One of the most powerful nations of dwarves in the sphere, Diamondhammer's Stake is a premier industrial facility. Many of the common metal wares sold by dwarves on the Rock of Bral comes from this cluster of asteroids. Pots, pans, nails, tools, and fixtures are all produced by the hard working dwarves of the Stake.
Brin Dimondhammer is widely celebrated as a great dwarvish hero. During the First Unhuman War, he commissioned a battle-rigged tradesman to hunt goblin ships that were raiding shipping lanes in his home sphere of Greyspace. At the conclusion of that war, he returned to his clanhome to find out that a vile doppelganger had killed and replaced his father, the king of Diamond Hold (a dwarvish citadel ship). Brin unmasked the shape shifter and slew him in single combat. Once the doppelganger was dead, Brin was crowned the new king of the Diamondhammers, and decided to leave the sphere. As his citadel wound its way through Greyspace, he found other dwarvish ships that had suffered greatly during the war. One had nearly been decimated by a disease unleashed by an attacking orc fleet, while another had been ravished by pirates taking advantage of the chaos. Brin took these refugees into his own ship, and soon added another citadel to carry the remaining dwarves. By the time that he left the sphere, Brin commanded almost one thousand dwarves, two citadel ships, and four smaller ships.
Brin arrived in Bral space roughly 120 years ago, following a rumor that the sphere was lightly populated and held several small asteroid fields. The Diamondhammers spend several years wandering the sphere before finding a particularly rich asteroid field, which they quickly claimed. Though it was only an hour's journey from a hive of pirates, the dwarves were confident that the humans would leave them alone. After the first pirate attack was repulsed with few dwarvish losses, the pirates indeed decided to leave them alone. Brin even managed a peace treaty with the pirates, who allowed the dwarves to trade their wares at the growing city.
The Stake is a small collection of minor asteroids scattered across a disc-shaped air envelope. There are three large asteroids, each a mile across, which orbit each other in an equilateral triangle. The remaining dozen or so rocks are very small, averaging only 800' across, and drift between the three major rocks.
The dwarves parked their citadel ships at the center of the asteroid field, where most of the refinement of ore and crafting is conducted. The majority of the dwarves live in these citadels, either refining ore or hammering out trinkets. The larger asteroids each have extensive mines running throughout them. Some asteroids have large stone buildings, most of which are warehouses and storehouses. The smaller asteroids lack any dwarf presence, but are still under their claim.
Brin is no longer king with the mountain. He died about a century ago, at which time his oldest son, Devin was crowned king. King Devin is has wisely ruled, but is no great war hero, like his father. The nation has prospered and grown to its current size.
Though these dwarves have no love for the Elvish Fleet, they dislike the scro worse. King Devin has considered the Fleet's quite request for aide, and is thinking over it hard. If other dwarvish clans join an invasion of Spiral, King Devin would almost be forced to personally led his people into battle to save face.
The Diamondhammers have many friends on the Rock of Bral. The Smith's Coaster often buys their tools and other devices, but the Diamondhammers will trade with anyone with the cash to buy their goods. They will not deal with illithids, neogi, and beholders. They especially dislike the illithids after the creatures used their mental powers to rob them blind. Since that bad deal (which occurred almost a century and a half ago), the Diamondhammers will never trade with illithids or their lackeys.
King Devin has a cool relationship with Prince Andru and those close to the Prince. He has little love for the man, and sees him as little better than an over-glamorized pirate. Still, he needs the Rock of Bral as a market for Diamondhammer goods, and works with the Prince when he must.
Internally, the Stake is a nation divided into four major clans. The Diamondhammers are the strongest and most numerous. They make up the majority of the craftsmen of the Stake, and are very good at what they do. The Diamondhammers are very happy with their king, and almost unanimously support him.
