Dwarven city-state.
In the middle of an inhospitable badlands, deep within Rem, a great mesa stands alone. Its jagged lowlands form a shallow cone, and from that cone a flat-topped cylinder of rock juts up, eight miles wide and a mile high. This is Oros-Kain—Iron Mountain.
All dwarves on Irra nominally owe fealty to the distant King-at-Stoneheart. But in practice, the Oresh1 are—even now, all these many centuries after the planetary unification of the dwarven people—effectively independent. The Thane of Iron Mountain rules the Oresh, who, of all the former dwarven nation-states, are—in their beliefs and practices—the most distinct from the dominant, “mainstream” culture of the dwarves.
Formally, Iron Mountain belongs to Rem. This, however, is a political fiction, which the Oresh, out of benevolent consideration for their human friends—with their fragile egos—allow to stand publicly unchallenged. In fact the humans of Rem and the dwarves of Oros-Kain have always had warm, close relations, based on centuries of mutual trade and cultural exchange; no Remulite Chancellor would ever think to challenge the dwarves’ de facto ownership of Iron Mountain and the surrounding badlands. The trade partnership between Rem and Oros-Kain benefits both peoples; the Remulite system of education is inspired, in part, by the Oresh tradition of apprenticeship; Oresh engineers, architects, and craftsmen are in high demand in Rem, and Remulite scholars and entertainers alike are much valued in Iron Mountain. In every way, the relationship between Oros-Kain and the Kingdom of Rem is a symbiotic one.2
In millennia past, when the human race was in its infancy, a greater quantity of iron ore lay within Oros-Kain than was together contained in every other mine ever to be discovered on the continent. There is an old Remulite legend, that humanity was given the gift of iron by the first Thane of Iron Mountain. The story is likely apocryphal, and the Oresh themselves disclaim it; but it cannot be denied that at the height of the Celdic Empire’s power, proximity to Oros-Kain made Rem a strategically valuable territory.3 Today, the iron that remains within the stone of Oros-Kain is mostly too deep, or embedded within load-bearing rock formations, to mine, but Iron Mountain remains a wealthy city, having parlayed its once-vast natural resources into the foundations of a prosperous, robust, and very stable society.
The polity of Oros-Kain is not a monarchy, nor a democracy, nor any other form of government familiar to humans4; and the Thane is not a king. The position is not hereditary; the Thane of Iron Mountain is chosen by majority vote of all the Oresh clan matriarchs—and once chosen, rules for life. He issues no laws, but enforces them; he is the spiritual leader of his people, and their highest judge; and he leads them also in defense and, should the need arise, in war. The Thane need not be celibate, and may have children, though by law he cannot marry—and thus can pass no property on to his offspring5—and he disclaims all clan allegiance when he assumes the title. He serves all of Oros-Kain, and all the Oresh people are his charges. He is attended by his personal guard, his loyal shield-maidens—warrior-women, each sent by one of the clans, to serve the Thane, and to advise him.6
The elements of earth and fire and order/force have great power in Iron Mountain, as it is aligned along the axes of the old shamanistic practices, which descend from the first Oresh matriarchs.7 Air, water, and chaos/shadow/void are nearly powerless in Oros-Kain.8 For these reasons also, and because millennia of mighty enchantments, from great rulers and great visitors (including servants of the gods), lie on Iron Mountain—as well as the effect of an unbroken line of the Oresh, living there and weaving their everyday magic into the place—it is nearly impervious to attack of any sort. The land it stands on is unshakable granite, bedrock miles down; and tectonically stable, as well. Against violent assault, whether magical or martial, Iron Mountain is one of the most secure places in the world.
Yet for all that, Oros-Kain is not a fortress, nor a military outpost; it is a city—a living city which teems with ordinary people, who live and work there, who come and go daily, by the millions. Most, of course, are dwarves, though humans are a common sight on Oros-Kain’s avenues; a few live here, while many more come to trade, to learn, or simply as tourists. Besides the mesa proper, the habitations of the Oresh extend below-ground, with the deepest outposts lying miles beneath the earth; and closer to the surface, there are outlying boroughs, “suburbs”, that sprawl for many tens of miles into the badlands. All told, the subjects of the Thane of Iron Mountain number over fifty million souls.
1 In the Oresh’a dialect of the dwarven language, the word “oresh” means “people of the mountain”. The Oresh call other dwarves “akaresh”—“people in the mountain”—a slightly derogatory term, as it has the connotation that all dwarves but the Oresh are not truly “of” the mountains in which they dwell, but only occupy them. To the Oresh, this is an insult; to other dwarves, it’s nothing but another bit of Oresh cultural eccentricity. ⇑
2 The Oresh were the first to recognize Rem’s independence, after the revolution that rid the Remulites of Celdic rule. The dwarves have long memories; and they never forgot Aramu’s Ruin (see next footnote), and the fact that to the Empire their home was nothing but a prize, to be stripped of value and discarded. The Remulites, for their part, took the offered hand gladly, and the two peoples have lived harmoniously side-by-side ever since. ⇑
3 The Celdic Emperors looked on Iron Mountain with greed in their hearts—though only one was ever fool enough to try to take it by force. He led the invasion himself, mistrusting his marshals, who urged prudence; and even today, a traveler, approaching Oros-Kain from the southeast, will pass his tomb. “Aramu Ruin-Caller” reads the inscription on the granite plate which marks that ruler’s resting-place, and he lies there alone, as all the men he led into that ruinous battle perished, consumed by fire in the mountain’s heart. ⇑
4 Except, perhaps, that in a distant way it resembles the practices of certain tribes of nomads who dwell in the desert of Yerak-Yer and beyond; though Iron Mountain is to such primitive societies as a lord’s castle is to a hut with mud-brick walls. ⇑
5 Among the dwarves—and here the Oresh are no different—inheritance goes from mother to son; a dwarven man cannot pass property to his children (nor can a dwarven woman receive her mother’s wealth). Were the Thane able to marry, he could (through his wife) pass on his wealth, and this would give him cause to enrich himself, and thus abuse the title’s power. For this reason, also, the Thane can be a man only, despite that in daily life the Oresh put little stock in restrictions by gender. ⇑
6 When the clan matriarchs of a past era chose the first Thane, to rule over them all, they did so in an effort to end the self-destructive cycle of clan warfare which had wracked Oresh society for countless generations. To secure the bond between them, and to bind the Thane to the clans as well, each matriarch sent one of her daughters (or granddaughters, or nieces) to his service—ostensibly to protect and advise, but also to represent the clan’s interests. It was additionally hoped that, having served for some years, the young woman would return to her clan, but retain a bond of friendship with her fellow shield-maidens, which would be one more bulwark against a reawakening of clannish violence. Today, that purpose is only a memory, as many centuries have passed without any clan of the Oresh making war against another, but the political connections forged in service to the Thane remain valuable, and being chosen as a shield-maiden is a great honor, and the dream of many Oresh girls of noble blood. Then, too, there is the fact that not a few shield-maidens later go on to be matriarchs of their clans. ⇑
7 Such practices have fallen out of favor in most other dwarven nations, except in the form of household magic; for this reason, among others, Iron Mountain is considered to be rather uncivilized by other dwarves. ⇑
8 One of the effects of this is that one cannot enter the mesa by wind walk or shadow walk; and anyone associated with these elements feels uncomfortable here, and anyone with powers along those lines finds them hard to use. ⇑