Tz'Arrm

Helm of the Emperor

When the Strife Emperor fought the Wildmother, he took the form of a giant of unimaginable size, clad from head to toe in armor of pitted iron. When he was defeated and cast back into his planar prison, his immense divine armor remained and crashed to the ground. Centuries have passed, and the thirty-foot-tall Helm of Strife is now the palace of the Iron Emperor. The rest of their imprisoned god's armor fuels the unstoppable war machine of the Iron Authority, melted down to create walls, weapons, and worse.

Society

As the capital of an empire with an insatiable appetite for expansion and conquest, Tz'Arrm is awash with propaganda and crawling with secret police. In addition to being the headquarters of the military, Tz'Arrm is also the center of operations for the Gauntleet, the empire's intelligence and espionage division. As the children of the Strife Emperor, loyal goblinkin are seen as the supreme citizens of the empire. The upper echelons of the Iron Authority are filled almost exclusively by hobgoblins, for the Iron Emperor has declared them the strongest and most worthy children of their god. By the same token, goblinkin who betray the empire are seen as the ultimate traitors and suffer a fate worse than death.
Those with wealth and status within the empire are constantly paranoid about falling out of favor. Even great generals see all those around them as hungry wolves waiting to gobble them up. At the bottom rungs of society are the serving class, who eke out a meager existance as indentured servants for the elite, or as merchants who are bound to whatever master owns their shop. Beneath even them are slaves, most of whom are prisoners of war.

Slavery

The armies of the Iron Authority have captured tens of thousands of slaves during their wars of conquest across Rifenmist. The slaves of Tz'Arrm are mostly used as laborers, sent to chisel iron scraps from the Strife Emperor's fallen armor or to venture back into the lower jungles to forage for food. The elite of the Iron Authority  sometimes play at benevolence by granting comfortable jobs indoors to slaves skilled in the arts—such as personal portrait-painters, musicians, or sculptors. Such kindnesses are rarely a sign of true mercy; they are more likely a simple (and meager) expression of guilt.
Groups of slaves that pass in and out of the city to labor in the arms yard are escorted by a military detachment whose primary purpose is to discourage escape. The powerful people of the city prize their elven slaves above all others, passing them down like heirlooms from generation to generation. Elves are treasured possessions by the Authority's despicable elite, not just because of their beauty, but because of how difficult it is to procure slaves from the sheltering boughs of the jungle.

Demographics

70% hobgoblins, 10% goblins, 20% other races

Government

The armies of the Iron Authority are meticulously ordered, and its society is no less ruthlessly structured. Every goblin, hobgoblin, and bugbear knows their place within the imperial hierarchy. And every being of other races, including a number of elves who have betrayed the Orroyen in hopes of gaining power within the Authority, know their place beneath the goblinkin. Iron Emperor Tz'Jarr is the supreme military commander of the empire, loyally served by the four royal generals who rule the empire's individual city-states. Tz'Jarr is unimaginably old, and it is said that his clerics have used blood magic granted to them by their god to sustain him beyond his years.
The military government of the Iron Authority is headquartered in Tz'Arrm. Its cultish generals are doggedly focused on maintaining the Authority's war machine—and their own personal power. Beneath these generals are innumerable propagandists, military officials, slave-owning nobles, and their cronies, all of whom ravenously seek a way to climb the ladder of power. No elections are held; positions are only vacated in the event of death or promotion, and all leaders are appointed by the emperor or an immediate superior.
The core of the Iron Authority consists of five major city-states who all swear fealty to the Iron Emperor in Tz'Arrm, the capital and southernmost city on the plateau:

• Tz'Arrm: the capital of the empire.
• Rybad-Kol
• Hdar-Fye
• Ezordam-Haar
• Ortem-Vellak

Geography

Tz'Arrm is hellishly hot. The black stone of the Beynsfal Plateau and the iron walls of the city trap the heat of the relentless Rifenmist sun. The imperial elite enjoy spells that cool their homes and shelter  them from the sun, but those who toil under the sun pay a heavy price. The Authority's hobgoblin elite are well suited to such a climate, but the city's goblin and bugbear slaves sweat and suffer as they toil—as do the Orroyen elves, whose life in the shady, humid boughs of the Rifemist Jungle has left them unprepared for the blistering heat of the plateau.

Alternative Name(s)

Helm of the Emperor

Type

Large city

Population

47,400

Location under

Rifenmist Peninsula