Let us bind our union with diamond
and from rock carve a home.
Let us sculp offspring as clay,
until dust we both become.
-Traditional Digger Wedding VowSmith Lord Aurora Wordfire, Refuge Queen of Silent Hammers, Empress Consort of the Southernfrost, and Queen Consort of Bedlamb and the Marble CitySkills and Abilities:
-Although my social skills are rusty from isolation, I am highly respected as one of the few remaining first diggers.
-I am the greatest mortal metal-smith and furnace worker, without question. My skills in this area even surpass those of some gods.
-I have also mastered many other crafting skills, unrelated to the furnace.
-So long as my history is recorded in the language of the diggers, my soul and mind cannot truly be snuffed out (Granted by the World Weld)
-I can create mighty artifacts by inscribing the items I create with the great deeds of myself or the item's intended recipient (Granted by the World Weld)
-I am aware of the general location and activities of those who wield my artifacts, and I may exert light influence over their behavior (Granted by the World Weld)
-I can detect the great deeds of others nearby (Granted by the World Weld)
Artifacts and Minions:
The World Weld - Links my soul, the digger language, and the laws of reality itself. Allows me to easily create lesser artifacts.
Known Mortal Family:
(Husband - Present) All-Lord Ukareem the Silver, Emperor of the Southernfrost
(Husband - Present) Scholar-King Emscythe, Monarch of the Marble City and Secretary General of the Greatwalls Alliance
(Husband - Absent) Bloodlord Haigen the Usurper, King of Bedlamb
(Mother-in-Law - Present) Trumil, the Slime Mold Hag
Military Population:
5 Force Units of Dwarf/Drugar Militia (x1.3 Bonus to defending cities or fighting underground)
5 Force Units of Goblin Warslaves (x.75 Penalty to fighting in bright sunlight, does not need food to act)
3 Force Units of Charcoal Tribe Elf Rangers (x2 Bonus to fighting in the woods)
2 Force Units of Drugar Siege Operators (x4 Bonus to attacking cities, x1.5 Bonus to fighting megabeasts, x.25 Penalty in all other combat situations)
1 Force Unit of Weremule Warmonks (x3 Bonus to guarding VIPs, x.1 Penalty against Nickle Silver weapons, does not need food to act)
Civilian Population:
13 Labor Units of Assorted and Mixed Breed Diggers (2 LU to 5 FU Conversion Rate before material mod)
8 Labor Units of Halfling Commoners (2 LU to 4 FU Conversion Rate before material mod)
5 Labor Units of Goblin Slaves (2 LU to 4 FU Conversion Rate before material mod, does not need food to act)
4 Labor Units of Highborn Dwarves (1 LU to 4 FU Conversion Rate before material mod)
4 Labor Units of Highborn Drugar (1 LU to 4 FU Conversion Rate before material mod)
2 Labor Units of Human Commoners (2 LU to 7 FU Conversion Rate before material mod)
1 Labor Unit of Hobgoblin Drivers (2 LU to 7 FU Conversion Rate before material mod, does not need food to act)
Basic Resources:
x5 Food (+1 Per Month) - Your people can and do feed themselves, but food from the royal grainy must be provided for people to put aside their own livelyhood and peruse your interests. Spending 1 food allows you to issue an order commanding up to 5 FU or LU. Converting LU to FU will also usually cost additional food. You can deploy trade convoys to try and convert other resources into food.
x10 Wealth (+1 Per Month) - A representation of the various coins and paper currency in your treasury. Used to buy other resources and favors, and is generally the most effective resource to use as a trade good.
