Dragonmech - 2nd Age of Walkers by Azamor

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PRINTED IN CANADA.

CREDITS

Writers: Neal Gamache, F. Wesley Schneider, Andrew

N. Smith, Matt Sprengeler, Christina Stiles

Developer: Joseph Goodman

Art Director: Shane Hartley

Artists: Kian Chai Ng, Kari Christensen,

Nick Greenwood, Liz Harper, Brad McDevitt,

Grey Thornberry, Alex Sheikman

Graphic Designer: Shane Hartley

Cartographers:Ed Bourelle, Jeremy Simmons

Editor: Ken Hart

Managing Editor: Stewart Wieck


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Tactics o the Stenian Conederacy 37LIFE AMONG THE

STENIAN CONFEDERACY 38

Languages 39Calendar 39Religious Practices 39Commerce 39Social Structures 40Values 40

Property 40Marriage and Family 41Organized Crime 41

RULES INFORMATION 42

Clan Heritage 42Feats o the Stenian Conederacy 43DragonMech Pilot (New Prestige Class) 45Stenian Equipment 46SECRETS 48

Formation o the Stenian Conederacy 48The Steingard 50

THE LEGION 53EVERYBODY KNOWS... 53

HISTORY 54

RELIGION 56

MAGIC 56

DIPLOMACY 57

GEOGRAPHY 57Ater the Lunar Rain 57Natural Resources 57Sites o Note 58

The Blood Flats 58Ancient Kamla 59The Crater o Visages 59Mist Valleys 59

FACTIONS 59

Goals 60Structure and Subgroups 60

The Hub 60The Chapters 61The Citizens 62

Citizens o the Legion 63MECHS OF THE LEGION 67Forester 67Rook 68Stormblade 69City-mech Haven 70

Stats 70Combat Tactics 70Appearance 71Lie on Board 72Getting on Board 73Government and Major Factions 73Society 74

Economy 75Organizations 75

Mech Organization in the Legion 75Tactics o the Legion 76LIFE AMONG THE LEGION 77

Languages 77Calendar 77Religious Practices 77Commerce 78Social Structure 78Values 78

Law and Justice 79Nonhumans 79

Relations with Others 80Family Lie 81Tales 81


Tribal Heritage 82Feats o the Legion 84Reborn (New Prestige Class) 86Virtue (New Prestige Class) 87New Cleric Domain: Ancestors 88New Cleric Domain: The Hunt 88New Spells o the Legion 89SECRETS 91

Shar Thizdic 91The Jajanya 92

THE IRONTOOTH CLANS 95EVERYBODY KNOWS... 95

HISTORY 95

RELIGION 96

MAGIC 96

DIPLOMACY 97

GEOGRAPHY 97

FACTIONS 97

Clan Battleaxe 98Clan Bugbear 100Clan Hawk 101Clan o the Middle Pass 103Iron Maiden Clan 105

Jaguar Clan 108Lotus Clan 111North Star Clan 112The Righteous Lancers Clan 115The Shintaji (Spirit Sealers) Clan 116MECHS OF THE

IRONTOOTH CLANS 117

Jaguar Harrier 117Kabutoshi 118Samurai (Base Design) 119Manxia Guorishi (Samurai Spirit Mech) 120Spirit-Powered Mechs 120LIFE AMONG THE

CONTENTSTHE SECOND AGE OF

WALKERS 5

THE STENIAN

CONFEDERACY 7EVERYBODY KNOWS... 7

HISTORY 8

Clan Fralie 9Clan Kudeah 9Clan Miglud 9Duerok 10

RELIGION 10MAGIC 10

DIPLOMACY 11

GEOGRAPHY 13

Lok-stead 14Nedderpiks Roam 15Thuron-Dom 15Goria Reign 17Lokags Throne 18FACTIONS 18

The Military 19Military Ranks 19Rank Insignias 21Branches o the Military 21

DragonMechs 22The Justicars 22

The Stenian Council 23The Gearwrights Guild 24

The Gear-Driven Arts 24Guild Structure 25Specializations 26Followers o Dotrak and the Guild 26Guildhalls and Workshops 27Mech-Building Philosophy 27

MECHS OF THE

STENIAN CONFEDERACY 28

Arbitrator 28Landshark 30

Pouncer 31City-mech Durgan-lok 32Stats 32Combat Tactics 32Appearance 33Lie on Board 34Getting on Board 34Government and Major Factions 35Society 37Economy 37Organizations 37

Mech Organization in theStenian Conederacy 37


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IRONTOOTH CLANS 121

Languages 121Calendar 121Religious Practices 122

The Regenerators Cult 122The Righteous 122

Commerce 122Social Structure 123Values 123

The Jousts 123Mech Lord Jousts 123Honor Duel Jousts 124


Feats o the Irontooth Clans 124Harrier Steamjock (New Prestige Class) 126Shintaji (Variant Cleric) 127New Cleric Domain: Spirit 130New Spells o the Irontooth Clans 130Irontooth Clan Clockwork Puppets 134

Collector 134Creeper 135Squire 135

SECRETS 135

Moonwatcher Clan 135The Clash 137Zack Rodebaugh, Artist o Steel 141The Victor 143

LARILE NATION 145EVERYBODY KNOWS... 145

HISTORY 145

RELIGION 146

MAGIC 146

DIPLOMACY 147

GEOGRAPHY 148

Heral 148The Rentaril Inn 148Caitlil and Bessemer 150Gelgaren Highlands 151

Lilat 152Lebra 152

The North Coast 153Wistholiel 153FACTIONS 153

Status Among the Elves 153The White Congress 154The Converts 154The Cyarliel 155The Sylvan Shards 156Citizens o Larile Nation 156MECHS OF LARILE NATION 157

Black Rose 157Breath o Heral (unique) 159Runemech (8 unique mechs) 161

Warlock 162City-mech Tannanliel 164

Stats 164Combat Tactics 165Appearance 166Lie on Board 167Getting on Board 168Government and Factions 169Society 171Economy 171Organizations 171

Mech Organization in Larile Nation 172Tactics o Larile Nation 172

LIFE AMONG THELARILE NATION 173

Languages 173Calendar 173Religious Practices 173Commerce 174Social Structure 174Values 175

Family Lie 175RULES INFORMATION 175

Feats o Larile Nation 176Heral Ranger, a.k.a. Mage Jockey(New Prestige Class) 177New Spells o the Elves 179SECRETS 182

Tannan, Architect o Tannanliel 182Iparo, Tannanliel Archmage 183Larwyn Beechre, Old Scholar 184The Shadow Congress 185

APPENDIX ONE: LEGAL

INFORMATION 187

TABLESTable 1-1: Stenian ConederacyMilitary Rank Insignias 21Table 1-2: Mechs o theStenian Conederacy 29Table 1-3: Onboard Weaponry Stenian Conederacy 29Table 1-4: Durgan-lok Payload Usage 32Table 1-5: Durgan-lok Onboard Weapons 32Table 1-6: Durgan-lok Mech Fleet 32Table 1-7: Stenian Conederacy Feats 43Table 1-8: DragonMech Pilot 45Table 1-9: Weapons o theStenian Conederacy Exotic 46Table 1-10: Armor o theStenian Conederacy 47Table 2-1: Mechs o the Legion 67Table 2-2: Onboard Weaponry Legion 68Table 2-3: New Mech Weapons Legion 69Table 2-4: Haven Payload Usage 71Table 2-5: Haven Onboard Weapons 71Table 2-6: Legion Feats 85Table 2-7: Reborn 86Table 2-8: Virtue 87Table 3-1: Mechs o the Irontooth Clans 117Table 3-2: Onboard Weaponry

Irontooth Clans 118Table 3-3: Irontooth Clan Feats 125Table 3-4: The Harrier Steamjock 126Table 3-5: Trance Table 128Table 3-6: The Shintaji 129Table 4-1: Mechs o Larile Nation 158Table 4-2: Onboard Weaponry Larile Nation 158Table 4-3: Tannanliel Payload Usage 164Table 4-4: Tannanliel Onboard Weapons 164Table 4-5: Larile Nation Feats 176Table 4-6: Heral Ranger 178


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plate 1 Parilus, one o three Master Gearwrights. The

strength o his vision changed the world.


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Yet this is not the rst Age o Walkers. Theancient library o the Gearwrights, knownas the Master Repository, speaks o an earlierage. Beore the lunar rain, beore the dawn othe elves, beore even the age o magic, mechswalked the land. This rst age o walkersended abruptly, sending the Gearwrights intoseclusion, but no one knows or sure whathappened.

Now a new age has dawned on Highpoint,and the Gearwrights are active once more. TheSecond Age o Walkers is at hand! Mechs walkthe land, sheltering reugees and battling mon-sters. The dwarven steam-mechs belch blacksmoke rom charred smokestacks, thunderingacross their rocky domain at a urious pace. Thehuman nomads o the Legion strive to catch up,uniting or the rst time in centuries to build

their own mechs. The chaotic Irontooth Clansraid where they can and trade where they cant,acquiring mechs o all kinds through meansboth legitimate and not. And the elves o thenorthern orests watch the antics o the short-lived races and learn rom them, developingmagically animated walkers whose arcane capa-bilities make them seemingly unstoppable.

This book is an indispensable guide tothe new ace o the DragonMech world. Forthe rst time, it takes a detailed look at theour major mechdoms: the ordered StenianConederacy, the expansionist Legion, theunpredictable Irontooth Clans, and the arcane

Larile Nation.The Stenian Conederacy is marked primar-ily by law, order, and a strong military. Somesee its imposition o martial law as too muchorder; others welcome the security it brings.Every citizen o the Stenian Conederacy isefectively an extension o the armed orces,and no examination o the Conederacy couldbe complete without a thorough look at itsmilitary. The ve city-mechs o the Coned-eracy are also described, including a detailedlook at Durgan-lok, the worlds rst city-mech.Also important is the Gearwrights Guild, which

is so strongly aliated with the Stenian Con-ederacy that many consider it a second brancho the government.

