King's Heart
The second layer of Highhelm, beneath King's Crown, and above Stonebreach and the Depths, King's Heart is the spiritual centre of the city. During the construction of Highhelm, excavators
discovered a marvel nestled squarely in the centre of Emperor’s Peak: a massive cavern, its walls teeming with luminescent crystals of all sizes and colours. Its existence was an enigma, the stone walls too smooth to be wholly natural and yet with no connection to the surface. It was named the Gift of the Father, as it could only have been made by the hands of Torag himself, and became the site of Highhelm’s largest and most prominent temple. When the first homes were built in Highhelm, they were constructed here since many dwarves believed the blessed cave would offer them protection and fortune. Over time, the cave’s walls were expanded, widening walls on either side to form the
middle layer of Highhelm.
Because of its central location to the city, almost all commerce in Highhelm passes through King’s Heart, a fact that has drawn significant industry into its halls. Trading companies were quick to put down roots here so as to be closer to the trade hubs, and mining cooperatives looking for ore and coal began building out their mining tunnels from the conveniently located middle of the mountain. From there, the city’s smiths, smelters, metallurgists, and stoneworkers, eager to stay to the source of their raw materials, set down roots in King’s Heart.
This expansion faced its challenges. Emperor’s Peak, being nonvolcanic, had few sources of heat to work with aside from air-poisoning fuels and limited heat vents and, with no access to the sky above like the other two layers, little access to natural water sources. Both problems were solved by the machinations of the Circle of Four, a druidic circle specializing in elemental magic who offered a solution in exchange for a permanent home within the Gift of the Father. By opening small rifts into the Elemental Planes of Fire and Water, they created limitless heat sources as well as a grotto of fresh water to supply the entire population. The gratitude of Highhelm was great, and the Circle received their wish, welcomed so wholeheartedly that King’s Heart became a place of sanctuary not just for them, but for druids of all kinds.
King’s Heart is the beating heart of Highhelm. Most of the city’s exported steel and ore comes from here, as does the majority of its heat and water supply. If King’s Heart were to fall, the city would collapse, and its people take great pride in the layer’s vital role. There’s an industrious spirit to King’s Heart, one that promotes an almost paradoxical culture of self-sufficiency and cooperation. At the same time, being at the centre of a testament to the beauty of Torag’s creation, as well as the Forge of the Nine that serves as the centre of Highhelm’s faith, has created a strong culture of worship and community, for what is a fellow dwarf but another of Torag’s creations to be respected and cherished?
That is, of course, what people preach, but it isn't the whole picture. It’s true that the workers of King’s Heart will cheerfully work together in times of need or for the common good, and even more cheerfully meet for drinks at the Forge Day’s end. But when it comes time to compete for contracts or customers, they become more cutthroat and vicious than even the shadiest merchants in Katapesh. Since no dwarf would be so crass as to devalue their own work to undercut a competitor, they compete against one another with more creativity. Subtle sabotage, contract sniping, and aggressive poaching of skilled workers all run rampant through the streets of King’s Heart.
Likewise, the faith of the people might be strong as a whole, but without complete religious unity, their varied devotion often causes more problems than it solves. The vast majority of the Heart’s residents are devout followers of the dwarven pantheon, but not all, and that creates some friction. Small pockets of worship exist for the deities of the surface, particularly Abadar, Pharasma, and Shelyn, and while their worshippers don’t get treated with outright hostility, they also rarely display their faith for fear of losing clients. The local druid circles have little to worry about, keeping largely insular and self‑sufficient, and the efforts of the Circle of Four keep them in good standing with most of the populace. The same can’t be said of the Rivethuns. Between
their opposition to the Circle of Four’s interference with planar boundaries and their nigh-heretical insistence that theirs is the revival of a dwarven religion far older than Torag’s worship, they’ve earned open disdain from many in King’s Heart.
On the surface, King’s Heart is busy but peaceful, raucous but quiet. There’s very little crime, friendly faces everywhere, and prosperity to be had by anyone willing to earn a living off the sweat of their brow. Ask any dwarf from Highhelm’s middle layer where they’re from and they’ll tell you King’s Heart well before they say Highhelm, such is the pride the people here take in their community. Certainly, tension exists between various individuals and factions, but that’s true of any city. However, some of these honest, hardworking people are fully prepared to go to war with one another should that tension ever bubble to the surface.
Demographics
King’s Heart is the home of precisely 10,487 permanent residents as of the last census in 4723 AR, around a quarter of Highhelm’s total population. Just over 9,000 are dwarves. Of the remainder, around 500 consist of elemental beings, such as the fire elementals of Burntown and the water elementals living in or near the Endless Reservoir, and the last 500 or so are of various ancestries, almost exclusively those who are comfortable in the dark without sunlight, such as gnomes, goblins, and orcs. The smallest population in King’s Heart, numbering only one, is the part-time resident Ornathax, a magma dragon, who spends “summers” in Burntown for a “refreshing break from the heat.”