Advanced Resources:
x10 Wood (The most basic construction resource. Artifacts made from wood tend to harness the power of nature)
x7 Stone (A more sturdy and less flammable construction resource. Artifacts made from stone tend to harness the power of earth)
x5 Marble (A more valuable form of stone that can be combined with iron to make steel at a smelter. Artifacts made from Marble tend to harness the power of light)
x10 Bronze (A military resource with a .80 Material Mod. Artifacts made from bronze tend to harness the power of fire)
x5 Steel (A military resource with a 1.5 Material Mod. Artifacts made from steel tend to have protective effects)
x5 Bloodstone (A magical military resource with no material mod. Both common gear and artifacts made from Bloodstone are particularly deadly towards all the digger races)
x2 Deep Sapphire (A magical Military resource with a material mod of .5. Gear and artifacts made from Sapphire are great at drawing out the sorcerous power within one's blood)
x7 Sulfur (A magical resource used in the worship of wicked gods and construction of advanced siege weapons. Artifacts of sulfur are favored by wicked gods)
Known Allies and Enemies:
Bardhill County (Friendly, Trade Partner) - The fertile and clay rich human territory that completely encompasses your land. The ruler, Count Chance, deeply respects the craftsdwarfshipp and military skill of the diggers, and hopes to gain their aid in an anticipated civil war against his fellow counts when then king dies.
Southernfrost Empire (Ally) - The southernmost and mightiest of the northern dwarven civilizations. Southernfrost is rich in bronze and labor. The empire is ruled by your husband All-Lord Ukareem the Silver.
The Greatwalls Alliance (Ally, Trade Partner) - A loose confederacy of prosperous drugar city-states that pays tribute to your husband, Scholar-King Emscythe. Rich in copper, sulfur, and flux stone.
The Kingdom of Bedlamb (Ally) - Nation of drugar ruled by your husband Bloodlord Haigen the Usurper. Rich in iron, flux stone, and gems. Currently defending against invasion from an unknown drugar kingdom, and raids from an unknown dwarf kingdom.
The Beetle Queendoms (Enemy to All Diggers) - A drowish nation that sits between Silent Hammers and The Greatwalls Alliance. Traders can navigate around it, and they are currently too busy dealing with surface elf raiders to pose a threat.
The Pinewoods Tribes (Hostile) Small yet fierce surface elf civilizations that sepperate Silent Hammers from the Southernfrost Empire and the Kingdom of Bedlamb. They find the very ideas of commerce and industry to be deeply offensive, and slaughter trade convoys on site as a rule.
Silent Hammers, your new domain, is a good sized city, but one that is sorely underdeveloped. This is highlighted by the fact that your wedding and coronation has to take place at the palace of Count Chance in the nearby human city of Goldears, as your own town lacks a suitable venue. Still, your people are nothing if not thrilled at the prospect of being led by a first digger, and many have made the trip; As you approach the count's palace the streets are lined with more of your own subjects than with his.
The ceremony itself is short, sweet, and too the point. You exchange vows with your husbands, swear to serve your people, and receive a simple golden crown for your trouble. Then comes the reception, which proves to be a far more interesting affair as you are introduced to the court set up for you by your husbands and subjects.
The famed engineer and Scholar-King Emscythe is petite and scrawny for a Drugar, and despite controlling a much larger civilization than you seems overwhelmed by your presence. He admits that you are the only first digger he has ever met, and that he is absolutely honored that you have chosen him as a husband. You can tell he is head-over-heels in love with you, to the point that he admits he is heartbroken that he will eventually have to return home to attend to the affairs of his own subjects.
All-Lord Ukareem, on the other hand, is cordial and only slightly affectionate, as one might expect a dwarf to be towards his partner in a political union. As the son of a first digger himself, your status dosn't particularly impress him, and although he is respectful, you can tell he doesn't expect someone who has spent her entire life isolated at her furnace to possess much in the way of useful leadership skills.
The sorcerer Bloodlord Haigen, who's children you are most excited to bear, could sadly not make his own wedding; Bedlamb, the kindgom he rules, is currently fending off an invasion from a hostile Drugar army, and raids from the dwarven kingdom above his, so the usurper king felt that he couldn't leave his people. To deliver his vows in his place, Haigen sent Trumil, a terrible slime covered fungus person who he explains by letter of introduction is part of the hag coven that raised him.
Trumil explains that she is to remain at your side as a court mage, and sets about introducing you to the other notable individual that her son has sent to serve you; Hxnub, a Hobgoblin soldier who leads the army of goblin slave soldiers that Haigen has provided to pay your bride price. Like most Hobgoblins, Hxnub comes across as both cruel and loyal, and you are sure he can be trusted and even mistreated so long as he has underlings of his own to abuse.
