Majinhar Clan

The Majinhar Clan is a clan of dwarves, one of the most famous dwarven clans of all time. They specialize in mining, and are the classic dwarf. They live in very rocky environments, ranging from granite beaches to emerald cliffs to sheer mountain faces. They are not of one race.

The Majinhar Clan has been very successful, ending up as the founding nation of the Dwarven Domain. The Emperor of the Dwarven Domain has been only once not Majinhar, and then he was the son of a Majinhar raised as a Gengharate.

The Majinhar have the greatest mind for mining in all of dwarvenkind, and there are numerous technologies that they have developed.

Mining
This is, of course, the favorite thing of Majinhar to do – mine. Their methods have been attempted by other races, but only dwarves (and the occasional gnome) are able to tolerate the darkness, stuffiness, smells, and noise for weeks on end. Let us begin with their various mining methods.

Classic Mining
This is the method that everyone sees when they read or hear of dwarves. It involves digging tunnels and trenches in the ground, creating enormous networks underground, with rail transportation, barracks, cafeterias, and even libraries.

Dwarves will usually begin with their favorite item – explosives. They will set these against the face of the mine, and blast a hole perhaps thirty feet deep and sixty feet across. They will then continue blasting until the hole is three hundred meters deep, reaching into the bowels of the land.

The next step is to begin carving tunnels. Cranes will be built on the side, and small wooden platforms will be lowered for the dwarves to create hallways carved around the hole, roughly every ten meters. Staircases and ladders will reach all the way down, and an enormous crane is constructed over the mine, carrying supplies to where they are needed. At this point, the hole has rings of hallways around it all the way down.

Then they begin to build sideways tunnels. Small amounts of explosives are blasted, and the tunnels expand outward from the hole. Ladders are built to the surface, and all of the tunnels are reinforced with whatever wood the dwarves can afford. Torches are placed everywhere, and tracks are set for carts to barrel into and out of the mines, holding the minerals that the dwarves find. Inside the mine, the dwarves have with them packs with sleeping bags, tents, and other necessities, allowing them to sleep in the mine then continue working. Pickaxes, hoes, and hammers are used to break the minerals from the walls. A dwarven mine will usually produce about a ton of precious materials a day.

Now, I hear you economists telling me that inflation would occur. It doesn't. The dwarven treasury hoards all of it, paid in taxes to the king, tithes to the church, and tributes to the Degs (see government). They release the money slowly, so slowly that it only just barely replaces the money that is taken out of commission.

When the dwarven mine is fully depleted of ore, the dwarves always do the same thing. They use the existing layers of the mine to create underground cities and libraries and homes, and mine farther down. Dwarves reproduce rather rapidly, and so the need for cities is constant. The mines are also quarries, and the stone mined is used to build the minecity upwards, too. Dwarven stone blocks are highly prized by nobles trying to build strong castles, and therefore are shipped out in large amounts to goblin, human, orc, and ogric realms.

Boreships
Boreships are exactly what they sound like – ships that bore. They have enormous drill bits in the front, sometimes up to thirty feet in length, and are followed by a wooden cylinder inside of which are the barracks and supply rooms. The drill bit and treads are powered by three large wheels inside of which are wolvermegs, wolverines the size of elephants, a species domesticated by dwarves for mining and warfare.

Mining with a boreship is usually a precursor to classic mining, and is typically used when large veins of minerals or metals are found, and many miners must be brought. The first step is to, of course, blow a large hole in the ground. Either a crane or a ramp is built, and the boreship is now facing the area that it will drill. Wolvermeg drivers crack their whips, and the wolverines begin to run on the wheels. A system of pulleys and cogs transfers and multiplies their energy, turning what must be turned. Now, there is a reason that a horn sounds before a boreship begins drilling, and that is that chunks of stone fly outwards, and being hit anywhere by a flying piece of ore or rock is never good for the wellbeing of miners.

The boreship will tunnel to where it must, at which point it may reverse – the entire crew of the boreship pushes a turntable on which the wolvermeg wheels are mounted. The cogs that connect the drilling bit wolvermeg to the drilling bit are moved a little, and he provides a energy for a smaller tread that can be deployed later. The ship drives in reverse all the way out of the hole, or remains there to serve as a barracks and command post. Miners run out, and the mine is again set up with torches, rails, ladders, stairs, and supply posts.

Trawling & Suction
This method is unrelated to conventional dwarven mines, and is used in the rich mineral sands of exotic beaches. It is based on the assumption that it is easier to vacuum a pile rather than a spread out amount of mineral sand.

The process begins with long lines of wolvermegs, riding rams, or horses, all connected by a long metal rod in the front. The rod is perpendicular to the movement of the group. On both ends of it, a long sturdy rope is attached, and is connected to a half-pipe that extends the length of the group. The mineral sands are all dragged to one large pile. The process of dragging this half-pipe through the sands is called trawling.

Above this pile is then constructed the suction device. It has four support legs, one at each corner of the pile, and is connected to a rail on either side. It is mounted on top of a rail itself, and can therefore move any way in the x-y plane. The top has a seat for an operator and a large tube that can be lifted or lowered. Water is poured through a pipe that runs diagonally through this pipe, and the vacuum begins to pull the dust through the tube and onto the waiting supply wagons. The operator’s job is to make sure that it is continuing to vacuum, and tell the wolvermeg drivers when to have the creatures pull the machine forward, back, or to the side. A second operator stands outside on a small platform and controls how high the pipe is with a ratchet.

Such mining usually takes a month per mining site, and will bring thousands of tons of mineral sands, both to the owners and operators of the mine, and the churches and governments. The now-barren lands are sold to prospective farmers or minor nobles, where manure and soil can be spread to farm, and the ground is flat to allow for easy castle-creation.

Nuclear Family
The Majinhar Clan is similar to most other Dwarven Clans in that small nuclear families live together, led by the patriarch. The patriarch will lead his sons to work and teach them how to mine well, while the matriarch will raise the children to the age where they can be taught.

Family Home
A family usually inhabits ten to twelve rooms, comprising a kitchen, dining room, restroom, several bedrooms, storeroom, and living room. These are usually apartments in the main bit of a minecity, and so can encompass three stories, with sheer staircases or ladders leading down into the living room.

In the center will be the living room, with the trophies collected while mining and in war on the walls, furs draped everywhere, and a large fire crackling on one side of the room. This is the room that everyone sees when they enter, and after a long day, the entire family will lounge on the chairs, wrapped in furs, drinking some nasty-smelling dwarven tea.

Right next to it is the kitchen. It has a large oaken table for the preparation of food, and an enormous fireplace spanning the length of the entire apartment. There there are various animals being roasted on a spit, and the jultoush boiling. Jultoush is, of course, the dwarven chili, with any available meats, vegetables, and rice being boiled in the large copper pot that is present in any dwarven home.