The Hollow Mountain
The Hollow Mountain, the False Eruption, the Halls of the Dwarf Lords and Ironborn, is the capital of the Red Mountains, the largest Andalian free state. Its people are known for their skill in artifice and armorcraft. It is said the halls evermore shall sing with the sound of hammers ringing from a thousand forges within the mountain. These forges refine ore and mint standardized tradebars from raw precious metals sent to them from across the Seven Nations. They also turn out the greatest weapons and machines of war the continent has ever seen, from fine armor and vehicles to deadly blades and firearms. Though Consul Doromir advises that the forges can easily be turned from crafting swords to plowshares.
Once upon a time, they had eldritch machines, factory lines that turned out the Ironborn; then called warforged, as they were turned in the Soul Compendium, the phylactery of Archduke Hesse, until they could no longer recall who they were in previous lives. Freed by the Flamebringers and the magic of Emrys, the Ironborn destroyed all but one of the production lines in the ensuing rebellion. The lone line remains, waiting for Emrys to recreate his Soul Collective in its true form, so they might choose to be reborn when they die, and choose when they are ready to pass on to the afterlife.
The Hollow Mountain is home to approximately 89,000 citizens.
Geography
The Hollow Mountain is set into the highest peak of the Red Mountains in the center of the range. It encompasses nearly the entire interior of the mountain that is above sea level, and a little bit of that below, before becoming a twisting network of narrow mining tunnels and access passages that burrow deep into the mountain's roots. Sometimes, the Hollow Mountain is called the False Eruption because of the amount of smoke and steam that constantly pours from its peak, a mingling of thousands of streams from exhaust ports that dot the mountainsides, venting gases from the forges.
The city lays claim to the entire range of the Red Mountains, and are recognized by foreign powers as the ruling city state. Other cities, mostly left to their own devices, still pay a nominal tax by population size to the city for protection, infrastructure development, and participation in a resource sharing agreement. The Northern Road is the only major byway that comes to the city, terminating at its gates. Much of their traffic comes through their skyports set into the sides of the mountain or through the seaport at its base in the Bay of Fjell.
Geographical Features
In their early days, the Red Mountains were known as the Iron Mountains because of iron rich ore veins that ran beneath them. As the dwarves hollowed out the mountain, they began refining the iron on the slopes, filling the air with fine iron flakes which settled upon the mountainside. When the sun rises, the oxidized iron shines a bright red-orange in the morning light, earning it the new moniker of the Red Mountains. Of course, the name is a double entendre: the blood spilled with the weapons that iron became quickly filled the Hollow Mountain's halls with blood money, especially with the production of the warforged.
When Byfrøst fell, razed by the greatwyrm Fjell, the surviving dwarves retreated to the upper floors of their mining structure within the mountain. As time passed and they settled into their new subterranean home, they began to hollow out the spaces in between mineshafts to allow for greater airflow, create surface area on the walls for the construction of grand palaces, business squares and living spaces, and to make space for flying airships to enter their city through great ports set into the mountain; though heavily guarded against the return of Fjell. They turned the elevators and tunnels of the mines into spiral staircases and grand bridges above empty air.
At the base of the mountain, an ancient earthquake had split the mountain where it meets the Bay of Fjell. Overtime, the sea worked its way into the split, filling the ravine and eroding the surrounding rocks to form a subterranean lake and deep sea trench. The dwarves, upon discovering this, encouraged the further expansion of the breach until it was wide enough to support a booming exportation industry.
In this trench, there are vents for pulling in sea water for turning turbines for hydraulic power, much of which works to power the massive hammer of the Grand Forge. Runoff from these generators is redirected to cool some of the more delicate machinery, generally on the warforged factory lines, before running through purifiers and being sent into the city to water interior crops, gardens, a few public greenspaces, and serving as the main source of drinking water for the the population.
Deep below the city is the Underbelly, a tangled mess of maintenance tunnels, mineshafts, and piping turns the machinery that keeps the city working. Hidden beneath the Underbelly is the Confluence; a giant crossroads of leylines that carry the power of the Call vibrating through it like the veins of Andali. Here is where the Ironborn lived before returning to the city, though many still call it home.
