Kraghammer
Heralded as the true living center of dwarven culture
on the continent, the stronghold of Kraghammer was
established by the surviving families of the high-mountain kingdom of Uthtor, said to have crumbled nearly a
millennia ago in the Calamity. Rebuilt by survivors of
Uthtor within the southern face of the Cliffkeep Mountains, Kraghammer grew with industrious vigor a few
centuries ago with the discovery of rich veins of platinum
and mithral, which remain its main source of wealth and
trade power. It currently holds its ground as a long-standing autonomous city-state allied with the Council of
Tal’Dorei, and the instigator of countless expeditions into
the Cliffkeeps to extract the riches and long-forgotten
secrets beneath the staggering peaks.
An ominous walk of a thousand stairs climb the side
of the mountain to the gates of the city carved from the
mountain itself, just wide enough for two dwarves to walk
abreast. Too steep and treacherous for carts or common
beasts of burden, traders and trappers use giant goats to
transport their goods to and from market, while wealthy
dwarven merchant lords employ serfs and laborers to carry
their goods. Kraghammer’s impenetrable adamantine
gates stand at the end of a perilous bridge overlooking a
hundred-foot chasm, and is guarded by three watchtowers
carved into the mountain itself.
Within those gates, the massive stronghold is made up
of three cylindrical levels called “slabs” that descend deep
beneath the mountains. Kraghammer’s granite walls are
lit by roaring fires, enchanted torches, and shimmering
candlerock, which glows with internal fire. Even when
the evening fires are extinguished, the amber light of the
Bronzegrip Metalworks at the base of the city bathes the
city in its warm glow.
Demographics
(83% Dwarven, 10% Gnome, 7% Other)
Government
Kraghammer law is written by a consortium of the five
most powerful houses within the city, each appointing a
delegate to serve on their behalf. That tenuous union of
houses is kept by the city’s executive officer, the Ironkeeper.
The Ironkeeper is elected by the houses, carries a term of
ten years, with no term limit, though most Ironkeepers rule
for between three to five terms. The current sitting Ironkeeper is Gradim Greyspine of House Greyspine, halfway
through his third term. His heroics in the recent war have
made him beloved of his people, and his softer view of outlanders has made him a champion of the repressed.
The laws of the city are enforced by a military class of
elite warriors called Carvers that act as guards, soldiers,
and jailers under the guidance of the Ironkeeper. Becoming a Carver is a lengthy, rigorous, and taxing pursuit, and
many who choose to join fail to complete their training
and find another career path. As such, many Carvers are
brought to it through family tradition, the pressure and
expectation of the family name and a father’s honor being
stronger than personal pain and preference. Once officially
named, a Carver is given a homestead built into the center
slab of the city, a set of masterwork armor and weapons,
and a steady income.
Crime
Citizens of Emon who visit Kraghammer often marvel at
how lawful and organized the dwarven enclave is. Crime
is ostensibly low within Kraghammer thanks to the Carvers’ protection, but this peace comes at a cost. Corruption
is rife within the Carvers, and within House Glorenthal,
their patron house. Because of Glorenthal’s close ties with
the Carvers, corruption has been hard to uncover within
either organization. That all changed when a gnomish
journalist named Ida Mudrake uncovered something
damning within the Glorenthal vaults. The information
has not been made public, but a massive trial is on the
horizon, and the Carvers are in chaos.
Infrastructure
The Top Slab
The Top Slab, also called the Arch, is the entry level
of the city, built on a massive ring that sends off-shoot
neighborhoods and tunnels deeper into the mountain
around it. Here is where most residential life is rooted,
with thousands of stone-built abodes dotting the walls,
while popular taverns like the Firebrook Inn and the
Ironhearth Tavern fill alcoves pushed into the rock. Most
of the gnomish and non-dwarf population is relegated to a
neighborhood called the “Otherwalk.” A fine layer of soot
tends to coat much of this slab, due to imperfect ventilation from the industrious center slab.
As members of the Kraghammer working class, “Topslabbers” either make the long commute to labor in the
Bottom Slab or work in the Toppers’ farms above the
mountain. Others are indentured servants to wealthy
dwarves in the Middle Slab, and only return to their families on the Top Slab on their monthly day of rest.
