The city of Iltkazar sit just two miles under the Omlarandin Mountains of Tethyr, there for thousands of years, the last stronghold of a once great kingdom.
Architecture of Iltkazar
The city at it greatest point once stretch through a few dozen caverns, but with the passing of time and a long decay of more than 1300 years Iltkazar is a shadow of its former glory. Most of what was once one of the great eight kingdoms now is only what was once the city center. The Outer City now lies empty or in the hands of Drow, Duergar or other invaders. Iltkazar is a city under siege with a king that has failed to wake from his 75 year long cycle as a mithral statue, now falls further in to decay and want.
The outer wall is a circle with of radius of about a mile, from the outer surface to the inner most center point of the citadel. They are an impressive 60ft in height reaching from floor to ceiling of the cavern. This wall is made of a magical stone; the wall act like a living organism, able to heal itself over time. Only those who know the secret of this magic are able to reshape it to fit their needs. They have thickness of just over 100ft, but on the in side of the wall, tunnel of 50ft depth have been dug in three level along the inside. This simple honeycomb of tunnels service the simple function as a place for mushroom farms on the inner city. This feature would be necessary due to as the city declined and lost territory many of the traditional farming places would be lost and food would be need to be grow inside of the walls to help fend of hunger during a siege. The ways in to the city are three tunnels that have nine gates each. Tunnel one would lead to Holorar, with the second leading to The Arnvaults and the last emptying out some where near the dwarven town of Morndivver.
The city circle, an area in the shape of a ring, this would be the main city. The is an open cavern where buildings are build much like that in the style of those in the surface world. This is in part to help visitors from the surface acclimate to the city. The Shield Dwarves have a long tradition of working with other race, because of this I was thinking having the part of their city be more like these vistors own would help these relations. This part of the city would be in some decay due the fact the population that now lives in the city would mostly live in the citadel. This area would have long standing ale house, inns temples and martial training grounds. I would also think there would be so traditional clan holds that are still occupied but not as many because I see many of those being in the more dwarven part of of the city.
The most inner part of the city is what I like to call the Citadel. This I picture as a pillar of stone with a radius of 1/4 of a mile. This pillar is one of the main support for this large cavern wold be the last stronghold of the city if the outer walls were ever to be breeched. The dwarves would have tunneled in to the living rock creating a giant labyrinth complex that has be come their greatest fortress and palace. The would be many noble clanholds built in to the complex, as well as place for large number of troops and the common dwarf in times of trouble. The Citadel would tower high above the city past the roof of the cavern maybe twice the three times the height of the rest of the city. The citadel would have eight to ten levels the upper most being the halls of the king. The Citadel has only one gate. This faces south, the gate would be in the a large cutting of the pillar. In front of the gate is a square that is formed by the cutting, On the gate side of the square a water fall falls along the wall from a height over 50ft only interrupted only my the roof of the gate house to the Citadel. The water for the falls would come from the River Dhalnadar and the Deepflood . The waters of which run through out the city power many engines of industry. The two side walls of the square are lined with large ancient temples to the many gods of the Dwarven Pantheon. The last side is open to the outer ring of the inner city.
Churches of the Citadel Square
The Ancient Forge, Moradin and Barronar TrueSilver
The Bronze Mask, Gorm Gulthyn
The Hall of Runestones, Dugmaren Brightmantle
The Stone Unturned, Oghma
The Hall of Omlars, Dunathoin