Description
High above the jungles to the south and the swamps to the north, the Blackspine Mountains rise in jagged teeth against the sky. Deep in those mountains, visible from almost as far as the Mountains themselves, is Anchumet; the Golden City of the Dwarves. It is glittering city atop a white stone disk set into the black rock of the mountains, the same mountains carved into stair-like terraces stretching out and down from the Holy City itself, below the canopy of trees. Each terrace is dotted with golden temples and vibrant plants, a central steep staircase winding up through them from the surface to the city proper.
Society
The Dwarves of Anchumet are worshppers of Anchu, their God of Sun and Gold. They mine the mountains to acquire Gold to make into offerings and appeasements to the Sun God. They do this for personal glory, for benefits in the afterlife, and out of fear of what may happen should they fail to do so.
These, however, are the High Dwarves of Anchumet. There are also the low-born who are not borne into one of the Great Halls. These Dwarves often volunteer to do the labor in the mountains for the High Dwarves in exchange for gold and resources for their own offerings, as well as a chance to be born as High Dwarves in their next life. Low Dwarves do the majority of labor in Anchumet, including growing the crops and working the shops.
The majority of mining, however, are done by what a slave work force drawn from what the High Dwarves consider to be the “beast people”. This includes any race not Dwarven in nature, and Anchumet often raids the swamps and jungles for laborers, though they rarely enslave visitors or travelers for fear of starting a war with a nation that could threaten them.
Culture
Anchumet has festivals each month to mark the new moon, where they burn alchemical fires in golden braziers to light their great city like the dawn sun. These festivals include both religious service and wanton debauchery, as well as blood sports of slave fights for the wealthiest to gamble upon.
Style in Anchumet is divided by caste, where the Low Dwarves wear leathers and sackcloth to protect them from their labor and the elements, while the High Dwarves wear silks and gold appointments in order to show their status. The only thing that all strata of Dwarf agree on is that the beard should be grown full in their men, often adorned in braids and gold if available, and oiled with flowered perfumes and animal fats. The women are beardless (regardless of Halfling slander) but make up for this defect by adorning their chests in gold chains and jeweled necklaces if they are High born, or in leather braids and animal teeth decora if they are Low.
Religion
The worship of Anchu can be a bloody affair. Seers and astrologers read the stars and the storms, the heat of the sun and the chill of the night and use this to determine Anchu’s current temperament. If it is deemed that Anchu may be displeased, the nature of His displeasure is met with blood sacrifice of a type determined by what has displeased Him. These sacrifices are usually of slaves, though during times of great turmoil, the children of Low Dwarves or on extremely rare occasion High Dwarves are made.
Daily observance of Anchu is done by song at dawn, by a choir of young female Dwarves usually of High Dwarf Halls, though during lean times Low Dwarf singers can be chosen.
Campaign Turmoil
After generations of heavy slavery, and an increased cosmopolitan world, the slaves of Anchumet have begun to garner sympathizers from without. Foreign powers that would annex Anchumet look to use the slaves to weaken the Great City. Some Low Dwarves, and it is whispered even some High Dwarves, have grown tired of the rule by the Priest Caste and see working with foreign powers as a chance to become Kings. The Great and Holy City of the Sun, the Golden Heart of the Blackspine Mountains, sits on the edge of civil war.
Inspiration
The Dwarves of Anchumet are largely inspired by Incan cultures, with a not insignificant amount of early Babylonian influences, coupled with the basics of Dwarves in fantasy settings.