The Legion is inseparable rom its char-ismatic leader Shar Thizdic, whose exploitsagainst the lunar dragons are legendary. Sharhas managed to unite the disparate humantribes o the endless plains or the rst time inmemory. Now this growing nation is a virtualextension o his will, its populace worshippinghim as a god and obeying his every whim. Theold human nomads have seen their culturesreshaped, their values altered, and their godsreplaced and they accept it voluntarily thanksto Shars wiles. His ambitions to rule Highpointare no secret, and the other powers ear hisgrowing military might. He has two city-mechsnished already, and shows no sign o stopping.

But not all is right within the Legion; at leastone o the tribes now united under the Legionhas a sinister agenda o its own.

The Irontooth Clans are a motley collec-tion o barbarian-monks who have grown outo the oddest o alliances. Bader Irontooth,a dwarven monk who thought he could doa better job than the Stenian Conederacy,inadvertently ounded the Clans a century agowhen his eforts attracted the loyalty o scof-laws and criminals. Now the Irontooth Clanshave expanded to become a orce in their ownright. Individually, the Clan members are themost capable mech pilots on the planet. They

are also the most varied, as the Irontooth Clansrange rom bloodthirsty raiders to zenlike pro-tectors. They are wild and ree in an era markedby increasingly oppressive governments, andmany a Stenian or Legion citizen longs or thereedom o the Irontooth although i theyknew the agenda o the mysterious Lost Clan othe Irontooth, they might scuttle back to theirsecure autocracies.

Larile Nation, the largest concentrationo elves, is a magical society that has nallyembraced mechs and with a vengeance.Ater the elven archmage Tannan witnessed

the city-mechs o the dwarves and saw theirpotential, he led a similar project or the elves.Now rising rom the smoking ruins o their

once-great orest is Tannanliel, the worlds rstmagically powered city-mech. More than 2,000eet tall and quite probably the single mostpowerul orce on the planet, it has reclaimedwide swaths o the northern orests rom thelunar menace. But Tannans eforts have comewith a price, which will soon become only tooobvious.

Each o these our powerul orces hasalready shaped the world o DragonMech andwill continue to do so. They are described inthe pages that ollow according to what ormatbest suits each action. The Stenian Coned-eracy is dened by its military, so the militaryis the ocus o its chapter. The military is alsoimportant in the Legion, but primarily rom theperspective o its relationship to Shar Thizdicand the wild nomad tribes hes managed tounite, so they receive the bulk o attention inthe Legion chapter. The Irontooth Clans, onthe other hand, are wild and varied. There aremore than 50 clans, all o them diferent, eacho them unique. Ten o the most intriguingclans are presented, along with stats or a widevariety o the unusual NPCs who lead them.Finally, the Larile Nation is presented throughthe lenses o its wizards, who are its deningcharacteristic.

The Stenian Conederacy, the Legion, and

the Larile Nation each have one or morecompleted city-mechs, which make excellentopportunities or adventure. Each o theirchapters includes details on, respectively, Dur-gan-lok, the very rst city-mech; Haven, SharThizdics second city-mech and a clear signal ohis expansionist intentions; and Tannanliel, therst magically animated city-mech and indis-putably the most powerul in the world. TheIrontooth Clans lack a city-mech (though oneo their clans is pursuing such a project), sotheir chapter instead ocuses on details o theclans themselves, which present a nearly limit-less potential or adventure.

Youll nd mechs in these pages, o course,along with characters and spells and eats oevery kind. This book will also show you howpeople live in each mechdom. Highpoint is notyour typical antasy world. I you want to liveamong the natives, it helps to know their ways.

The Second Age o Walkers is a time ounparalleled adventure. Players will nd all thematerial they need to experience it here. GMswill learn the secrets o each mechdom and sta-tistics or important NPCs like Shar Thizdic andTannan. So stoke the boiler, weave the runes,and start your mech. Its time to explore!

THE SECOND AGE OF WALKERSOne hundred years ago, the lunar rains began. Meteorsscorched the earth, lunar dragons devoured surface dwellers,and centuries of civilization crumbled. Yet one voice made itselfheard in this time of chaos, and that voice brought forth the ideaof the mech. The voice was that of Parilus, one of three MasterGearwrights, and the strength of his vision changed the world.Now mechs walk the land, and the Age of Walkers is at hand.


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plate 1 The standard races are well represented in the land o Highpoint.

plate 2 The Stenian Conederacy is

dened by its military.


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The Stenian Conederacy is one o the mostordered institutions still unctioning inan era marked primarily by chaos and disaster.Born rom the lawul dwarven stronghold oDuerok but united by the structure o theGearwrights Guild, the Stenian Conederacy isa loose alliance o city-mechs that patrol nearly200,000 square miles o surace territory. It isthe only dwarven institution on Highpoint to

break with the traditional clan model o ruler-ship, and this act combined with longstandingbehaviors ingrained in the minds o its manydwarven members have created tensions sinceits earliest days. Nonetheless, these tensionsare usually resolved in an orderly ashion, andthe result has been a reshaping o Highpointssurace world.

Beore the lunar rains began, the ancientdwarven stronghold o Duerok had a popula-tion o more than 600,000 dwarves, housednot only in the halls o Duerok itsel but ina sprawling arrangement o protectorates,alliances, and clan territories that extended

all across the subsurace o the atlands androughlands. The whole arrangement was runairly eciently by a hierarchical network oclan relationships, with the most ancient clanelders governing vast swaths o territory whiletheir progeny controlled day-to-day details inprogressively smaller zones o the pyramidalgovernment structure.

This system had worked ne or untold gen-erations, but it was not suited to the once-in-a-lietime stresses exposed by the lunar rain. Thebest solution to the endless waves o reugeesengendered by the lunar rain would have been

or all the dwarves o Duerok to mobilize to itsborders, deending the state along its manyentry points. But mustering that sort o deenserequired organizing a huge number o warriorsover a vast area. Instead o warriors owing inan orderly ashion to where they were neededmost, the clan system resulted in warriorsowing in a rather disorderly ashion to wheretheir relatives were concentrated most. Some

o Dueroks entry points were well deended,while others were let wide open. Moreover,the dwarven love o hearth and home promoteda tendency to deend ones own strongholdrst, then that o allies. Far too many dwarwarriors were let deending the centermostterritories while the outer borders were woe-ully undermanned.

All this could have been avoided had a cen-tral administrator orchestrated the deense oDuerok, but there was no such person. Instead,there were more than our dozen senior clanelders, whose own descendants had intermar-ried in a web o allegiances. Some clans were

led by multiple elders; other elders singly ledmultiple clans. When it came down to a crisissituation, they decided to protect their rela-tives rather than strategize or the good o thewhole.

The Stenian Conederacy was oundedwith resh memories o the resulting disaster.Duerok was ransacked by successive waves oreugees seeking shelter rom the lunar rain. Itspopulation was nearly halved over the course oseveral decades, and the territory it controlledshrunk by a similar margin. To the Conederacy,this all could have been prevented with order. A

strong, ordered government ruled by objectivedecision-making, dened authority, and clearlines o communication could have prevented

the ate that beell Duerok. And thats what theStenian Conederacy aims to do.The Stenian Conederacy is an alliance o

ve city-mechs, each o which has absolutedominion over its own territory. The city-mechscoordinate their activities in a continuing bidto bring ordered rulership to the surace world.Each city-mech has a clearly dened govern-ment, a strict chain o command, and a setterritory. They patrol their domains with ironsts, strictly enorcing a body o law necessaryto preserve the whole.

At least, they do so in theory. Despite itsnoble ideas, the Stenian Conederacy has someweaknesses. Most o its dwarven members havelived or a hundred or more years, and stillremember the authority o the old clans. Thenew rule o the abstract governing councils othe Stenians does not yet have a rm legitimacyin the mind o these older dwarves. Further-more, the politics o the Stenian Conederacyare complicated by the Gearwrights Guild,which owns one o the city-mechs, controlsmany mechs on its own, and exists as a wildcard action within the Stenians own govern-ment but outside its ormal chain o command.Finally, the Stenian Conederacy remains aconederacy, not an autocracy, so or all its talko rm order and clear lines o command, it

still has to contend with the act that it has noultimate authority, only ve allied city-mechswhich make up its highest echelon o power.

These ve city-mechs are the core othe Stenian Conederacy. They are Durgan-lok, Nedderpik, Lokag, Thuron, and Goria.Although Durgan-lok was the rst city-mechto be constructed, the Conederacy was reallyborn with the construction o Nedderpik.Durgan-lok retains strong ties to the clanleadership model o Duerok, which oversawits construction. Nedderpik was built by theGearwrights Guild with the express intentrom the beginning that it be outside the con-

trol o Duerok. Echoes o the old clan modelare strongest on Durgan-lok, but on Nedderpikand subsequent city-mechs, the main loyalty isto the Stenian Conederacy.

The Stenian Conederacy is rmly dedicatedto establishing stability in an otherwise cha-otic world. It stands as the symbol o order andmight to a world that or decades has seen noth-ing but chaos and destruction. The Steniansbelieve rmly that order extends outward romwithin, and the only way to reestablish peaceand tranquility is to be stalwart deenders olaw. Nebulous concerns o good and evil are

THE STENIAN CONFEDERACY

EVERYBODY KNOWS...

