflection of D&D mechanics. ARPG doesn't have those rules, therefore I doubt very much that is the case now. That said, take a look at Strong Soul (Ta), as it seems to have been inspired by this mechanic.

Certainly, as the rules are currently written, that is how things work right now, no question. It just seemed strange to me to depart from from such canon material in a system they made themselves, though I can see how it might be done for simplicity of mechanics or game balance reasons, rather than story reasons.

So few characters die in the current system that I doubt it comes up much. I am happy with this state of affairs ... in the old system death was not that much more common, but it did happen and it was basically a status effect until you got the right spell on you. My old PC Jaeger died once in a mod (failed 2 saves back to back) and was raised. A pain in the butt, but not really a big deal. He of course also gave up his soul in Argent Skies to free King Noen...a grim price and an action he found abhorrent (but not quite so abhorrent that a member of the Mother Church would put the dwarven kings soul in that position to begin with).

As a judge I would have no problem with a dwarven PC returning from the dead if there was someone on hand who could fix the wounds of the (N)PCs body.

As Cody mentioned, the dwarven soul shard 'avoid death" option was entirely a 3.0/3.5 construct. However, as Henry has often said, Arcanis in 3.0/3,5 was often a square peg being forced into a round hole. It was a great boon, then. Most PCs had until sundown to resurrect, and dwarves had the benefit of getting a full 24hrs. But, there is no resurrection in A:RPG. (barring some type of story-driven intervention that would be a extremely rare situation that is not covered via normal game mechanics). As such, dwarven heroes get no additional benefits/protections from death. Their shards are strictly a device that stores the souls of the deceased in their enclaves.