Gel Morgran (ghel mor-grahn)
The founding of the City of Dwarves dates back to a time before recorded history, when the gods walked the earth and mortals were their mindless peons. The thin strip of mountains that connects the Morgran Peninsula with the rest of mainland Ayndrinor is rich in minerals and precious metals, making the mines here the most lucrative and treasured in the world. This was the case in the early days of the world, and it remains so to the present.
For the vast majority of its history, Gel Morgrani was independent and scoffed at outside interaction. The city's great Mithral Doors (which are actually a misnomer, they are made of adamantine) were shut to all but visiting dwarven dignitaries from the other holy city, Gel Eamoni. No elves, humans, halflings, gnomes, or any other peoples were even allowed in the city until the fourth century 2A - these travelers would instead set up tents outside the Mithral Doors and wait for the dwarven leaders to come to them for trade, political negotiations, or scholarly study. As such, any history or information we have about Gel Morgrani and its people, buildings, and history have been passed down by the dwarves and cannot be verified by outside accounts.
Today, the city is a bustling metropolis existing mostly underground but partially above ground as well. Its tunnels spread for miles in every direction and span from the mountaintops to deep within the world's core where molten rock flows like air. Its people are sturdy and resilient, accustomed to generations of living under the mountains and facing terrible foes from below. The most pressing challenge for the dwarven holy city today is the culture war they find themselves inevitably pulled into with the Toldrun See and their reinvention of dwarven customs in the "Second City" of Gel Eamoni.
Demographics
Despite the influx of other peoples over the last millenium, Gel Morgran remains solidly dwarven, with about 70% of the population claiming ancestry in one of the two dwarven sacred cities. The bowels of the city are also home to the only concentrated populations of earth and fire genasi in Ayndrinor - with about 70-100 of each living in the city's boundaries.
As with any large city, there are a variety of industries in Gel Morgran. Several thousand workers head into the vast mine tunnels every day, while others run taverns, and even more cultivate plants or raise livestock both underground and above. The income disparity in the city is as wide as one might expect, with the largest aristocratic families tied to long-term mine ownership or even the priesthood of Morgran.
Government
The city of Gel Morgran is run as a parliamentary monarchy, with the hereditary title of Gornjak (pronounced gorn-yak) passing down the ruling family's line. This leader is kept in check and advised by a unicameral parliament made up of 150 members, elected every five years or when significant popular protests urge the Gornjak to dissolve the current parliament. Supporting these 150 parliamentarians are a litany of bureaucrats and functionaries who monitor every aspect of the city's governance.
The judicial arm of the city-state is handled by a group of five courts on two basic tiers: two courts to divide all civil complaints, two courts to divide all criminal cases, and one higher court that hears serious criminal cases and all valid appeals. All courts have one judge each, and trials or hearings take place with no jury - unless one is requested and agreed by all parties and the presiding judge. These judges are all appointed by the parliament to ten-year terms and can be reconfirmed for up to 100 years of consecutive service. They can also be impeached or replaced by the parliament, but the parameters for doing so are so high this situation has only happened once in recorded history.
Defences
The most iconic external gate in the world, the Mithral Doors defend the underground and most ancient part of Gel Morgran against all outside invasions or attacks. Dwarven history is full of accounts of raiders or dragons trying to get at the city's wealth but being stopped in their tracks by the (ironically) solid adamantine gates. The surface-level city is surrounded by a thick stone wall that reaches between two rocky outcroppings of the mountains.
The real marvel and strength of Gel Morgran's defenses are found at the bottom of the city, however. Each new mine tunnel starts with a garrison of soldiers and branches out into the rock underneath. This network of guard garrisons is augmented by the railed trolleys that can quickly shuffle soldiers where they are needed in the event of an attack or monster incursion. Each guard post is also equipped with a panel that allows the garrison commander to alert the rest of the city to an attack. These alerts happen a few times a week and to the common citizen are more akin to a traffic advisory than a serious shelter-in-place warning.
Infrastructure
The nature of the Gel Morgran's underground environment prohibits many modern marvels from finding their way to everyday use, but the city is still a grand spectacle to behold. The massive Mithral Doors (again, a misnomer as they are actually made of solid adamantine) have been operated by machinery since before recorded history - though until about 500 years ago no one actually knew how that machinery worked or what parts were involved. A major partnership between Gel Morgran and the inventors of Kort saw a team of gnomish engineers allowed 'behind the curtain' to study and modernize the Doors' gears.