Government
The Hollow Mountain was once tangled in a messy marriage between an impotent monarch and a strangling bureaucracy ruled by a glutinous king and pedantic lich. This built systems and infrastructure that, while effective, worked painfully slowly and heavily benefited the rich.
However, with the coming of the Flamebringers and the Liberation of the Hollow Mountain, the government has been restructured to become a republic. Boroughs of the city elect a representative for the High Council, and the entire city votes on two Consuls to lead them. However, while the equitable infrastructure reform has progressed greatly since the Liberation, many systemic disparities still persist because bureaucracy is a difficult blight to rip out, and clings tightly to the host.
Law & Order
The city is employs a traditional city watch, who act as the police force of the city, dealing with petty crime on the streets. They are part of the greater Port Authority, and have numerous special divisions, as while violent crimes in the city are low, it is fraught with smuggling rings, white collar crime, embezzlement, fraud, and so on.
The Deep Guard is an elite sect of the cities forces, mainly consisting of dwarves, that patrol the Underbelly. They watch for natural subterranean threats, such as bulettes or kruthiks, or for any other intruders that may have taken up residence beneath the city that pose a danger to the continued safety or sovereignty of the Hollow Mountain.
The Port Authority monitors all trade in and out of the city. It monitors the comings and goings of visitors in duplicate, and of merchants in triplicate. Any trade in the Hollow Mountain happens at their pleasure, and at the cost of steep fines or jail time if they are skirted in the process. There are several judicial circuits and a cumbersome, overly-complex legal system that powers them in the Hollow Mountain, another vestigial of bureaucracy. They range from local borough courts, all the way up to the Supreme Court.
Crime
While there is little violent crime, there is not the occasional burglary, mugging, or murder, though these are normally isolated incidents unrelated to large organizations or gangs. More likely, there are individuals skimming money off the top of ledgers, leaving the door open at night to allow contraband to pass through the ports, or turning a blind eye to unpaid taxes for a modest fee. Left unchecked, these activities can breed violent crime, but under the watchful eye of the Port Authority, it seldom grows to that point.
There is also a very active pit fighting presence in the Hollow Mountain. While it seemingly happens under the noses of the Port Authority, the officials tend to leave it alone in the past so long as taxes are paid on the winnings. They've broken it up more than once in the past for failure to recognize their unspoken financial agreement, or if the denizens who frequent or run the operation get on the Authorities bad side.
A few criminal groups are active in the city. The Slackjaw Ring runs the fighting pits; Velvet Shibari, a transplant from the port cities of Fulminaria, run the smuggling trade; the Agents of the Dragon King run drugs within the network of kobold ship hands; The Iron Hand is a rebel band of Ironborn that believe they should be the rulers of the Hollow Mountain or, barring that, be the rulers of their own settlement.
Trade
In additional to their expertise in the fine arts of smithing, armory, and artifice, the Hollow Mountain is a crucial crossroads for all aerial trade on the continent. Many shipments of goods go in to be refined and turned into products, then are shipped out across the continent. They are the authority on air travel, and much of the trade passes through the city. They trade in any number of goods, and are home to embassies of the Banking Guild, boasting some of the most secure vaults in the Seven Nations.
Because of the excess salt generated by the water purification process, the Hollow Mountain has a consistent salt trade and has developed a taste for exceptionally salty food. This also makes them a key resources for preserving meats and fish. They have a blossoming fishing trade and market, and farmers bring livestock in from the surrounding countryside to be salted and preserved in the city's meat processing plants.
Defenses
While the city in itself naturally defended by nature of being an underground city, they also have a number of additional defenses in case of attack. While their standing army is minimal, though includes a warforged colossus, its navy is strong and air force stronger still. Their navy consists of iron dreadnoughts that are magnificent to behold and dreaded to face in battle. There are six still commissioned after the War: the Olhydra, the Fjell, the Tarrasque, the Jester's Fist, the Mageara, and the Grymmtide. Each is escorted by a retinue of half a dozen submarines that protect them from below.
Their air force consists of hundreds of light batteries, small, swift craft that fly to a set location, stabilize, and become slow-moving artillery platforms; grymmauls, bullheaded vehicles that, while not agile in the slightest, are incredibly faced and armored to ram through enemy airships; zeppelins are lightly armed troop carriers and reconnaissance vessels; destroyers, heavily armed airships designed to deliver high-yield explosive payloads to targets on the ground below while holding their own against counter-air assaults; and there is rumor of a aerial dreadnought, capable of everything a destroyer is while also acting as a carrier for light batteries, grymmauls, and troop deployments.