The Center Slab
The Center Slab, also referred to as the Heart, marks
the widest and most varied rung on the journey through
Kraghammer, and is stratified between the the resi
-
dences of Kraghammer’s dwarven elite and its wealthy
merchant class. At the exact center of the slab—dwarves
are very particular about geometrical symbolism—is the
Pyrethrone, seat of the Ironkeeper. Radiating out from
the Pyrethrone are the various fortress-manors of the
dwarven noble houses, with several Carver barracks in
easy reach.
Just below, the outer rings of the Center Slab are
occupied by most of the city’s non-mining businesses,
from smithies, breweries, and jewelers, to tailors,
butchers, and even tinkerers like the gnome-run Cracksackle Union. The Hunter’s Club is also well known as
the chief provider for non-imported meats to the city,
sending parties atop the mountain or in the nearby
Torian Forest for wild game. The extravagant marble
temple known as Allhammer’s Will stands on the
center slab of the city, the grandest of all shrines to
the most worshiped deity under the mountain. Enor
-
mous in size and impeccable in detail and architectural
design, this hall calls artisans and crafters throughout
the city for inspiration.
Of the five noble houses, only two conduct their affairs
entirely in the Center Slab. The magically talented Lord
Steddos Thunderbrand and his family are known to rarely
leave their mansion, except on business with the Iron-
keeper. Wallera Glorenthar used to oversee the combat
training of all Carvers within Kraghammer, but the scandal
that rocked her house has called her leadership into
question. She is currently on leave.
The Bottom Slab
The Bottom Slab, or the Pit, is the industrious center
of Kraghammer, boasting the most blast furnaces per
square mile in all of Tal’Dorei, courtesy of the Bronze-grip
Metalworks and their competitors. The expansive
Keenstone Quarry is chief among the numerous mining
operations that have tunneled through the depths of the
mountains—depths plumbed by Vox Machina early in
their adventures as they searched for Lady Kima of Vord,
an adventure that saw them overthrow the duergar of the
Emberhold and the hateful aberrations of Yug’Voril. A
network of fungus-farming paths called the Glowgrove
works its way around this level, passing through all sorts
of caverns. The mushrooms are harvested by the Toppers,
the dwarven agricultural league that got their name from
the small topside farms they tend above the city.
Three of the five dwarven houses has business interests
in the Bottom Slab, though they direct its operations
from the next tier up. Nostoc Greyspine is the grim
overseer of Keenstone Quarry; he swears that his relationship
to Ironkeeper Gradim Greyspine gives him no
special privileges. Haddi Bronzegrip is the foredwarf
of the Bronzegrip Metalworks; she claims to be the
wealthiest dwarf in the North. Blenton Zuurthom is
an architectural savant, and one of the older and kinder
noble dwarves; he tries his best to oversee every major
construction project in the Bottom Slab.
Assets
The Starshrine
Most dwarves worship the Allhammer, and his teachings of
community and ancestral piety have been all but completely
subsumed into Kraghammer’s culture at large. For outlanders with different faiths, however, the monolithic religious
culture can feel inescapable. When the world shook at
the coming of the Chroma Conclave, tremors rocked the
upper layers of Kraghammer, causing certain caverns to
collapse—and in some cases, reveal places of great beauty.
The Starshrine was established near the Otherwalk inside a
grotto whose granite walls mysteriously shine with a perfect
replica of the stars in the night sky. Here, marginalized
people of all faiths can worship in peace. If a character prays
to a Good or Neutral deity here, there is a 1% chance per
character level that their prayer is answered, as the cleric’s
Divine Intervention feature.
Cracksackle Headquarters
The Gnomish-designed Cracksackle guildhall looks unlike
anything in Kraghammer. It is made of a dozen glistening
steel domes, like sleek, metal igloos, and the light of unusual
experiments flicker through its slitted windows at all hours
of the night. While intrinsically tied to the Bronzegrip
Metalworks for resources, contacts, and distribution, the
Cracksackle gnomes’ inventive contributions to mining and
masonry technology have made them indispensable to the
dwarven elite.