Because the city is built underground and into a mountain, Gel Morgran does not have as much of an issue with street erosion or wear as above-ground cities. The solid stone from which the city has been delicately and expertly carved over the centuries holds up well, but the busiest streets still need protection to keep the carts from wearing grooves into the rocky floor. All major trade and traffic roads in Gel Morgran, therefore, are covered with a layer of paving stones that can be replaced individually if they wear down or crack.
In addition to the basic road setup, Gel Morgran boasts a series of automated, tracked vehicles that assist movement through the city's districts. Yet another product of the gnomish engineers, these trolley lines reach from the Mithral Doors to the deepest mine shafts, connecting all districts and areas of the city in between. They are primarily for passengers, but there are several trolleys owned by wealthy mercantile companies that transport goods and raw ore to and from various parts of the city.
Another of the city's marvels that had existed for millennia but were improved and expanded by the gnomish engineers are the series of "clocks" that exist around the caverns, letting the people know what time of day it is outside and roughly what the weather is like. The timekeeping crystals are rather oblong ovals, which have been enchanted to 'fill' with blue light at regular intervals, and clear markings on the crystals differentiate the time of day. The weather crystals are rectangular and similar size to the time ones, though these have several runes carved into them representing the different weather conditions one might face on the surface; only one or two are lit at a time, corresponding to the current weather outside the cavernous city.
Over the centuries, the lead artisans of Gel Morgran have crafted a series of rainwater collection basins in the mountains that funnel into several large cisterns in and around the city. These cisterns can be accessed at any one of the dozens of wells or at the numerous public fountains found in public squares. Some of the city's deeper districts have opted to well their water from underground ponds and streams.
Districts
Gel Morgran is broken up into 11-14 different districts (depending on official classification or local self-identification), signified by the different large caverns the city occupies and the one above-ground district. The Azure Ward is the most easily distinguishable of the city's districts, as it is above ground and open to the sky. Named for the color of the sky, this ward is home to very few dwarves and provides a significant portion of the city's crops and livestock.
In truly efficient fashion, the official wards of the city are numbered based on their proximity to the surface (and, by extension, the recency of their founding). The locals have their own names for the wards, based on who lives there or what industries and buildings are there. Due to distinct differences in the populations or buildings of a specific cavern or city ward, the locals have unofficially split the ward into two, which is where the disparate numbers come in. Some examples of the local names include: The Umberhulk Ward (Ward 11, currently the deepest area of the city near the mines the Glinting Cavern (where many temples and the majestic parliament building reside The Squalors (where many of the city's poorer residents call home and the Trade Nexus (where the large central bazaar is located, as well as various warehouses, smelters, and other artisans).
History
Gel Morgran is one of the few cities that has existed since before humanity began recording history. Legends state that the city was built by the dwarven patron god Morgran as a refuge and gathering point for his people, where they could mine the metals and minerals the earth provided them. Most of the city's history is unknown, records decayed or lost to time - with only lore and heroic tales that have persisted into the modern age.
The few records that have survived mention a city that kept to itself and did not trust the arcane to a great extent. At a time when the supercities of the world were engaged in ever-escalating arcane arms races, Morgrani were focused on mining, crafting, and the military protection of the city. It is clear that Gel Morgran was not annihilated in The Smiting, but there are not enough surviving records to indicate if the city suffered the same level of casualties and memory loss that the surface cities faced.
Until 334 2A, very few non-dwarves were even allowed inside the city at all. This policy changed when the long-ruling clan died out without producing known heirs. A new family was installed as the ruling dynasty, and the first Gornjak brought a slew of progressive ideas to Gel Morgran. Among the first was to establish diplomatic contact with the other nations of the world and allow full-time ambassadors to live in the city. The unofficial tent city that had existed for centuries outside the Mithral Doors was converted to permanent housing and given a proper defensive wall to make it part of the city.
The descendants of this great leader, Dvorik Silverstone, upheld his progressive ideals and expanded on them in the centuries following his death. Perhaps the greatest example of this can be seen in the cooperation between Gel Morgran and the gnomes of the Enlightened City of Kort that began in 991 2A. In exchange for dwarven consultation on mining precious minerals - specifically Kort Crystals - the Gornjak welcomed a contingent of some 30 gnomish engineers and assistants to Gel Morgran. These gnomes investigated the Mithral Doors' mechanisms and brought several technological innovations to the dwarven city. This partnership is still strong today, with regular meetings and exchanges of diplomats, students, and customs.
