Solania

The sky of Solania glows with a burnished silver light, its firmament casting a pure radiance over valleys where morning mists drift and settle, heavy with the mingled scents of incense, fresh metal, and mountain herbs. From these fog-veiled hollows rise the smooth shoulders of the Electrum Range, their gleaming shelves climbing steadily toward the higher heavens, while sheer cliff-faces bear shrines, stairways, and solemn bell-arches. Beneath these peaks lies the vast network of the Under-Ways, a labyrinth of sanctified caverns and carved causeways, partly natural, partly the work of divine hands, hat deepen and broaden into the immeasurable Halls of Dwarfhome.   In Solania’s hidden places, warm mineral springs known as the Fog-wine rise, their waters clearing the haze of the mind, though those who drink too deeply find themselves truth-drunk, spilling every secret with disarming honesty. Along the mountainsides run the Bell-veins, glittering threads of ore that thrum with sound whenever a watchpost falters in its vigilance, ringing out a silent summons to duty. Deep in the quarries lie the Quiet Lodes, seams of stone that hum softly beneath the chisel, and when miners strike in time with a work-song, their tools never slip and their craft becomes flawless.  

City and site scaling

Cathedral-schools: 2,000–12,000 residents; lecture cloisters, scriptoriums, reliquaries.

Monasteries: dozens to a few hundred; rule-gardens, bell-towers, guest quads.

Wayforts: small terrace keeps at passes with hostels and signal-yards.

Deep cities of Dwarfhome: rift-metropolises from 10,000–80,000 souls, clustered around forges, mines, and artisan halls.

 

Notable Locations

First Monastery of the Planes-Militant

A high-plateau cloister where paladins learn measured force, ending drills with acts of service. The Lion’s Arcade honors She’eros' knights; visiting paladins leave their scabbards peace-bound on the gate-pegs until the Weighing.  

Cathedral of Seven Tools

A ridge-church whose nave vaults are set with the icons of Work: Hammer (steadfastness), Chisel (precision), Trowel (repair), Loom (patience), Quill (truth), Lantern (clarity), Measure (fairness). Pilgrims choose one for a season.  

The Mist Cloisters

Gardens in fog chambers where speech is limited to bells and hand-signs; disputes brought here condense into a single sentence both sides must acknowledge before any ruling.  

Bell of the Long Watch

A free-standing tower on a wind-shoulder; its tone can be heard in Jovar on clear days. The bell only rings for service unasked—carry a stranger’s pack, and you might hear it once, just for you.  

The Star Quarry

An open-sky mine whose rock shines like captured moonlight. Archon masons cut star-stone for bridges and truce circles across the Heavens; each block keeps a memory of the hands that set it.  

Governance

Pistis Sophia rules by walking and teaching; her edicts are short, carved in electrum plaques at wayforts. Throne archons keep the law; dwarven thanes govern underground under the Forge Charter. Appeals on matters of conscience go to the Quiet Court, where silence weighs heavier than rhetoric.  

Travel and Access

Gates favor wayforts, cathedral porches, stair-lanes, and forge-mouths. The Under-Road of Dwarfhome hosts portals to other Morndinsamman realms; oath-arches open fastest for those bearing service-chits (proof of completed public works). Bell-roads can lengthen for relief caravans or contract to move the wounded swiftly.  

Inhabitants

Archons (hound, warden, throne) serve as wardens, judges, and instructors; Angels guide novices and patrol passes. Dwarf petitioners labor, carve, and learn; mortal pilgrims, paladins, monks, artisans, and scholars, take seasonal vows. Relations with other layers are steady: Mishdor's hospitalers keep hospices in the high passes, She’eros’ captains drill at the First Monastery, and messengers from Jovar audit truce circles and weights.

Duty Resonance

Tasks freely undertaken finish one watch sooner; tasks dodged take one watch longer.  

Tool-Grace

Tools wielded for communal good resist breaking; a lying tongue feels like a dull chisel—words catch and splinter.