Freehold of Darkmount

The Freehold of Darkmount is an ancient, Dwarvern city, encompassed by and notionally a part of the Nome of the Storm's Eye, but culturally and administratively distinct. As the sole Adamant hold in Caino, the city also claims independence from the Greystone-ruled Nome of the Iron Hills, hence its Freehold status, and the value of its craftsmanship and mines is such that it has the unique privilege of returning a Federal elector – the Adamant Sovereign Darkmount – outside of the nome system.
Located in the mountains on the south-eastern edge of the Storm’s Eye, Darkmount is a traditional hold, built into the mountain itself in a series of flawlessly dressed tunnels and vaults. The mountainside around the main entrance of the hold is carved into the grand facade known as the portico. Two massive statues flank the great gate, a double portal of steel- and bronze-bound oak, set with powerful runes and enchantments. Each statue shows an armoured dwarf, near identical save that one has the traditional hawk-nosed, sharp-browed features of the divine ancestor Adamant, while the other wears a mask with stylised features, the mask of the Adamant Sovereign Darkmount.
Above the gate are galleries and arcades, some ornamental, some designed for viewing – should the masters of the hold wish to look upon the surface – and other crenelated and bristling with mounted ballistae, fire-throwers and even cannon (an innovation considered shocking by some conservative factions.) Surmounting all is a sweeping facade, decorated with relief carvings of a dwarvern force repelling attacking orcs on one side, and elves on the other, the attackers wearing the uniforms of the Legion and Regime respectively. At the centre of the force stands an armoured king, wearing the mask of the Adamant Sovereign Darkmount. In one hand ee holds the octagonal battleaxe Judgement of the Ancients, in the other raises a banner with the diamond star sigil of Adamant. A similarly shaped jewel decorates eir crowned helm.
Within the hold, the outer layers of the city are given over to defence and trade with the surface. Beyond this are the palaces of the warrior-nobility, then the lower housing, and finally the mines and artificers’ quarters, where the true worthies of the hold have their homes and workplaces. Swelteringly hot from the forge-fires and kilns, but with complex chimney and ventilation shafts to keep the air sweet, the artificer’s quarters are one of the most heavily guarded parts of the hold, second only to the great vault where the ancestral records and treasures of the hold – including the books of grudge and debt and Judgement of the Ancients – are stored along with its mundane wealth.
In front of the portico, the Great Square sweeps out for a mile or more, flat and empty. Beyond this, nine blocks of low, broad stone buildings form the low city, where political and mercantile ambassadors of the high city meet with trading partners, and officials of the nome and Federation attend to the complex administrative interfaces with Darkmount.
Darkmount is one of a small number of holds that still hues to the traditional separation of individual and office. All officials and soldiers of the city wear masks denoting their rank at all times when on duty, and are expected to execute their duty with the detachment and objectivity of that traditional identity. The king of the hold, the Adamant Sovereign Darkmount, has no other identity from the moment of coronation, never removing the mask unless completely alone.

Type

Large city