Grok Makar

The city of Grok Makar is the ancestral home of the Groki dwarves and can be found in the hollowed out core of Baduk Gad, one of the largest mountains in the Groki mountain range, which mark the border between the Exarchy of Yethisia and the Heartlands. The city is known for its legendary fortifications, which include the Frijan Seal, a magical barrier that once allowed the Groki dwarves to effectively monopolise travel between the northern courts and the kingdoms of the desert.
Grok Makar is as ancient as the oldest dwarven strongholds, originating from the earliest days of celestial governance, at the very beginning of the Age of Radiance. During the Warring Times, the city acted as a sanctuary for the most desperate of refugees, as the home of Esther, goddess of safety and the hearth. During the height of the Greatwood Exchange, Grok Makar became one of the wealthiest cities in the world, by charging tariffs on caravans moving through their city. This practice would earn them the enmity of many northern courts, which resulted in the Slaughter of the Groki, a massacre which the Groki dwarves are still recovering from.
Grok Makar now owes fealty to the Empire of Nara Tok, the Groki dwarves agreeing to join the Empire in 144 IF in return for the return of one of the Frijan keys, which had been stolen by the Greatwood Empire. The city is now an important stop on the route through the Yethis desert, and the dwarves have been granted leave to charge modest tariffs on caravans travelling through their city.

Demographics

The city of Grok Makar is almost entirely populated with Groki dwarves, though some traders from Yethisia and the Heartlands also maintain permanent residences in the city. Many of the Groki are traders or merchants by profession, though there is also a sizable population of manual labourers who quarry the city's stone, or mine metals and gemstones.

Government

The city is governed by a council of seven clan-fathers, with a majority required to pass resolutions. These clan-fathers, who are known as the Fridamen, are descendants of the chosen of Frija - officials selected by the goddess during her governance of the city, in the ancient era. They each represent a larger clan, who owe direct fealty to their Fridaman. The Frijan keys are held by the eldest and most respected of the Fridamen. 
Groki taxes are fairly restrictive, with most of these taxes being funnelled towards projects across the city - expansion of the city's mines and quarries for example. Their tariffs on foreign caravans also allow them to fund these improvement projects, many of which are focussed on rebuilding parts of the northern city that were so long abandoned after the Slaughter of the Groki.
While foreigners are allowed to make their homes within the dwarven city, the land of Grok Makar is owned by the clans of the Groki, who are forbidden from selling land to outsiders. Instead, the few non-Groki who maintain permanent residences in the city are charged a yearly rent.

Defences

The city of Grok Makar was once famed for its unassailability. Networks of tunnels in both the northern and southern city allowed them to keep themselves well stocked, and out-manoeuvre besieging armies. The northern city was guarded by three sets of walls: the Yderved, which guards the entrance into the mountain caverns, an Inderved which bounds the inner city and its caverns, and the legendary Sidsved, which guard the approach to the Frijan Seal. These walls have recently been repaired, after many centuries of abandonment. The southern city is guarded by just two sets of walls, the Falskeved at the outer edge of the mountain side, and the Sdinderved which bound the inner city of the south. Outsiders are only allowed into either inner city when travelling through the Seal. The city is also protected by watchtowers, which are located on the mountainside above, and kept garrisoned to watch for approaching armies.
Every Groki citizen serves in the town's militia at some point in their lives, and almost every one of the Groki dwarves is well trained in the use of many different forms of weaponry, including crossbows and pikes.
Their greatest defence is the unbreakable Frijan Seal, which bisects the city into two halves. This magical barrier is opened and closed through the use of one of two magical keys, and while closed, fully separates the northern city from the southern city. The ultimate last resort, the Seal allows the Groki to seal themselves away from attackers on one side of the mountain range. This tactic has been employed on only a handful of occasions throughout the city's history, and has failed only once, in the events that led to the Slaughter of the Groki.