In a world of chaos, survival is only ensured by order. Orderprovides solidity, predictability, and, most importantly, strength:the raw, unadulterated strength that comes from focusing massiveamounts of otherwise discordant force. Five mighty city-mechshave concentrated the strength of thousands upon thousands of

dwarven warriors into a single, unied force that is without adoubt the most powerful political entity on Highpoint today. Thatforce is the Stenian Confederacy.


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secondary to the virtues o order and stability;

to the Stenians, good is a natural consequenceo order, and all o Highpoint shall one day reapthe benets.

The Conederacy establishes this order bystrict military discipline. Each member has arank and a place, and clearly knows who is incharge. Orders are not questioned; they aresimply obeyed. Rules are the backbone oStenian command, and without them the wholeo the system alls into chaos. Members o theConederacy have dedicated themselves to notonly the philosophy o law, but to its applica-tion in everyday lie.

Strict militarism bordering on martial

law is everyday practice among the StenianConederacy. Members must simply adhereto their laws. Almost no other requirementsexist. While this sometimes leads to extremeso all sorts, it has also led to a remarkably opensociety. The old clan model o Duerok wasextremely insular, ocused almost solely ondwarves as the center o all civilization. TheStenian Conederacy, on the other hand, hasquickly recognized the technical talents ognomes, the magical prowess o elves, and theambition and wide-ranging minds o humans.The Stenians accept all comers, regardless o

race or background, provided they can prove

their worth. In practice, o course, some othe more traditional dwarves grumble aboutthe newcomers, and the physical constraintso older city-mechs like Durgan-lok limit theability o humans to traverse their pitch-blackve-oot-tall corridors, but compared to mostother societies on Highpoint, the Stenian Con-ederacy is open-minded.

Lie is hard aboard Stenian mechs andin their surace-patrolled sae zones. Thereare very ew slackers among the Stenians; thehard-working survivors o the halls o Duerokhave very little patience or those not willingto ght or their own survival. They maintain

the calendar o Duerok, in which there are onlysix holidays in a 252-day year, and these daystheres so much work that those six holidays arenever celebrated. Every citizen must prove hisworth and be willing to work constantly. Somecity-mechs, such as Nedderpik, were actuallybuilt by their crew; others accept petitionersor available crew space, but only i they haveuseul skills or needed abilities. Still, in recentyears the standards have declined as the crisismentality o the early years has receded. Now itis possible to get a short stay on a Stenian mechi your coin purse is heavy enough to meet the

heavy tax burden (or heavy enough to sway theimmigration ocial, but woe betide that o-cial i hes caught or the immigrant, or that

matter). Despite the occasional exception, themajority o the Stenian hierarchy is lawul tothe core, and theirs is the kind o law enorcedwith swit, unquestioning justice.

Most o the Stenian government is in actmilitary in origin. Mech crews are almostalways ormally commissioned in the military,and they are judge, jury, and executioner whenin the eld. But the military discipline o theConederacy extends even beyond those onactive duty. In a sense, there is no divisionbetween the military and the citizens o theStenian Conederacy. Pilots wives help tomaintain their mechs, just as dwarven matronso old sharpened their husbands axes betweenbattles. Children learn to recognize rank insig-nias at a young age. Every able-bodied youth istrained or war, even i he never actively enlistsin the military.

Members o the Conederacy have no toler-ance or individuals that live their lives withoutorder. The chaos o the rust riders, the reeriding o the Irontooth Clans, the unstruc-tured nature o lie in the city o Edge: Theseare dangerous, even terriying concepts to theConederacy. The philosophy o discipline isso rmly entrenched in the minds o Steniancitizens that it ranks alongside such truisms asa dwar needs ale to survive. To the Stenians,

order is a prerequisite or survival. Those whodo not live with structure, order, and disciplineare destined only or death, the same kind odeath many Stenians remember witnessing inthe bloody halls o Duerok.

HISTORYBeore the lunar rain, the Stenian Coned-eracy did not exist. Its antecedent, thedwarven stronghold called Duerok, was a pow-

erul orce in the subsurace world below theroughlands. Only ater the lunar rain createda chain o events that would shatter Duerok,and only ater that in turn led to the creationo Durgan-lok, the rst city-mech, would theStenian Conederacy come into existence.

But Duerok did exist beore the lunar rain,and had existed or many, many centuries.Duerok is an ancient stronghold with strongties to dozens o dwarven clans. Strongest othem all is Clan Duerok, o course, but thenamesake clan is only one o many. The wordDuerok is identied rst and oremost with


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the physical stronghold that bears its name, notthe clan rom which it originated hundreds oyears ago.

Duerok was (and still is) a major actor intrade through the underdeep. The EndlessRiver, which carries trade goods rom one endo Highpoint to the other, ows under thegreat clifs and mountains at the center o thecontinent. As the Endless River ows eastwardunder the Boundary Peaks, the roughlands, andthe atlands, its major currents drive straightthrough the heart o Duerok. For centuries,this proximity to such a major trade route hasmade Duerok a vital stopping point or under-dark trading. Merchants would pick up goodsall along the western reaches o the EndlessRiver, then bring them to Duerok or exchange.Duerok in turn maintained a strong presencein Edge, where it would bring its goods out totrade with the surace world. For years, Duerokstrove to control Edge and thus dominatetrade along the Endless River, but each o itsattempts to do so inevitably ailed.

The best-known o the Duerok clans wasnot Duerok itsel, but Clan Fralie. Fralie wasresponsible or errying goods rom Duerok toEdge, and handled many trading transactionsin Edge itsel. As a result, Fralie was knownto outsiders as the ace o Duerok. Many sur-ace-dwellers still to this day dont realize thatDuerok is also the name o a clan; they think oFralie as the dominant clan o the stronghold.

The clan system o Duerok was ruled by theelder members o each clan. Each clan hadits own system or rulership, but usually theeldest male warrior acted as chancellor o acouncil o elders. In some cases, matriarchalcouncils dominated. Regardless o the details,the elder system ormed a natural pyramidalstructure over what was a vast domain. Morethan 600,000 dwarves were ruled by a systemo progressively younger and more localizedrepresentatives o the elders o a ew dominantamilies. Marriages intertwined the amiliesand complicated the relationships at manyplaces, but in a lawul society with strictly

obeyed values o amily, clan, and tradition,these complications never reached a crisispoint.

Until the coming o the lunar rain. Theefects were devastating, and led directly to theormation o the Stenian Conederacy. Buriedorever in the early period o strie and disaster,now orgotten to many, are the names o theclans that ell, and the names o their leaderswho have no one let alive to remember them.But these names are not orgotten by all. Manydwarves in the Stenian Conederacy maintainto this day a personal shrine dedicated to

the warriors who ell deending Duerok. TheStenian rulership is split on the value o theseshrines: Obviously, no one objects to venerat-

ing allen warriors, but some worry that thechosen method only perpetuates the legacy othe old clan system. When the administrationo city-mech Lokag built a centralized shrineon its main level dedicated to all the allenwarriors o Duerok, the city-mech populacesupported its decision. But when Lokags rul-ers subsequently tried to quietly integratepersonal shrines into the central location inother words, remove individual loyalties to old,dead clans and replace them with a Stenian-controlled edice the backlash was extremeby dwarven standards.

Despite the best eforts o the StenianConederacy, historical clan loyalties remain.Dwarves born on the modern city-mechsconsider such loyalties anachronistic. Unor-tunately or the Stenians, the dwarven liespano up to 450 years means there are ar moreliving dwarves to appreciate the clan systemthan there are to disdain it. Loyalty to theConederacy is slowly taking hold, particularlyamong coglayers, mech jockeys, technicians,engineers, and the rest o the technical popula-tion, but it is a very slow transition.

The history o the Stenian Conederacy wasmost shaped by the ollowing clans, who retainthe greatest loyalties among its citizens.

CLAN FRALIEF

Fralie still survives as an active clan, thoughits numbers are greatly reduced rom whatthey once were. Due to its regular contact withthe surace world through trading in Edge, itsmembers were most comortable with leavingtheir dwarven halls to live on the surace worldin a city-mech so when Durgan-lok rst trodon the atlands, it was with a crew comprisedlargely o Fralie dwarves. More than a thirdo Durgan-loks population has strong ties to

Fralie. Should there ever be a conict betweenStenian and Fralie rulership, it is unclear howthis portion o the crew would react.

CLAN KUDEAH

One o the smallest o all the clans, Kudeahhad ewer than 3,000 members, almostall o whom were concentrated in a singlestronghold on the ringes o the main Duerok-controlled areas. The Kudeah stronghold was

wiped out in a single day during the earliestinuxes o reugees, and the ew Kudeahdwarves to survive were splintered as they

retreated. Nonetheless, the Kudeah were ableto nd shelter due to one o the greatest assetso their tribe: They were jewelers and gemcrat-ers, considered some o the most gited o alldwarven artists, and without a doubt one o thewealthiest o all dwarven tribes. For the samereason, they were also considered efete andweak, and many dwarven warriors thought it nosurprise that a clan o artists would all to invad-ing reugees in a single day.

For several decades, what remained o theKudeah dwarves was scattered throughoutthe besieged, decaying halls o Duerok, untilthe role o mechs began to grow. The Kudeahdwarves, it was discovered, had a ne dexterityunmatched among most dwarven clans. Theymade great mech pilots. Generations o work-ing in minute detail with tiny gems paid ofwhen the world needed ne motor skills. Nowmany o the top mech jockeys among the Con-ederacy are rom Clan Kudeah. They are stillregarded as weak by the old axe-warriors, butthe number o times a Kudeah dwar has savedthe lie o an axe-warrior has ameliorated thisjudgment somewhat. Being a Kudeah dwar isnot a prerequisite to becoming a mech jockeyin the Stenian Conederacy, but it is certainlya winning point o entry, and many an aspir-ing pilot has been known to lie about his clan

heritage. Because the Kudeah clan has lostits stronghold and most o its numbers, it isefectively destroyed, so clan loyalty is not abig problem or Stenian administrators, exceptin the abstract sense that many older Kudeahdwarves hope to someday clear an area or anew stronghold.

