Kel Kazardad

Kel Kazardad Dwarvish homeland

Climate: Humid Middle Latitude Climates Area: 60900 sq miles Demographics: 88% dwarves, 10% human, 2% other Capital: Kar-Karad

Kel Kazardad is ruled by King Rockfoot VII and has been for the last 75 years. It is a beautiful land with pround and tall mountainous ridges and large lush green valleys. It was the site of a large portion of the war and sections of it still remain under enemy control. It has few settlements above the earth and most of these are human nomads who live in harmony with the dwarves and trade with them on a regular basis.

Kel Kazardad has a wide variety on wild life including some species of dinosaurs, some of which have been tamed by the nomads. A large unusual species of goat lives on the mountains and the dwarves have domesticated them for meat, dairy and labor purposes. In the underground areas of the county the dwarves had a number of strong holds and live harmoniously along side tribes of kobolds who are worshippers of Bahamut. The Kobolds during the war fought underground battles along side the dwarves but never breached the surface as they kobolds are heliophobic.

It has a number of major trade hubs a lot of which are based around dwarfish engineering, their firearms and cannons being sold to armies all over the continent. This is a major source of industrial revolution as the dwarven gunsmiths race to create better more deadly and accurate weapons.  The Law

The law in Kel Kazardad is both simple and complex. The simple part is that the Dwarfs are in control and everyone else in Kel Kazardad is here only with their permission. As long as you pay to get into the city and pay to get out, and pay a tax on anything left over, the Dwarfs are happy. The complicated part is trying to understand the myriad of crossreferenced and circumstance-riddled statutes in the Dwarf legal text known as the Great Book of the Lawgivers.

The most respected and battle tested Dwarfs, known as Stonesouls, are handpicked by the King to enforce the laws in Kel Kazardad. Stonesouls are experienced veterans of many battles and they get their name from their stoic personalities even for dwarves. They are given the title of Lawbringers and are the judge, jury, and executioner when it comes to the law in the land. Their interpretation of the law is final and very few appeals to the King are successful. The slang term for them is “Five-beards,” because they always travel in groups of five. Lawbringers wield two-handed battleaxes and carry two loaded pistols. They wear expertly crafted full plate armour inscribed with the dwarven symbol for law.

Their primary duty is to make certain that legal entrance to the land are patrolled and all applicable taxes and fees are collected. They are also constantly on the lookout for illegal entrances and any contraband they can find that has not been reported and taxed. Anyone found with valuables from the city’s that cannot produce a taxation receipt is subject to immediate imprisonment. It is not uncommon for Lawbringers to stop people in the streets and search them for such contraband.

Finally, the Lawbringers are charged with maintaining order in the streets. They are far more diligent at patrolling within the walls of the capital than they are in Grimsgate, where they are mostly concerned with catching smugglers. There are no formal courts in Kel Kazardad, as the Lawbringers dispense justice quickly and on the spot. When major crimes are committed like murder, a special session of the High Council is convened to hear the case with the Lord of a particular hold as presiding judge if not the king himself. These cases are most often concerned with the death of a Dwarf or crimes against powerful citizens and their families. The Commander of the Lawbringers is responsible for deciding what cases reach this level.

Kel Karad

Kel Karad is a walled capital city built on a bluff overlooking two mountain passes. To the east lies the winding path toward Karak Azul. To the west is the bustling settlement of Grimmsgate and the path toward the Badlands. The great dwarf King Ferron Strongboot built the city using the treasures his people mined from the great mithril vein beneath the bluff in which he slew the great dragon Rornock and as such his clan has been identified by the symbol of a rearing Dragon. To honour him, his descendants incorporated that symbol into the very structure of the city itself.

Dwarf craftsmanship is renowned throughout the Old World, especially when it comes to stone working. The great dwarf King Ferron Strongboot was able to summon the best builders to create the hold Kel Karad. Although the hold and the temple were the first buildings constructed, the Dwarf engineers were confident the community would prosper and grow. The plan for the city walls was made with this in mind, so they enclose the entire level portion of the plateau. Their foresight was rewarded, as the city today fills the entire area inside the walls.