Joining Hxnub on your war council is the seemingly human Brother Anders, a member of the Order of Sterility. Anders explains that his order serves to protect All-Lord Ukareem and his family with their great power. Apparently he and the ten monks under him are all weremules who have gained complete control of their curse through meditation, castration, and worship of the dwarven gods, and although few in number can fight like a small army so long as their opponent dosn't think to use tableware against them - apparently weremules have a fatal weakness to nickle silver.
Scholar-King Emscythe's bastard half sister, Captain Balrogsim, is the third member of your war council and commander of the siege machines that the Greatwalls Alliance sent you. Balrogsim has a personal vested interested in protecting you; Like most highborn Drugar, Emscythe is a major proponent of inbreeding, and hopes that one day his favorite sister might wed one of the nephews you give her. Both Emscythe and Balrogsim feel that marrying into the blood of a first digger would be the only way for her to redeem their bloodline of her lowborn mother.
The fourth member of your war council, and predecessor as ruler of Silent Hammers, is the Dwarf Lord Urist the Left Handed, a military hero who turned his back on the digger blood conflict after marrying a Drugar Princess and loosing his right hand to a duel with his new brother-in-law. Urist is a respected hero, and responsible for founding Silent Hammers, but willingly gave the city to you as he felt he lacked the skill required to lead a people in peacetime.
The final member of your war council is the Elf Princess Myguwen of the Charcoal Tribe, one of a handful of elfish peoples loyal to the All-Lord's empire. The Princess is said to be a peerless archer, and leads a good sized host of elf rangers. Like most elves, Myguwen believes that trees are the highest form of mortal life, but as a fanatical worshiper of the dwarven gods, she believes that there is no higher purpose for a tree (or any living thing really) than to be sacrificed to a furnace. As you are the direct and personal creation of the dwarven gods, and the wife of her beloved empire, Myguwen promises to treat you as a personal object of worship, and expresses an all-too-earnest desire to die in your service.
Like most elf royals, Myguwen is accompanied by a small train of husbands, wives, children, and servants, and the fanatical princess takes express pleasure in introducing you to each of them, especially her youngest wife: A lowborn elf named Liula. Although barely more than a wide-eyed child, Liula is already a prodigy in the fields of anatomy and surgery, and knows a bit of the secret fey art of healing magic to boot. Because of this, she has been selected to serve as the physician and midwife to you and your court.
Your absent husband Haigen provides your new kingdom with a high priest in the form of Prince Dulfrog, the son of Bedlamb's previous king, whom the sorceror took in and raised as his own after slaughtering the rest of the then infant-boy's family. Dulfrog is well versed in the lores of the Dwarven Gods, Old Ones, as well as a handful of other foul beings that Drugar tend to worship. During the reception, you catch him several times staring at the World-Weld; Perhaps is training in the divine allows him to understand something of the artifact's cosmic significance. He could, of course, also just be staring at your breasts, which are in the same general area.
The final member of your court is an elderly hill giant named Bort, sent by the All-Lord to be your personal steward and treasurer. The old giant appears to be blind in one eye, and has a gimpy leg, but he speaks with both wisdom and experience on many topics. According to him, one of his previous professions was metalwork, and he is trained to help digger master-smiths work on projects that are too physically big for them to easily complete on their own.
In addition to the court members present, Scholar-King Emscythe promises to send for one of his students to serve you as royal engineer when the time comes for him to leave your side.
---
You split your wedding night between entertaining your two present husbands, and use to carriage ride into Silent Hammers the following day to catch up on your sleep. You arrive in your kingdom to find it as modest as you have been told it would be, but far more lively. Lacking anything resembling a palace, your quarters and meeting room for your court is little more than a large apartment over
The Gorgon's Anvil, A tiny blacksmith shop owned by an elderly lowborn Drugar too frail to actually work, and that you have been given permission to use in exchange for paying the owner's rent.
It is in this rather unfitting throneroom that your court holds its first meeting. The following points come up:
Court Meeting:-Emscythe and Ukareem both intend to stay at your side and participate in your court until it becomes apparent that you have fallen pregnant.
-Lord Urist the Left Handed warns of future war. The friendly human Count Chance of Goldears, whose lands completely surround your own, is one of three counts in the human Kingdom of Narm, each of whom is married to the daughter of the son-less King Razor. It is expected that once the king dies, the counts will go to war over the kingdom, and Count Chance will expect the aid of Silent Hammers. King Razor is already in his late fifties, so his death can't be more than a few decades away at most.