The second strongest clan is the Granitemasons, who dominate the Crucible citadel. Once, they were master stonemasons, travelling from sphere to sphere hiring out to construct buildings for a hundred cities. Wizards, lorded warriors, and rich merchants sought them out for their skill and expert craftsmanship. Their clan was large and prosperous in the years leading up to the First Unhuman War. However, they came under assault from a nasty band of goblins, and suffered grievous casualties, and their home citadel was nearly destroyed in a smoke powder explosion. The Diamondhammers swept up the remnants of this clan during the waning days of the war. Since then, they have changed profession and now separate metal from the ore (though not with the skill that they had with stone working). They support King Devin, but are starting to want to return to their old profession and rebuild their nation.
The other two clans are the Blackstones and Bronsteels, who work the mines on the three large asteroids. Both were once powerful clans in Greyspace, working the asteroids of the Grinder. The chaos of the war, however, was hard on them, and they came under attack by pirates from Oerth, who nearly decimated them all. They were especially hard hit by the Illithids of Kule, and are now hate them all. They can barely be held back from committing arson on the illithid embassy (in fact, they've tried twice but were stopped by the guard before serious damage was caused).
As the primary citadel of the Stake, the Hold is home to the King within the mountain, Devin. All "court" functions are handled from within this citadel. The area directly behind the citadel's dwarvish "face" is reserved for the King. His family's apartments are located there, as well as the throne room and royal gallery. The treasure chamber is also reputed to be hidden somewhere near the "helmet" of the citadel, but only Devin himself knows its exact location.
The remainder of the citadel is a maze of forges, living quarters, and storerooms. The rear lower half of the citadel had been virtually hollowed to accommodate the massive forges. The dwarvish populous lives above the forges in a maze of living quarters and mess halls. Storerooms are located under King Devin's apartments, where an massive variety of dwarvish goods are kept before they are shipped to the Rock of Bral for sale.
The Hold is a large citadel, pushing almost 675 tons. It has a population of 580 dwarves, mostly mountain dwarves of the Diamondhammer clan. Numerous catapults and ballista are hidden along the outer hull of the citadel. Any hostile ship that approaches will be under fire by at least four catapults and six ballista (various types).
The secondary citadel of the Stake, the Crucible is far smaller and has fewer dwarves than the Hold. At 425 tons, the Crucible lacks the room to waste on "court" functions. The majority of the space is reserved for the powerful furnaces that smelt the ore and living quarters for the 320 dwarves living here. Constant shipments of ore are brought here for refinement, and likewise, constant shipments of refined metals are taken from here. Magical fires power the furnaces and smelters, fires that don't produce the deadly smoke that would poison the atmosphere.
Because of the long peace that the dwarves have enjoyed, they have found the need to expand to these asteroids. Between the three large asteroids, over 700 dwarves work hard mining ore and preparing it for shipment to the Crucible. Old mines that run dry are filled with the waste material from the Crucible to maintain the integrity of the asteroids.
The Diamondhammers have bought a few ships over the decades. Chief among these is a specially outfitted hammership armed with two heavy catapults, a heavy double ballista, and a medium double ballista. This ship patrols the asteroid field, hunting for pirates and trespassers. Pirates are shown no mercy, but trespassers that don't resist are escorted out of the field and given a stern warning. Claim jumpers are treated especially hard, often killed for their troubles.
The rest of the fleet includes two tradesmen that haul ore and refined goods around. These ships are protected by a pair of wasps, each armed with three medium ballista.
Devin Diamondhammer (F6 dm LG)
While not the greatest warrior within the Strike, Devin is still a
good and wise king. It is because of his wise decisions that the
nation has become so prosperous. He is somewhat embarrassed to be
Brin's son because he does not see himself as the great hero that
his father was. Devin believes that he disappointed his father
because of his (perceived) lack of skill as a warrior (it might be
noted that Brin was proud of his son's skill as a diplomat and
manager, not for any combat skill he had).
Roth Granitemason (F12 dm LG)
Leader of the Granitemason clan and general of the Strike's army,
Roth is a skilled warrior. He considers the scro on Spiral an
abomination, and is putting a great deal of pressure on Devin to
invade Spiral. Only Devin's cool temper and expert reasoning skills
have kept Roth from leading a suicide assault on Spiral.