CLAN MIGLUDMiglud was a manuacturing clan, dedi-cated to rening the earths bounty intothe nest goods available. Its members werecratsmen trained rom their athers knee inthe respected medieval crats: blacksmithing,weapon orging, leatherworking, etching,and others. As a result, Miglud dwarves wererecruited early on by Parilus or their techni-cal aptitude. O all the dwarves, they learnedmechcrat the astest, and it is they who playedthe greatest role in building Durgan-lok. It wasa Miglud dwar named Stenius who hammeredinto place the nal bolts on Seregs rst mech.Clan Miglud mechs have since migrated to allve city-mechs in positions as coglayers and


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engineers, and generally show a strong loyaltyto the Stenian Conederacy. Nonetheless, theyhave strong memories o the amily orges

where many were raised, and maintain personalshrines despite their proessed alliance to theStenians and the god Dotrak.

DUEROK

The stronghold o Duerok still exists. Morethan 300,000 dwarves make their homeover the hundreds o miles o tunnels that com-prise Duerok. This population is comparableto the roughly 300,000 surace-dwellers whoare protected by the city-mechs o the StenianConederacy, though its vastly larger than therelatively tiny population o just under 30,000actually living on mechs.

Dueroks relationship with the Stenian Con-ederacy is both very strong and very weak. Itcould be best compared to a terribly strainedamily relationship. The Stenian Conederacywas born rom the halls o Duerok, draws mosto its population rom Duerok, counts amongits citizens primarily ormer citizens o Duerok,and, in a very literal sense, was actually built byDuerok, or it was Duerok that contributed thelabor and supplies to build Durgan-lok. None-theless, the Stenian Conederacy ociallydoesnt recognize the clan structure o Duerok,

eschews belie in the traditional Duerok gods,and has physically abandoned the territory oDuerok. The medieval eudal structure o theremaining clans o Duerok hasnt helped mat-ters; the lack o a central authority in Duerok iswhat many Stenians believed caused the lunardisaster in the rst place, and to this day theStenian Conederacy still must deal with eachclan o Duerok individually.

O all the other societies on Highpoint,the Stenian Conederacy is most like that oDuerok. When aid is needed, the Stenians andDuerok are quick to provide assistance to eachother. Yet they are orever separated by the

issues that divide them, and resentment sim-mers on both sides.

RELIGION

The Stenian Conederacy is ocially withouta religion. The coming o the lunar rain letmany dwarves without aith in their gods, evendeep in the traditional bastions o Duerok. Thecoming o Parilus, with his technical diagrams

and lie-saving mechs, raised urther questionsabout how a mortal with a wrench could saveDuerok while the gods could not. The nal

straw was the sporadic appearance o trak-traksand whispered rumors o Vessels o Dotrakwalking the earth. Something other than thetraditional pantheon was reshaping Highpoint,but whether it was mechs, Dotrak, or the lunargods was not clear.

Due to the dominant position o the techni-cal arts in the Stenian government, a great manysenior Stenian ocials believe in the quasi-godDotrak. Given Dotraks hands-of philosophy(he just set the universe in motion, thenstepped back and let it run) and the succinctunion between Dotraks ostensible teachingsand the acts o mechanical physics, a beliein Dotrak oten means little more than strongaith in the power o the steam engine and noaith in the old dwarven gods. The preponder-ance o technical classes on the city-mechsmeans belie in Dotrak is strongest on boardthe mechs. However, even among the suracesocieties that the city-mechs protect, the obvi-ous physical protection o mechs comparedto clerics who are still having trouble receivingtheir spells makes it a lot easier to believe inDotrak than the old gods.

Nonetheless, there are always a ew holdoutsin any mass movement. Particularly on Durgan-lok, the most traditional o the dwarven mechs,worshippers o the old gods remain. They are

ridiculed by some o their more progressivebrethren, yet still cling to their ways. Korduk,the Soul Father and god o the dwarves, is par-ticularly popular among these traditionalists,as is Morst, god o strength, and Glorius, godo valor. Details on these gods can be ound onpage 10 o the Mech Manual.

Although the Stenian Conederacy is o-cially without a religion, there is one pervasivebelie that could be called a Stenian religion and oten is by outsiders. This is belie in theLaw. The Law, with a capital L, is the originalterm by which the ounders o the Conederacyreerred to their system o rules and regula-

tions. These laws became known as the Law,and now the Law is recognized as the highestideal o Stenian lie.

The Law is not written down anywhere, noris it recorded by an ocial keeper. It is under-stood by those within the Conederacy as therule o authority or the good o the whole. TheLaw is when a military superior commands hissubordinates. The Law is when a blacksmithmust work late into the night, whether hewants to or not, to ensure the city-mech isrepaired beore it sets of in the morning. TheLaw is when a scoaw must be executed or a

minor crime in order to maintain order amongrestless surace-dwellers, and the Law is whena high-ranking Stenian military commander

must be permitted leniency on a major crimebecause his military talents bring more goodto the whole than the bad brought by his crime.The Law governs waking times, meal times,even proper intervals o rest; it governs themilitary hierarchy, punishments or violationso its decrees, and the chain o command. TheLaw governs everything.

The Law pervades all aspects o Stenian lie,but is oten missed by visitors, who dont catchthe diference between reerences to thelaw and the Law. There are written laws onboard all city-mechs, which constitute the lawso that city-mech, but they are brie and re-quently reerence the Law. More than once,a written law has been overruled by a subjectiveinterpretation o the Law when the situationwarrants it.

I anything could be called the religiono the Stenian Conederacy, it is the guidingorce o the Law. The Law is never promul-gated or stated outright. It is simply the willo the authority acting in the interest o all.The uninching loyalty to order and disciplineevinced by the Stenian crew, combined withthe overwhelming lawul alignment and obedi-ence to authority that permeates every Stenianvessel, makes every Stenian citizen acutelyaware o all aspects o the Law.

MAGIC

Magic plays a small and regularly diminish-ing role within the Stenian Conederacy.Arcane magic has never had a strong hold ondwarven culture, but divine magic has beenimportant or generations. Now the gods speakless vocally to their ollowers, and the steamengine appears to be the solution to the worldsproblems. Growing aith in Dotrak urther

erodes the status o clerics and other divinespellcasters. Taken together, these actors haveresulted in a steady movement away rom magicand toward mechanical solutions.

One exception is the combination o magicand mech. This is an area o intense interestwithin the Conederacy. Part o the interest lieswith coglayers intensely scrutinizing optionsor using magical or extraplanar elements insteam-powered construction. Another partlies in those who try to cross the boundarieso steam and spell, particularly steam magesand those with similar abilities. Essentially, the


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only major research in arcane magic occurringwithin the boundaries o the Stenian Coned-

eracy concerns its application to mechs.Members o the spellcasting classes are rare,

but they do exist. Even though the cultural zeit-geist is moving toward steam power, there arestill holdouts and anachronists. Wizards are lessrare than sorcerers, who are now being bornwith much greater requency. Many sorcererssubjugate their innate talents to pursue morerespected careers as mech jockeys or coglay-ers, but just as many indulge their abilities. Andthe churches o the old world, though they havelost many ollowers, struggle on. New clericsare recruited, although at a drastically reducedrate. Magic-wielding Stenians can still be

ound, but theyre the minority these days.

DIPLOMACY

The Stenian Conederacy seeks to estab-lish order on the surace world so that itcan once again be saely inhabited. Since theinception o the Conederacy, both loyalistsand opponents have wondered where thiswill end. It is quite possible that the martial

law imposed by the Coned-eracy will not end even i theproblems o the lunar rain

are overcome. Other threatsmay take their place. And so,once-temporary settlements

are becoming permanent militaryoutposts, long-term inrastructure is

being developed, and the Conederacyis increasingly suspicious o groupswithin its boundaries that dont agree

to its rule. Military law is the undeni-able absolute.With this in mind, Stenian diplo-

macy is a rather simple situation: obey or bepunished. Overwhelming military might isthe solution to most problems. Actions takenin the name o rebuilding the surace world,protecting the citizens o the Conederacy, ordeending the city-mechs generally can haveno negative repercussions, as ar as the Con-ederacy is concerned. This attitude obviouslydoesnt endear the Conederacy to its neigh-bors. There are as many resentul subjugates othe Conederacy as there are willing citizens.

The Irontooth Clans have long beenviewed as criminals and outcasts by theConederacy. Although certain aspects o

their society are lawul and even respectable,given their monastic heritage, they remaindi cult to rule thus the Conederacy viewsthem as a potential threat. The clans outlaw

ways and unprecedented piloting skills makethem ar more dangerous than helpul inStenian eyes. Dominating them or assimilatingthem seems to be impossible, so the Coned-eracy resorts to what it sees as its only option:eliminating them.

In reality, however, this conclusion may notbe so stark. Most o the Irontooth Clans donthave nearly as much enmity or the StenianConederacy as one would expect. They regardthe Stenians just as they regard everyone elsethey meet: as individual people, not a singleunited orce. There are riendships betweensome Stenian surace-dwellers and nearby

Irontooth clansmen, just as there are open con-icts. Moreover, the Irontooth Clans are manyand varied, and even while some dislike theStenians, others have no quarrel. Many Iron-tooth respect talent in all things, especiallymech piloting, and this has led them to acceptStenian mech jockeys or training and joustingwithin a clan. Many such mech jockeys eventu-ally return to the Conederacy illegally, neverdiscussing their time spent with the IrontoothClans. This inormal cross-pollination o ideasslowly binds the two actions, and there is asmall minority o well-respected mech jockeys

within the Conederacy that proposes somesort o peaceul solution to the Irontoothproblem.

