The Under Cities
No, we're savage barbarians riding on the backs of Centipedes and living in cold and damp caves occupied only by members of our family and the nearest neighbor is in the next mountain over. Of course we have cities.Deep under the World Spine Mountains, far from the Sunlit Lands, the Dwarves carved the interconnected networks forming individual cities and the roads between them.
Geography and Geology
In general, everything is deep underground. While the way down to the Under Cities can make most people from the Sunlit Lands shiver in the damp chill, the cities and most roads and settlements are after the point where the caverns warm up again. The widest caverns where the ceiling is over a hundred feet overhead, there can be some weather effects of condensation, and travelers are often warned of when their health is at risk without a specialized Breathing Mask.Roads
Most of the roads are massive tunnels believed to be original excavated by the underground centipedes tracking down the underground spiders, and widened by Turves. Most of the Turves-widened roads try to follow the Lava Rivers for light and heat.Cities and Settlements
Most of the cities underground are the result of massive widening projects with tunnels as sections collapse and the rubble is cleared away to create intersections. The cities and settlements generally rule themselves independently and meet together when events call for a consideration of multiple cities and settlements, such as the sunlit Lands First Contact expeditions or when reuniting with a Lost Route.Lost Routes
Lost Routes are the result of cave-ins and quake-collapses, and can lead to divergences in culture until they are reunited with the rest of the Under Cities.Gates
The Gates are primarily a posting to reduce the influence of the Sunlit Lands, and to prevent black market Smugglers from carrying goods through. However, some Turves stationed at the Gates have been "influenced" into letting certain things slide.Culture
Measuring Time
Without a changing sky to indicate day or night, time is mostly measured by the count of tides of the lava rivers in the reign of a ruling family. Sunlit Landsdwellers have equated the tide shiftings from high to low and back to high as being similar in pacing to a Cycle on the Surface.Religion
There are four deities of the Under Cities - Stone, Fire, Water, and Luck.
It is believed a deity of liquid stone had grown lonely among the beasts of the underground and carved out the first Dwarves from the banks of the lava river to be the deity's companion. When the other deities added their aspects to the Dwarves, Stone was no longer alone, and the deities made some peace with each other.
The deity of flames and heat saw the statues carved by Stone, and felt sad Fire could not interact with Stone without one harming the other. On touching the statues, however, they were able to loosen the bonds within the stone, and gave the Dwarves the ability to live and move. It is told this act mended the relation between stone and flame and is the reason stone and flame can make great works together, while at times creating fragile metals.
Water had a difficult relationship with Stone and Fire, as it could douse fire and solidify or wear down stone while fire could evaporate water, and stone could restrain water. But the first time Water touched the statues, the Dwarves learned how to adapt their surroundings to their own needs.
Luck is a deity the Dwarves work to appease, as Luck was why the deities did not destroy the statues of the first Dwarves when Luck gave them the ability to endure that which would destroy many others. However, sometimes Luck will take away the gifts it gives.
The conlanger in me always enjoy seeing the dwarf/turves connection. :)
I personally love it because it makes so much sense, and I always wondered why IRL places and people are called different names in different languages. So I played with that. And loan words became very interesting.