The recent centuries have brought the formation of The Desert Concord, which has shaped much of Gel Morgran's recent past. The dwarven city had been cooperating with and trading with the desert towns since their foundation but had maintained unequivocal independence in all matters. The cost of doing business in a large city such as Gel Morgran, coupled with the exploitative policies of the leaders of Ogrimph, led to a merchants' rebellion in 1386 2A. The merchants themselves, as well as the smaller towns of Loraica and Dunes Respite, were feeling unnecessarily squeezed by these policies and were increasingly unable to conduct their business. The two towns' leaders used their control of the trade routes to force the larger towns into a geopolitical pact, known as the Desert Concord. The Gornjak and the parliament were hesitant to allow this agreement for fear of losing sovereignty and independence the city had enjoyed since prehistory, but the reality is that Gel Morgran still operates as a mostly autonomous city-state that has to make concessions to its smaller neighbors on only a few issues.
Points of interest
Two of the three main attractions of the city are marvels that have existed since before written history, though both have been updated and modernized throughout history. The first of these marvels is the first part of the city-proper that most outsiders encounter: the Mithral Doors. Legend holds that these doors were forged by Morgran himself to protect his people, though no one knows exactly how or when these massive gates were created. Early dwarven citizens saw the dark metal and relative invincibility of the gates and named them after the rare metal mithral, though analysis of the doors much later in the First Age determined that they were actually made of solid adamantine - constituting more than double the amount of adamantine that has been mined collectively throughout history. The solid slabs are each adorned with the dwarven runes for Morgran and Protection, fueling the fantastical story that the Master of the Forge did indeed craft them himself.
The other main attraction for outsiders that has existed for all of history is the Great Basilica of Morgran. This imposing ziggurat of solid stone, carved into and sticking out of the cavern wall, would be impressive on the surface, but its looming form is even more harrowing underground. The dark stone exterior is emblazoned with several platinum and gold symbols of Morgran and various saints of the faith, and the upper tier features a massive mithral rune whose actual meaning has never been known - but many have taken it to mean "faith". These grand features fuel local speculation that the god of smiths, Morgran, built the temple himself when he was creating the city for his people. The inside of the basilica is actually quite pleasant and inviting, despite the somewhat menacing appearance of its exterior. All manner of crafted goods are displayed on every surface: metalworks, woven rugs, statuary, paintings, and so many more. The main chamber of the basilica actually takes up over half of the structure's total height and features several tiers of audience space, with some standing room and some pews. Above this main chamber is the ritual level, where various smaller rooms are available for all manner of rites and ceremonies people wish the priests to perform. Adorning this space is a wall celebrating the lives of every High Priest, with a small trinket each had made before their death to represent some aspect of their tenure. The floor above that is the priests' living quarters, and the top tier is where the reliquary of Morgran and his saints is housed. Various relics, artifacts, and memorabilia of the holy saints are kept safely in this tier, with constant guard presence. Between the audience space in the main chamber and the acoustics of the basilica allowing transmission of the priest's voice to the outer areas, the temple can hold around 26,000 people - nearly half the city's population - and does so regularly for religious holidays.
The other main attraction for visitors is the parliament building, which is one of the namesakes of the Glinting Cavern, the district in which and the Basilica are located. Carved from the stone of the cavern itself, the main exterior is dark stone which would be imposing if not for the dozens of colorful mosaics adorning its walls. Scenes from dwarven and the city's histories are depicted, as well as various heroes of lore or famous myths. Instead of being made from colorful minerals or dyed pieces of glass, many of these mosaics are made of precious gems that have been mined in the city and then expertly cut to the size needed for the works of art. These mosaics represent the greatest concentration of wealth in Gel Morgran's public coffers, and many believe they were created to ensure no government official or corrupt Gornjak could rob the city of its wealth in secrecy.
Architecture
Despite its vast history of isolationism and independence, the architecture in Gel Morgran is astoundingly diverse. Though it did not reflect other cultures or regions of the world until somewhat recently, the older dwarven buildings took on many different shapes, colors, and purposes - some speculate just from the boredom of staring at monolithic stone buildings for centuries. The majority of houses and buildings are carved from the stone of the caverns themselves, though some of the wealthier residents have paid to import wood from the surface or wood-like fungi from the caverns under the city (similar to zurkhwood in the Forgotten Realms).
The Parliament building is a massive, domed Gothic building that is even more imposing because it is made of dark stone. This somewhat intimidating appearance is tempered by a variety of mosaics on the building's exterior, depicting dwarven heroes or specific episodes in the lore of the city's history.
Founding Date
0 1A
Type
Large city
Population
58,305
Inhabitant Demonym
Morgrani
Location under
Included Locations
Ruling/Owning Rank
Owning Organization
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