The Governance of Hammerdeep

How the kingdom is managed, the clan system, and the structure of a dwarvish city or fortress.

The nation of Hammerdeep has a complicated and very dwarvish way of organizing its territories and cities. At the center of this system is the clan. Each dwarvish fortress (more on those later) is ruled by a clan, kjanth in Dwarvish. Each clan is led by a Kjanth-jovr, or Clanlord, who oversees the management of the clan, their lands, and their relations with other clans and outside powers.

There are around five dozen, 57 to be exact, stjora-kjanth (great-clans) who have land they own and rule. Within the mountain of Hammerdeep itself there are 18 great-clans who act as the Kjanth-obur of Hammerdeep, the council in charge of managing the city of Hammerdeep itself and the lands around it. They are exempt from the requirement to own land to be considered a great-clan. The total management of the kingdom is done by the Stjora-obur, the Great Council on which each clanlord has a seat. Besides the great-clans there are hundreds of smaller clans, the scions of town founders, great warrior or smiths, or just some-dwarf with a really large family. Each smaller clan is under one of the great-clans as a tulti-kjanth (sub-clan). These sub-clans can become a great-clan and break off from the parent clan.

To become a great-clan the Clanlord must go before the Stjora-obur and argue why they must be elevated to great-clan status. Most arguments boil down to them owning a large amount of land, usually a city, and needing the legitimate and symbolic authority to rule it. Others argue that they are simply too large to not be a great-clan while others yet say that the ruling clan of their city is corrupt and needs to be replaced, usually with themselves. In any case a great-clan is a powerful organisation usually ruling an entire fortress or at least a large collection of towns.

The base unit of a dwarven baor (city) is the got (fort), not to be confused with a gottoth (fortress) which is what dwarves call a city directly ruled by a clan as all dwarvish cities are well defended enough to fit the conventional definition of a fortress. A fort is a small well-defended keep established either to defend a strategic location, a mining prospect, or other location. From there a tor (village) is formed either around or below the fort depending on the topography. From there the village expands further down or inwards into the earth creating more hubs in the tunnels that become their own small grod (towns) connected by subterranean streets.

Most dwarvish cities are in fact a series of towns connected by tunneled roads and stairs with one larger town growing to swallow its neighbors on the same level becoming the center of the new dwarvish city. Eventually the same happens on all levels forming the new city. Dwarvish cities are in fact a series of large towns layered on top of each other; or in the caste of a hliam-baor (horizontal city) it may be divided into more conventional districts, either way they are called towns and legally are such. Each town has its own mayor or mayor-equivalent that rules the level and forms a council to rule over the city. One clan, or other organisation like a priesthood, may then become powerful enough to take over the entire city and petition for great-clan status with the city becoming a fortress if they succeed.

Great-Clans of Hammerdeep
Here is a list of a few of the greatest great-clans.

• Clan Diamondhammer, this the ruling clan of Hammerdeep and the claimed decedents of Boic Bravesoul. The clan is named after the great feat of Boic driving a diamond into the demon Death and Gloom's head with his hammer.
• Clan Blackforge, they are the second most powerful clan with the High Priest of Moradin being traditionally Blackforge, they also have a seat on the Kjanth-obur. The origin of their name is to remain unsaid per tradition.
• Clan Staraxe rules the fortress of Ä Tosiduzol the greatest fortress of the kingdom second only to Hammerdeep. They are named after the Staraxe, the Namathuxja, an ancestral axe said to be made from the stars itself. Most other clans say its just made of sparkly metal.
• Clan Frostarmour is another clan on the Kjanth-obur with their expertise lying in trade and commerce, the coinage of Hammerdeep is made by them and stamped with their crest on the back and of the kingdom's on the front. They are named after a time their clan matriarch and her forces used a snowbank to protect themselves from a charging orcish horde.
• Clan Bluntdigger who rule the fortresses of Bëmbul Koganunib and Deler Sazirrîsen, both located close to the sea of winters. They are the only clan with a navy and tolerance for the sea. Their name comes from when their clan patriarch dug himself out of a collapsed tunnel using a blunt axe as a pick.
• Clan Leathermaster are appropriately named as they are masters at raising Horn Beetles and use them as cavalry. Their name is in fact a mistranslation of Zudiferth-nakuma, zudiferth meaning roughly bug-leather is a type of leather made by tanning Horn Bettle wings. Then again Clan Bug-Leather-Master doesn't role off the tongue well. They also have a seat on the Kjanth-obur.

Notes

• Multiple clans can control one city, this tends to happen in border cities and one sub-clan will eventual take control of the city before breaking off from the main clan and become a new great-clan.
• Clans last an average of three generations, around a 500 years (barring external circumstances), before they get broken up into so many sub-clans and new great-clans that it is officially dissolved with the old Clanlord's direct family becoming a new clan. Only the oldest clans like those of Hammerdeep itself are too great to be broken like this.
• Races other than dwarves can become an honorary clan member by either marrying into a clan becoming a vmarkbloth, or by being inducted by the clanlord becoming vulrurbloth. The second is a high honor and one rarely given. The most notable person this was granted to was Cacame Awemedinade Diamondhammer, Elvish King of the Dwarves. An elven adventurer who stopped a group of clanlords after they assassinated the rest of the Stjora-obur, in the resulting confusion he temporarily took command of the kingdom to sort out the mess before abdicating. The term King is a nickname as he never actually took the position instead acting with the title of Not-King to get around the laws.

Type

Geopolitical, Kingdom

City Subtypes
There are a few terms used to describe cities or fortresses with a specialized role, some are listed here.

• Vort-baor/gottoth: A city or fortress with Vort added to its name indicates it as a defensive city, even more than normal dwarven cities. They are extremely well fortified and self sufficient designed to last out 50 years of siege at least. Most are found at the eastern or southern border to defend from great orcish warbands.
• Storvak-baor/gottoth: Storvak indicates said city is a port, four such port cities exist. Two are located on the Sea of Winters and are controlled by clan Bluntdigger they are Deler Sazirrîsen and Bëmbul Koganunib. Two more cities are connected to the underground river/sea called the Irnrjool and act as the primary port cities connected to it, they are Shem Bomrekmafol and Zan Stukoserush.
• Finally the title of Stjora-gottoth is reserved for the capitol of Hammerdeep which at the moment is the fortress of Hammerdeep.

"I see my children are doing well for themselves. Quite a great number of clans they have, I have no idea how they keep track of all of them. But alas they are my children so I am proud of them."