Streets

All of the streets are paved with smooth, tight-fitting stones. While there are no formal sewer lines beneath the city, Dwarf engineers made use of the natural caverns beneath the city to move water and effluvium away from the city. Gutters line the curbs and water runs down through cleverly placed metal drains.

Buildings

The buildings of Kel Karad are constructed of grey or white stones quarried from the mountains nearby. Most of them only reach a height of one or two storeys at the most. The exterior doors are all made of stone and are perfectly balanced to open with the touch of a hand. Many are decorated with sculptures and fine carvings in the stone, and it is not uncommon to see visitors staring slackjawed at these works of art when seeing them for the first time. All written signs are in dwarven with runic characters, but a common translation is often written in smaller text underneath.

Defences

A 65-foot-high wall of stone surrounds the city, with only two gates, in the east and the west. A parapet and walkway connects towers along the wall, providing excellent defensive positions for Dwarf warriors. The towers each have a stone carving of a rearing Dragon at the top, facing outward and hovering over the ground below. If attacked, the Dwarfs keep barrels of oil in each tower they can heat up and pour out of the mouth of the Dragons onto any besiegers. Each tower also has a Dwarf cannon on it.

Descending from the enormous west gate is a switchback stair carvedfrom the face of the cliff, passing three turns until it ends at the shantytown of Grimmsgate far below. The Dwarfs constructed the steps to appear from afar as the winding tail of a Dragon, replete with spikes and scales, while the gate itself resembles a Dragon’s mouth, the flanking towers serving as its wings. Though an amazing feat of architecture in its own right, beyond the decorative façade, the gates and steps are very practical. The Dwarfs care little for the inhabitants of Grimmsgate and if attacked would completely abandon it. The switchback stair is the only way to enter the hold providing the Dwarfs with plenty of opportunity to shower the besiegers with missiles. A massive reservoir of oil is stored in the Dragon Gate as well, ready to be unleashed upon interlopers.

The Temple Quarter

The temple quarter is one of the oldest sections of the hold, built shortly after the holdfast. It is located just south of the western gate.The temple is grand ad encompasses all the dwarven pantheon. The other buildings contain minor shrines to other gods and some shops selling healing herbs and other medicinal products. The remainder of the buildings are homes for the wealthier residents who are not of noble descent and hence cannot live in the Holdfast quarter.

The Holdfast

King Ferron Strongboot built a keep on the very spot where he emerged from the mountian following the slaying of the Dragon. It remains there to this day, directly east of the Dragon Gate. To the north is the Holdfast Quarter, where stand the homes of the noble families of Kel Karad. Lawbringers heavily patrol the streets, and it is the safest part of the city. Five major noble families have their clan strongholds in this quarter. The rest of the buildings are expensive homes of the lesser nobility.

The Foreign Quarter

The Foreign Quarter got its name because it was originally an undeveloped portion of the hold settled by Dwarf immigrants. As it grew to fill all the space enclosed by the city walls, Humans and Halflings also settled there. The buildings are still all of Dwarf construction and made of stone because of the strength of the Stoneworker’s Guild. Nothing was built in Kel Karad unless their guild worked on it.

The Gold Quarter

The Gold Quarter is located in the western end of the hold, north of the foreign quarter. It is the home of the merchants and guilders of Kel Karad and takes its name from the many gold statues, gilded roofs, and other signs of wealth clearly visible in the area. The Stone Square and the three large guild houses dominate the quarter, but it is also home to numerous gem, jewellery, weapon, and armour shops. The atmosphere here is a little more subdued than in the foreign quarter, but there is still plenty of activity going on. This is where the best craftsmanship products can be found. Those looking for better quality and having the means to pay for it come to the Gold Quarter.

