Page 52 - D&D - Player's Handbook

and some few humans elected to make policy for the
city, who determine where the output of Mirabar's mines
will be sold. Although the council has long kept Mirabar
associated with the Lords' Alliance, it is the marchion
who negotiates with his fellow lords. Thus far, Selin
Raurym has proved far more capable than his predeces-
sors at making beneficial decisions for the city, and the
council has given him great leeway to speak for Mirabar
outside the walls. His threat to pull out of the Alliance
following its failure to aid the northern cities against the
most recent ore hordes, though considered by some an
empty gesture, has brought Mirabar more advantageous
relationships with Waterdeep and Baldur's Gate, some-
thing which has not gone unappreciated by the council.
The city's guard, the Axe of Mirabar, exists primarily
to deter and prevent sabotage of the mines, without
which Mirabar would collapse. The guard also pro-
MIRA BAR vides swift and capable defense and law enforcement
within the city. The wealth of Mirabar is so great that it
Mirabar is a human city that rests atop dwarven cav-
erns. On the surface, humans dominate the population, maintains docks, ships, and fortified harbors on many
with some dwarves mixed in, and a handful of gnomes of the islands in the S ea of Swords, and as such the
and halflings. The uppermost level of the undercity is city is always seeking magical and military support for
mostly dwarves, with some few humans. The mixing these defenses. Where other cities might use such vast
of races is due to convenience of trade, preference, or mountains of coin as Mirabar possesses on shows of
skill; just as some few humans like to mine, to imbibe prosperity, Mirabarrens use it for more functional goals,
strong dwarven drink, and to work underground, so do making sure that the city's defenses are new, that its
a minority of dwarves take to the open sky, doing dock gates close securely when they are moved, that its build-
work, or even manning and building ships. The lower ings and walls are strong and secure. Given the recent
levels beneath Mirabar are all dwarven, as even the destruction of Sundabar's surface city at the hand of
most dwarf-like human can live so deep below ground ore armies, such expenditures are well justified, since
for only so long. Almost all of its citizens, regardless no one in Mirabar wishes to see the surface city wiped
of race, honor Moradin and the dwarven gods, making out. It would simply be bad for business. Mirabar spares
Mirabar a dwarven city in spirit and ethics, if not no expense in defending its wealth, and hires as many
entirely by population, much in the way my own Silvery- mages and adventurers as necessary to clear threats
moon speaks to elven ideals of natural beauty. away from roads, investigate sabotage, and otherwise
protect its vital trade.
Long ago, the great dwarven kingdom of Gharraghaur
stood to the west of Delzoun, delving mines near the With the rise of Mithra! Hall in the last century, and
River Mirar and finding great, near-endless veins of now Gauntlgrym, Mirabar fears its place as the armory
gems. Like many of the dwarven realms, Gharraghaur of the North is at risk. 'The miners, smelters, and smiths
fell to marauding ores, which destroyed the kingdom of Mirabar work ever harder to increase their output and
and its capital city but couldn't take advantage of the improve their craft, while the jewelers and enamelers
wealth therein. For millennia the lower city lay empty, study ways to incorporate ancient techniques of melding
until some eight hundred years ago, when Prince Ere- dwarven, human, and elven designs together in their
skas of Arnn settled the same spot, creating the city work, in the manner of old Phalorm.
of Mirabar (coincidentally echoing the dwarven "-bar" Mirabarren (or to some, just Mierren) dwarves like to
naming convention used for citadels throughout the cultivate long, wide (as opposed to tapered or pointed)
North). It was only when dwarves returned to work beards and tight braids of hair growing elsewhere than
the mines below that Mirabar began to see its for- on the chin, a fashion copied by some local humans.
tunes increase. They love polished, everbright-treated sheets of metal,
Mirabar is ruled by its hereditary marchion, Selin particularly copper, used as doors or mirrorlike wall-
panel inlays. They often set gems into the pommels
Raurym, who issues edicts fed to him by the Council
and nonworking ends of tools and weapons. Mierren
of Sparkling Stones. The council is a group of dwarves
dwarves tend to be wealthy, to have personal collections
of unusual and rare gems, to use seals made of gems
EVERBRIGHT
carved into signet rings, and to be investors in ventures
The dwarves were the first to discover the secret of treating
(rather than property) up and down the Sword Coast.
their metal with everbright. The technique has been imi-
They are sophisticated and worldly, and they decry the
tated by other races, to varying degrees of success. Armor,
weapons, and other metal objects to which everbright is isolationist and xenophobic attitudes of some dwarves.
applied maintain their luster without needing to be pol- Mierren dwarves demonstrate their own broader
ished, and are resistant to natural (and, in some cases, attitudes by being the diplomatic traders and power
magical) pitting, rusting, and tarnishing. brokers in trademoots and agreements in Fireshear and
Neverwinter and everywhere else they can worm their
CHAPTER 2 I THE SWORD COAST AND THE NORTH