Districts
As a smaller and more close-knit community, the people of King’s Heart tend not to place too much importance on their neighbourhoods, using them almost exclusively for land zoning rather than defined sections of the city. While there are some further subdivisions, the generally accepted “districts” of King’s Heart are the following.
Crystalborough
Most of the original Gift of the Father is within this neighbourhood, which serves as the local municipal district as well as home to most of the religious sects of King’s Heart.Goldgate
As the name might suggest, this residential district of King’s Heart is dedicated to the few Goldhilt clans who live here. Their numbers are small more as a practical consideration than segregation, as the clan halls and services offered here require significantly more space. While it can’t match the luxury services in King’s Crown, Goldgate is still the most upscale place to shop, eat, and otherwise live in King’s Heart.Ironwell
Home to countless blacksmiths, metallurgists, smelters, alchemists, and stonemasons, the people of Ironwell are in a constant state of motion. Almost no building in Ironwell is purely residential, with many residents living above their places of business.Obsidian
The vast majority of Highhelm’s Steelhilt clans make their homes in this residential neighbourhood on the edge of the Heart. Row upon row of houses and apartments line the streets here, many on shared property owned by a clan and built to demonstrate that clan’s particular style.The Tunnels
Though not literally located in tunnels, this neighbourhood sits atop the main thoroughfare between King’s Heart and Stonebreach, as well as the Central Mining Plaza from which all mining operations in the mountain stem. Most of the guild halls in King’s Heart are based here, as are dozens of trading companies and mining cooperatives.Points of interest
Burntown
The buildings immediately surrounding the Iron Lagoon form a small residential subdistrict referred to by most as Burntown, in reference to its residents. Burntown is home to most of Highhelm’s “fire-aligned individuals” (as referred to in the census). Fire elementals, salamanders, scamps, and even a small number of ifrits live in the stone apartments and townhouses that make up Burntown. Stores also fill this little neighbourhood, partially for convenience but also to provide goods from the Fire Plane that wouldn’t be stocked, or appreciated, by the rest of King’s Heart. Most others tend not to wander into Burntown, unable to take the heat, and its locals don’t have much reason to leave it often, resulting in its reputation as an insular community that keeps away from the wider King’s Heart. This reputation isn’t entirely inaccurate, but it’s also not entirely accurate either.The Copper Anvil
The Copper Anvil is the oldest tavern in Highhelm, an ancient pillar that stands beneath even the very foundations of society in King’s Heart. It’s said that if the Anvil were ever to fail, it would be a sign of the end times. Sanra Copperstone, the Anvil’s owner and chef, will laugh these notions off, but there’s always a glint in the ancient dwarf’s eye as she replies, “But why risk it?” It’s easily the most popular watering hole for the locals of Obsidian, but despite being packed at almost all hours of the day, it maintains a quiet, calm atmosphere. Sanra has little tolerance for rowdiness or trouble in her establishment, although she’s equally likely to throw a troublemaker out by the ear as she is to pull them aside and ask why they’re acting out.The Endless Reservoir
The importance of the Endless Reservoir to Highhelm simply cannot be overstated. It’s the primary water supply for the entire city. Fed by carefully controlled rifts to the Elemental Plane of Water, this reservoir’s bounty is, as the name suggests, limitless. A complex system of pumps, pipes, sluice gates, and pressure sensors form rudimentary plumbing that distributes the fresh water throughout the mountain and controls its intake from the rifts to prevent flooding. In addition to water, these rifts also frequently deposit extraplanar sea life and more than a few unintelligent elementals, which has led to perhaps the only major fishing community in any underground dwarven city.Ferrixion Botanical Gardens
The simple fact about plants is that they require sunlight to grow, which is why most newcomers to King’s Heart are confused on arrival at Ferrixion Botanical Gardens. A sprawling ode to nature, the park is filled with plant life that looks incredibly out of place in a sunless cave but nevertheless thrives. There’s no primal magic maintaining these plants save the basic enchantments that you might find at any garden. The story of the Ferrixion Botanical Gardens goes back to 4412 AR, when Willard Ferrixion, a gnome, moved to King’s Heart with a wagon full of seedlings and a dream. He purchased a large plot of land in Crystalborough, a scandalous move at the time, and used it to plant an extensive collection of sunless flora and fungi. The gardens introduced King’s Heart to the resilient fungal grass sharo, trees and bushes that feed on charcoal instead of sunlight, flowers that thrive on heat, meat, and even a single beam of moonlight donated through a complex series of tiny mirrors by the nearby Lunar Grotto. These and dozens of other forms of plant life thrive in the darkness of King’s Heart, and have become iconic to worshippers of the Nine, druids, and Rivethun shamans alike. Willard offers entry to the gardens free of charge, though he does accept donations of gold and potential new entries to the gardens from any patrons. It’s become a popular place for first dates, birthdays, weddings, and wakes, as well as just wandering around on a break to unwind in the middle of a hard workday.Forge of the Nine
