Grimstone Hold

Grimstone Hold

Overview

Grimstone Hold is a mountain realm built on stonework, mining, and careful planning. Its people value precision, duty, and long-term results. They record every tunnel, seam, and hall with exact maps. They measure air, water, and stress loads as routine. The Hold is famous for bridges, vaults, load-bearing arches, and fitted stone that needs no mortar. It trades metals, stone, tools, and certified engineering. In return, it buys grains, wood, textiles, and reagents. The Hold is cautious with outsiders but fair in trade. Summoned heroes are welcome if they respect rules, safety, and chain of command.

Land and Structure

The realm sits in a linked range of mountains with deep valleys and high saddles. The core is a network of strongholds cut into the stone and joined by galleries, bridges, and rail spines. Air shafts, water chutes, and waste channels keep the interior safe. Entry gates use layered doors, pressure locks, and portcullises. Surface outposts guard roads and quarry faces. Snow sheds protect travel during winter. Avalanche walls break force and redirect flows. Beacon pylons ring main peaks to route messages by light code.

Major zones:

  • High Hall: Seat of rule, war room, treasury vaults, and the Grand Ledger of Tunnels.

  • Forge Quarter: Smelters, bloom hearths, crucibles, tool shops, and inspection bays.

  • Stonewright Terraces: Carving yards, bridge element stockpiles, test arches, and stress rigs.

  • Deep Galleries: Controlled mining tunnels with ventilation and refuge cups every two hundred paces.

  • Waterworks: Reservoirs, clean-flow channels, drop turbines, and filtration beds.

  • Trade Bastion: Market ramps, bonded warehouses, scale rooms, and customs benches.

Government and Law

Grimstone Hold is a lawful monarchy guided by a council of guilds and clans. The High Thane leads strategy, defense, and treaties. The Council of Barrows includes guildmasters for Mining, Forge, Stonewrights, Waterworks, and Records, plus recognized clan heads. The Ledger Court interprets code and keeps precedent tables. Inspectors and weighmasters have legal independence inside their scope.

Core statutes:

  • No new tunnel without a stress plan, vent plan, and refuge plan.

  • No furnace without air and slag controls.

  • No bridge without a load test under council witness.

  • All contracts above a set weight or value must be written, stamped, and stored in the Record Vault.

  • Summoned heroes must register, pass a safety briefing, and accept a handler for the first season.

Punishments fit the harm. Fines fund repairs. Work sentences focus on rebuilding and training. Bans remove unsafe actors from certain trades. Prison terms are rare and short.

Guilds and Clans

Guilds are professional bodies with exams, ranks, and safety rules. Membership is earned.

  • Mining Guild: Survey, blasting, supports, and ore haul.

  • Forge Guild: Smelting, alloying, heat treatment, and tool craft.

  • Stonewrights’ Guild: Cutting, fitting, carving, arches, bridges, and vaults.

  • Waterworks Guild: Reservoirs, turbines, pipes, and flood control.

  • Record Guild: Mapping, assay, ledgers, and public postings.

  • Wardwrights’ Circle: Runes, seals, load wards, and shock mirrors.

Clans are family lines who hold service oaths in certain domains. A clan may be famous for anchors, locks, lift cages, or fine carving. Clan oaths bind leaders to realm safety over profit.

Society and Daily Life

Life is steady and scheduled. Work bells set shifts for miners, smiths, and carvers. Meals are simple and heavy: stews, bread, root dishes, smoked fish, and pickled greens. Beer is common but controlled. Halls are kept dry, warm, and clean. Children learn numbers, reading, load basics, and first aid. Teenagers apprentice in guilds or join levy drills. Public spaces have posted evacuation routes and rally points. Music is percussive and choral. Festivals mark new bridges, safe tunnel completions, and the memory days of founders.

Customs:

  • Households keep a Service Board listing current duties.

  • Families hold Tool Names, honoring a masterwork tool passed down with records.

  • Marriages include a shared repair oath to each other’s halls and chores.

  • Funerals return the name to the Wall of Hands and the tools to the guild for reassignment.

Economy and Trade

Exports:

  • Metals: iron, steel grades, copper, tin, bronze, and specialized alloys.

  • Stone: fitted blocks, keystones, bridge ribs, culverts, and carved lintels.

  • Devices: lift cages, pressure valves, locks, hinges, drop turbines, and measuring tools.

  • Contracts: signed plans, inspection packets, and warranty bonds recognized in other realms.

Imports:

  • Grain, cattle, oilseeds, timber, pitch, cloth, leather, rare reagents, and crystal stock.

Every shipment leaves with a Proof Packet: source tags, weight slips, assay, and a handling sheet. Major builds abroad include Aftercare Clauses that pay the Hold to inspect and service the work at set intervals. Buyers who skip aftercare lose warranty and future discounts.