They also have several machines of war that use warforged as ammunition for attacking and boarding other ships, but those are in the process of being decommissioned by the Ethics Committee.
Transportation
The Hollow Mountain, while renowned for its aerial trains and export capabilities, is not known for their public transportation services. Most travel by walking, making use of the massive banks of elevators set into the support columns of the city to transition between levels. Those rich enough can contract or purchase a gondola, a small, two-person aircraft, to carry them around the city. Maintenance tunnels also offer an express route through the levels and regions of the city, if one knows how to use them and has leave to do so; or can get through unseen.
One of the major initiatives being pushed through the legislature in an upcoming session is a public transportation reform that would see a network of air shuttles established for fast, reliable, and affordable transportation to be available between boroughs.
Notable Locations
There are 96 boroughs in the Hollow Mountain, many of which are purely residential. Because the mountain is so huge and can often be difficult to traverse, each borough has a general goods store, a tavern, a greenspace, though those get fewer and farther between as you descend in the mountain, and a constabulary. Each has a port through which one can hail a gondola, though like greenspaces, those are harder to find lower in the mountain.
Concord
The legislative district, Concord is at the very height of the mountain. From the balconies of Parliament, one can look down onto the entirety of city-state. The borough consists of mainly clerical stations and bureaucratic offices honeycombed into the main support column of the city, which luckily survived the destruction of the Soul Compendium.
Parliament. Once upon a time, when Parliament was instead the Noble Court, citizens of the mountain would line up on the walkways outside for hours, even days at a time, hoping to get an audience with the King and Archduke. Now, citizens bring their concerns to their representative, who brings it before the congress. These days, more motions are moved along, but at a slower pace.
Bronze statues are spaced throughout the courtyard before the doors of Parliament; statues of Ironborn, dwarvish, and gnomish citizens bearing torches and stoically striding towards the doors commemorates the events of the Awakening, when the warforged were stirred from the spell Archduke Hesse had them under. Some are said to be styled in the likeness of some of the Flamebringers, who led the coalition to victory against Hesse.
Highborough
While Concord is the highest district by measurement of height, Highborough is highest by measurement of income. The rich merchant class of the city make their homes here, and the establishments available.
The Bungalo. Home of the Flamebringers, the Bungalo is the former estate of Archduke Hesse, repurposed with his deposition and destruction. It serves as their homebase, seeing a great deal of foot traffic from the group and their allies.
Last Call (name pending). Formerly known as Finnegan's, the bar has recently been put on the market following a strange incident that saw it briefly replaced by a bar called The Drunken Monkey. However, it is a nice tavern, with ample room for patrons, a stage for entertainers, and a kitchen included. The bar serves a split level taproom, with a storage cellar accessible through a trapdoor in the kitchen's pantry and an upper level that can serve as an inn or extra storage space, whichever the new owners prefer.
The balcony boasts the best views in the city, overlooking the harbor in such a way that the setting sun reflects off the water and far from any egress ports, so there is little air traffic in the area.
What has kept the tavern's competitive edge is their relationship with the Yagishna family of brewers, who have an exclusive contract with the tavern. Their ales draw crowds from across the Seven Nations to indulge in their wide ranging tap list, promising a beer for every occasion.
It is on the market for 64,000gp, a steal considering its quality. Finnegan, the owner, believes it haunted and wants it off his hands immediately.
Broder's. The direct competitor of Finnegan's, Broder's has a slightly less picturesque restaurant than the aforementioned establishment, and has, for years, attempted to force out Finnegan's in a bid for their prime spot. However, the Broder line is mainly human, and their machinations do not have the longevity that Finnegan's, run by a family of gnomes, do.
Broder's specializes in pasta dishes and light, refreshing cocktails and wines, catering toward an audience of transplant citizens and visiting elven merchants. It's built so that you can dine on an exterior balcony, overlooking the mountainside, positioned to look to the southeast, over the Aurelian Steppes and the Northern Forest. This locale is particularly popular in the spring when the druids call storms to water freshly planted crops and in the fall when large banks of fog roll into the forests.
