Stoneway

The stoneway was a system of mass transit in Khûm and one of the greatest wonders the dwarves ever conceived. Stone carriages followed complex routes deep beneath the earth at fantastical speed, allowing dwarves to cross hundreds of miles in mere minutes. Commissioned by Kavgra the Grand in 626 1A, it would take nearly three centuries to complete and would connect practically every corner of the Hidden Kingdom unlike anywhere else on Ondûn.

Design

The stoneway was a network of interconnecting passages that burrowed beneath Khûm. The tunnels were designed to ferry stone carriages, large enough to carry a hundred passengers at once, through the earth at alarmingly fast speeds. By boarding at terminals scattered across Khûm, dwarves from different regions could reach centralized locations in a matter of hours, no matter how far they needed to travel. It took powerful magic and centuries of labor to design but, when completed, the stoneway could carry a passenger from the Commons in eastern Khûm to Goldenpoint in western Khûm in two hours, rather than two weeks.

History

First Age

The brainchild of Kavgra the Grand, the stoneway was initially commissioned in 626 1A. Frustrated by the refusal of the Peer Congress to fund her expensive Gates of Khûm, she proposed the stoneway – a pipe dream – to allegedly make the Gates seem more reasonable. To her surprise, the kingdom's many masters rubberstamped the proposal and, before she knew what she was getting into, construction on the stoneway was begun.
The logistics would balloon to consume the rest of Kavgra's reign. The planning and resources required were immense, unquestionably the crown's greatest undertaking before or since. Thousands of dwarves worked countless hours to scout the routes, bore the tunnels, construct the supports and test the carriages along the proposed paths. When initially proposed, the stoneway was much smaller – only routes to Truethrone were considered – but as the construction grew more ambitious, additional routes were added.
Production continued into Kavmari Falsesilver's reign. Gelatinous cubes, designed to clean debris from the tunnels, were introduced at her suggestion. Havhed the Hammer expanded the routes in his tenure as well, though he cared little for the day-to-day grind of construction.

Second Age

Finally completed by Havhed's Master of Wonders in 28 2A, all six terminals connected not simply to Truethrone but to their nearest neighbors as well, beginning a blossoming in inter-clan relations. For the first time, dwarves from across the kingdom could trade, meet and exchange ideas without requiring months of dangerous overland travel.
Each of the six outlying terminals – Dezek, Dravya, Hebzal, Ovma, Nulqa and Zelqor – were named for the various architectural overseers that supervised one wing of the stoneway's construction.

Terminals

• Dezek Terminal: Located in the Commons of eastern Khûm, Dezek Terminal was named for Dezek Broadbeam and was constructed to connect three dwarven clans – Brightshard, Deepvein and Ironspring – to the stoneway. Enormous illuminite crystals lit the entrance and guided commuters to the respective carriages.
• Dravya Terminal: On the southern border of the Clatterdowns, Dravya Terminal took its name from a petty dwarven architect and was built to grant Clan Cloudpeak and its vassals access to the stoneway. Trace amounts of wingrock are used to levitate the passenger lifts up and down.
• Ovma Terminal: Named for Ovma Brightshard, this terminal was situated on the slopes of the Krazvadan and featured gushing water features, fed by the many springs that poured from the volcano's sides.

Campaigns

The Menagerie 

• Khûm: Upon arriving in Khûm, the Menagerie was escorted to Dezek Terminal, wher ethey gawped in wonder at the stoneway that carried them, at unbelievable speed, to the threshold of Truethrone (Chapter 2). When sneaking from the dwarven capital with the disguised Dûnya Dragonbane, they made for Ovma Terminal at Krazvadan's foot (Chapter 4). Escaping the Mystriarchy, the Commander's Tent fled back to Ovma and rode north to Dravya Terminal, where they asked some local commuters for directions to Snowperch (Chapter 9).