Rikhem

Rikhem was established by dwarves during the Great Undertaking by dwarves who did not wish to travel further north and asked to be put ashore when they spotted the Seaspine Mountains. It is a isolationist kingdom and resents and the distrusts the Coringian Empires recent incursions into "their" mountains, although they do maintain a fairly robust trade with the horse tribes of the plains to their east.   The dwarves of Rikhem rely on the horse tribes of the Hesterherre for a large supply of their food stuffs, specifically meat and breads, along with raw wool and woolen products.  In exchange, the dwarves produce coal briquet sand the majority of steel products used by the tribes.  This symbiotic relationship has developed over centuries, with both sides becoming dependent on the trade realtionship to support their society.   The dwarves, for their part, remian shrewd businessmen when dealing with the horsemen.  They understand that while there are a number of tribes to deal with, they are the sole producer of coal and steel, and use this monoploy to leverage the various tribes against one another to maintain more favorable exchange rates.  This leads directly to competition and sometimes outright warfare between the various horse tribes as they compete for the beneficial trade agreements with king of Rikhem.   Rikhem is ruled by the king, whose family has been in power for 700 years.  The current king, Albrecht, is the fourth of his line.  His great-grandfather established himself as king of Rikhem by leading a succesful coups against then King Kesselwright, whose leadership during a time of plague led to famine and rioting throughout the mountain kingdom.  Unable to control his people, the king cut-off trade with the outside world and further depressed the economy.  Albrech't great-grandfather, Freiherr the First, solidified his power by making promises of a return to a robist trading relationship with the horsemen.