Editing Rails Through Hell (section)

===Life in Stonegate===

'''Dwarven culture''' is centered on professions. Professionalism and hard work are admirable traits among other people too, but dwarves take things a bit further. Not just individual people work the same profession from cradle to grave, striving to perfect their work. It is common for entire families to share the same profession, and to have done so for generations, the oldest generation passing their knowledge and skills on to the youngest. It is not uncommon for a young dwarf to opt for a different profession than the traditional one, but this generally means apprenticing to a family practicing the profession the young dwarf is interested in. This usually ends up with marrying into that family. This is considered normal social interaction, and it is the root of a saying the surface dwellers sometimes find odd. ''Change a profession, change the family.''

'''The refugees''' are a less uniform lot. Before Dark Devastation, there was a divide between the urbanized population living in the cities and embracing the modern advances, and the clan kin living in rural areas, practicing their traditional ways of life. That does not mean either that the clan kin were backwards or barbaric, or that the city folk had completely abandoned their clan traditions. Clans knew about the modern advances, but to what degree they used them varied by clan. And city folk might still wear at least the most important parts of traditional clan garb, or sport tattoos, hairstyles and ornaments common to their origins. It was not so much a cultural divide as a difference between lifestyle choices. But add to that the fact that the nation of Cruor was basically a federation of clans with sometimes very different looks and customs, and the refugees tend to be a highly varied lot.

What Stonegate is like physically varies a bit on where you live. '''The original areas''' where the dwarves live are the most spacious. Ceilings are high to facilitate ventilation. The streets are wide, with houses carved on the sides and pipes running close to the ceiling carrying water, air and electricity. Where the streets intersect are spacious plazas, usually with sculptures, fountains, or small parks in them. And although dwarves can see well in the dark, everything is well lit with electric lights.

Dwarves are '''masters of electricity''' - including military applications. They have to be, for in their underground home, fireplaces and steam engines common in the surface would compromise ventilation. So everything from lighting and heating to various machinery is powered by electricity. Coal power stations and steam engines that provide the power are away from populated areas, and have vents to get rid of the fumes. This was originally a marvel for the refugees who had still relied on gas lights and stoves.

The bright lighting is not just an aesthetic feature. The caves where Stonegate is has its own ecosystem and its own vermin. The lights prevent bats, blind rats and rock moles, and other critters from nesting in inhabited areas, for what is common to underground critters is that they are very sensitive to light. Even the blind ones feel it on their skin as an uncomfortable sensation, so they keep away from light. As a convenient extra feature, the lights make Stonegate easier for outside visitors to navigate. Such visitors were common even before Dark Devastation, although then it was mostly ogrun. Ogrun lived in the mountains close to Stonegate as friendly neighbors, and many lived in Stonegate as itinerant workers even then. Ogrun are strong, and very loyal to those they choose to serve, and have always been welcome among the dwarves.

Things are less well in '''the refugee quarters.''' They were hastily built, as originally speed was of the essence, with people sleeping in tents on the streets. Later on, proper renovations would have required tearing down the original.

Refugee quarters are a bit away from the dwarven quarters, since most were built in closed down mining tunnels, uninhabited caverns, and basically any space that was swiftly available. Ceilings tend to be much lower, and usually the pipes extend along the walls so people do not bump their heads in them. The corridors are much more narrow as well, and the house where people live might be just one large room with sleeping spaces carved on the walls, as originally the priority was to build something that could house as many people as possible, as fast as possible. In one word, the refugee quarters are cramped.

The refugees have the same utilities as the dwarves, though. Ventilation brings fresh air, although in cramped areas it is perhaps not as fresh as in dwarven areas. Electric lights provide illumination and drinking water is available from taps. Deficiencies in the hastily built original infrastructure sometimes cause lights or water to go out, but these problems are usually swiftly fixed.

'''The cuisine''' is more varied than the surface dwellers originally assumed. What can be grown without light are usually various kinds of mushrooms and fungi, and there are entire caverns dedicated to cultivating edible varieties. But people who assumed to face a diet of nothing but fungi and mushrooms were surprised.

Some distance from Stonegate is a vast underground lake where Stonegate gets its water from. Pumping stations send it first to the purification station where any impurities are removed, and then the drinkable water is pumped to the populated areas. But in addition to that, the lake provides several varieties of blind fish and eels, shellfish, and lakeweed and other edible plants.

The dwarves are skilled at harvesting the other cave ecosystem as well. Deep-fried bat. Stuffed mole. Rat stew. And more exotic things. There is a mineral eating cave vermin called ''burrowing maw'' - the name comes from the miners who hate the things - whose flesh, when prepared for food, tastes different depending on what it has been fed with. If you want to dine in expensive style, order one fed with precious metals.

Fruits and vegetables from the surface, once widely available through trade, have become rare and expensive delicacies. But they are available. They are grown in greenhouses under artificial lights. There are other greenhouses that grow inedible plants too, including a huge vault where trees grow! The cost of maintaining these is sometimes criticized, but to close them might mean that the plants within will go extinct, since no one knows if any have survived on the surface. Besides, these '''garden caves''' are popular places for relaxation. Tampering with the plants is strictly forbidden, though.

'''Recreational consumables''' have a lot of variety too. The most common is '''kef''' - a bitter, stimulating drink made from a type of dark mushroom that is dried and powdered. A bit less common product, because smoking is usually prohibited in public areas, are '''silver cigars''' that are made from a silver-gray fungus. Alcohol, most commonly brewed and distilled from mushrooms and fungi, ranges from various beers and ales to strong liquors. '''Striped mushroom''' is a mild relaxant that can be eaten either fresh or dried.

Not all recreational products are legal. Preserved '''Swift Nibbler Adrenal Gland''' more commonly known as ''Snag'' is an extremely strong stimulant - to the point that people have died after taking it. It is strictly banned, along with refined products from mushrooms or fungi with narcotic qualities.