Grimmsgate

Those visiting Kel Karad for the first time most often arrive via the Dragon Tail Pass heading southward from Tellugwellyn. It is the end of a difficult trip, a long climb up to the plateau known as the Dragon Crag. From a distance, they can see the Dwarf city silhouetted against the sky with its high stone walls and towers beckoning them to complete the last stage of their trek. Hurrying forward over the last ridge, many are surprised to run into the sprawling settlement of Grimmsgate. Grimmsgate is a ramshackle collection of wooden buildings clustered at the foot of Kel Karad. There are no walls or towers to protect against attacks, no carefully built Dwarf defences or buildings, no curb-lined avenues of tightly fitted stone—just a winding grey cobblestone street lined with taverns, surrounded by dirt roads and broken down buildings. The home of gamblers, thrill seekers, and thieves, it is as dangerous as it is exhilarating.The Dwarfs tolerate Grimmsgate as a necessary evil. Their logic is quite simple, really: Kel Karad was too small to support the large influx of immigrants. Rather than build an expensive extension, they allowed the shantytown to form and grow. With minimal expense, offering little in the way of protection or services, the Dwarfs now have a place where the more undesirable elements of Kel Karad can reside and still provide tax revenue. Lawbringers from Kel Karad patrol the streets, but their main purpose is to monitor comings and goings from the ruins, collect applicable taxes and fees, and to root out thieves. It is not uncommon for Lawbringers in Grimmsgate to walk right past two men fighting to the death in the streets to accost another whom they see carrying a heavily laden sack. Dwarfs have their priorities straight when it comes to Grimmsgate. Protecting treasure from thieves and closing down illegal entrances to the city comes first, protecting the lives of the derelicts living there comes second.

Trade and Commerce

Kel Karad is a remote mountain city that requires trade imports for many of its needs. The mountains offer abundant game for food, but very little in the way of fruits and vegetables. Grains and other staples are available from fields in the lowlands, but these are difficult to maintain and are often subject to raids by the gnolls and other creatures that live there. The growth of the city and its reputation for producing fine gems, jewellery, and the precious metal mithril have begun to attract trade caravans from merchants in the civilised world. The long trip and the dangers that must be faced getting there make it difficult for these goods to reach the hold, so the goods that do make it command a premium price to compensate for the risks faced on the journey.

For all these reasons, Kel Karad is a very expensive place to live. Trade does flourish with the Dwarf hold of Karak Karendul to the east and this makes some items in Kel Karad more abundant. Karak Karendul has large deposits of iron ore, sulphur, and gold and they trade this with Kel Karad for gems and mithril. As a result, more than enough metal and gunpowder is available for the many armourers, weaponsmiths, and gunsmiths in the city. The nature of the city makes this important, as so much depends on the treasure seekers who need equipment to strike out into the ruins. Although the merchants still charge a premium for these goods, it is not as high as what is charged for the scarcer resources.

The Dwarfs have also established powerful guilds that oversee the commerce conducted in their particular area of expertise. For the most part, only Dwarfs are accepted as members, but exceptions have been made for members of other races who show extraordinary skills in a particular craft. The three most influential guilds in the city are the Jewelsmith’s Guild, the Smithing Guild, and the Runesmith Guild. All of them are located in Kel Karad in the merchant quarter.

The High Council and the Small Council

The Dwarfs rule Kel Karad, and they care very little for those of other races inhabiting Grimmsgate or the few living in Kel Karad. These strangers, as the Dwarfs call them, have no direct representation in the government and never have had in the history of the city. The Lord of the Hold, Thorgin Dragonslayer, presides over the High Council which itself has only two other members: the High Priest Balikina Furlisdotr and Thane Furagrum Kazorson, Commander of the Lawbringers. The Small Council consists of the guild masters and the heads of the five noble families of Kel Karad. The Small Council represents the most powerful and influential Dwarfs in the country, and they submit their petitions for consideration to the High Council once a month. Then the High Council meets in secret to decide how to act on the petitions. The High Councillors also serve as judges for any cases deemed too delicate or important to be decided by the Lawbringers. Sessions of the Small Council are held bi-weekly in the Council Chambers of the King’s Keep. All citizens of Kel Karad are welcome at the meeting although this is mostly for show, as non-Dwarfs carry very little weight in city politics.

