Tangled Hollow
Scute 12 of The Tortoise
Scute 12 of The Tortoise, commonly known as Tangled Hollow, is home to the city's working class. A dense maze of workshops, markets, and homes stacked on top of one another, it is the most crowded district in the moving dwarven city.
Whenever I'm on The Tortoise, you can be sure to find me in the Hollow. They have the best pork & mushroom pies and the strongest psychic beer in the Zone. I've got more in common with the workers and guard dwarves than we do with the rich folk in either of our slices. And the lack of black-clad grags? Just a bonus!
If my axe needs sharpening or I'm looking for something extra special, the Hollow's smiths and artificers are the best in the Tortoise. No overpriced engraved nonsense, just good steel expertly crafted.
When The Tortoise was first put on wheels, its workers were given the empty hollow of Scute 12 as their living quarters, right next to the so-called "Gate of Prosperity," better known as the Cloaca. The stench of the hexworm corrals and the industrial runoff from the adjacent Scute 13 made the area undesirable to the city's elite. The haughty grags avoid it entirely, considering it beneath their dignity.
Like the scutes of a real tortoise's shell, the city was laid out to follow an organic yet structured plan. The grags, who enforce regulations elsewhere, avoid the Hollow leaving it free from official oversight. As a result, the residents constantly rebuild, expand, and repurpose every available space.
No one would've built the Hollow on purpose but it naturally does what few planned structures ever do. It adapts and flows according to the needs of its residents. No room is rigidly set and every part of it has been repurposed over the decades. The Hollow fulfills all our needs and we feel like it loves us back... as long as you keep a sharp axe on you at all times.
Shanties & Gardens
Residents have built homes in every available space of the Hollow with shared kitchens and bathhouses layered in wherever they fit. The district rises straight up from the gears, corrals, and slaughterhouses below until it reaches the skylights above.
Dwarves value homes deep in the tenements, away from the sun. The richer lower-caste dwarves claim these shadowed interiors, while the poor and non-dwarves live higher up, in the bright sunlight.
Halfling scouts, kappa warriors, and gnomish alchemists live next to their dwarvish allies and are happy to take quarters in the light.
Above the streets, rooftop farms and fungus gardens provide food and medicine. Giant crows and their smaller kin roost throughout The Tortoise, filling the air with caws. These green spaces offer a respite from the chaos below.
The Market Warrens
Space is limited on The Tortoise, so buildings, homes, and entire markets were stacked directly on top of the workshops and corrals. Recycled materials, scavenged Manifest debris, and salvaged wreckage from other worlds form the bones of the district.
Above the industrial floors, smiths and artificers ply their trades, while manufacturers and weavers produce goods just above them. Between the workshops below and homes above, the Hollow's narrow corridors overflow with the scent of sizzling meat and mushrooms, the clang of hammers, and the barking of bargaining voices.
Vendors and scavengers sell exotic scrap, enchanted trinkets, and black-market goods if you know where to look. Schools, shrines, and hidden meeting halls nestle into the warren, blending in with the ever-shifting maze of commerce.
Gears & Worms
At the Hollow's lowest levels, foundries, workshops, and Hexworm Corrals sit right above the massive gears and engines driving The Tortoise's clockwise tread. The city's steel-plated foundation, the plastron, serves as a base for these early structures, built for industry, not comfort.
Here, artificers, tinkers, and salvagers work with unstable magitech, repurposed war machines, and used soulforged prosthetics. The workshops are shielded, usually enough to protect those living above them.
Hexworm frass collectors sift through worm shit looking for hex crystal shards and any other valuables before the frass is ejected. Rumors persist of hidden smuggler tunnels buried beneath the piles of frass.
Winner of Marchitecture 2025!
Entry for Marchitecture 2025
Maps
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The Tortoise Cross-Section
A cross-section and slice of life in Tangled Hollow, Scute 12 of The Tortoise.
I love this and how its put together! Its so enchanting and well the art makes me so happy!
Thank you! Drawing all those scenes by hand was a madman's task. Luckily, I was mad enough to go for it. It was actually very satisfying to just doodle for 4-5 days!
Learn about the World of Wizard's Peak.