Terranus

Native lands to the Dwarves, and current home of the Gnomes. The surface of Terranus is largely untouched wilds with a wide array of climates, however it tends to rain due to the mountainous terrain. Underground however it is quite literally crawling with life both ancient and young.

Being that the dwarves are an incredibly old race, second only to the orcs, their homeland is filled with long forgotten caverns and tunnels that are periodically uncovered and rediscovered to have been filled with new life. Typically some flavor of monster or deep dwellers who’ve risen above the Dwarven Line, a measure of depth dwarves use to assure they never dig too deep.

The areas still used by the dwarves and gnomes are ever expanding as well. Thanks to this the entire continent is connected to itself just through underground measures without needing to rely on surface travel at all. Which is a blessing to travelers as the surface’s rough terrain makes overland movement slow and hazardous.

The Five Hammers
Terranus is divided into five countries under a strict monarchy, still subject to the rule of Talagloir but can otherwise interact independently. Each of these ‘Hammers’ as the dwarves call them claim the area underneath the land divided by the mountain ranges that spread from Talagloir. For the most part the governing bodies of the Hammers are content with how things are seeing it as a traditional division, however the individuals often quarrel over who should rule where. The larger the area the more sway a ruler has after all, and while ruling even the smallest of the Five Hammers  is an honor it is still the lowest position in the ranking for the five dwarves at the head of things.

However just as each is led by a single dwarf, they have a council of gnomes known as the Technocratic Affiliates. Typically its five gnomes to a dwarf, each earning their position by skill with technological pursuits rather than the more traditional monarchy of the dwarves. These gnomes do tend to fight among each other more often as they must jealously guard their secret technologies from others while also seeking to steal from others both within their nation and from others. Add in that the Affiliates have as much power as the dwarven ruler and it’s become common to see sort of cold wars between Hammers over one another’s technological items. In fact it’s a very common profession for mercenaries visiting Terranus to become spies or raiders on behalf of one of these gnome leaders.

Talagloir
Old Glory in the dwarven tongue, the capital of the continent and supreme dwarven nation. It’s nestled in the center mountain range of Terranus, a massive city-fortress carved from mountains and left open to the air making it the only dwarven nation to see the sky regularly. Thanks to this they lead the nation’s metal industry as it is safe to mass produce metals without risk of overheating, but also their agricultural lead since with sunlight farming is much easier.

Often described as breathtaking the architecture of Talagloir is remarkably open and flowing for dwarves. It allows incredible flow throughout the city’s depths, barely stopped by the thousands of gardens growing from the stonework.

At the heart of it all is the Everlasting Tower, a mountain sized tower which can be seen from nearly anywhere in the city. Inside the tower is a maze of defenses and clockwork mechanisms that protect its precious inhabitants: The royal family and Technocratic Council. Currently the ruler of all dwarvenkind is Queen Lorna the Late, still young for a dwarf, unsure of her ruling and without next of kin. So most of the governing as of late has been done by the Council instead, supposedly advisors for the Queen they are twelve of Terranus’ most inventive and intelligent gnomes who again hold as much sway as she does. Unfortunately like their lesser Affiliates each’s position is tenuous and must be kept each decade as a contest is held among all gnomes to determine who shows the most promise and thus their ranking in the Technocracy. And unlike their lesser the Council only has each other to bicker with leading to them being considered unstable at best, often fighting with each other making getting any legal work done slowly.

Geography
The surface of Terranus is largely still natural landscape, being wooded valleys, plains, and mountains. There is some variation, drier regions to the east and more humid to the west where rain gathers. This has lead to a lot of human interest in invading to colonize the surface as well as confusion to the border between Terranus and Jales. However the dwarves claim the territory even though they only use the subterranean portions, with the exceptions of small outposts and fishing towns. As well as Talagloir which is a built up multi layered city, overgrown with greenery and more recently trails of technology worming throughout.

Once you enter the underground proper things are much more confusing, the dwarves have made tunnels to navigate in three dimensions which themselves have become micro ecosystems of tended glowing fungi and moss, small invasive animals, and so on. It's notoriously difficult to navigate unless you're a dwarf or gnome with the innate sense for it, but luckily most tunnels are 'main roads' that connect cities built in large caverns with their own aquifers, fungal ecosystems, and so on. Going beyond those are more 'back road' type constructions, the results of small groups digging out homes in a less structured layout and carved from stone rather than built in open spaces.

Religion
Religion is very strong with the dwarven population. The three major dwarven gods are Yggsdral, Reth, and Aelor. With Uthrak having become a prominent cult it is considered the honorary fourth dwarven god. Due to his story many claim the young god was originally a dwarf, something the younger generations have taken to quickly and is the general belief on the continent which they'd debate fiercely if given the chance. Though the cults themselves are pretty straight forward as the Children of Uthrak tend to be, as such they face a lot of legal prosecution due to the 'normal' gnomish means of gaining political power clashing with their values of honesty and open knowledge.

Followers of Yggsdral are among the most well established as the Temple of Stonewood, a temple that traces it roots back to the age of orcs. They are the most mild mannered as well, providing more spiritual aid to common folk than doing anything eccentric or vying for political power. Even historically they're not all that notable, it's a tradition firmly rooted in being down to earth and protecting yourself and your kin so they've never had big wars or troubles. The most prominent clashing they've had is ideological clashes with other groups that would see outsiders banned from entering Terranus proper, while the Stonewoods are perfectly fine offering safe passage through the tunnels.