King’s Keep

The tallest building in the city of Kel Karad, King’s Keep rises 120 feet above the city. Surrounded by a 20-foot-tall stone wall with gatehouses to the east and west, the top of the keep has a peaked roof with a 30-foot-high golden statue of a winged Dragon. The building serves as the home to the King ’s clan and his direct descendants live in the upper floors of the building to this day. The ground floor houses the Council Chambers and the headquarters for the Lawbringers. The dungeons beneath the keep are used by the Lawbringers as a prison. The keep is open to citizens during the day, but the gates are closed at night. Two Lawbringers guard each gate and allow visitors to enter the building only after they relinquish all of their weapons. Most people who come to the keep are there to visit prisoners, file an appeal to the King, or to study the Great Book of the Lawgivers. Visitation of prisoners is only allowed once per day for an hour and requires a payment of 5 gp. There is a secret entrance to the ruins beneath the keep. Only those with special permission from the King are allowed to use it.

Mining Guild

This simple two-storey structure houses the offices of the mining guild. Although most of the mines in the ruins are too dangerous to work, there is an active mine run by the Norgunson Clan. The clan is currently sustaining the guild and providing employment for its members. The guild master is Molatok Nokinson, a no-nonsense Dwarf who has served the organization well. Unbeknownst to the guild, Molatok is one of the leaders of a secret society known as the Brotherhood of the Shaved Beard, a group of Dwarfs completely disgusted with what Kel Kazardad has become. They abhor the rampant commercialism and all the non-Dwarfs prancing about the kingdoms. They believe all the greed is dishonouring their ancestors. Their goal is to ban all non-Dwarfs from entering the city and kingdom and instead make plans for the Dwarfs to make a concerted effort to retake the hold.

Using his skill at mining, Molatok secretly built an entrance to the King's Keep under the Mining Guild. The Brotherhood planned to use this entrance to retake sections of the hold in secret, but so far, none of their forays have been successful. They also use the entrance to conduct raids on non-Dwarfs in the ruins, attacking them and taking whatever treasures and heirlooms they have looted from the ruins. One of the key architects of that plan is Captain Kragdin Rorganson, commander of the Kel Karad army. As a member of the Brotherhood, he has enlisted some of his most trusted men to conduct the raids.

Jewelsmiths’ Guild

The cornice of this ornate building is decorated with gems of many different colours, crafted right into the stone of the building. It also has stained glass windows in the front wall depicting various craftsmen at work. This is the home of the Jewelsmiths’ Guild. They are responsible for all of the gem cutting and jewellery making in Kel Karad. Their guild master Zarador Svenginson has recently joined a gambling den and has been spending much of his time and money there lately. Some of the members are getting upset because they believe he is using guild funds to support this habit. They may want to hire the PC's to get to the bottom of the den and their guild master’s activity.

Stonecutters’ Guild

This two-storey marble building is the home of the Guild of Stonecutters. During the construction of the city, this guild was extremely powerful and made sure all buildings inside the city walls were made out of stone. They are now trying to convince the High Council to slowly demolish Grimmsgate and rebuild it using stone to make it look like a Dwarf city instead of the shantytown that it is. It is doubtful they will succeed, but their guild master Krorag Foragonson continues to try from his seat on the Small Council. Zarador Svenginson, master of the Jewelsmiths’ Guild and a fellow member of the Small Council, is trying to convince Krorag to join a secretive gambling den. He believes doing so may get Krorag the support he needs for the Stonecutters’ Guild.