On any working day, a dozen gnomish tinkerers will
set up shop in the courtyard, selling strange and untested
devices they have made in their workshops. The GM
determines which non-magical curiosities can be purchased here, but some include:
• Stink bomb (25 gp), range 30 ft., creatures within
20 foot radius must make a DC 12 Constitution
saving throw or be poisoned for 1d6 rounds, detonates after 6-second fuse
• Wind glider (200 gp), requires 1 minute to harness.
While harnessed and falling, the bearer falls at
30 feet per round, and the wind glider carries the
bearer 40 feet in a line each round until they land.
You can change direction each round. While harnessed, your movement is halved, and you have
disadvantage on attack rolls. A wind glider has an
AC of 10, and 5 hit points.
• The Copperpot Crank-action Audiomatic (500 gp), range 30ft.
Made famous by the innovative audio-story versions of the book "the Daring Adventures
of Taryon Darrington" as recorded by inventor Hazel Copperpot, this gram-o-phone-esque device
is now comfortably retrofitted with adjustable straps and re-engineered for durability.
After many months of R&D, it is finally available for sale to the public as a Cracksackle Headquarters
exclusive product, due to a partnership deal struck with Hazel Copperpot after she joined the
Bronzegrip Metalworks to develop her inventions further.
As an action you can activate the device by turning a crank on its side.
While the crank is turning clockwise, any audible sounds within a
30 ft. cone are able to be "captured" onto a wax cylinder and if the crank is turned counter-clockwise, can
be played back in real time after being recorded. A wax cylinder has 10 min
of recording time and must be replaced with a new cylinder in order to capture an
accurate recording. (Extra Wax Cylinders are sold individually at 12gp each, or a bundle of 5 for 50gp)
Hall of Burning Mushrooms
The Bronzegrip Metalworks just carved deeper into the
mountain to expand their furnaces, only to discover the
most magnificent cavern; a mile-wide cave filled with
bioluminescent purple mushrooms. Industry had to move
in, and the Bronzegrips hired Wyrmhide Thunderbrand
and his pyromancer brigade to torch the cavern. The
mushrooms never stopped burning, and the myconoids
that lived in the fungal forest never stopped fighting. PCs
known within Kraghammer may be requested by House
Bronzegrip or Thunderbrand to cut through the inferno
and destroy the myconoid monarch.
Guilds and Factions
The Houses of Kraghammer, the Clasp, the Golden Grin, the Remnants, the Brawler's League, the Arcana Panosophical, the Claret Orders.
History
No non-dwarf has ever served as a delegate of the
houses, let alone the Ironkeeper. Though dwarves individually are often trusting, honest folk, Kraghammer
breeds a culture of xenophobia that prevents people
of other races from participating in the highest levels
of dwarven society. Even if they were born within
Kraghammer, their epithet will always be outlander,
surface-dweller, sun-eyes, or worse. Yet this startlingly
overt racism seems to melt away for as long as an
outlander is useful—and no longer. Greed drives Kraghammer; it fuels its furnaces and works its bellows, and
many outlanders within Kraghammer do their best to
live within its system, trying to eke out a meager living.
The only exception to this xenophobia are the gnomes.
When the gnomish city of Wittebak was sundered by hill
giants nearly 400 years ago, the refugees were accepted
into Kraghammer, bringing their innovative mechanical
ideas to the growing community and cementing a kinship
of convenience between the two races. As time passed, the
partnership has flourished for both parties, and the drive
to reclaim their old home has since been ever-postponed
due to procrastination and lack of interest. Still, no gnome
has ever served as a representative of the Houses, nor as
Ironkeeper. Some minority peoples within Kraghammer
are jealous of the gnomes’ place of “honor” within the
dwarven community and seek to subvert them, while
others implore the gnomes to use their voice to speak up
for the outlanders.
Geography
Though the Cliffkeep Mountains themselves are blanketed in thick snow, the bone-piercing chill does not
extend into Kraghammer itself. Heat from the Bronzegrip Metalworks and the other blast furnaces in the
Bottom Slab rises and permeates the entire city, though
the Top Slab still grows cold in the winter. The city itself
is carved out of the granite core of Mount Kraghammer;
though the dwarves rarely see the night sky, its walls still
sparkle like starlight in the amber glow of the furnaces.
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