Those of Reth are usually those of higher birth, which for dwarves means usually an entire family which has held certain positions of power between them for the entire family history. As such the House of the King, a name for the organization traced back to it formerly holding gatherings in the house of the dwarven royalty, is intimately entwined with the dwarven noble structure. There is constant arguments over who deserves which positions within a family more so than inter-familial conflicts though so with the exception of gnomes trying to worm their way in for one reason or another the House serves just as much community consultation as divine worship. That being said the Head of the House is itself a position which isn't held by family, instead all those who attend after a given number of years are eligible for the position and votes are held every decade to change if needed. In turn the Heads keep in contact with others throughout the nation to make sure everyone can have communication.

Aelor is considered the commoner's god, one of few that even has a notable gnomish following. Although as followers tend to be the many temples of Aelor largely keep to themselves even more so than the other major gods due to strict laws in place preventing religious conflict among them and with the governing bodies around them.

Achievements
With the joint efforts between the dwarves stoic passion in perfecting a craft and the gnomes inventiveness and ingenuity Terranus has become the defacto leader of the world when it comes to technology. With very few exceptions all technology big and small has come from Terranus, from the first simple steam machine to firearms to the complex networks of trains that connect Talagloir. Everything has come from here, it is the birthplace of artifice.

Mostly this is due to the gnomish power structure revolving around personal merit and abilities, something actually very rare elsewhere in the world. Oddly in hand with this it is notorious for being an amazing source of espionage experts. It's just commonly known and accepted that if you're working on an invention there is always someone watching as while being technically illegal many gnomes set up 'mercenary' companies to rent out spies. Nobody quite knows the extent of their reach, most people say Haldrod is the furthest away they operate but eccentrics claim there to be some even all the way on Mistfall.

Politics
The political structure of Terranus is broken into two sides. The dwarven nobility, royal blooded individuals who are born into power and trained from birth. And the gnomish technocracies, in Talagloir the Technocratic Council and in the hammers the Technocratic Affiliates. Both of course have their own underlings but as a general rule one dwarf holds the real power behind things while the gnomes act as advisors. The gnomes however are vastly more interesting than this.

For one each one's position is rooted in their ability to have made an advancement in a worthwhile field and being able to keep more impressive creations than other gnomes up as it is a very public affair showing off anyone and everyone's creations every few years to determine who holds a title of power. This can range from one gnome building a more efficient drill for construction, but one finding a better way to use blasting jelly and the tests thereafter to see whose method is more effective to get the title of Master of Stones. Or to the more extreme Grand Engineer titles, those who are tied directly to the current dwarven Queen, in which the stakes are much higher so it's more likely to see near impossible to prove underhanded tactics. Many people know that this happen but due to the bureaucracy set in place by old dwarven law nothing can really be done.

Made even worse by the Queen's total authority. At the moment the ruling Queen Lorna the Late has shown to be very dispassionate towards her people and easily swayed to her council's whims leaving the current quality of life in Terranus questionable. In the recent decades the Gnomish Guard has been established with her approval to start with, but social restrictions have gotten far worse than that. For one the processes to create, defend, or alter trademark have been made impossibly long with wordings that tend to favor those in positions of power rather than commoners. Surveillance has increased massively with an increasing number of guards and conspiracies of more intense means being used. And xenophobia has only gotten more vigorous, already dwarves dislike outsiders but now they can expect a lot of suspicious and outright hatred in certain places as gnomish control grows. Many news sources have completely been turned over to gnomes and as such a lot of information is 'tweaked' which outsiders regularly uncover and attempt to disprove, finding exile at best.

Gnomish Guard
Previously gnomes were considered just a portion of the national guard, usually specialist mages now commonly called terrakineticists who helped operate defensive structures. But in recent years the proper Gnomish Guard, a separate entity entirely that swears a questionably strong loyalty to the technocracy. There are many branches but the most prominent by far is the Thunderhand division, working under the Grand Engineer of Arms they're a notoriously 'rough' group that at best can be described with police brutality.

Technocracy
Not many members of the Technocracy are worth noting, many do keep exclusively to their fields so short of those interested in the same field nobody really interacts or is affected by them on the daily outside of pressures from the respective division of the Gnomish Guard. The exception to this is the Grand Engineer of Arms, Limrick Great-Thunder. Within the last year he's made a very public display running out a group of vagrants caught stealing orcish artifacts from his personal reserves, making his appearance in the form of a mighty crack of lightning. Many saw the incident and say he armed himself with raw electricity, enough to shear stone and melt metals, which has since given new understanding to why his guard uses a smaller, similar means of attack.

Crown Jewels
The regalia worn by the reigning king or as it is now, Queen. Nothing more than you'd expect visually, a pointed crown resembling the mountains of Terranus, a five faced hammer with diamond studs, and a slab of stone fashioned into a shield bearing carvings of Talagloir rising from the ashes of ages past. Some think these artifacts are just mundane decor but most who study history know them all to be powerful earth sundering artifacts, used by ancient dwarves to crush the deep dwellers uncovered when uniting Terranus.

Limrick Device
A newly discovered item to the public. It is a small back mounted device with an armored gaunlet for the left arm of a gnome which crackles with electricity, the bronze plating forming a shield even to the wearer from one side. Visually not the most impressive short of the tesla coil effect near the shoulder but it's been seen to have incredible power, firing multiple blasts of lightning from the hand that can cut through stone and metal with ease, let alone flesh and bone. The rumor is that this device is how Limrick Great-Thunder got his position, as well as the basis for the lesser Thunderhand Guard version.

Talagloir Train Network
Widely considered the most important treasure despite being entirely free for public use, it is a train network that connects the whole of the small kingdom sized city of Talagloir. And really that's all there is to it, the trains are among the fastest ways to travel short of certain hard to perform magics and as such have made the city easy to navigate within a day. Everything from the trains to the rails are considered mastercrafts of transportation and are the basis for further designs.