Kobold Warren

As they spread out, first across Aiaor, later around the broken continents of Aiaos, the Kobolds grew rapidly in numbers. The Dragonborn had begun to conduct 'purges' to keep kobold numbers down, and the Kobolds had learned to hide their population. Their impulse was still to dig, and they used that. Where they settled, they dug, leaving a small presence on the surface to conduct business with their neighbours. As their numbers grew, they would dog deeper, creating the vertical community known as a warren. In the millennia since, the kobolds have never found a way of towing that suits them better.
The surface dwellings of the warren are known as the Shambles, a sprawl of often ramshackle dwellings which act as a sort of embassy between the warren community and the other lineages who live around them. Immediately below the shambles are the Narrows, a network of tunnels barely large enough for a hobold. The narrows are not a residential area, but a communicating maze that larger mortals find hard to pass. Where the kobolds do work in the sewers or other underground infrastructure, the narrows may connect to a city-wide network. allowing the Kobold to move unseen.
Below the narrows, the Openings are larger galleries which house the homes of the majority of the kobolds. In a well- established warren, the openings also contain stores and shops to make a complete village beneath its host city. Dim lights are sufficient for the kobolds' needs, and illuminate walls decorated with colourful, elaborate murals.
Further down still, the Works are the warrens' foraging tunnels, where they hunt for insects and small mammals, gather mushrooms and even - in the right areas - engage in mining. The works are a key part of making the warren self-sufficient, along with farm galleries in the openings.
Many people regard kobolds as vermin, but in general they are more of a boon then a bane. There are always more of them then people see, but the consume little of a city's resources and are highly industrious, as well as being willing to work in conditions that others balk at. Since a job taken by a single Kobold may end up being split between many, they often seem tireless.

Warren Hierarchies

A Kobold warren is not typically a seat of aristocratic rule. Kobolds as a whole are fairly egalitarian and are raised to give and expect respect to and from all other kobolds, and to answer the spite of other races with outward humility and inward disdain.
The warren is ruled by a bicameral council called the Shidgi (short for shizar andzin; 'two houses working together.') The shidgi consists of the civic house and the law house, the former an assemblage of respected citizens led by the warren keeper (variously called the mare, first keeper or first citizen.) Warrens rarely have formal elections, rather the right to speak at the civic house and the mantle of mare are given by acclaim. The law house is a more formal affair, consisting of the warren's trained jurists and led by the senior member of the house, the Reeve.
Loosely, the civic house determines policy for the warren, guided by the mare. The law house advises on legality and precedent, codifies decisions into law if needed, and acts as a judicial body when absolutely necessary. Most matters are dealt with through mediation, and crime in the Warrens is rare. Kobolds typically prefer their leaders to use a light touch, so the legal codes of a warren tend to be broad and brief, with juristic writings and records providing nuance.
While the secular role of the warren as a shelter and home is the business of the shidgi, spiritual leadership and the higher purpose of all Kobold - excavation to locate the prison of Kulmarak - is the purview of the Dragonspeakers. These ecstatic visionaries are the priests of Kulmarak, who relieve visions from the elder worm which guide the digging. Although their praxis is largely personal and mystical, rather than prosteletysing and dogmatic, the dragonspeakers provide moral and ethical guidance and counsel to the warren.
Where the advice of the dragonspeakers is esoteric, for the concrete benefits of experience, the warren turns to the Stargazers. All winged kobolds are regarded as wise by nature, but the stargazers have earned the reputation. The title is accorded to elders of the sky's calling who have proven their sagacity in service of the community.
The warren is defended by two groups. The Dragonshields are the sworn protectors of the community, trained to use spears and their namesake shields in close quarter battle, and to rally others, even against terrible odds. As part of their initiation, dragonshields imbibe an elixir called the blood of the dragon, which induces a state altered consciousness. In this state, the Kobold contacts one of the Acolytes, draconic spirits representing aspects of Kulmarak, who lend the dragonshield their strength. Most dragonshields are ird, while winged urd and those who dare to make use of skysmith-crafted wing packs may choose to protect the shambles as Skystriker, aerialists trained in the use of shortbows and darts, and to take advantage of airborne agility.
Inventors are kobold artificers working in the service of the warren to create devices which aid all paths. Skysmiths are a specialised subset of inventors who create the wing packs which allow ird and erd to fly, and even to join the skystrikers. Other specialist inventors include the fabled kobold Trapsetters, and the alchemico-pharmacists commonly called Brewmasters. Related, the Kennellers specialise in training or using animals to aid the warren's members, including rats, scorpions, cats, small dogs, drakes, dire hornets and - for the shambles residents - birds.
The warren's history, civic and legal records and religious traditions are often kept in books or codices, but the primary record is kept in the oral tradition of the class of bards known as Wyrmsingers. In addition to record-keeping, the wyrmsingers form the choir for services to Kulmarak.
The last hierarchal structure in most warrens is the cult of Bylastaran. An old group, the Bylastarites essentially 'worship' by propitiating the jailer of Kulmarak and praying for their creator's release. They also represent the ugly but necessary actions needed to survive the hatred of the World. The priests of Bylastaran are more dogmatic than the Dragonspeakers. They also do not commune regularly with their god; instead, their role is to say the things that no-one else will say, and so they are called Doomsayers. They oversee no congregation, but the cult has a small number of holy warriors known as Answerers, whose role is to respond to any harm done to the warren and overlooked by the authorities.

Dark Delvings

Not all kobolds belong to respectable warrens, instead embracing more violent or disruptive paths in life than even the usual outlaws. Many of these follow one of a number of so-called Fallen Acolytes, draconic sports, like the ordinary Acolytes, but which seek their own elevation.
T'Kar, a former Acolyte of Mirth, has a large number of disciples in a wider community of kobold bandits. Provoking eir followers to the use of cruel and cunning traps and tactics, followers of T'Kar give all kobolds a reputation for viciousness. This is due both to the influence of T'Kar, and a general tendency of kobold bandits to use viciousness to make up for their lack of stature in intimidating their victims.
Periodically, the cult of Bylastar will rouse a warren to abandon their tunnels en masse and either turn on a social order that has abused them, or march on another warren. These crusades are somewhat farcical to behold, but deeply unpleasant to end up on the sharp end of. Warrens targeted by crusades are often of the kind called Dark Delvings, entire communities corrupted by fallen or false Acolytes to the service of infernal or extraontological powers. Usually located in more isolated locations, Dark Delvings do not seek for Kulmarak, but for darker things.