Kingdom of Iron

One of the seven city-state kingdoms that make up the Drazia Dynasty, the Kingdom of Iron, also known as the Dock of the Dynasty, is a loud and packed bustling port city. People from all over Trayst use its docks to trade commodities and resources, from trinkets to entire cargo vessels worth of ore. Of all the kingdoms within the Dynasty, it is this kingdom that is most welcoming to outsiders, which is to say that they're welcome enough to enter the port and spend their money, maybe even stay a night or two before they set sail again.

### Map

The kingdom of Iron is essentially a large, open-sided sea cave on the southern coast of Tanalier. This means that the inhabitants see a lot more open sea and sky than most of the dwarves in the other kingdoms, and thus they’re sometimes called Topsees, a derogatory name for dwarves that live on the surface rather than under it. It is becoming a less and less common term as more dwarves are moving to surface cities.

### Demographics

Like most of the Dynasty, the majority of the free population are dwarves along with a few gnomes who scrape together a living. The Kingdom of Iron, however, has the highest percentage of slaves, making up nearly 35% of the 8.5 thousand inhabitants, many of whom are of races that, on average, are taller than dwarves, meaning that much of this city has been built to accommodate the larger inhabitants.

### Defences

There are three land entrances into and out of the city. The largest and most used entrance is a wide slope, 100 meters deep and 400 meters long. The walls of this slope are lined with statues of famous dwarves, mythical creatures, and gods, and behind these statues lies a covered walkway from which dwarven crossbowmen and gunmen could turn this entrance into a very effective and perilously long kill box. Closer to the actual entrance is a set of 8 cannons, positioned above the entrance, pointed up the length of the ramp. The gates themselves are made of heavy wood and should hold well but are hardly the level of security that is commonly found at the other kingdoms. This leads some to believe there must me some powerful and hidden enchantment on them; the city does little to try and dissuade these rumours.

The second entrance is a large shaft that runs from the surface down to the warehouse district with two lift platforms inside, each large enough to hold three fully loaded wagons and their guards. The lift house is a small fort, not much larger than the lift shaft itself, but in the event of an invasion, this lift house can be collapsed into the shaft, effectively blocking it up.

The third entrance is a much smaller version of this lift system which is no longer in use, and the passageway is thought to be collapsed and blocked. However, a passage has been cleared that allows individuals to sneak into and out of the city if they're willing to make the dangerous and difficult climb, which is how many smugglers get into and out of the country.

### Industry

Unlike the other kingdoms of the Dynasty, the Kingdom of Iron itself produces very little in the way of exportable mineral resources or other goods. Instead, the city acts as a major trading port for the entire dynasty, exporting weapons, armour, jewellery, and raw resources and importing furs, silks, dyes, spices, and food to then transport further inland, for a fee, of course.

### History

The Kingdom of Iron started out as a simple fishing outpost supplying an additional food source to the kingdoms of Gold, Mithril, and Stone, as their ability to produce food needed to be supplemented as they grew. The new, different fish types that were available from the Ra-Vek Sea meant that, for a time, the food produced here was considered a grand luxury, and its plentiful supply caused a boom in growth and production within the outpost. But within a couple of generations, the oversaturation of the market and its similarity to other available foods brought the price down, and the large fishing boats that used to bring in great wealth turned instead to Glovar on the southern coast of Duthgar, sailing along the coast and then purchasing "surface food" that can't be grown below ground: wheat, flour, fruits, and particularly meats like beef, pork, and chicken, which continue to this day to be products which are low value in Duthgar but of high value in The Dynasty since they aren't reared there and are often more tender than the wild meat that can be hunted on the surface.

As the port city grew larger and more profitable, pirates began targeting the mostly privately owned cargo vessels travelling in and out of the port and concerns about the counties naval inferiority grew. The Kingdom of Gold decided to fund a massive expansion in this area: ships were purchased from Carthorka and modified by Duthgariean carpenters. Two great sea walls were also erected, almost 2 km out into the sea, to create a safe harbor. It took eight years to finish this construction but these walls continue to provide a large enough area to house the many ships passing through the kingdom each day. However, even before these walls had been finished, the Dynasty's navy was a laughingstock. Not only were the dwarven sailors woefully untrained, but the dynasty had also only bought refitted battleships, thinking their large size and firepower would be ideal. In reality, the pirates' vessels, far faster and more maneuverable, were able to escape untouched almost every time.

The people living at the outpost grew annoyed and frustrated with the fleet's lack of success defending their waters. The Dynasty tried to blame Carthorka for the ineffective ships they had been sold and demanded compensation, which Carthorka refused to pay. This led the Kingdom of Gold to declare war on Carthorka; known as The One Sided War it was the biggest military disaster known to history. The well-armed, well-trained, well-funded, and well-prepared Carthorken navy didn’t lose a single ship in the one month that the war lasted, while all but three ships of the Dynasty's navy were lost, and two of those were too badly damaged to sail again. This was the final straw for those of the outpost: they demanded to be recognised as their own kingdom and the Kingdom of Iron was born. Jarseer Lamecm, who ran the Merchant's Guild, became the new king of the young kingdom and immediately set to work rebuilding the Kingdom's fleet, using advice from his contacts in Torlund. His main issue was that Carthorka was no longer willing to sell ships to them and, while ships could be commissioned from Torlund, Duthgar, and Mer-Rein, they would take too long to build since the pirate attacks had intensified. This lead Jarseer to look to the assistance of a gnomish inventor who had come up with a design for metal ships which could be built by the kingdom itself. These new ships became known as the Iron Fleet as they were rapidly built and deployed. Jarseer set about privately and quietly buying any Carthorkian slave he could who had been captured at sea and had any experience sailing; these slaves then became the crew of the new ships with their dwarven masters mainly being there to ensure that they behaved themselves, but also to learn.

To start with, they built smaller boats, which allowed them to produce more ships faster and produced ships which were far more effective against the pirate vessels, even if they didn't have the range to carry out long-term sea voyages, especially with the additional crew each ship had.

### Architecture

The architecture throughout the city varies quite significantly. The Dock Level is very functional but includes a lot of bold, bright colours and the buildings are mainly built to accommodate human-sized clientele, while The Ceiling Level is built of upside-down buildings hanging over the harbour below, interconnected by rope bridges and not tall enough to comfortably house most humans, at least not if they wanted to stand up straight.

### Districts

The Dock Level

The Ceiling Level