And now some fluff (which surprisingly turned out to be the part of the project I enjoy the most)
The dwarven hold of Monte Trocchio
Name
In Khazalid, the name Karak-Mingol loosely translates to Tower Mountain. This is also what the Tilean name Monte Trocchio means. The Tilean name for the hold is actually the name of a real mountain that I could to see from my window years ago, before moving to Canada. On the very top of the mountains you can still see the ruins of a medieval castle.
Geography
The hold is located somewhere in the Apuccini Mountains in Tilea. It’s in the southern-central region of the peninsula somewhere between the town of Argalis and
Karak-Borgo.The Apuccini are not a particularly impressive set of mountains and they never reach the mighty heights of more northern ranges. The climate here is much milder and forgiving, making the hold relatively easy to reach for travelers, merchants and enemies. This has pushed the dwarfs of Karak-Mingol to develop one of the most extensive fleet of flying machines to patrol the area surrounding the hold.
While there are some veins of useful metals (copper/tin/lead/minor veins of iron) and some minor deposits of precious stone, the mountains offer little in what would be considered the foundation of a typical dwarven economy. This is also reflected in the hold's unique approach to commerce and banking, as well as its very unusual agricultural practices.
In recent times a vast deposit of sulfur was discovered in one of the mountains surrounding the Karak. This, and the numerous caves colonized by bats – with their associated guano production - have seen a huge increase in the production of gunpowder and its related industries.
A small fortified mining settlement has been erected around the sulfur deposit; to this day a healthy colony of dwarfs lives and works in CastroCielo (literally sky-fort).
History and heraldry
Karak-Mingol is a relatively new hold, founded by some the dwarfs of Karak Grom, and its main clan Byrnik.
These are the dwarfs that fought in the famous battle of Skull Pass. The fate of Karak Grom is a sad and unfortunately common one in these times of hardship and tribulation. How exactly these dwarfs ended up in Tilea and specifically here is not quite known, although their records seem to indicate a retreat from a massive Skaven invasion. The dwarfs migrated south over the course of a couple of centuries before finally stabilizing themselves where the hold is found today.
No one is quite sure on how this particular spot in the Apuccini mountains was chosen to be settled and fortified. But the legend of KM's foundation goes as follow: while consulting a map, one of the prospectors from the mining guild of Karak Grom, still bleeding from the recent fight, had a drop of blood fall where KM is located today. The prospector swore revenge on that particular mountain and the rest is history. Other dwarfs suggest, hardly containing a smile, that rather than blood it was wine that dripped from the prospector’s mouth.
The colours of the hold are green and blue, a combination born out of the lost hold blue/gold and Clan Byrnik’s green/silver. The lack of any gold/silver in its symbolism is probably due to the influence of Tilean culture. The Tileans are famous for
piangere miseria; that is to lament and feign a state of perennial lack of any money as to ward any envy and attract others’ sympathy.
In typical Tilean fashion, the richer the person the stronger and dramatic his lamentations will be. The dwarfs have always been wary of disclosing their true wealth to other races, so this curious habit was one they quickly understood and adopted.
More poetic dwarfs see the colours as a reflection of the deep azures of the Tilean skies and the green sides of the low mountains.
In real life terms this just means that I'll limit myself to a much more subtle palette of blue and green with little or no metal accents. I like the "comfy" look this gives the models and it also provides the added benefit of unifying the look of a whole army. A soft colour scheme, I found, is also easier on the eyes when playing the game and much more forgiving of less than stellar paint-job.
Economy
Karak-Mingol is a bit of an oddity in the dwarven realm. The hold lacks access to many precious metals and its geography makes it nearly impossible to grow the typical dwarven crops. Because of this, Karak-Mingol had to turn to the only resource that never seems to diminish in Tilea; civil wars and mercenaries.
The ever-warring nature of the Tilean city-states means that the nearby humans are always in great need of both money to recruit mercenaries or weapons and equipment to arm soldiers. The dwarfs have thus learned to loan money to the Tileans, well knowing that when a client somehow ends up in power, another rival will soon rise, becoming a new customer.
The production of armour, weapons and, most importantly, war machines, is also another important part of the hold’s economy. The dwarfs are excellent engineer and weaponsmiths, their guns rarely misfire and are exceptionally accurate; their artillery is capable of massive destruction while still being reliable and (relatively) safe to use. Even their skill as engineer and architects means that often they’re hired by Tilean lords to erect buildings, build fortifications, design and plan cities; providing both money and prestige to the hold.
The same artillery sold to the Tileans (and built to the buyer's specifications) is frequently used as collateral when approving loans. This explains why Monte Trocchio often deploys cannons that aren't what you'd typically expect from dwarfs; when someone can't fully repay the interests on their loan the dwarfs will take back the very warmachines they sold them in the first place.
The sulfur and guano mined by the settlement of CastroCielo also proved to be a boon to the economy, as it spurred an increased production of gunpowder. Dwarven guns, bullets, black powder, and artillery are always in high demand by the Tilean princes that wish to arm their soldiers with the best weapons money can buy.
As far as agriculture goes, the rocky yet warm terrain of the Apuccini makes for the perfect place to grow olive trees and grapevines. Many, more traditional, dwarfs have often expressed disdain for such a thing as dwarven wine, but even they can’t deny that a dwarf can make better (which often just means stronger) wine than an elf.
And in a sense, both olive trees and grapevines are similar to the dwarfs themselves: they thrive in rocky and elevated terrain, they are slow growing but extremely resilient, require lots of constant attention but yield products of great value and can live for hundreds (if not thousands!) of years.
And while it might have started as a joke, a now typical product of Karak-Mingol is
durazmakk, a sort pasta of all shapes and forms created by integrating stone powder in the flour mix. Most Tilean dwarfs like to eat their durazmakk
al dente.
Another minor aspect of the economy is the production of pot, pans and many cooking utensils.
Tileans are proud people and often boast and brag about having "the best cuisine in the Old World". Dwarven cookware, being of much higher quality and lasting seemingly forever is a very sought-after commodity.
Often given as a wedding gift or as a token of alliance, Tilean merchants come from all over the peninsula to Karak-Mingol to buy kitchen utensils, well knowing that they can be re-sold for a small fortune.