Truehold

Gripped by the frozen grasp of the Curse of Ice life exists in a thin equatorial band of valleys beyond which are endless glacial plains. Home to the Dwarves and Giants, life is harsh but through community they persevere and thrive. But that sense of community has been twisted and reshaped into an age of tyranny that has swallowed the Sphere.

Regions

Border Mountains

Home to the Dwarves, each mountain is a nation state, or Hold, unto itself.

Deepmines

Carved into the heart of the mountains, the Deepmines are the source of ore that the Midholds and Surface Villages rely on. They are drivers of the Dwarven economies and as such are held up as the heart of the True Dwarf movement.

Midholds

The majority of Dwarves live in the Midholds which are the political and manufacturing centers of Mountain Holds.

Surface Villages

Necessary to support the hold with food, peat, and wood is cultivated in the Surface Villages.

Gerrim Valley

Bordered by two inland seas, the valley runs parallel to the equatorial band. Dotted with lakes. Home to the Giants and megafauna that survive in the valley.

Glacial Plains

Dominating the rest of the Sphere, the Golden Path to Thousand Seas is in the northern Glacial Plain.

History

Founding the First Hold

Survivors of the Godswar found their way to the Gerrim Valley. The Giants and Dwarves — originally on opposite sides of the Godswar — formed an unofficial detente as they were both exhausted by war. The Dwarves kept to the mountainsides to avoid the giants on the valley floor.

Discovering a series of natural caves rich with ore the first Stonekenners discovered the first Volklith. It's spiritual powers were soon discovered and the first Stonekenners were raised to Saints. Family units crafted their own Volklith to protect the souls of their Ancestors. Those not tied to a Volk with a Volklith, became a underclass as they didn't have the support or access to the resources of their extended family.

As well, the various trades began to self organize outside the extended family unit. Social hierarchies began to be formed within the early trade unions. Eventually they became political units that the settlements became organized around.

Dwarven Expansion

With the volkliths, and the rising of the mining based economy, the Dwarves expanded outwards along the valley walls. New Holds were founded every century or so as a Hold's population expanded. Supporting these settlements with the limited agriculture of the Surface Villages created an population upper limit.

The Giant Wars

As the Surface Villages expanded downhill, they came in conflict with the Giants of the Valley. Because the Giants were not unified, the conflicts were limited to extended family groups versus their neighboring Holds. Eventually, the Dwarves and Giants were able to forge treaties to allow Dwarven expansion into the lower altitudes in exchanged for manufactured goods.

The Hold Wars

As the valley floor began to open up and Surface Villages expanded, the Holds began to compete over valley territory. The Surface Villages became the battleground on which the holds fought. Between Hold conflicts and raids by Giants, the Surface Villagers incorporated military training in their daily lives. All adults were trained and regularly drilled to fight together.

Rise of the Volkstahl

After the wars the new Volkstahl philosophy began to take hold in the Midholds. It sought to separate Dwarven society into social classifications. While they held up the miners of the Deepmines as the ideal for Dwarven society, the Dwarves of the Deepmines tended to ignore the Volkstahl. But they were able to successfully "rank" the Volks based on how "True Dwarf" or "Degenerate" the unions they participated in were. But other than creating new political blocs in the Hold Councils, they had very little effect on Dwarven society.

Discovering the Golden Path

Ignored by the Giants as they could barely fit into the Golden Path to Nexus, they no use for it. As it was low in the valley, the Dwarves didn't have access to it. This changed when the Duranti Explorers came through. Initially trade was limited as the Giants had little resources that Nexus wanted. That changed when the explorers encountered the Dwarves. Suddenly new markets opened up for Dwarven goods as demand exploded. As well, Dwarven desire for exotic Nexus goods grew to match it.

As the Nexus trade expanded, the union structure that controlled production and trade was undermined by traders willing to deal outside the system. New imported staple foods displaced traditional cultivation. And new philosophies began to effect the politics of the holds leading to charismatic individuals attempting to become rulers of their Hold in contravention of societal norms.

Forming the Truehold

In the face of these rapid changes, the Volkstahl grew in popular support. The incompatibility between Nexus trade and the call to return to "tradition" created conflicts between the Unions and the Holds. After a series of wars with ambitious Dwarven "Kings" the Volkstahl was able to seize control of certain Holds. With the Volkstahl Holds acting together they were able to dethrone the Dwarven Kings and take control of more holds. This expansion occurred under the banner of forming the Truehold, a unified government that led the Dwarves under the Volkstahl's "True Dwarf" philosophy.

As the Volkstahl took control they began to stratify Dwarven society further. Unions membership hereditary based on a Dwarf's Volk, not their aptitude. With the ranking of the Unions they were able to create a hierarchy where "Degenerate" Unions — specifically those of the Surface Villages — were isolated and locked out of power.

