D&D 5E: Trickster's Gambit - Setting Elements

The Dwarven Empire

The Dwarven Empire represents the largest government on the Shattered Coast and occupies the entirety of the Hartshorn (a vast mountain range and forestland to the west) as well as the arable land between the mountains and the coast north of the Great Sands and south of the Clanlands of the northern barbarian tribes.

The Empire includes Dwarves, Gnomes, Elves, and Humans among its protected peoples.

The Wolf Gate and the Raven Gate

Five ancient stone gateways older than recorded time are interspersed throughout the Shattered Coast. Though the use of them is lost, the ancient standing stones are still considered powerful totemic monuments, and two of them stand within the borders of the Empire.

Named for the knotwork animal carvings on their faces, the Wolf Gate stands in the center of the great Hartshorn range, and the Raven Gate stands in the south of the range, marking the entrance to the Hall of the Mountain King.

The Cities

There are countless settlements throughout the Empire, but only three major cities.

Bar Kesh: City of Swords

Bar Kesh is the Capitol of the Empire. A great trade city on the coast at the mouth of the Blood River, the City of Swords is perhaps the most cosmopolitan city north of the Tiefling Confederacy, with races from all over the Empire, the Confederacy, and the Reach represented.

Ruvyntarn

Ruvyntarn began as a fortress in the days of the Dwarven Barbarian wars, and grew from there. Spartan and hard, Ruvyntarn is primarily inhabited by dwarves and humans and even in these times of peace still mostly serves as a bulwark against the barbarians of the clanlands to the north.

The bulk of the stoneships of the dwarven navy are harbored in Ruvyntarn Sound.

Hall of the Mountain King

The Hall of the Mountain King is at once a religious and historic destination and the seat of dwarven industry. The mines of the dwarves, the ores and gems of the earth's heart, flow through the Hall as does the lumber of the vast forest west of the mountains.

And while the bladesmiths of Bar Kesh are rivaled by none in their trade, the majority of dwarven metallurgy and manufacture takes place beneath the mountains.

The Empire is governed from the City of Swords, but the matriarchs of the Five High Houses live in the hallowed Hall as does the Mountain King herself.

The Chasm

Beginning in the forges deep within the Hall of the Mountain King, a great crack in the earth runs through the mountain bedrock east to the sea, a wound in the earth from the peaks to the depths of Treacher's Deep.

The Chasm connects the Hall with Bar Kesh.

The Blood River

Named for it's red color from the runoff of raw iron ore, the Blood River runs from the depths of the dwarven forges below the mountains to the capitol on the coast, traversing the depths of the chasm. Due to the high walls of the Chasm's banks and the violence of the river itself, the only craft that traverse its waters are barges guided on massive rope leads sunk into the sides of the chasm with deep iron rings.