The Mystic's Emporium. Run by an aging dragonborn named Farengili, the Mystic's Emporium is a well organized, bordering on manicured, magic shop. It offers minor magic items, some trinkets, various spell components, and scrolls up to the 7th level. The main draw of this shop is the wealth of arcane knowledge Farengili has stored in the archives below the shop, and the veritable hoard of knowledge the old sage himself contains.
Skyport
Home to the headquarters of the Port Authority, the Skyport borough is largely mercantile, with few options for residential housing. During the time of Archduke Hesse, many Port Authority clerks lived in the nearby apartments, living close by so that they would be able to quickly get to and from work, keeping long hours on the job. Since recent workplace reforms, many clerks have moved out of the housing, and the apartments have begun to transition to high end hotels for travelling merchants.
Port Authority Headquarters. The Port Authority is more than just pencil pushers cataloguing and taxing the goods that go in and out of the city. Well, it is mainly that, but they also control the police force of the city and the investigators that break up smuggling rings and the like.
The building also serves as an appraisal service and goods exchange; taking in precious gems, trade bars, and art pieces and exchanging them for coin.
The Bank. Run by the enigmatic Banking Clan, the Bank of the Hollow Mountain is the city's connection to the wider range of banks run by clerics of the Tribunal established throughout both empires. They offer exchange rates of coin to trade bars and vice versa, and have the most trusted vaults and lockboxes in either empire.
Drydock. Renowned for its airships, the Hollow Mountain also has the best ship technicians to compliment their craft. Ships are able to park at the drydock for repairs and augmentations for a modest fee of 10cp a day, in addition to any costs associated with their repairs.
The Conference Room. East of the Port Authority Headquarters, the Conference Room is a commuter bar that mainly serves Authority clerks. It has a very popular corporate happy hour, and is sometimes referred to as "the East Conference Room" by clerks who want to take a meeting at the bar in the middle of the day.
What it lacks in refinement of food or drink, it makes up for in atmosphere. Daily events break of the monotony of the workweek and its status as a bar for Port workers means many of the patrons work together and drown the same sorrows together.
The Porter Authority. Famous for their heavy porters, the Porter Authority is a taphouse that caters to visiting merchants, specializing in imported beers. The portly halfling who runs it, Debora Stonefoot, is a national award-winning brewer, and any who understand the depth of her skills think it a crime that she has chosen to limit herself to porters while supplying a wide variety of beers regulars know she could make herself, and make better than some of her suppliers based on the limited batches she releases on special occasions.
The Conference Room and Porter Authority are on good terms with each other, both staying out of the others way, and so the Porter Authority aims to pick up the clientele the Conference Room does not. The draw of being a mainly import bar is that the Porter Authority brings in a great deal of the merchants who are looking for a taste of home while abroad. In that respect, their kitchen's menu also brings a wide spread of dishes to the table.
Fjellborough
In the depths of the mountain, a breath of fresh sea air wafts through a crack in the foundation. Fjellborough is built up around the Seaport of the Hollow Mountain, and is a hub of trade from the surrounding coastlines, as well as the main source of food for the city, as fish is a major staple in the diet of any living in the Hollow Mountain.
Seaport. Built around an artificially expanded fissure, the Seaport of the Hollow Mountain opens the city up to maritime trade through Fjell's Bay. As such, the Port Authority has a base here, as do many merchants and fisherfolk of the city. There are large factories built into the stone for processing various fish and meats, preserving them through the salt stocks of the city.
Coinsmith's. The counterpart of the Port Authority Headquarters in Skyport, the Coinsmith's is a privately owned and operated business that predates the establishment of the Port Authority and refused to give up their position as Fjellborough's location for exchanging precious goods for coin. After nearly a century of back and forth, the Port Authority finally agreed to legitimize the establishment shortly before the signing of the Peace.
However, while they are legally legitimized, their business practices are far from standard practice. They are known for their discretion in their exchanges and holes in their ledgers caused by "book worms."
The Mezzanine. Built around a sanded pit, the Mezzanine is a bar one goes to for one of three reasons: to fight in the sand pit, to bet on fights in the sand pit, or to do crime.