The Forge of the Nine is the largest temple in Highhelm. It resembles a ship’s wheel from above, with nine spokes branching off of a central congregation chamber. Each spoke is dedicated to one of the nine most commonly worshipped gods in the dwarven pantheon, including Torag and his eight best-known immediate family members. Each spoke is overseen by a high priest, who together compose a powerful religious council called the Nine‑Eyed Hammer. Considering the complicated, often fiery relationships between the dwarven gods themselves, it’s perhaps unsurprising that the Nine-Eyed Hammer is one of Highhelm’s least cohesive factions. The one thing the high priests always manage to agree on, at least, is a mutual distrust of anyone who venerates the evil outcast of the dwarven pantheon, Droskar, referred to in the church as the Tenth Spoke.Iron Lagoon
Heat is the norm in King’s Heart, but it only goes up the deeper you venture into Ironwell, and at its heart, the Iron Lagoon burns like a furnace. The Lagoon is a densely packed stone villa that plays host to the vast majority of the city’s forges and blacksmithing workshops, all built on top of a rift to the Elemental Plane of Fire. A machine beneath the surface of the Lagoon pumps fire and heat in its purest form to every building within, as well as to those throughout the city willing to pay for getting connected to the heat supply (steadily costing more the further away one lives). All this is managed by Flamemaster Mazeri Darn, one of the first elemental immigrants to the city and master of the Iron Lagoon. Between the intense heat and constant deluge of hammers striking metal, few are willing to visit here often. Even the dwarves who work in the Iron Lagoon, their bodies adapted to the intense, muggy heat, are always eager to leave by the end of a workday, leaving only those most inured to the heat working through the night.Irongrade Steelworks
Millennia ago this massive building was carved into the very walls of King’s Heart to serve as the workshop of Bruto Molgrade and Senathyn Ironfist, the founders of their respective clans. After their deaths, rather than fight for ownership, their two clans donated the building to the Metalmaker’s Union, and it now serves as their base of operations. The regular administration overseeing every smith, smelter, and mining cooperative in Highhelm happens right here. Petitioners to the union are often invited here to speak directly to Boss Finedad Molgrade about their needs, as well as outside contractors hired to take care of the union’s problems. In addition to being an administrative centre, the Steelworks also offers its workspaces to any union member in need of them. Dozens of forges and smelters are available for very affordable rent, though they’re often booked weeks in advance. An entire division of the building has also been set aside for metallurgical research under the watchful eye of head metallurgist Liol Breakiron.The Longhall
Second only to the Forge of the Nine as one of Crystalborough’s most prominent structures, this building serves double duty as both the centre of local governance in King’s Heart and the neutral ground upon which almost all major inter‑clan dealings occur. Dozens of bureaucrats pour in from Obsidian and Goldgate every morning to perform the d riveting duties of approving building permits, conducting tax audits, and reviewing inspection reports. Though the Longhall has a reputation as a home for “washouts” who couldn’t make it in a proper trade, and most either scoff or express sympathy at those resigned to the drudgery, the fine people working at the Longhall couldn’t disagree more; there’s power that comes from the pen, and the pay isn’t bad either. The smooth inner workings of dwarven bureaucracy are only rarely disturbed by heated arguments and debate. The clans only meet here for the most serious issues, and thanks to the skilled assistance of Oliban Proslin, the Longhall’s chief arbitrator, those discussions rarely get out of hand.Lunar Grotto
There is only one place in King’s Heart that ever sees the light of the sky. At the end of a long tunnel leading down and away from Crystalborough, a small grotto surrounds a tiny natural spring, almost not noteworthy save for the carved runes and painted murals on the walls and the beautiful, well‑polished gemstone mirrors positioned in seemingly random places. When day turns to night, though, the Lunar Grotto becomes something entirely different. Moonlight pours in from dozens of small tunnels bored into the ceiling, pure solitary beams that strike the gemstone mirrors and reflect and refract until they bathe the entire grotto in moonlight. It’s unclear where this moonlight comes from. All attempts to find the origin of the tunnels on the surface have proven fruitless, even with divination magic. The question is further perplexing as sunlight never makes its way into the grotto. Some have questioned if it’s even real moonlight or merely an enchantment to simulate it, but these questions are easily countered by the Order of the Moon’s Light, the druidic circle who lives in and cares for the grotto, and its leader, Wilora Ironclaw. Not many can argue with her or the handful of other lycanthropes in the order about the nature of the moon. Extensive care has made the Lunar Grotto a safe place for afflicted lycanthropes, as the enchanted runes on the walls allow them to retain control during their transformations and help them learn to control the beast on their own.Molgrade Hall