The Stenian Conederacy considers SharThizdics Legion to be an outright threat. O -cially, no diplomatic relations exist betweenthe Stenian Conederacy and the Legion. Therehave been uno cial visitors between bothgovernments, however, as well as some degreeo back-channel communication. On the moreconrontational side, shots have been redbetween the two actions, particularly alongthe eastern clifs near the endless plains. Bothgovernments strive to keep these incidents to aminimum, as no one wants a war yet.

Its clear that the Legion has an expansion-ist agenda, which worries the leaders o theConederacy. However, they too eventuallywish to extend their ordered view o societyto more citizens, and are concerned about SharThizdic as much or the act that he stands intheir way as or the act that his growing baseo city-mechs is a threat. From what is publiclyknown, it seems the Stenian Conederacy ismostly concerned with patrolling its bordersagainst the Legion, while the Legion may beactively sending spies and saboteurs into theStenian city-mechs.

Some elements within the Stenian Con-ederacy believe that Shar Thizdic should beattacked now. They view the construction ohis City Killer steam cannon (see page 128 o

DragonMech) as an act o war. Given that theStenian Conederacy currently has ve city-mechs compared to the Legions two, wouldit not be better to attack now while the Legionis weak, rather than wait until their orces arematched? These hawks are a vocal minority inStenian government, and their arguments areseriously considered; no one dismisses themoutright. I ormalized diplomatic relationsbetween the Conederacy and the Legion everdo occur, they will probably begin with a gunbarrel.

The Stenian Conederacy has little contactwith the Larile Nation. Traditionally, both the

elves and the dwarves were airly insular, eachcontent to remain in their locales studying themagic or mining that most interested them.There were some early conicts as each sidewas unsure about the interests o the other. Butnow the Stenian Conederacy recognizes thegenerally good-aligned interests o the elves,and does not consider them to be an enemy.I anything, they are a loose ally against theLegion. There is occasional contact betweenthe two governments, though not much activecooperation. Some elements within the Con-ederacy wish to establish a ormal alliance with


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Tannanliel, i only to oppose Shar Thizdic. Theslowly growing non-dwarven minority withinthe Conederacy has helped advance this inter-

est among the traditionally insular dwarvenmajority. What will happen remains to be seen.A ew special relationships are worth men-

tioning. The Conederacys relationship withDuerok is a longstanding and unusual one, ashas already been discussed. The Conederacysrelationship with the Gearwrights Guild is alsodistinctive. The Gearwrights Guild has existedor millennia, but owes its current incarna-tion to the direct assistance o both Duerokand the Stenian Conederacy. Moreover, theGearwrights Guild technically owns city-mechNedderpik, and takes an active role in the gov-ernment o most city-mechs. The GearwrightsGuild can almost be thought o as an extrabranch o Stenian government, concernedexclusively with the gear-driven arts. There areno known public disputes between the Steniansand Gearwrights, and they have extremely closerelations in every regard.

GEOGRAPHYThe Stenian Conederacy is a mechdom, ora kingdom ruled by city-mechs. In the caseo the Stenian Conederacy, there are ve rul-

ing city-mechs. Unlike a traditional medievalkingdom, a mechdom is mobile. Its territoryis not dened by physical borders unless themechs cannot traverse those borders, and itsterritory is not dened by political bordersunless the mechs cannot move around thesepolitical borders. In short, the territory o amechdom is not always clean, as the city-mechscan always move.

That said, given the nearly impassablenatural boundaries o the Stenian Coned-eracy (mountains to the west, and clifs in bothsides), its territory is actually well dened ora mechdom. The Stenian Conederacy is the

major political power o the atland a swatho rocky, barren terrain that is essentially anenormous cliftop. It is separated rom theendless plains o the east by towering clifaces, some as high as 3,000 eet. To the westis another impressive range o clifs borderedby a mountainous area (underneath which isDuerok). Most o the Stenian territory is rockyplains, interspersed by some areas o desert andprairie to the south, and the battered remainso an ancient orest to the north.

Each o the Conederacys ve city-mechspatrol and maintain a xed territory the sae

zones urther reinorcing the mechdomsboundaries. These ve areas are each approxi-mately 40,000 square miles in size, sprawled

out irregularly across the atlands. Since city-mechs can travel great distances in a day, theseareas are patrolled regularly by the city-mechitsel or by patrols o smaller mechs.

It takes a city-mech about one month to cov-er its patrol area, while smaller patrols requentsettlements and population zones every ewdays. Note, however, that although a city-mechmoves regularly throughout its sae zone, itsquite possible that its regular movements willnever bring it within sight o much o its terri-tory. Just as likely is the act that the city-mechwill be within sight o certain areas on a airlyregular basis, but never visit them directly.

Within the Stenian-patrolled sae zones,hundreds o settlements and way stations havesprung up. Population sizes tend to vary greatlyamong these settlements, since the lunar rainhas destroyed many traditional societies. Somesettlements spring up, attract a population,and then are devastated by a bad meteor crashor dragon attack; others orm rom insular com-munities that dont welcome outsiders, despitetheir good locations or settlement. Still othersollow the nomadic ways popular beore thelunar rain, although this is most common nearthe endless plains, where most o the nomadictribes originated.

Natural shelters such as caves, canyons, and

rock ledges are obvious places or settlementsto evolve. These locations are protected romthe lunar rain, and have become crowdedhavens or reugees seeking to avoid thenightly assault. It is nearly impossible or theConederacy to keep up with every settlementthat springs up under their zones. However, anygroup o individuals living in the sae zone andobeying the Law is considered part o the Con-ederacy, and governed accordingly.

Some settlements resist the protection othe Conederacy. Usually these are mech tribesor Irontooth clans that practice a liestyle oraiding and scavenging. But not always. The

yoke o martial law imposed by the StenianConederacy rubs many a reedom-lover thewrong way. Whether theyre traditional tribes,breakaway splinter groups, amily bands, ornaturally occurring settlements, these inde-pendent communities are a thorn in the sideo the Conederacy. Many are well-behavedand lawul, but simply reuse to acknowledgethe Conederacy as their ruling government.Dealing with rebellious raiders is easy shoot-and-destroy is a perectly serviceable approach but dealing with law-abiding citizens whosimply dont adhere to the Law is a much more

delicate problem. In these cases the Coned-eracy oten continues to protect the com-munity, hoping its leaders will come around

once they recognize the value o being parto the Conederacy. But not all situations areresolved so peaceully; more than one over-zealous mech patrol has done ar more damagethan it should have to a community that simplywished to be let alone. There are now dozenso underground settlements actively seeking toundermine what they see as the tyrannical ruleo the Stenian Conederacy.

Many settlements have seasonal popula-tions that tend to swell with reugees whena city-mech is due to stop by. There is nevera shortage o individuals seeking passage oremployment on a city-mech. The mechs makeregular stops along their route, and reugeestend to ollow them rom stop to stop in hopestheyll be rst in line to replace a disembarkingcitizen at each stop. The Stenian Conederacyactively discourages these ragtag bands oollowers, but only on rare occasions do theyhave the manpower to ocus on the reugees astheir rst priority. Adventurers oten nd over-whelming work in these areas, on both sides othe law: policing the reugees, chasing themof, or even smuggling them onto a city-mech.

The mech patrols that keep the sae zonessae are ar rom stopping trouble entirely.Even though the Stenian-controlled areas aremuch saer than they would be otherwise, thou-

sands o square miles are still underpatrolled.These are the least-habitable areas where theewest o the Stenian citizens dwell. In theirplace are creatures. Monsters living just out-side o human boundaries, or smart enoughto stay out o sight when a mech patrol sweepsthrough, have become more o a threat thanever since their natural hunting grounds havebeen destroyed by years o lunar rain. Ancientcrypts and sewers reopened by the lunar rainhave become crowded lairs where monstersare orced to share space just as the suraceraces do above. Tribes o humanoids that havemanaged to stay together still raid and terror-

ize when the opportunity arises. Mech patrolsoten have their hands ull, making them morelikely to depend on reelance adventurers whenunoreseen problems arise.

The ve sae zones o the Stenian Coned-eracy are named ater the ve city-mechs thatpatrol them. These are Lok-stead, named orDurgan-lok; Nedderpiks Roam, named orNedderpik; Thuran-Dom, named or Thuron;Goria Reign, named or Goria; and LokagsThrone, named or Lokag. The southernmosto the zones is Lok-stead, or Durgan-lokwas the rst city-mech to be built. Lok-stead


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deal with crisis ater crisis. To a select group oambitious, traditionalist dwarves on Durgan-lok, the military concentrations on the surace

world are merely the beginning o what willeventually be a Stenian-led army like nothingthe world has seen beore. Calling themselvesby no name but known to a ew other power-ul administrators as the Expansionists, thesewould-be dwarven warlords have their sightsset on the city o Edge, only a hundred mileseastward. Edges many ractured domains haveremained outside unied dwarven controlor as long as anyone can remember, despitea strong Duerok presence there and repeatedattempts by the dwarves to control the city.With an army o potential oot soldiers amass-ing (and being groomed) in Lok-stead, theExpansionists hope to eventually rout the drowonce and or all rom their bases on the north-ern side o High Docks, and eventually controlall trade through Edge. This would be anenormous economic victory with huge rewardsor the winner but such an unprovoked inva-sion would run contrary to the mission o theStenian Conederacy. As such, the Expansion-ists have kept their views largely hidden, anduse their positions high in the Durgan-lokcommand chain to slowly twist the politicalsituation toward their goals.

