The mountain range to the East of Verskia has been a contested territory for the past few decades. The mountains are inhospitable and unsuitable for farming, but various groups of giants and giantkin have made their homes in the frosty peaks, while humans and orcs have made homes in the valleys between the mountains. Underneath the mountains is the main Dwarven civilisation.

Known formally to the international community as Versk/Dwarven Contested Territories, the Verskian Empire claims the land as their Eastern Provinces. Human-majority cities have been established in some of the valleys, with improved transport networks enabling larger cities than could previously be supported.

Dwarven civilisation is based around 12 city-states under the mountains. Historically, the city-states have been governed in a variety of different ways, but all swearing loyalty to a king (a gender-neutral title). Currently, the 4th, 5th, 6th, 8th and 12th cities fall under Verskian rule. The rest remain independent for the time being.

To make a generalisation, Dwarven society is ordered, peaceful and industrious. It functions mostly underground - unlike humans, dwarves do not feel a need for sunlight. Traditional dwarven cuisine consists mostly of the fungi that grow in underground caverns, supplemented by cave-dwelling animals. The dwarven economy has historically been based mostly on metal- and stonework.

Dwarves are a private people, with a clear sense of division between personal and public lives. Notably, this extends to sex and gender - dwarves are androgynous in appearance, with members of all genders growing long and luscious beards. Outside of dwarven-majority society, it’s considered polite to refer to dwarves with gender-neutral language unless the dwarf in question requests otherwise. Despite this, they are known to have a huge variety of words for spouse, the exact meaning of which is resolutely unclear to anyone not a dwarf.

Verskia has been engaged in a long war with the neighbouring territories. As the world’s territories became more defined, Verskia moved to lay claim to the mountain territories. Initially this was met without much resistance - the majority of humans already considered themselves verskian, and the other races in the area weren’t too concerned with human-instigated geopolitical boundaries. The mountain territories were included in Verskia’s modernization efforts, with roads and cities being established to the human settlements.

After a while, the Verskian Empire claimed that as they had officially been governing the mountains for some time, the territory was theirs. The main effect of this was that they now claimed to have jurisdiction over the Dwarves under the mountains as well as the surface. International convention - created broadly by surface-dwelling races - is that territorial claims reach from the surface to the underdark, and no further. As dwarven civilisation is still some distance above the underdark, the Verskian Empire were able to claim their territory was part and parcel with the surface. A lot of dwarves were unhappy about this, and representatives sent by the state were quickly thrown out. Some retaliatory violence occurred - the Verskians claim that this was unprovoked and against civilian populations, the dwarves claim provocation and that they were targeting military camps.

The Verskians retaliated, attempting to establish their rule by force. This led to a long, slow war in the tunnels, where the dwarves had the natural advantage for a long time. However, within the past 30 years or so, innovations in warfare have permitted the verskian empire to gain the upper hand. Some people have criticised the empire’s techniques as being overly aggressive, with little care taken for collateral damage.

One of the Dwarven cities capitulated quickly with the Verskian change in strategy. Over the next few decades, four more citadels fell, with seven remaining theoretically independent. In the conquered cities, the Verskian government have been conducting a programme of ‘relocation and integration’, bringing many dwarves up to the surface and encouraging humans to live in dwarven cities to bring the two cultures together.

• Valitsk A new Versk settlement on the edge of the mountains. Settled in an isolated valley with some decent farming and pastureland nearby, Valistk is home to a number of dawrf-human integration initiatives.
• Mayezhdagrad Originally known as Kuluhmo, this site was settled by humans many centuries ago, but, situated where the Katei river meets the Dezhda soon became a multicultural trading hub. After the Battle of the Fifth Citadel, it was renamed after the victorious general Mayezhda and has been undergoing significant urbanisation.
• Fyrir Borg The oldest city of the dwarves, and consequently the largest and richest in culture - though not in materials, as the mountains around it have long since been stripped clean of metals and gemstones.
• Annarr Borg The second oldest city.
• Thrithi Borg Strong military fortifications have made this an unappealing target so far but Who Knows what will happen next.
• Fjorthi Borg Fallen to Versk control.
• Femti Borg Fallen to Versk control.
• Setti Borg Fallen to Versk control.
• Sjauthi Borg
• Attanthi Borg Fallen to Versk control.
• Niunthe Borg
• Tionthe Borg
• Ellifti Borg
• Tolfti Borg Fallen to Versk control.
• Thretandi Borg More legend than history, the 13th city is said to have been completed some 3000 years ago, but the gods saw its creation as an act of hubris - the dwarves overreaching their limits - and wept it from the map as soon as the final brick was laid.