-Emscythe explains that a civilization of hated Drow, called the Beetle Queendoms, sits on a subterranean road between The Human Kingdom of Narm and The Greatwalls Alliance. As of now, traders can take alternate routes to avoid the drow, but Emscythe was planning on attacking them in a century or so anyway. Upon hearing the above discussion, he is strongly considering taking a risk and rushing his attack plan, in hopes of taking the Beetle Queendoms as a staging area to conqueror Narm in the chaos following the eventual death of the sonless King.
-All-Lord Ukareem and the representatives of King Haigen explain the situation with the The Pinewoods Tribes, a group of commerce and industry hating elves who sit between their lands and yours, blocking trade. The representatives of Bedlamb are more interested in removing or conquering these elves than Ukareem is, as the All-Lord fears that he may find himself in conflict with the Kingdom of Narm without the elf tribes between them as a buffer.
-Lord Urist explains that because Silent Hammers is completely surrounded by land it does not own, it has difficulty providing honest labor for all its citizens. Because of this, the Thieves, Assassins, and Druggist guilds have gained solid footholds in your new kingdom.
-Because of the above, there is lots of hate directed by the digger population towards the minority halflings, who provide much of the leadership for the criminal guilds.
-Because the town has little opportunity to gain resources, it has not developed the framework for heavy industry that one would expect of a digger settlement its size. You recieved a good degree of magical and military resources as wedding gifts, but your kingdom lacks the infrastructure to efficiently make use of them.
-The Drugar aligned members of your court wish for you to petition Count Chance for permission to build a Dark Fortress near Silent Hammers so that you may breed goblins as cheap labor and cannon fodder. The dwarf aligned delegates find this idea disgusting.
As the meeting wraps up, you tap the World Weld to activate its ability to let you see the great feats of others that would be worthy of inscribing on an artifact. Giving somebody an artifact with their own feat or yours inscribed upon it will allow you a degree of surveillance and influence over that person, but making such a toy would take at least several months of your undivided attention, so perhaps distributing artifacts to your followers should wait until you have extablished a degree of control over Silent Hammers.
Looking Around, you detect a number of usable feats on your own person, your court, and beyond.
Nearby Feats:Self
-I have trained for over 7000 years to become the greatest mortal smith to ever live
-I created the World Weld, an artifact that drastically alters the very nature of reality
-I destroyed the Oven of Origin, where the gods fired the first diggers from clay almost 8000 years ago
Known Individuals
-My husband, Scholar-King Emscythe of the Marble City, invented the Belchfire Siege Engine, and personally led crews to use said device to increase his holdings many times over.
-My husband, Scholar-King Emscythe of the Marble City, successfully used a siege engine to challenge and slay the drider goddess Jinth of Shadow in single combat.
-My husband, All-Lord Ukareem the Silver of the Southernfrost, added four human city-states, a hill giant colony, and five elf tribes to his empire without shedding a drop of blood.
-My mother-in-law, the Slime Mold Hag Trumil, raised a lowborn Drugar child to usurp a kingdom and marry a first digger.
-My bodyguard Brother Anders, and each of his ten followers in the Order of Sterility, have accomplished the unthinkable task of controlling a werebeing curse.
-My predecessor, Lord Urist the Left Handed, found love across racial lines and earned his happy ending by founding Silent Hammers, where dwarf and drugar can live in peace.
-My high priest, Prince Dulfrog, once solved an equation proving the existence of an as-of-yet un-contacted breed of Old Ones.
Unknown Individuals
-Somebody living in a hobbit hole on the outskirts of town has fathered a clutch of eggs with the Red Dragon Breakfire.
-Somebody visiting a bar on the outskirts of town once drank a hill giant under the table.
-Somebody living in Downtown Silent Hammers has ensured that King Razor of Narm will die without a male heir by striking down his pregnant wife and escaping undetected.
-Somebody living in the Militia Barracks has personally slain four of the First Diggers.
-Somebody living in the Militia Barracks once was cornered by five war-troll... and slew them all.
Author
Topic: (SG) Rise of the Smith Lord (Read 19295 times)