Industry & Trade

The city's largest exports are stone, quarried from the mountain side, and precious gems and metals, including copper and tin. Historically, these materials were traded with the Sufi-Nazadi Kingdoms, in return for spices and grain. More recently, however, this trade has become much more limited, as materials from the south have proven more popular. 
While the city is mostly self-sufficient, employing underground mushrooms farms to feed its large populace, most of its infrastructural projects are funded by taxing imperial caravans moving across the Frijan Seal.

Infrastructure

The Groki city features an array of watermills powered by an underground river, which are used to help them shape metal into mechanical parts, as well as a number of blast furnaces, which are used to smelt and refine metal ores. 
The city also features an advanced sewage system, and smooth stone roads, including the Val Baduk, the road that runs through Grok Makar and connects the Southern Lumber Roads with the roads of the Heartlands.

Guilds and Factions

The largest divide among the Groki can be found between the seven clans who make up the city's dwarven populace. While inter-clan relations are rarely openly hostile, personal loyalties run deep, and when particularly contentious issues are debated in council, these divides become more and more clear.
Dwarves are known to have long memories, and keep grudges for many centuries. The Vartaclans are one of the better representations of this. The Vartaclans are not an official faction, but rather a coalition of disparate voices from among the seven remaining clans. Many of them descend from the last members of the four lost clans, who were almost wiped out during the Slaughter of the Groki. While they have no power on the city's council, the Vartaclans have many sympathisers among the larger dwarven population. They seek to close the Frijan Seal once more, and abandon ties with the treacherous northerners.
While few non-Groki possess permanent residences in the city, there are sufficient foreign merchants who maintain holdings in the city that they are able to foster some level of influence over the city's governing. The Merchants Coalition have spent most of their existence lobbying for the ability to sell their wares within the inner city's walls, alongside the Groki merchants, yet these requests have thus far been ignored.