Engineering Standards

Nothing is built without testing. The Stonewrights keep a Test Yard with arches at many spans. Rigs apply load until failure to study break lines. The Waterworks keep a Flow Hall with pipes and valves under pressure to check seals. The Forge master runs a Heat Table that lists curves for every alloy the guild sells.

Standard practices:

  • Cross-bracing in quakes.

  • Expansion joints near heat sources.

  • Refuge cups with air and med kits in long tunnels.

  • Red line paint at maximum safe loads.

  • Load wards etched on keystones and main beams.

  • Shock mirrors that spread force around sacrificial blocks during blasts.

Magic and Runes

Grimstone magic is practical. Rune arrays stabilize loads, deflect shocks, cool air, or dry walls. Wardwrights work with engineers, not apart from them. All arrays carry cutoffs and safe failure modes.

Common arrays:

  • Load Ward: Reinforces stone against stress.

  • Dry Seal: Keeps moisture within safe ranges.

  • Shock Mirror: Sends blast force into a dump lattice.

  • Cold Flow: Draws heat from a workspace into a sink chamber.

  • True Line: Projects a plumb or level mark across a span.

Forbidden workings:

  • Unlogged summoning, demon bargains, necromancy in work halls, memory fraud on inspection crews, and glamour that hides cracks or rust.

Religion and Ancestors

The Hold supports temples of craft, law, and oath. Priests must know safety code and first aid. Ancestor halls keep name plates and service records. People honor their dead by finishing their projects, keeping their tools sharp, and training the next worker. Necromancy is banned. The dead are not labor. They are memory and record.

Military and Defense

Grimstone Hold fields Shield Cohorts, Pike Lines, Crossbow Crews, and Sapper Teams. Forts are layered with murder holes, drop stones, and choke points. Bridges can be blocked, lifted, or dropped by design. In siege, the Hold uses countermines, smoke control, and denial of heat and water to attackers tunneling in.

Standard kit:

  • Reinforced mail or scale with pad layers.

  • Tower shields with bracing feet.

  • Pike, hammer, and hook tools.

  • Crossbows with winch frames.

  • Sapper packs: wedges, spikes, charges, fuses, shock mirrors, and seal paste.

  • Helm lamps with cold light runes.

Doctrine:

  • Hold the gate.

  • Keep air and water.

  • Countermine slow and safe.

  • Save strength for the breach moment.

  • Protect workers and records first.

Health and Safety

Clinics treat crush injuries, burns, and lung strain. Every crew carries splints, bandages, breathe cloths, and cold packs. The Waterworks maintain clean wells and filters. The Forge requires eye shields and heat coats within marked zones. The Mining Guild sets noise limits, lamp checks, and weekly rest days for deep crews. Accidents trigger audits, not blame games. Findings become code updates.

Education and Ranks

Schooling covers reading, numbers, law, stress basics, and map use. Guild ranks run Novice → Apprentice → Journeyman → Master → Auditor. Auditors are senior experts who test others and sign plans. Only an Auditor can stamp a realm-scale bridge or tunnel. The Record Guild tracks rank, assignments, and errors. Repeated errors require retraining.

Summoned Heroes

Intake steps:

  1. Register at the Trade Bastion within three days.

  2. Safety briefing on supports, load lines, and no-magic zones.

  3. Power tests in a controlled hall with cutoffs.

  4. Assignment of a Handler for one season.

Allowed roles:

  • Escort, breach response, rescue, convoy defense, and hazard clearing under Sapper command.

  • No high-heat or wide-blast powers in galleries, forges, or near waterworks.

  • No glamour or mind tricks on inspectors, weighmasters, or auditors.

Pay is clear. Breach bonuses and rescue awards are posted and paid fast.

Relations with Other Realms

  • Aertos: Good faith trade. Aertos buys tools and plates. The Hold buys seed tonics and ward designs for clean water. Shared respect for clear records and careful work.

  • Solara: Active exchanges when tests are strict. The Hold likes Solara’s production but demands full safety data and recall plans. Joint builds happen when parts have proven curves.

  • Sylvaniar Glade: Careful cooperation. The Hold follows strict quarry and trail rules. The Glade buys durable bridges and culverts; the Hold buys certified timber and paper.

  • Shadowhold Dominion: Cold peace. The Hold sells basic fittings but blocks strong wards without civilian control clauses. It refuses devices that help repression.

  • The Gilded Abyss: Professional ties. The Hold sells locks, vaults, and inspection seals. It demands proof of fair terms for labor and clean water for local staff.

  • Frozen Necropolis: Technical respect. The Hold buys stasis plates for storage and sells shock mirrors for border forts. Joint drills study quakes and breaches.