The mountainous, rocky lands of Vanahiem are the ancestral homeland of the dwarves, who rarely have to deal with the harsh surface conditions, choosing to live underground instead. Their kingdom is ruled by the Hammer Queen, the head of their matriarchal hereditary monarchy, from her seat of power in the great city of Skyhearth. Each smaller mining city is itself overseen by a member of the lesser nobility, duchesses, countesses, and baronesses, each of whom answer to the Hammer Queen herself.