Dwarven mountain holds controlling mines, vaults, and deep roads. Khazadur measures history in carved stone, settled debt, and the endurance of works built to outlive kingdoms.
The first clans descended beneath Mount Vorn to escape the sky-fire and sealed the First Vault behind them.
Khazadur united during the Deep Road Crusades against creatures rising from the lightless kingdoms below.
The Golden Schism divided the holds over whether coin or crafted labor represented true value.
Three western vaults were abandoned after the Echo Plague caused stone itself to repeat the voices of the dead.
Craft is testimony. Every weapon, arch, meal, and contract is judged by whether its maker would willingly place their name upon it. Family debts can pass through generations, but so can honors and sworn protections.
The High Thane arbitrates between autonomous holds. Major policy is decided by the Stone Moot, where voting weight derives from population, military contribution, and stewardship of the deep roads.
The Forge Ancestors and the Silent Architects
Shield-wall cohorts, heavy crossbows, rune engineers, tunnel fighters, armored rams, and immense gate mechanisms. Khazadur rarely campaigns far from prepared supply lines but is exceptionally difficult to dislodge.
Iron, copper, silver, gems, precision tools, locks, heavy armor, siege equipment, stonework, banking, and secure transport through the deep roads.
A chain of high mountains conceals a second geography below: halls, mines, underground rivers, mushroom forests, ancient roads, collapsed kingdoms, and sealed gates descending beyond mapped depth.
Karag Vorn — capital hold and seat of the Stone Moot
Dun Kharum — greatest forge complex in the known world
Vault Meredin — banking hold and archive of binding contracts
Blackdelve — military hold guarding the lowest active deep road
The Stone Moot
The Guild of Named Hammers
The Deep Road Wardens
The Vaultkeepers
The Company of the Last Lamp
Brannoc First-Delver
Queen Hesta Who Sealed the Dark
Orun Seven-Hammers
The Last Lamp Company, missing for 212 years
Valedorn: major debtor and largest surface trading partner.
Sylvarin: negotiated access to border mines, with frequent sacred-land disputes.
Ashkar: purchases Khazadur steel through intermediaries despite official hostility.
Hammering has been heard behind a gate sealed before recorded history.
A major silver vein has abruptly turned to glass.
The High Thane's succession oath has been challenged.
Deep-road caravans report an unmapped city lit by blue fire.