The citizens o Lok-stead readily acceptthe presence o the Stenians and tend to bevery compliant with their laws. However, the

steady inux o reugees brings with it criminalelements such as thievery and smuggling. Thesmuggling isnt limited to goods; getting peo-ple inside Lok-stead or even Duerok is aprotable vocation, as is the orgery o Durgan-lok citizenship medallions. Although Lok-steadmay be less dangerous than other sae zones, itis not without its own problems, which tend tobe centered around several criminal organiza-tions. Overt threats are dealt with more quicklythan in other zones, but its the subtle threatsthat are hard to get rid o.

The best known o the criminal organiza-tions is called the Blank Face. It is primarily

organized around smuggling well-paying cli-ents into sae zones. Members o the BlankFace are generally rogues, though a ew stalk-ers also participate, using their abilities todistract mechs with technical problems whilethe rogues smuggle their clients aboard. Allmembers o the Blank Face wear tightly wovenmesh acemasks that obscure their eatures.They require their human cargo to wear suchmasks as well. Once the clients are on board asae mech (or snuck into the halls o Duerok,as the case may be), the Blank Face presentsthem with a alse identity, even going so ar as

encompasses much o the surace world abovethe underground stronghold o Duerok. Southo it is Goria Reign; north is Nedderpiks Roam,

established ater the second city-mech wascomplete. Further north is Lokags Throne, andwest is Thuran-Dom.

LOK-STEAD

Lok-stead is aptly named or the city-mechthat secures it. Durgan-lok has the small-est o the sae zones, with the undergroundstronghold o Duerok nestled near the center.Durgan-lok is the only city-mech to retain agovernment closely modeled on the old clanstructure, and is never urther than a daystravel rom the edges o Duerok, where mosto the clans are housed. Its patrol zone is smallby other city-mech standards, leaving much oits territory enorced only by patrols o smallermechs, but the area near Duerok is by ar thesaest region o the atlands. Rumors o thiswell-secured area have spread very ar, whichhas perversely led to even more reugees ock-ing toward Duerok. Luckily, many now chooseto journey to the surace o Lok-stead ratherthan the subsurace zones o Duerok. Long-standing settlements and permanent homesare ound in this zone, some even ounded byDuerok expatriates, since the areas proximity

to Duerok ensures that the Conederacy willprotect it.

The Stenians would preer that most o thepopulation migrate to other sae zones. TheConederacy built the city-mechs to ease theovercrowding o their dwarven cities, ater all.But since Lok-stead is so close to Duerok, itseems to many outsiders that the zone is merelyan extension o the city. The resulting popula-tion swell in and above Duerok has created asel-eeding cycle o more reugees requiringa greater military presence to patrol them, butthe improved military presence creates a stron-ger sense o security, which only attracts more

reugees and urther strains the military.There is now a massive concentration oStenian military orces at the heart o Lok-stead. These orces would be ar more useulin threatened areas, rather than quellingpeasant disputes and enorcing the Law o theStenians. But rom a long-term perspective,these military orces are grooming the citizenso the uture.

The urgent danger o the early days hasdissipated, and the Stenian Conederacy willsoon have to think about political relationshipsbetween other nations, not just the best way to

to usepolymorph spells to permanently alter theclients appearance. Criminals spending stolengold to escape capture are just as likely to be

clients o the Blank Face as are powerul social-ites looking or saety.The most notable settlements within Lok-

stead are our incipient cities ormed rom thestorm o immigrants: Cradlesrest, Elmshold,Duerie, and Tort. Durgan-lok makes regularstops here, and residents o these areas savetheir best wares or the city-mechs arrival,which oten brings hundreds o paying pas-sengers.

Elmshold lies in the ruins o what was onceone o the larger orests in the areas aroundDuerok, and has evolved into a gathering placeor those who wish to rebuild a surace city in atraditional ashion. The residents o Elmsholduse scavenged wood to create shelters andbuildings.

Duerie rests directly above Duerok in theshadows o a mountain range that provides nat-ural security against the lunar rain. Its becomean important point o contact between Duerokand the Stenian Conederacy.

Tort is nothing more than a sea o hovelsand squabbling reugees, but due to a conu-ence o natural terrain, its a relatively saeplace to gather. Its been nothing but troubleor the Stenian Conederacy, which views it as atroublesome shantytown.

Most notable o the our cities is Cradlesrest,

a city o sharp-edged rusting steel. Cradlesrestwas built rom the shattered remains o nearlya dozen enormous Irontooth mechs destroyedhere in a huge mech battle only seven yearsago. In any other locale, scavengers would havescrapped the mechs and sold them or materi-als, but in Lok-stead, the Stenian patrols (andwidespread stories o the Irontooth loss in thebattle) have deterred raiders. The reugees whoocked to shelter amidst the rubble have nowreshaped the raw materials into a loose-knitcollection o buildings. Cradlesrest is ruled bya permanent encampment o Stenian soldiersassigned to the area, who make sure the rest-

less population doesnt get out o hand. ManyStenians see Cradlesrest as a test site o sorts:The reugees have amply demonstrated how acollection o wrecked mechs can be used asthe building blocks o a city. I it can be donehere, why not elsewhere? Housing reugees inthe burned-out hulks o enemy mechs could bea good strategy or expanding Stenian civilianand military inuence simultaneously.


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once the mech patrols move on.The largest settlement within the zone is

the Shelter o Taas, constructed in a shallow

cave network ound under what appears to be amundane hill. Taas is named ater the explorerwho ound that the hill was actually sedi-ment piled on a natural rock shel, buried deepenough to be impervious to the lunar rain. Hedug a small camp under the rock shel, and overthe years it grew into a bustling settlement.Permanent homes and buildings have sincebeen erected under the shel o rock that givesthe Shelter its name. These structures are builtrom scraps o wood, metal, stone, and otherraw materials that the residents have managedto salvage rom the surace. Nedder-pik stops at the Shelter o Taason a semi-monthly basis, andstations a reserve regimentthere. The soldiers havebeen steadily expandingthe cave network withthe goal o eventuallydigging out a hangar bigenough or several patrolmechs. The Shelter o Taasis a common destination ormerchants, travelers, and adven-turers alike.

Within the hundred-odd miles o clifsidepatrolled by Nedderpik, there is rumored to bea tribe o giants that worships the lunar gods. It

has long been surmised that a lunar god oncedescended rom the heavens and converted thegiants into believers. No one has actual proothat the giants even exist, but rumors aboundo deadly conrontations with giant clericsbearing the holy symbols o the lunar gods.Adventurers who have set out to nd them havenot returned. Most adventurers conclude thatthe giants are most likely stone giants, but lunarscholars believe they may actually be the elusivelunar giants (see Mech Manual, page 7). Somestorytellers even claim that a lunar temple hasbeen constructed somewhere within the clifswhere the giants reside.

THURON-DOM

Thuron-Dom is the patrolled sae zone othe city-mech Thuron. Thuron commandsa large area to the north o Duerok and westo Nedderpiks Roam that is home to a greatnumber o surace dwellers. Settlements existthroughout the zone, though nearly every oneo them is nomadic. The residents o Thuron-Dom tend to move with the seasons and the

severity o the lunar rain, so their outpostschange locations several times each year. Morethan with any other sae zone, these settlements

ollow mech patrols, where they are able to relyon the presence o the military or saety.Humans are relatively rare on the atlands,

but the area now patrolled by Thuron was oncetheir greatest point o concentration there.Some o the nomadic tribes o the endlessplains had migrated to this area over years onatural transition, possibly attracted by thestrange sight o the Great Standing Dwar,which lies on the ringes o Thuron-Dom. Withthe coming o the lunar rain, these nomadictribes largely retreated to the endless plains

or were destroyed, but there remain a largenumber o them relative to the tradi-

tional populations o dwarves andgnomes.

Thuron-Dom is now markedby the act that there are moreIrontooth Clans active in itsarea than anywhere else in theStenian Conederacy. Many o

the Clans have assimilated theremains o the human tribes that

once walked this area. The Clansrange rom passive and isolationist to

actively opposing the Conederacy. Whilethe military o Lok-stead deals mostly with re-ugees and disobedient settlements, and patrolsrom Nedderpiks Roam spend more time chas-

ing down small bands o invaders or solitarymonsters than anything else, mech pilots oThuron-Dom start battling other mechs romthe very beginnings o their careers. Beingstationed on Thuron is considered a good startto a mech jockeys career, but also a perilousone; mech jockeys o Thuron origin have alower survival rate than many others, but theyadvance more quickly and are inevitably betterpilots than their counterparts with similar ten-ure on other city-mechs. Month ater month osteady clashes with the Irontooth Clans will dothat to you.

The western reaches o Thuron-Dom, where

mech skirmishes are most common, and arereerred to as the mech graveyard. Burnt-outmech hulks dot the landscape here, testamentto years o constant battles. Theres a ortunewaiting to be made in salvaged metal parts, butgiven the regular incursions o the IrontoothClans, most salvagers would preer to ply theirtrade in saer areas. An even more direct threatis the groups o mech-rats, bands o human-oid barbarians who live in the most brokenremnants o the mech graveyard.

