Mountainship of Vukhmir

The Mountainship of Vukhmir (Vukh: Jal Myrestakjeler ajl Vuk'myre) is a Province within the greater Dominion of Sentara, and it is one of the few dwarven towns of Abexilas.

The Founding of the Mountainship
Before Vuk'myre (Vukhmir in the language of the dwarves), the population was spread in small, cave communities, struggling to survive against the hostile enviroments of the Sentaran Wilderness, fighting and clinging on for their lifes and community, all a desperate fight for survival of their people. The vukhs manufactured different tools and means of protection to make their lifes easier, but to no avail. It all went downhill with The Great Invasion, a wave of beasts with metal teeth sought the conquering of the Vuk'myrean mountains. This brought chaos to the Dwarven communities, small in size, untill a vukh came up and called for unification, "We are the same kind, and we want to obtain the same thing, Prosperity for us and our children, and our children's children". This man, Vîrfye I "The Unifier" went from cave to cave, community to community, and united dwarven kind into The First Mountainship of Vukhmir, which carried the war against the beasts with great success. Legend says that The Mountain Lord, Vîrfye, melted the metal teeth of the beasts and forged them into The Crown of Steel, an iron crown, with gems of the sacred mineral, Rohdonite. Vukhmir was born and the dwarves sought united, a path towards unity and prosperity

The Golden Century and the Adoption of Aratrea Religion
Under Vîrfye I. the new Mountainship entered a Golden Era of Development and Progress (The Dekyanvyeak meaning "great century"), continued by his dynasty, The Rît'zaks. Steam energy was discovered, the Mountain Home was created, a complex network of underground living space, markets, squares and industrial facilities. The Rît'zak dynasty, although allowing great progress to envelop, was very isolationist and was against the idea of leaving the mountain, to ensure isolated prosperity without greedy foreigners or vile beasts to destroy the now prosperous Mountainship, but under Vîrfye IV, something strange will happen...

The further expansion of the cave system discovered a den like structure, almost like a dragon would live there. The vukhs decided to build some housing and a big hall there, untill... A black snake-like dragon came in his now inhabited home, black as coal. With Akmyre II (Great Grandfather of Vîrfye IV) in front, trying to understand the dragon's intentions. He stepped closer and closer to it, before bowing down, handing a rodhonite pickaxe to it, which the dragon touched and seemed to... like? The crowd bowed after their king, and then the dragon seemed to make a noise similar to an exhale. Croud stood up, silent at start. The dragon, oddly enough, lowered his head to the short king and seemed like he wanted to replicate a handshake or gesture of agreement. Akmyre embraced the dragon's head, in a peaceful manner, and then the crowds cheered, threw a grand feast in the name of the dragon and started to co-exist and a small cult of worship formed around the dragon, expanding in time (Later becoming the Vukhmirian branch of the Aratera religion)

As the Aratri Faith grew, they built a great hall towards the resting place of the Aratri, resembling a church-like hall, towards where Akmyre II embraced the Aratri, and a system of priests started to form. They wrote works of faith and called the Aratri: "a friend of the dwarves, an icon of progress and prosperity, who wills our advancement only forward". Aratrea evolved to become the predominant religion.

Dwarves started to see more and more travelers and merchants nearing and visiting the Mountain by the day, making business, on a relatively slow pace. Merchants, most of them being Sentari, were there to search and aquire the rodhonite mineral, a very rare and valuble ore to Sentaris, a more common sight for vukhs. Merchants came more and more, day after day, seeming to try to get their hands on the red dwarven mineral, which the dwarves became skeptical over, "why would some elven folk need rodhonite?".

Vukhmir enjoyed massive wealth from this trade, on which they created the "Vuk'myreare Rostykje" (Vukhmirian Guard), which they equiped with modern armour (enchanted diamond instead of plain diamond armour), some steam powered equipment, elixirs and such.

The Dark War
After stockpiles started running low, they have closed the rodhonite trade to attempt at regaining the number that was sold off. They saw the growing merchant numbers as a problem to their supply, a temporary embargo was placed in order to refill the drained storage.