The oldest and largest clan hall in Goldgate, Molgrade Hall is a testament to the importance of Clan Molgrade to this community. It was built in the earliest days of King’s Heart by Bruto Molgrade, a statement that despite the prominence of his clan as one of the original Goldhilts, they wouldn’t hold themselves above the common smiths they worked alongside. This statement was somewhat undercut by the rush of other Goldhilt and prominent Steelhilt clans to King’s Heart to buy up the land around him, but it was at least inspiring at the time.Orerote Tower
A plain stone tower lies in the middle of the Tunnels, the second tallest building in King’s Heart. It’s from this tower that Commander Lawrish Stonefist commands the defensive forces of King’s Heart. Orerote Tower is the centre of all military action in Highhelm’s middle layer, though with no threat from the outside, it’s primarily used to coordinate the guard force known as the Heart’s Watch. Nevertheless, Commander Stonefist and his adoptive cousin, First Lieutenant Analise Amberheart, take their jobs very seriously.The Silver Stalls
Ironwell’s streets don’t hurt for storefronts by any means, but there are many more crafters than commercial space. This is where the Silver Stalls come in. They’re an open-air marketplace where anyone can bring their wares to sell, often at a discount compared to more settled merchants. The numerous rows of stalls, some permanent fixtures and other put up and taken down by renters on a day-to-day basis, offer everything from weapons and alchemy to cookware and cleaning supplies, and nothing is in the same place two days in a row. Metal products have been dwindling lately due to shortages, unfortunately, but that’s led to a boom in textiles and art pieces.Stonefist Hall
At first glance, Stonefist Hall might look more like a fortress than a clan hall, and that’s because it is. The hall is the largest compound in Obsidian, its borders marked by ten-foot stone walls, steel gates, and armed security at each of those gates. Inside, the marked paths are the only safe place to walk; stepping off of them risks triggering the hall’s myriad defences, from traps to alarms to trained guard beasts. At the centre of the property, a thick, squat building stands ready to take in those who need shelter. Stonefist Hall was built as an emergency shelter first and a clan hall second. Inside the main building are wide, spacious rooms that can shelter hundreds of dwarves in the event of an invasion. One level beneath that, storerooms are filled with stockpiles of water, nonperishable food and medical supplies. And once you go deeper, then you reach the real clanhall. Settled deep below ground, roughly between King’s Heart and Stonebreach, the War Rooms of Stonefist Hall serve as training grounds, military base, and residences for most of the families living in the Hall. The training facilities are some of the most advanced in the world, utilizing magic to simulate any kind of environment or enemies that a soldier might encounter. Secret tunnels lead down into various key strategic points in Stonebreach allowing for a quick deployment in the event of a ground invasion. While anyone is welcome into the top-level building, where Clanleader Usturr Stonefist makes himself available, the lower levels are strictly off limits to anyone not of Clan Stonefist.Natural Resources
Local Flora
Despite being underground, nature flourishes in King’s Heart in part thanks the efforts of the local druidic community and Clan Gelderon’s expertise. Most shocking to outsiders is the lawns of Obsidian and grounds of the Ferrixion Botanical Gardens, which seem to be filled with healthy, vibrant blue grass. This is in fact sharo, a form of fungus that uncannily mimics grass in appearance, texture, and resilience. Meanwhile, the sweltering heat of Ironwell allows for the growth of beautiful orange flowers called firelights, which don’t need sunlight as long as they’re kept constantly warm. They can be found everywhere in the district as well as many homes close enough to benefit from the permanent heat. Vegetable farming also thrives surprisingly well on larger properties, as the popular root vegetable wormbait grows well down here. Its pungent smell draws burrowing bugs to it, which it consumes for nourishment. Despite the odour, wormbait is notably delicious and a staple of the Highhelm diet.Local Fauna
As a mostly artificial cavern, King’s Heart doesn’t boast much fauna aside from the usual bats, insects, and beasts of burden that pass through. The Endless Reservoir is the native home of many fish including a species called crystal bass. While wild fishing is regulated, fried crystal bass is a popular enough dish that they’re heavily farmed for consumption. The other notable exception is the pyre ferret, a small, skinny animal native to the Plane of Fire. Several squeezed through the rift when Iron Lagoon was formed, along with the local salamander population, and began breeding without a care. They’re now a common sight in the city. Wild pyre ferrets, while not hostile, are prone to spontaneous ignition, making them somewhat dangerous to interact with. Enterprising animal breeders have created a domesticated form whose flames can’t burn or spread. A pet pyre ferret can be purchased for 12 gp.
Inhabitant Demonym
Hearty
Location under
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