The Province of Hammerhall is centered on the titular city of Hammerhall, a vast underground metropolis founded by the dwarven hero Delrun of Clan Querrik as one of the three capitals of the ancient kingdom of Malokron. When Malokron disintegrated into civil war in the early 8th Century, exiles from Hammerhall invade the Empire and managed to take the Imperial Throne in the Avalanche Invasion. Empress Vindictive, the granddaughter of that first Dwarven Emperor, conquered Hammerhall in the latter half of the 9th Century; ever since then, Hammerhall has been one of the Empire’s core territories, providing metal, stone, and soldiers throughout the nation’s long history. Today, the folk of Hammerhall are incredibly proud of the Province’s ancient history and produce some of the Empire’s best Fabricae and most capable Legionaries and Cataphracts.
The vast majority of the settlements in the Province are subterranean, with only a few villages above-ground that are dedicated to keeping the herds of sheep and goats that graze across the mountains and some farming towns in the southern foothills. The forges of Hammerhall churn out vast quantities of metalwork; the ore veins that run through the mountains are primarily silver, gold, and mithryl, but the trade networks of the Empire funnel thousands of tons of iron, copper, and other metals into the Province every year to keep the forges fed and producing more than jewelry. The Province is also one of the Continent’s major suppliers of Lightstones, as the veins of ore are riddled with pockets of the glowing stones; the miners use specially-bred cave moths to locate the faint glow produced by these stones, and from there check for any nearby veins of metal.
The famous Harvest Caverns of the various Clan Halls throughout the Province produce remarkable amounts of food, cultivating a wide variety of edible fungi, insects, and other subterranean foodstuffs that create a particularly unique local diet. The mountain-folk have also mastered the various means of food preservation, and the best of their pickled vegetables and cavern-aged cheeses are exported across the Continent as delicacies. Though they still import a great deal of grain and preserved seafood, the diet of the mountain halls leans much more towards mutton, pickled vegetables, cheese, and mushroom dishes rather than the olive-oil, pasta, and fish of the rest of the Empire.