History

The city of Grok Makar is one of the four original dwarven strongholds, along with Karos Makar, Blud Makar and Ratep Makar. The story of its founding tells of a terrible creature, disturbed by the Groki digging, that tried to destroy them. The Groki called upon the goddess Frija to protect them, and in the ensuing battle, the goddess threw down her shield to protect the dwarves, which then became the Frijan Seal. The Groki built their city around the seal, and from then on, Frija would become their patron goddess.
During the Warring Times, Frija took up permanent residence in her patron city, and governed it directly. She chose eleven dwarves to be her chosen, acting as her administrators and city officials, who would become the forefathers of the Fridamen. Frija transformed Grok Makar into a sanctuary, allowing refugees and deserters from the conflicts raging across the north, to seek safe passage through the city, or else settle there for some time.
During the Fading Years, Frija abandoned her earthly home, and left the dwarves to govern themselves. The early Groki traded nearly exclusively with the Sufi-Nazadi Kingdoms, for much of this early period, as no centralised powers had yet grown from the war-torn battlegrounds of Naidhalaea. After the rise of the Aoleirian Empire, the Groki agreed to pay a yearly tribute of gems to the Emperor Sundemar, in return for their continued autonomy. It is likely this agreement came about due to the reluctance of the Aoleirians in testing the defences of the mountain dwarves. The Groki traded with the Aoleirians, exchanging stone and gems for lumber, but this trade was not particularly prevalent.
After the Aoleirian Empire's collapse, the Groki continued to have mixed relations with the Naidhalaean Magocracies. Occasionally, mage-lords would attempt to conquer the Groki, and take control of the Seal for themselves, yet these attempts always ended in failure. The Groki continued to trade with the Sufi-Nazadi kingdoms, exporting their suferian relics into the lands of Naidhalaea. From around 1100 BIF, this trade blossomed into the Greatwood Exchange. The Groki used their monopoly over access to the Sufi-Nazadi kingdoms in order to make themselves one of the wealthiest cities of the era, charging large tariffs on caravans moving through their city. This practice earned them the enmity of many northern noblemen and courtiers, and helped to foster the stereotype of Groki greed. During this period, the city's southern and northern halves saw extensive development, and the construction of many statues and monuments was completed.
After the rise of the Greatwood Empire, the Groki dwarves became the target of great hostility from the Emperor Castix, the Binder. Castix demanded that the dwarves halve their tariffs, or else face his wrath. The Groki refused, believing themselves to be immune to invasion, and so hostilities only continued to grow. In 909 BIF, the Groki abandoned the northern portion of their city, and closed the Frijan Seal, in order to defend against potential invasion, effectively ending the Greatwood Exchange.
The Groki continued to trade with the Sufi-Nazadi kingdoms, until in 901 BIF, the kingdoms were conquered by the Greatwood Empire. Their forces then marched on the dwarven stronghold, setting its southern half under siege, while fully occupying the northern half. The dwarves were ill-prepared for this attack, and after just a few weeks their granaries ran out. The city was taken, and a toll of blood exacted on the Groki for the crime of their greed. This is commonly referred to as the Slaughter of the Groki and is considered one of the most terrible atrocities committed in that era. The Frijan keys were taken from the Groki, and the Seal re-opened, under a newly installed imperial governor. Four Fridamen families were entirely wiped out during this massacre, cutting the Groki council down from eleven to just seven.
Under imperial occupation, the city of Grok Makar was used as a garrison-town, housing a force of ten thousand imperial soldiers. The Groki were pressed into servitude, forced to work in the city's mines and quarries, to provide resources for the imperium. The Groki population had been decimated, with only one in ten dwarves surviving the massacre. Just a few years later, the Greatwood Empire collapsed amid a succession crisis, and the Groki seized the opportunity to take back their city, after the imperial garrison was called north to fight several pretender armies. The imperial governor was murdered in his sleep, and one of the Frijan keys reclaimed, allowing them to once more close the Frijan Seal, and begin to rebuild in the south.
For another thousand years, the Groki dwarves kept the Frijan Seal closed, and abandoned their northern homes. Trade between the north and the south was severely limited during this period, caravans forced to travel the more dangerous Jarnish and Harinian routes instead. The Groki refused delegations from any northern courts during this time, only maintaining trading relations with the Sufi-Nazadi Kingdoms, after the collapse of the Jarnish Empire. Over the course of many centuries, the Groki population began to recover, and the ruined south was slowly rebuilt. Learning from the mistakes of the past, the Groki developed underground mushroom farms, allowing them to become fully self-sufficient.
In 144 IF, the Groki council agreed to meet with a delegate from the fast-expanding Empire of Nara Tok. While negotations were terse, the dwarves were eventually convinced to put aside their hatred, and accept the imperial yoke. In return for re-opening the Frijan Seal, and joining the imperium, the Groki were granted the rights to a moderate tax on caravans moving through their city, as well as the gift of the second Frijan key, which had been stolen from them so long ago. Now, the city of Grok Makar has become an important stop on the road between the southern Exarchies, and the northern heart of the Empire.
During Thaerseimai, the Groki debated closing the Frijan Seal once more, and waiting for the conflicts in the north to end, but ultimately decided to keep the Seal open, allowing refugees from the north to escape into the province of Yethisia.

Architecture

The oldest buildings in Grok Makar are formed from the stone of the mountains, hollowed out by the ancient dwarves. However, many of these buildings were destroyed during the Slaughter of the Groki. More recent structures are formed more ordinarily, from granite that they quarry. There is a notable difference between older buildings, which tend to be more stylised and decorated, and more modern buildings which are more utilitarian.

Geography

Grok Makar is located within a series of hollowed out caverns, within the heart of Baduk Gad, one of the largest mountains of the Groki mountain range. These caverns extend in all three dimensions, though they are effectively divided into two by the Frijan Seal. The city marks the boundary between the lands of the Heartlands and the Exarchy of Yethisia.

Natural Resources

The city has easy access to large quantities of many different kinds of stone, as well as precious gemstones and metals such as copper and tin.

Alternative Name(s)

Frija's Hold, The Gateway

Type

City

Population

11,000

Inhabitant Demonym

Groki

Owning Organization

Empire of Nara Tok