The Lands of Warlderia

Ghal-Turim

Unlike the great Human kingdoms or the mighty Dwarven Holds, Ghal-Turim has never sought to rule surrounding lands or expand its borders. Hidden amongst wooded hills and rocky escarpments, the city is the only true Gnomish city in all of Warlderia and has become renowned as the centre of invention, scholarship and engineering throughout the continent. Whilst Gnomish communities can be found in almost every major city, it is here that the race has gathered its greatest minds for over two thousand years, creating a city whose influence far exceeds its modest size.

The city itself is unlike any other settlement in Warlderia. Elegant stone towers rise above carefully planned streets lined with workshops, gardens and colleges. Streams diverted from the surrounding hills power mills, foundries and ingenious mechanical devices whose workings are known only to their creators. Every district is home to a different guild or craft, from instrument makers and clock builders to mathematicians, surveyors and alchemists. Visitors often remark that the entire city appears to be one enormous workshop where every citizen is quietly occupied improving some aspect of the world around them.

The origins of Ghal-Turim date back to the years immediately following the arrival of the Higher Races in Warlderia. Whilst the Dwarves established their mighty Holds and the Elves spread through the great forests, several Gnomish clans chose to settle amongst the wooded hills between the mountains. The surrounding lands provided plentiful timber, good stone and easy trade with both the Dwarves and Humans, allowing the settlement to prosper without ever becoming involved in the territorial disputes that consumed its larger neighbours. As the centuries passed, craftsmen and scholars from across the continent were drawn to the city, establishing guilds devoted to every imaginable branch of knowledge.

The Higher Wars brought danger even to this peaceful refuge. The Gnomes quickly realised that they could never hope to defend their city through numbers alone. Rather than raise vast armies, the greatest artificers and enchanters of the age devoted themselves to a project unlike anything previously attempted. For almost a century they laboured beneath the city, combining Gnomish ingenuity, Dwarven engineering and powerful enchantments into a series of colossal stone guardians. When the work was finally completed, one hundred and twenty immense Stone Golems stood watch over Ghal-Turim, each carved from a single block of mountain granite and enchanted to defend the city for all time.

Today these guardians remain one of the great wonders of Warlderia. Standing silently at crossroads, beside gateways and overlooking the city walls, they appear little more than ancient statues to those unfamiliar with their purpose. Children play beneath them, merchants erect stalls beside them and birds nest upon their broad shoulders. Yet whenever the city is threatened the Stone Guardians awaken without command, marching to defend Ghal-Turim with implacable determination. No invading army has ever succeeded in capturing the city, and many believe that the Guardians possess enchantments that can no longer be reproduced, even by the greatest Gnomish artificers.

Unlike the hereditary monarchies of most Human kingdoms, Ghal-Turim is governed by the Council of Masters, whose members are elected from the city's great guilds. Engineers, merchants, scholars, artificers and master craftsmen all have representatives upon the council, whilst noble birth carries little weight compared to proven ability. Debate within the council is often lengthy and spirited, but once agreement has been reached the Gnomes pursue their chosen course with remarkable unity. It is said that more ideas are born during a single council meeting than in a year elsewhere in Warlderia.

The city is home to some of the finest workshops and libraries on the continent. Its colleges teach engineering, mathematics, navigation, astronomy, alchemy and countless other disciplines, attracting students from every civilised race. Human architects, Dwarven Runemasters and even the occasional Elf have travelled to Ghal-Turim to exchange ideas with its scholars. Many of the measuring instruments, surveying tools, navigation devices and mechanical innovations now commonplace throughout Warlderia were first developed within the city's workshops before spreading across the continent through trade.

Beneath the city lies the Grand Archive of Invention, perhaps the greatest collection of technical knowledge outside the Great Towers of Moradin. Every significant invention created within Ghal-Turim is carefully recorded, together with the failures that led to its eventual success. The Gnomes believe that unsuccessful experiments are simply discoveries made too early, and many later breakthroughs have been achieved by rediscovering ideas abandoned generations before. As a result, the archives have become one of the most closely guarded treasures in the city, not because the Gnomes wish to hide knowledge, but because they fear its careless misuse.

Relations between Ghal-Turim and its neighbours have always been friendly. The city trades extensively with the Dwarven Holds, whose engineers frequently work alongside Gnomish inventors, whilst Human kingdoms eagerly purchase the city's instruments, machinery and finely crafted goods. The Gnomes have little interest in politics beyond maintaining peaceful trade, preferring to measure their success not by conquered lands but by the discoveries they make and the knowledge they leave for future generations.

There is an old saying heard throughout Warlderia:

"If the Dwarves built it, the Gnomes probably improved it."

Nowhere is that saying more evident than within the workshops of Ghal-Turim. Whilst other races seek power through armies or kingdoms, the Gnomes have quietly transformed the world through countless small discoveries, proving that knowledge and ingenuity may shape history just as surely as the sword. The silent Stone Guardians that watch over their city stand as a lasting reminder that even the most peaceful people must sometimes prepare for war, and that the greatest achievements are often those that endure long after their creators have passed into history.