One day, they saw a group of merchants, with flags, a group, bearing a message from a far away Kingdom. The merchants gave the scroll to the Vukhmirian King and after 30 minutes of language barrier banter, the message was slugishly translated to: "Reopen the Rodhonite Markets, or you shall face your mineral be used against you", signed by one "Al Solyarjs" from a kingdom called "Syentraja". The enraged Vîrfye IV burned the scroll and sent the messingers back home, the army was mobilised and scouts were sent to look for any army looking to tear down the mountain, The Dark War had begun...

3 days later, a huffing scout burst running into the King's hall and screamed "Ynvjdîren!" (Attackers!). Within the blink of an eye, the batalions of the Vukhmirian Guard stood brave on their mountain, overlooking a force bearing a red and yellow banner. A force made of 1000s of hardened, trained elven folk, ready to take over the Dwarven Kingdom and make it into a mining colony, the dwarves knew, its victory or slavery.

One thing that was common between the side, is the lack of knowledge of the enemy, the Mountain Kingdom was very isolated and everything they know was information given by travelers and merchants. No one knew their true intents, this war could be a huge missunderstanding, but no one could stop them now. 2 confused armies that think they are doing the right thing.

The horns of war could be heard, the charge was innitiated, the flags of Vukhmir flattered in the wind, charging towards the Syentrajan menace... Untill the sky rumbled... A roar could be heard... The Armies and their leaders looked and were shocked to see 2 Aratris, one being the beloved Black Aratri of Vukhmir, and the other being a new sight, a similar, different colored body... Such divine intervention must of have been meaning something. The thundering march of armies stopped, 100 meters from eachother... almost leading to the bloodiest battle in Vukhmirian history...

The Sovreigns, with their marshals and guards came forward, looking wierdly at eachother... both seeming to understand the divine truce, provoked by the beast they each worship. The Vukh King now foresaw the Sovreign of Syentraja... a well dressed and armoured gal...

The King of Vuk'myre and the Syentrajan Queen, presented herself as " Yvatrja Al Solyarjs" now sat a long table, with some sweet mead, 2 translators were present, still not the best speakers, but now they were good enough to clear the confusion that caused this battle

The Syentrajan Queen laid down the justification for this war, "You blocked the trade to cripple us, that's what the merchant corp said!". A loud, thunderous laugh could be heard from the mouth of Virfye, after the translator told him what the queen said, "We said that we are running out of the red mineral, and we closed the trade in order to refill the supplies, we almost killed eachother over a language barrier? By the Aratris, good thing the Protector stopped us...". The Queen seemed confused about this "Protector", the queen said "You mean to say the Black Aratri was... your protector? Do you also belive in the Protection granted by the Aratris?!". The King replied: "That other one was yours?! You mean to say we belived in the same religion without knowing?". They both laughed... seeming to forget they were a divine blessing away from death. Talk after talk, the 2 sides entered talks of unification under the common religion and belief, which succeeded under The Vukhmir Accords, declaring the formation of the 1st Federation of Sentara

The Vyertak (Portal) Period
On a harsh, winter day, Vukhmirian Observers saw a group of taller people, in ripped clothing, marching organised in lines of 4, bearing green banners, with a red cross with a white outline, with a star in the middle. The flag was also ripped and tarnished too by the harsh weather, some people even carried a bicolor flag with the same star in the middle, this reminded them of the Merchant's March, that started the Dark War. The group was headed by a young man, the croud seemed to call him "Leyon", speaking in an odd language, seemed to repeat the words "To' Krepetzin, to' otax garxen, to otax zar".

A small batalion was sent to investigate, they stopped the marching people and tried to communicate. Their leader, seemed to point towards his people, all bruised and freezing from days of marching, food being scarce and needing for a place to refuge too. He handed the leader of this batalion a pickaxe, and a book in a strange language, with those people depicted as working in various jobs, some images suggested more knowledge in tech then the dwarves. They brought them to the city and accepted them as refugees, to prevent the mistakes that brought the Dark War. Everyone was skeptical, but the immigrants just laid down their possesions, mostly tools and food, and pointed towards a pickaxe, asking for "kamierek" (rock). Confused, they lead the people to a mine, since thats what pickaxes resemble in Vukhmirian society. The group cheered and aproved, they went in masses there and started working, mining like there is no tommorow. This was known as The Day of The New People.

