Túúr
Thrahnsdør, overlooking the city of Highlodge.
by Illus. Alan Lee and John Howe
Túúr is the general name of a massive subterranean complex of dwarven cities, mines and surface outposts in the Delta Quadrant of Waking Materia. It lies primarily under the continent of Valamon, connected to Túúr via the gate-city Reíkh-Nokh-Hrínth ("Bright Terminus One", usually just called Hrínth).
Túúr is one of the largest civilizations on Materia and second-largest dwarven civilization after Nibelheim. It has a population of nearly 700,000 heads, the vast majority of which are dwarves. There are also small populations of Meranthic humans, drow and demons of the Near Umbra. Residents speak a language called Túúrian, a dialect of Vestige Tongue (Old Dwarven).
Outpost cities in the metropolis connect partly via tunnel and partly via Duskscape pathways where the Veil separating the Waking and Umbral worlds fades to nothing (a more common phenomenon in the Cthons). Some of these Umbral paths are claimed and defended by the Waking Túúrians, while others involve agreements with their demonic landlords.Description
See also: Túúr & Hrínth Image Gallery (External)Túúrian architecture can be described as brutalist with a fondness for carved stelae and murals. Túúrian architects like to retain the "character" of the surrounding rock, resulting in a wide range of local styles depending on local geology and how its "character" is interpreted.
Geography
Culture
The dwarves of Túúr maintain a very chilly relationship with the surface cultures above their homes, traditionally imposing strict taxation on surfacer settlements in their "bright" territories and quick to war with those who break their sometimes complex laws around poaching, tresspassing, and the like. That said, they've taken pity on the surfacers who survived The Deluge and have permitted substantial regrowth of human-elven civilization in the lowlands of Valamon, east of the gate-city of Hrínth.
Outside the gate-city sprawls the primarily-human settlement of Highlodge (see profile art). It is one of the few places on the continent where Selvaalans (lowlanders generally associated with Valamon City) and Norvaalans (Kalevan Freemen) coexist in peace; those who break this peace can expect harsh punishment from Highlodge's dwarven landlords.
Only the most well-respected of Valamonian traders and diplomats are permitted beyond Túúr's gate-cities: they return speaking of fantasic brutalist architecture and surprisingly edible food, but of sometimes marathon-long religious and governmental ceremonies. Dwarves are fond of boasting and see no faux-pas in lecturing surfacers on their superior ways. Though their tone is harsh, they are a poetic people, careful & exact in speech; they grow irritated easily with those who speak in vague or meandering ways. Debate is one of their most popular pastimes.
A Túúrian sanctum guard.
History
The history of Túúr is a well-guarded secret. Valamonian bards and scholars have, at least, kept its surface relations recorded in great detail. Many tales are told of the Túúrians aiding Valamon City in the bizarre and destructive Näckros War, where they fought off a sudden and inexplicable onslaught from a previously unknown and deeply alien mer-people.
It nonetheless stands to reason the Túúrians are descended from the original Wanderers of Nod, the extradimensional diaspora that initially colonized Nibelheim via the Near Umbra; all other dwarven lineages on Materia are known to have branched from the Nibelheimers.
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