The Clockwork Kingdom
Dominating the narrow central hills south of the Patriarch, and the entire eastern side above Stoneside Fall, the Clockwork – a ‘race’ of artificially created highly sentient folk live. Through the Bitter Portal they came many centuries ago, and brought with them the technologies that the most advanced cultures could make.
The Bitter Portal is described elsewhere. It rests between the Stoneside Fall and High Wastes ranges, and those mountain chains frame a large hardly-habitable area where these inorganic people live with ease.
The Cog Tower is a mountain-sized construction of stone and steel, hardly the quaint tinkering of a craftsman selling watch repairs. Within the soaring heights of this monolithic building, thousands of Clockwork folk reside. Far from their original intended use, these once-warriors or defenders have settled these hills to explore, learn and most of all “reproduce”. Cog Tower is the center of life for any Clockwork, though many of the individuals sent out to do mining or transportation remain in their function wherever they are and hardly ever see the Tower. It is rumored by organic folk that the Clockwork have an extensive underground area as well as those seen aboveground. Any Clockwork will say that this is nonsense, as everything they need is available above. The Tower is very much akin to the Crystal Dome of the Jewel Witches.
The iron rich surroundings allow the mining operations that keep their basic operations working. The Clockwork have an extremely lucrative exchange with the Jeweled Witch province, and oddly enough they were the first of the many cultures here to establish a permanent merchant gathering place on the isles off the eastern coast. Because of their high level of technical ability, they can produce nearly perfect cuts in gemstones and refine ores to a degree unheard of even among the Jewel Witches’ masters. However the Witches prefer to use their own craftsmen for their magical jewelry.
The Dragons have a unique relationship with the Clockwork. As magical as they are, Dragons are still curious about such marvels as mechanical devices. It is said that the Dragons don’t hoard Clockwork items because they fear that it will come alive and slay them – a fear that is well founded. After all, the Clockwork people did rebel – just like the Dragons did, millennia ago. But the Clockwork are not interested in defeating anyone, apparently, and have even begun creating their own “clock dragon” – something which they’re sure will not only intrigue but anger the elder dragons in the world. They’re hoping that the younger ones will be happy with it.
The Blessed Trades are a set of islands off the coast which are considered the most important trade route any ship or caravan can make. Pennywell at the north has a strong and thriving bureaucracy dependant upon everyone else’s need to keep records of their transactions. Sand’s Worth is a beach-heavy land with lush forests – a vacation and retirement land if there ever was one. The more important, if smaller sized isles closer to the coast however, are known as The Bazaar. Almost five hundred miles of merchants, banks, craft halls and culture, all sponsored by the Clockwork. Anyone is welcome at The Bazaar but strict rules must be followed regarding theft, violence, and respect.
The High Wastes, 25,110 feet, are uninhabitable by many organic creatures, and even the trees seem to be fighting death at every moment. The winds brought from the south past the Bitter Portal see to that, with the radiation and chemical poisoning that drifts from the Clockworks’ former home. However, the Clockwork make sure that there are no stragglers from the Nomads nor any other folk found on the sharp, deadly mountains. Routinely, numerous collector droids are sent out onto the plains past BarrenHolt in order to make sure that any strays are found.
Stoneside Fall is at least as massive as the Patriarch to the north, but shows its eroded southern face in the form of thousands of feet of sheer cliff faces. Since the winds from the south generally blow the Bitter Portal’s taint northward, the southern face of this large mountain range is reasonably well habited, and demarks the border to the next province.