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Princes of the Iron Stair

In a past age, the dwarven clan of Ironfoot held mines in a ridge of rotten base-metal ores known as the Waste Crag, within a range of dreary border uplands between the civilised lands and a great goblin-haunted heath beyond. Hard was their lot and they were beset by the great goblin chiefs, who hated them, sending murderous hordes against their poor defences.

In desperation, the headmen of the clan took to the tunnels leading down into the roots of the mountains and parleyed with those they found there. Fell bargains were made, an alliance agreed and the dwarves began to delve a wide road into the deep, to join together for all time the mountain dwarves and the grey ones.

Armed with duergar smithcraft and mercenary legions, the dwarves of the Iron Stair threw back their attackers, then the next season marched out against them. In the wars that followed they wiped four tribes of goblins from the earth and their name grew great among the dwarves.

Some clans came to the Iron Stair willingly for protection, others they subjugated. The Princes reduced these all to serfdom, calling them the Underclans of the hold. Human villages, too, and goblin thralls serve them.

The halls surrounding the gates of the Iron Stair have a harsh, minimal grandeur and an atmosphere of grim suspicion that is untypical of the more joyous hill dwarf towns. Their enemies say that diabolists live openly among the merchant halls and that some of the Iron Stair dwarves keep cellars where they experiment in necromancy. An estranged church of Moradin still seems to gain favour from the Dwarffather, perhaps in a darker aspect (or it may be that another source grants them spells) but it is said that many of the princes of the blood and the Ironguard officers give worship instead in the blank stone shrines of Laduguer.

The Ironguard

The elite enforcers of the Iron Stair's will all wear the heaviest plate armour known to the world. They fight in close-ordered ranks, trained with the halberd and their choice of close-combat weapons. Ironguard warriors boast of their duelling skills with broadsword, twin axes or for the quickest of them, paired daggers. Ironguard members are also sent out into the Princes' domain individually or in small command squads, serving as the hard core of detachments of lesser troops, to bring village leaders and rebels to heel.

The Ironguard dwell apart in their own well-guarded barracks. They recruit from both the princely bloodline and from their dwarven subjects, who vie for the honour of renouncing their underclan and adopting into the Ironguard as their only family. It's easy to speculate that the grey slab-faces of duergar or even the eyeless horrors of grimlocks may hide behind some of the closed-face Ironguard helms.

The Ironguard wear only a plain dun tunic under their plate and shun jewels. Almost their sole expression of flamboyance is in ironwork, with fantastical carved visors and helms, bloody battle-scenes etched on their armour plates, weapon spurs and chains. Out of their armour, though, warriors may display surprising tattoos across their torsos and shaved heads.

Lesser troops

The heavy infantry are supported by crossbowmen, spearmen, swordsmen and light horsemen from the underclans and human mercenaries. These hirelings are not to be relied on in a heavy attack but still the Princes share the wealth of the kingdom with good chainmail and mass-produced weapons.

Siege engineers are well supported and prominent in the Princes' campaigns. In the past, they have made use of magically enhanced attacks or dire creatures herded from the underdark or the Lower Planes.

Goblin skirmishers

From the early days of the Iron Stair, broken goblin septs chose to hire on with the dwarves as an alternative to mass execution and now lord it over their slave relatives due to their warrior status. Goblin squads fight as archers and lightly armed troops. The Princes have experimented successfully with re-creating wolf-rider squads - these pressed troops, trained by dwarves, do not have worgs and do not gain the usual goblin bonus to Ride. Their colonels are Ironguard mounted on hellhounds.