Diarchy of Ziraz
Isolated in the southern reaches of eastern Mikdash coils the Diarchy of Ziraz as if set to spring out across the known lands.
Ziraz is a country of juxtapositions - it seems sparsely populated in the mountains and tundra, without a navy, nor adequate resources to conquer, or even hold it's lands. In fact, during the Mabahan Expansion it seemed that the general belief that Ziraz was a dried out husk of some former empire seemed true - until they simply could not gain ground past the southern most mountains. Veterans of the expansion found themselves beset on all side by night time raids from dwarfs that seemed to grow in the midst of battle, horrible hulking battle machines who's silent, piercing screams left men and women with shattered minds. When the Mabahans retreated, so too did these mysterious forces.
In addition, despite almost no navy, and precious few sailing ships, Ziraz holds many southern islands throughout the Maw. Attempts to take them by the Kan Federation have met with crippling defeats.
In truth, while the above ground settlements are indeed sparse, and sparsely populated, the vast majority of the Diarchy exists in extensive tunnels between the surface of Mikdash and the underdark. Moreover, perhaps even more than the Dwarfhold Dwarfs of Nar and Zinar, the Deep Dwarfs of Ziraz excel at tunneling - and their extensive roadways through the underdark allow them to seemingly appear from nowhere nearly anywhere they once thrived. This fact is almost completely unknown outside of Ziraz itself, and is closely guarded.
It is perhaps a sign of their own inward looking, insular nature that they have not only expanded back north to their old holds, but pushed further north through the Spine of Aurakh and west to the mountains of Sholakh.