From there, only friendship grew, and the 2 communities started only to embrace eachother by each passing day. The Portal Period foresaw massive development in technology, culture and industry, all beside a population boom caused by interracial marriage between immigrants and locals.

The Integration of the so called "Serojers" (Foreigners) was successful, they were now acting as taller dwarves, that also spoke a wierd 2nd language. The Mountainship is now found under the reign of Queen Jeleka II. A new era of cultural development started, interracial families were made, even the Jeleka II married Leyon Kerexon, the man who lead the Serojers to Vukhmir, but a new problem arose, Overpopulation. The Mountainship's population skyrocketed at unseen rates before, and the mountain wasn't going to hold that many people for much time, a small crisis ensued. The Prince of Vukhmir, Dekvjon Kerexon-Rît'zak was advocating for the radical option of going outside the mountain, and spread our ways to the world, like his fatherly ancestors did. Dekvjon also further integrated the mixed, dwarven and serojer community into one big "mead cauldron, made of pears, apples and grapes". But one day, the queen fell ill...

Jeleka II fell ill, the whole mountain came and showed their wishes of well-being to their sovreign. She was deemed to be unfit to rule due to her immobility and state of health, and Leyon Kerexon was also unfit due not being of noble blood, which left a young, fresh 20 year old Dekvjon to take the throne. He first did one thing, he gathered the people of Vukhmir to a mountain wall. Took a pickaxe and mined in the wall. Mined and mined untill light was blinding every dwarf, human and serojer's eyes. He gathered the people around him, on their mountain... He shouted:

"Brothers of the mine, Rejoice! This is the outside in all its glory, full of valleys and forests, snow and grass, monsters and gems of nature, but most of all, the key. The key for our problem! We must expand brothers, the will of the Mountain Home must be brought forward into the world, we must adventure and document every side of this world. The Mountain is our home, but everything around our beloved peak, WILL BE IN OUR MOUNTAINSHIP, THE IMPERIAL MOUNTAINSHIP, REJOICE MOUNTAIN FOLK, A NEW ERA IS IN FRONT OF US!"

The Mountain Lord
The Mountain Lord of Vukhmir (Vukh: Jal Myrestak' ajl Vuk'myre) is an hereditary possition that was passed down to the descendants of the first Lord of Vukhmir, Virfye I. He holds total executive power within the province and appoints the First Advisor, the head of the legislative, and with him, represents the province within the Sentaran Provincial Council. He also signs laws, declares wars, and can be removed by the Great Assembly by a 70% majority vote, in favour of another member of Rit'zak descendency.

The First Advisor
The First Advisor (Vukh: Jal Ajluj Lyerkem) acts like the head of the legislative branch and represents, along with the M. Lord, the Mountainship's interest in internal politics. He can be part of a party or independent, and needs to be elected by a majority in the Great Assembly, he can be impeached by the M. Lord, if the First Advisor is found guilty of treason, or by a 70% majority vote in the Great Assembly. He has a term of 6 weeks.

The Great Assembly
The Great Assembly (Vukh: Jal Degankjelyta) gets ellected by the people, each lasting 6 weeks, and represents the Legislative branch of Vukhmir, they suggest and pass laws and act as the entity that restrict the M. Lord of absolute power. This was made after a Lo'Oi inspired reform of the "Chamber of the Wise", which was formerly made of vukh academics, scholars, priests and other members of the more educated elites, into a democratic institution.

Ministers and Justice
Vukhmir has no local variant of those positions, they are represented by the Central Goverment in Sentara. Vukhmir also abides by Sentaran Law, Federal Consitution and Police, although it has a separate branch of Police with some power over it. For example, Development is taken care by Sentaran Minister of Development, but it does have to colaborate with the local architects and rulers.