The Truehold Purges

Unwilling to execute their political opponents while gaining power, those who stood in the way of the Volkstahl's rise were arrested and sentenced to Proscription on the Ice where the elements would do the killing for them. During these purges, the Golden Path to Thousand Seas was discovered by the banished. Soon after the banished created an organization to rescue those Proscribed to the Ice. They would eventually become the Dwarven Iconoclasts.

Apportioning of the Volkliths

To break the power of the Volks the Volkstahl created the tradition of carving up the Volkliths into regimented interlocking bricks to be carried by the Stahlrupen into battle. While the Volks retained some of their Volklith, the ability to record the history of the Volk was lost.

Dwarven March

Once the Volkstahl had secured the Holds, they required an outside enemy to organize around. It didn't take long to exterminate the Giants or drive them beyond the border seas. Once the Gerrim Valley was secured they needed another enemy to maintain their control.

Focused on their "True Dwarf" ideology, the Truehold turned its sight to Nexus, an expansive territory free of the Curse of Ice and ripe for conquest. From the mountains of the Southern Peninsula on Nexus, a genocidal campaign of conquest began starting the Third Nexus War. For nearly a century the Dwarves inexorable conquest continued, when a group of adventurers, wielding a Godswar artifact, destroyed the Golden Path between Truehold and Nexus, cutting the army off from their manufacturing base. Soon the front lines collapsed and the Dwarves trapped on Nexus fell back to the Southern Peninsula.

Devouring Inwards

Cut off from Nexus and those not "True Dwarf" the Volkstahl turned inwards, carving off groups they considered not "True Dwarf" enough. Proscription to the Ice became a common tool of political control as members of the Volkstahl vied for power and protection from banishment. As the oppression has ramped up, resistance movements grew — some supported by the Dwarven Iconoclasts — to dethrone the Volkstahl."

As the civil wars grew, the Giants, now armed with newly domesticated carnivorous megafauna, they began to retake territory. Without support the Surface Villages are being overrun, and the loss of surface territory is impacting the food, peat, and wood supply of the the Midholds and Deepmines.

Government

Deepmine Stonekenners

In the Deepmines where there are not Unions as all Dwarves mine or support mining. Instead the Stonekenners direct the mining and society while keeping support of the Volk Matriarchs. In the face of an unpopular of tyrannical Stonekenner Overseer, the Volk Matriarchs will withdraw their Volk's labor until the Stonekenner Overseer is replaced.

Overseer's Council

The Midhold and the Surface Villages are ruled by the Overseer's Council. The council is made up of the Overseers of each Union within the settlement. The Stonekenner Overseer serves as a non-voting Arbiter who directs and manages the legislation.

Unions

Each craft is represented by a Union that sets wages, prices of goods, and trades for raw materials. Overseers are elected by their Union's Foremen, typically the oldest Grand Master of the Union. Ostensibly, the Overseer serves to protect the needs of the Union. The Foremen are elected by the Stewards. The Foremen typically group the union members into crews that work together. Those crews will elect a Steward from among them. As one can imagine, the system is prone to gerrymandering.

Usurper Kings

With contact with Nexus the Dwarves were exposed to new ideas, among them "Kingship". Wealthy and charismatic leaders who prospered from Nexus trade would become convinced of their own superiority. These individuals would subvert the democratic process to gain power and take control of a Midhold. Once kingship is achieved, their jealous eyes turns to the wealth of their neighbors.

Volk Matriarchs

The Volk Matriarchs are the leaders of their extended family. Responsible for clothing, feeding, housing, and otherwise supporting their extended family. Depending on the Volk, the selection of the Matriarch is voted on by the Volk's Mothers Council, is passed hereditarily, or a combination of the two. While the Matriarchs don't have political power in the councils that run their settlements, they can direct their family how to vote in the elections and direct the Foremen and Overseers within the Volk to support policies that benefit the Volk.

Religion

Giants

Gods

The Dwarves follow a myriad of Gods. Foremost among them is the Genius Loci of their specific mountain. Most Unions have have their own patron god of the craft. Matriarchs are dedicated to the Goddess of the Hearth.

Pacts

Pacts are rare among Dwarves. They believe all pacts are with a being called the Whispering Dark and are nefarious. Occasionally a desperate enough Dwarf will succumb to the offer of a Pact, but on the whole they are avoided. If they are discovered, the pactmage is killed or in rare events Proscribed to the Ice. Pactborn are virtually unknown and are always Volkless.

Volklith

The center of the Volk, the Volklith is the spiritual center of Dwarven society. As a repository of the souls of the dead, they can be ritually connected to.