It is no secret that the mech-rats despisethe Stenian Conederacy, though they lack

NEDDERPIKS ROAM

Nedderpiks Roam covers a vast area o hos-tile terrain raught with monsters, rebeltribes, and treacherous ground not suitable ora lesser mech. Although Nedderpiks Roam islocated directly north o the relatively sae areao Lok-stead, it is close to the clifs borderingthe orc- and human-inested endless plains; itlacks natural impediments like the mountainsabove Duerok; and its close to the remainso the western orests where many IrontoothClans operate.

In act, Nedderpiks Roam is one o thepoints where travel rom the endless plains tothe atlands is easiest. The clifs north o Edgeare laced with hidden trails used by generationso merchants and reighters, many o whichhave since been expanded to the point wherea mech can now scale them (see DragonMech,page 162). Now these trails are used by raiders,reugees, nomads, and scavengers, most othem hoping to nd wealth and ortune at theexpense o the Stenian Conederacy. An ongo-ing mission o Nedderpiks military campaign isto stop the inux rom the endless plains. Ned-derpiks mech eets include a growing numbero crag striders (see Mech Manual, page 7),which are used to patrol the clifside areas.

Nedderpiks Roam is home to roughly the

same population as Lok-stead, but settle-ments are urther apart and the residents areentrenched less densely. Mech patrols are armore requent, covering a much wider terri-tory, and every one o them has seen its shareo action.

Rolling hills, ruined orests, and clifsideterrain provide natural shelters or suracedwellers in Nedderpiks Roam. However,monsters and raiders are just as likely to seekshelter among them as anyone else. Semi-per-manent settlements o all races dot the hillso Nedderpiks patrol, but ew survive morethan a season or two beore they are destroyed.

Sometimes the destruction is due to alienincursion or the lunar rain, but more otenthan not its inghting or invasion that does thetrick: Either the denizens bicker over limitedspace, or passing itinerants try to stake a claimto already-occupied territory. Sometimes oneparty or the other moves on rather than ght,but other times there are casualties. Hostileencampments o all sorts mech tribes, rustriders, Irontooth clans, even orcs or rebellioushumans on occasion are constantly beingrepelled by the military. However, it is nearlyimpossible to discourage their resurgence


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the numbers or organization to be a threat.The mech-rats are the worst sort o rabble.The Irontooth Clans generally ignore them.

Stenian mech patrols are occasionally attackedby roving bands o mech-rats, but rarely withany success. On the other hand, salvage crewsbrave enough to risk the Irontooth Clans andattempt to collect parts within the graveyardare sometimes killed by the mech-rats, whoght hard to protect their homes.

The military is rarely concerned with theseminor attacks. Disbanding the mech-rats seemsnearly impossible. No sooner is a mech-rattribe destroyed than other squatters move in.Luckily, the mech-rats seem content to liveamong the mechs rather than repair them anduse them or battle. Mech-rat societies areusually made up o outcasts and ugitives romall over the Conederacy, who travel to thewestern reaches o Thuron-Dom specicallybecause its rumored to be one o the weakestareas o Stenian control.

Thuron itsel is a airly modern city-mech.Though not up to the secretive Gearwright

standards o Nedderpik or Durgan-lok, it issolidly designed and well constructed. Sinceit was built ater the Stenian Conederacy

had ormally come into existence and severedties to Duerok, it is comortably loyal to theStenians.

Adventurers nd constant work in Thuron-Dom. The city-mech is the only one to have aormally established adventurers guild, char-tered by the Stenian Conederacy, which assistsadventurers in nding sponsors and lucrativeopportunities, as long as their eforts urtherthe greater goals o the Stenian Conederacy.In general, any task that opposes lunar crea-tures or the Irontooth Clans alls squarelywithin the charter o the adventurers guild. Theguild charges a nominal membership ee o 10gp per annum, or which it provides placementwith sponsors or leads on prospective adven-tures. Most o its sponsors are in act Stenianmilitary commanders who need additionalassistance outside the available manpower otheir military orces; much o the gold chan-neled through the adventurers guild is actually

Stenian gold under another name.The adventurers guild also sells salvage

permits, which can only be acquired in other

zones through dealing with layers o bureau-cracy or having good connections. A salvagepermit costs 200 gp per year, plus a tax o 10%o all proceeds rom salvaged materials, andentitles the bearer to salvage any non-Stenianmechs destroyed by a Stenian patrol. Salvagingoccurs on a rst-come, rst-serve basis, withavailable materials split between all those onsite possessing salvage permits. It is legal orsomeone with a salvage permit to use orceto limit the access o those without salvagepermits. Technically, salvage permits alsoentitle the bearer to salvage anything destroyedby a Stenian patrol, including the body partso lunar creatures, but this latter category israrely exercised.

The once-high concentration o nomadichuman tribes, and the now-high concentrationo marauding Irontooth bands, has led mosto the settlements in Thuran-Dom to adopt amigratory liestyle. Some move with the sea-


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sons, others move daily, but almost all move atleast several times a year.

The largest such mobile city is Taulger,

a motley collection o hal-wrecked mechs,wagons, and worm buggies towed by giantworms trained to stay near the surace. Mosto the time, Taulger looks like a disheveled tentcity, but every so oten the entire city picks upand moves. The leaders o Taulger are the vebarely unctional juggernaut mechs that pro-vide most o its day-to-day security. These areolder models rendered obsolete and scrappedby the Stenians, but retrotted and rebuilt bysome enterprising coglayers with more techni-cal skill than supplies.

Now the juggernauts keep the rest o thesettlement sae, in more ways than one. Whenthe lunar rain gets bad, they erect a makeshitroo o iron planks and stout timbers hungrom the arms o the ve mechs, which canshelter nearly 500 humans and dwarves in thevery, very cramped space below it. Taulger,named or the most popular o the ve coglay-ers who pilot these ve juggernauts, moveswhenever the city-mech Thuron grows small onthe horizon. The city o Taulger always tries tokeep the city-mech in sight, providing a mea-sure o security most other cities cant claim.

Other settlements in Thuron-Dom are simi-lar to Taulger, usually no more than nomadicbands that set up shop wherever the saestplace or the night can be ound. These roam-

ing bands rarely stay in place more than a ewdays. Structures are usually armored wagonsor an occasional mech surrounded by tents.Some bands actually avoid the military patrolsso their black market wares can be sold moreopenly. Contraband is easy to procure in theseplaces.

GORIA REIGNGoria Reign is the southernmost patrolzone o the Conederacy. The Reign ishome to very ew settlements and is largely anunpopulated wasteland. Lacking mountains toprovide any protection against the lunar rain,Goria Reign was hit hard. It also had the mis-ortune o being chosen as home by numerouslunar dragons, which ravaged everything livingin the area. It is the only sae zone wherelunar dragons are still seen with any regular-ity, or they were concentrated here in suchnumbers that they have yet to be completelyeliminated.

The remaining Stenian civilians still walk-ing Goria Reign are sparse bands o nomadic

surace dwellers. There are almost no suracesettlements o any size. Reugees in GoriaReign live rom hand to mouth and are rarely

more than roaming bands o beggars.That said, there are several large settlementsin Goria Reign, but theyre all undergroundand outside the domain o the Stenian Con-ederacy. Most notably, Goria Reign is hometo Vermil, the worm city, and the Conederacyhas had trouble dealing with this strange placesince the very beginning.

Vermil is an underground city carved romthe bedrock by giant worms and occupied bythe armers who tend these worms. Worm arm-ers have become progressively more commonover the decades as surace lie has been orcedto adapt to the lunar rain. Vermil came aboutas something o a strange coincidence, with noreal planning or orethought; whether it wasdue to the worms or the armers is unknown,but somehow it became a point o concentra-tion or worm-based lie in the atlands.

Vermil is a strange place lled with strangepeople adapted to lie with their annelid charg-es. In regards to the Stenian Conederacy andcity-mech Goria, it is notable primarily or itsdeveloping military strength. No Steniancommander ever oresaw a day whenhis mech would be threatenedby something so lowly as aworm armer, but that dayhas come. A mech that

steps into a subsuraceworm tunnel usually allsthrough up to its kneeor even hip; getting outo such a predicamentcan take hours or days,or even longer i themech is damaged in theprocess. The myriadinhabitants o Vermilhave ound they can stranda mech by digging tunnelsaround or under it, and themech has almost no recourse

other than to send oot sol-diers into the tunnels butthe worms are oten longgone by the time a mech stepsinto their burrow.

The goals o Vermil and itsworm armers are open to dis-pute, as the city appears to haveno central organization and noreal government to speak o. Butthe worm armers have been claim-ing territory with growing audacity.They dig visible worm tunnels at the

borders o the areas they claim, as a warningto any mech that stepping past the visible tun-nels brings the risk o plunging through hidden

subsurace burrows.The Stenian Conederacy initially viewedVermil as another eccentric settlement thator some strange reason rejected its oferso saety and security, but now considers theworm city an outright enemy. The worm arm-ers are actively seeking to reduce the territoryavailable to Goria patrols while doing nothingwhatsoever to protect the area themselves.This urther amplies the problems caused bythe lunar dragons, who are able to live rela-tively unmolested above the areas demarcatedby worm tunnels.

Goria has recently instituted a program oactive engagement o the worm armers. Everyattempted expansion o worm armer territoryover the past year has been met with a coun-ter-attack. Goria sends tunnel wardens under-ground to block the escape o the armers, thenollows up with earth breaker mechs supportedby inantry and crag striders, plus lancers andjuggernauts when they can t through the tun-nels. Any worm armer oolish enough to make


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a stand is slaughtered by the invading orces,though on a ew occasions the rare shakerworms have done signicant damage to invad-

ing orces with repeated sonic blasts.The lunar dragons ocking to Goria Reignare another problem entirely. No one is surewhy theyre attracted to the area, but theyare. Most have been eliminated or run of,but not all, and the expansion o Vermil is onlymaking the problem more dicult. The mostnotable remaining inhabitant is a lunar dragonnicknamed Moon Claw by those who haveaced it. It is the single largest lunar dragonever encountered on Highpoint. (In act, it isa great wyrm lunar dragon, the only one knownto exist on the continent.) It has won everyencounter with the Conederacy to date, hav-ing single-handedly wrecked eleven mechs andkilled dozens upon dozens o soldiers.

