General[]
Deep underground, at the heart of the Frostback Mountains, lies the Orzammar Thaig, one of the last great dwarven cities. Surfacers aren't allowed here, except on special occasions -- such as envoys, or Grey Wardens. Orzammar is ruled by King Bhelen Aeducan, the youngest son of Endrin.
In the Orzammar Thaig, the Hall of Heroes is full of enormous statues of Paragons, which literally hold up the cavernous ceiling. The city arcs outward from the royal palace, which is built around a natural lava vent, continually fountaining liquid rock, which lights and heats the entire cavern. The topmost tier is home to the Noble Caste, their palaces fanning out in both directions from the palace, as well as the Shaperate which keeps the Memories, serving as a repository for all dwarven knowledge. In the Assembly, the deshyrs -- representatives of each noble house -- meet. They elect kings, so each king must work constantly to maintain their support. The lower tier is the Commons; the Merchant Caste sells their wares here, the finest works of the craftsmen. In the center of the river of lava, connected to the Commons by a causeway, are the Proving Grounds, a sacred area where the dwarves, by ancient tradition, settle disputes.
On one side of this fiery river are the ruins of old dwarven palaces that have fallen into disrepair. This is where the dwarves who have been stripped of their position in society -- the Casteless, who are forced to wear tattoos to denote their status -- live. The Casteless are the descendants of criminals and other undesireables. They are selected for only the most undesireable jobs. Some of the female casteless become Noble Hunters -- women who seek to raise their status by bearing a son to a dwarf of the Noble Caste.
The Deep Roads[]
On the other side of the "river" are the Deep Roads. The entrance is sealed, though the gate is opened on occasion to allow the Legion of the Dead into the Deep Roads, where they spend their last days fighting darkspawn as a hope of redemption. This extensive network of underground roads once joined the dwarven empire together. The dwarves closed off the Deep Roads when they fell to the darkspawn during the First Blight. The great thaigs -- cavernous settelments built by the dwarves to honour their Paragons -- are now lost to them, save Orzammar and Kal-Sharok. In the more ancient parts of the Deep Roads, the walls and floor are covered with a bizarre substance of oil and filth that is spread by the darkspawn that inhabit it. They spread the blight to even the very rock around them. The spawn are most numerous here except during Blights when they come to the surface, rallied by the Archdemon.