Stonesunder - The Alcohol Emporium (SC'20)

Written by Steve Tremblay

Sometimes tropes and stereotypes exist for a reason and that is never more true than the Dwarves in Theria.
The main exports from the Stonesunder dwarves are fighting, drinking and light racism.
We'll focus on the drinking, the drinks more specifically. For decades the only thing coming out of Stonesunder adding coin to their coffers and anything of value to the general economy is the variety of alcoholic beverages they export.
Every town on Ellara has at least one tavern or bar that stocks ales, beers and hard liquors. The military units across the land often blow off steam on their off-time drinking to relax.
Some of these drinks are created locally of course but the finest, tastiest and hardest hitting come from Stonesunder and are sold across the continent.
Dwarves aren't all warring types, more than a few are in charge of the city's books and maintain exact numbers of alcohol sales and exports. This kind of economic knowledge helps fund the war against the orcs and allows for advances in weaponry and funds for creating new arms and armor.
Militarily, selling some of those new items also earns the city extra gold but with every batch of new swords sold, a deal is made for a dozen casks of liquor to cement the agreement. Meaningful contacts and repeat customers are essential to the economy.
Recently, a new invention has thrown the alcohol game into the stratosphere: The Stoneforge Fermenter. This new addition has blossomed the sale of Blackout and Cave-In to record levels and has made the Stoneforge brand famous. Blackout was a big hit among the party crowd for its ability to take drinking games and bets to the next level. Cave-In may be a different problem though. A warning label has had to be added to any container absolving the creators of responsibility for death or the actions of the imbiber.
Let us raise a toast to the makers of Ellara's finest brews and to their continued success!

For more information on the effects of alcohol and specialty drinks in Theria, see the soon to be released book The Adventurers Guide to Theria vol. 1: Ellara