The biggest question raised by Goria Reignis, why? Why are the lunar dragons attractedthere, despite the act that there are almostno surace settlements and thus little prey?Why are the worm armers expanding, despitethe act that they have no apparent agenda andno known quarrel with the Stenians? And whyhas Moon Claw remained in the area whenit could attempt to expand its territory withrelative ease?

Patrols in the Goria Reign encounterdenizens unlike those ound anywhere else:demons, elementals, and other extraplanar

creatures are ound ar more requently thanthey should be. The rst sighting o a hellborgoccurred in Goria Reign. Generals surmisethis is due to the presence o an as-yet undis-covered extraplanar portal somewhere in thezone, which may explain the other oddities inthe area. Could it be that the lunar dragons aresomehow tracking with extraplanar orces?Or does the portal provide easier access totheir gods? Are the worm armers under theinuence o a lunar cult?

No one knows or sure.

LOKAGS THRONE

The city-mech Lokag patrols the northern-most sae zone o the Conederacy. LokagsThrone is largely a borderland where dangersrom outside the sae zones occasionally wan-der. The endless plains and remains o the elvenorests are only a ew miles to the east, and theseaside coastal zones are due west. Settlementswithin the zone are rare and are usually madeup o hardy individuals that can hold theirown against invading monsters. The zone is so

named because the mech literally rules overthe inhabitants in true military ashion. Nearlyevery resident o the zone is considered part o

the militia. It is very common or the patrols tocommandeer local equipment and conscriptcitizens on the spot to ght against invaders.

Lokags Throne is the only Stenian zoneto have regular contact with the slathem(DragonMech, page 198). Its eastern borderis only twenty miles rom Glatek, where manyslathem shelter. And the northern and westernborders o Lokags Throne are directly adja-cent to the seaside areas where slathem live.The slathem are organized into local bands sorelations range the gamut; some have alliedwith the Conederacy and accept its rule,while others chae at the yoke o martial law.Most slathem are neutral, however, so outrightconict is rare. Slathem nd it easy enoughto swim away and wait out the departure o atroublesome mech patrol.

Lokags Throne is seen as the most probableentry point or an invasion rom the Legion. Itsalso a hotbed o activity or Irontooth Clansselling bootleg mech parts to coastal traders,who erry them around the North Coast tothe Legion. Encounters with Legion mechsare airly common along the eastern clifs, butthankully ew result in combat.

More than in any other zone, Lokag mili-tary mechs are likely to run down and searchany vessel that passes within sight. They dont

hesitate to bombard mechs that attempt torun away rom them. Even adventurers withinthe Throne are considered suspect until themilitary has worked with them long enough toestablish a trusted relationship.

There are three permanent settlementsin Lokags Throne: Norcunia, Demelek, andIantop. Each is within a ew miles o the east-ern border and patrolled regularly by mechsrom Lokag. These settlements are essentiallymilitary bases established and maintained byLokag, which considers the eastern ront oLokags Throne to be a potentially dangerousentry point or subversive elements. Farmers,

peasants, adventurers, caravans, and travelersare welcome to take reuge within these settle-ments, but troublemakers are warned to be ontheir best behavior by the extensive militarypresence within each town.

Each o the three permanent settlements isloosely constructed rom salvaged mech partsharvested throughout the zone. Casualties oStenian patrol mechs are airly common, andtheir remnants can be claimed and sold orprot by those possessing salvage permits.Early on, Lokag ofered top-dollar rates or sal-vagers who brought materials to the sites where

Norcunia, Demelek, and Iantop were eventu-ally constructed. Now these state-sponsoredcities are constructed o solid steel in some

cases, buildings are basically dismemberedmech hulls simply transplanted and hollowedout where the residents are well protectedrom the lunar rain.

Salvaging without a permit is a capitalofense in Lokags Throne, and usually resultsin the immediate execution o the salvager andall crew members. Enorcement o this statuteis much more strict than in the other zones, asthe administrators o Lokag consider salvagedmaterials to be necessary or the continuedgrowth o their three military cities. Salvagedmechs are oten used or the construction osettlements in the zone, and some are evenreurbished or personal use. Its generallyillegal to salvage Stenian mechs, and anyonewith a salvage load that looks like it came roma juggernaut or lancer is going to have someexplaining to do.

FACTIONS

The Stenian Conederacy is a new organiza-tion orged rom the remains o a badlywounded culture. Although lawul to the core,it is a conglomerate whose constituents retain

individual loyalties to a dizzying array o otherinstitutions: clans ormed rom blood rela-tionships; ancient loyalties to the strongholdo Duerok; religious ties to gods now largelyabandoned, or new gods rising to the ore;proessional relationships to the GearwrightsGuild; and citizenship to individual city-mechsas well as the larger Stenian Conederacy.

Although each individual member o theStenian Conederacy is inuenced by hisrelationships to all o these elements, a singlepowerul orce helps keep them in check: themilitary. Military doctrine and structure ormthe core o the Law which all Stenians obey.

A review o actions within the Stenian Con-ederacy must ocus rst and oremost on themilitary, or although it is not a action inthe sense that it divides the Conederacy (everymember o the Conederacy is involved in themilitary), it is a action in that it is an individu-als relationship to the military that undamen-tally determines how closely connected he is tothe Conederacy as a whole.

Ater examining the military and its rolewithin Stenian lie, this section will move on todiscuss some prominent organizations withinthe military, the Stenian Council, and the


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Gearwrights Guild. Outside organizations withno ormal role in the government such as theancient clans o Duerok, or its old religions

are not discussed here. While these groupshave inuence over individual Stenians, theyare not actions within the Conederacy per se.

THE MILITARY

The military dominates lie within theStenian Conederacy. The GearwrightsGuild is powerul politically, but most Stenianshave minimal direct interaction with it at best.The inuence o Duerok is widely elt, but itsslowly ading. It is the military that orders thelie o almost every Stenian citizen.

The militarys most dramatic point ocontact with the average Stenian is throughenorcement o the Law. The Stenian Coned-eracy operates under a system o martial law,which has diminished in recent years, but thereis nonetheless little to no separation betweenthe political and military sides o the govern-ment. There are no police; there are only sol-diers, and it is up to them to enorce the Law.And they do, in all aspects o lie, whether in acity-mech or on the surace.

Surace-dwelling Stenians have the militaryto serve as judge, jury, and executioner. Rovingmech patrols mete out justice as they see t,

ostensibly according to the dictates o higherStenian interests, policies, and principles but, out in the eld ar rom a higher author-ity, justice isnt always blind. Most surace-dwellers live in ear o the mech patrols, evenas theyre simultaneously thankul or theirpresence; the Stenian military presence keepsaway dangers, but brings along more subtledangers o its own.

Military Ranks

On the city-mechs, the military dictateseven the most minute aspects o lie.To understand the situation on a city-mech,one must recognize that the city-mechs wereounded in a state o siege, and have remainedin such a state more or less ever since. In theearly days, all personnel had to serve an essen-tial purpose even to get on a city-mech. Theirlives were regulated with security as the rstpriority. Surviving in this state o military siegerequired martial law, so the military governedall aspects o lie. A rigorous schedule or whento wake, eat, and sleep was established earlyon, to ensure that everyone was working hardenough to survive. Punishments or crimes

were strict and harsh, and generally enorcedon the spot by military law. Civilian jobs evenacquired a military hierarchy o sorts, which is

still widely used today; titles like apprenticecratsmen, journeymen, and master artist werereplaced by military ranks.

This military hierarchy still governs not onlythe military, but civilian lie within the city-mechs as well. Members o the Conederacyare titled by their rank. The terms or the ranksthemselves originated in the traditions o thevarious clans o Duerok, where the namesvaried rom clan to clan. The terms are gener-ally named ater a prominent dwarven herothat once brought glory to their station. TheStenians built their rank system to include avariety o the old clan terms, establishing aconnection between the traditions o the oldworld and the order o the new world.

A rank is a symbol o pride among theConederacy and earning a new rank is a righto passage. All Stenians are proud to displaybadges o authority, and symbols o rank arepart o that practice.

Note that even though non-combat proes-sions have military ranks, they are not consid-ered part o the military. City-mech Lokag, orexample, has an established tradition o callingblacksmiths by military terms. Apprentices areparbles (privates), journeymen are regins (cor-porals), and the smiths themselves are ohdums(sergeants). Some o the most accomplished

smiths are called mareks (lieutenants) as rec-ognition o their ability. But a lieutenant-rankblacksmith could not expect to have his ordersobeyed by a corporal in the military. The rankindicates status, but the authority that comeswith it is limited to one realm.

The reverse, however, is not true. Themilitary can (and does) enorce its orders overcivilians on a regular basis. In the early days,soldiers would requently commandeer sup-plies and sometimes even conscript civilianson the spot when labor was needed quickly.Today, the crisis mentality is not as strong, yetsuch events still occur on occasion.

Within the military, attaining a rank is a mat-ter o deed. Soldiers do not become ocerssimply by putting in their time. Perorminga heroic task, or establishing a successul trackrecord, is essential. Its no longer required tohave a blood relationship with the clan elder,but some claim to a respected relative, preer-ably a great warrior, never

Dragonmech - 2nd Age of Walkers by Azamor

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