Vanderholl

Clan Vanderholl is sometimes underappreciated by outsiders, because its identity is more diffuse and less obviously specialized than that of most other clans. However, the truth is, Highhelm could not function without this Ironhilt clan. Its members dedicate themselves to doing the unglamorous, necessary tasks of everyday life. They work with their hands: hauling rubbish, refilling mine lamps, sweeping the streets, chopping vegetables, feeding draft animals. They are orderlies and assistants, muleteers and lizard wranglers. They clean hides, process grindlegrubs, haul water, and bring food to the elderly and bedridden. They also contribute to the likes of construction, mining, stonemasonry, and other worthy trades. Although several clans share in these tasks, thus the need for guilds, Clan Vanderholl always seems to send the greatest number of workers—workers who tend to push themselves harder and provide more than their fair share of labour.   Dwarves of Clan Vanderholl see each other everywhere, toiling diligently in every corner of the kingdom, and it gives them a sense of profound kinship and ownership of Highhelm. This is their city, in a way that no other clan can claim, and they know its unseen life and secret ways with an intimacy that no one else shares.   Clan Vanderholl does not have a uniform appearance, as members dress to suit their tasks and can seldom indulge in impractical fashions on the job. They tend toward durable, easily cleaned clothes accompanied by the tools necessary for their work. Hair and beards are kept tidy and out of the way. Clan members minimize non-essential ornamentation in day-to-day life, as their work is often messy and dangerous.   However, when they’re off duty and out on the town, Vanderholl dwarves can be the loudest and flashiest dressers in sight, and it’s common for them to be given free drinks and other tokens of appreciation from dwarves who rely on their hard work every day. “Work hard and play hard” is an unofficial secondary clan motto.   The members of Clan Vanderholl may at times go unnoticed in their roles as cleaners, haulers, and manual labourers, but their legendary after-hours bon vivant is reflected in Vanderhall, their sprawling and lively clan hall, located in Etcherie district in Stonebreach. Vanderhall was once a single building, but the clan acquired several surrounding structures over the years and connected them with a series of stone paths, which are often filled with clan members late into the night. Clan members are encouraged to leave the worries and weariness of the day behind when passing through any of Vanderhall’s many doors, and complaints are generally confined to quick whispers on these open-air pathways.   Each of the connected structures has a purpose, from a brew hall that serves free drinks made by hobby brewers to any whose stomachs are up to the challenge (and has only resulted in one proven death in its years-long existence) to the storeroom where archivist Bennik Vanderholl keeps his extensive records on influential Highhelm residents.   Clanleader Jarrus Vanderholl is among the youngest clan leaders. Despite a brazen and flippant attitude, there’s no dwarf the workers in Clan Vanderholl trust more to advocate for their rights and recognition. Jarrus is uncompromising on safety matters and demands more from his people than what the law mandates; given that he lost an arm saving his team from an accident when he led a labour crew, clan members are both understanding and supportive of his regulations. Unlike more conventional clanleaders, Jarrus prefers to be casual, inviting visitors into his home to discuss work matters over dinner with him and his husband.