Mirabar

Mirabar was a mining city of great wealth located on the Sword Coast. As of 1368 DR it was the richest city north of Waterdeep. In 1370 DR, the city was occupied by 1600 shield dwarves who lived underground near to their workshops, which produced metal goods for export in the region and beyond. The humans above cooperated with the dwarves to handle the mining, move the ore to market, and defend the city against magical threats. Mirabar was ruled by a hereditary marchion, but the true power was in an elected assembly called the Council of Sparkling Stones, a mixed dwarven and human group that met once a year to determine production quotas and whether or not to threaten current clients with reduced output. It was led by the dwarven cleric of Dumathoin, Agrathan Hardhammer. Mirabar also had an elected sceptrana, Shoudra Stargleam in 1370 DR.

Description
Mirabar stood on a knoll on the north banks of the River Mirar. On the surface, Mirabar was populated with squat stone buildings and a few stone towers. It was arranged in such a way as to provide great efficiency. Its walls were extremely thick and sloping, so as to allow water to be poured down them in the winter, which froze to make them slippery. The area around the city was dotted with open mines and heaps of rock. Roads led to its major mines in the Spine of the World mountains, which yielded a wide range of metals and gemstones, so they were guarded against orc and monster raids by the Axe of Mirabar (see Militia below).

The badge of Mirabar was a deep red double-bladed axe with a pointed haft and a flaring flat base, on a black field.

Notable Locations

 * Hall of All Fires :
 * A large hall lined with furnaces with a capacity of more than two thousand.


 * Undercity Square :
 * An open area between three buildings and containing the entrance to the Undercity.


 * The Undercity :
 * The center of all mining in Mirabar. It was guarded by the Axe of Mirabar, and accessible via a staircase from Undercity Square, followed by a pulley-operated lift in a shaft hundreds of feet deep. The base of this shaft was another guarded room with several exits, all with either iron doors or portcullises. There was another entrance that was a sloping, winding tunnel. The subterranean level closest to the ground was called the First Below.

Defense and justice
Mirabar was defended by the Axe of Mirabar, an army of around two thousand, including humans and five hundred dwarves. There was virtually no crime, and the city utilized professional thief trackers, the "Shadow District", to monitor any potential criminals.

Making maps of the city was illegal for security purposes, because the city was concerned about intelligence getting into the hands of Mirabar's enemies, especially Luskan. An attack on a councilor or a councilor-elect was punishable by execution. This was to prevent plots to foil a candidate's election campaign.

Trade
The stone and metals taken out of the mines were worked by craftsmen. After being expertly cut and hewn, the stone was transported on floating barges magically at high cost to Luskan, to then be transported south. Some buildings in Amn, Baldur's Gate, and Waterdeep used Mirabar stone, typically that which had been quarried from the areas to the west or south of the city.

Any worthless stone was crushed and used to improve the city's roads. This operation continued in almost all weather, even during the winter.

Trade with Luskan was important to Mirabar. As of 1370 DR, the Mirabar District in Luskan was an entire district used by Mirabarran trade companies, such as Anvilfist Banner, the Golden Hand, and Thalorin's Manymetals.

Coinage
In 1491 DR, Mirabar was using trade bars of its own manufacture. These were 1-foot-long (30 centimeters) spindles of iron, like two long four-sided pyramids joined at the base. They made a distinctive tone when struck. The trade bars were worth 5 gp.

History
Mirabar was built upon the foundations of Gharraghaur's Iron Tower by Ereskas Torlath. Later, during the Goblin Wars, Mirabar was sacked by the goblin chieftain Nethaug.

Mirabar was responsible for bringing prosperity to both Illusk and Stornanter when the three cities began trading with one another. However, when Prince Galnorn of Illusk attempted to conquer Mirabar in the the relationship was soured.

Mirabar was attacked in the by a horde of orcs. They attacked the western wall but this was merely a decoy—the main attack was at the eastern wall. Torgar Hammerstriker was among the dwarves who held the eastern wall during the attack.

House rivalries
Open fighting between houses in the streets and mines in Mirabar was revealed by the Harpers to be a plot by agents from Hellgate Keep, the Zhentarim, and Luskanites. After this discovery, the houses united against Mirabar's enemies. This resulted in a careful watch for anything suspicious in the city's mines, and the city's inhabitants are particularly wary of those from Luskan.

Recent History
In the, a wizard named Shoudra Stargleam managed to establish herself as a new temporal power in the city calling herself Sceptrana. She had authority over Mirabar's trade agreements, making her an incredibly powerful individual.

Mithral Hall
The reopening of Mithral Hall caused tensions to flare in Mirabar. The Clan Battlehammer stronghold had more and better metal coming out of its mines which had taken a lot of customers away from Mirabar. Although in public Mirabar greeted its fellow dwarves with warmth, in reality most cursed them for the loss of their buyers. The council members were also divided on the matter, some welcomed their new rivals as a prompt for the miners to work harder to up their production. Most wanted the miners to explore further into the mines to unveil deeper and richer veins of metal and ore (unfortunately, Mirabar didn’t have enough miners to work new veins of ore without reassigning members of the Axe but they were needed to protect the existing mines from Underdark monsters so little exploring was done in the more dangerous deeper levels), while others wanted covert operations to be taken out against the hall, weakening their charcoal to spoil smelting. Still others wanted to confiscate all Battlehammer trading caravans coming west of Mithral Hall's territory but most agreed that would likely provoke a war.

King Bruenor Battlehammer of Mithral Hall visited Mirabar in 1370 DR, which caused a stir when some of the dwarves, including Torgar Hammerstriker, socialized with him and his caravan. Marchion Elastul considered Mithral Hall to be an enemy of Mirabar, but Torgar realised the potential of a union between the two strongholds, working together to provide a wide range of wares. When Elastul refused to yield on the issue, Torgar left Mirabar for Mithral Hall, an action which sparked much political tension in Mirabar. Torgar was then secretly captured and imprisoned by the Hammers. When news leaked of Torgar's imprisonment, rioting broke out amongst the dwarves in the Undercity. When the rioting broke out on the streets above ground and threatened to turn into open warfare, Elastul was forced to concede and free Torgar. The situation caused the exodus of four hundred of the dwarves of Mirabar.

Mining progress
The mines were operated by around one thousand of the dwarves, who had a target quota set by the Council. Although the deeper veins contained ore of better quality, they were more dangerous to mine because of the monsters, and Mirabar could not afford to cut production for long enough to locate any such veins. The marchion had hired over two dozen alchemists and metallurgists who promised to make a new metal stronger and easier to enchant than Adamantine. However, all they managed to provide was a plan that would take five years to complete. That ensured that they were well paid for this time without providing any evidence. It seemed all but the marchion agree that they were con artists.

Luskan
Luskan, as a sign of 'good faith', reduced its annual harbor fees by half but Mirabar had paid through until 1377 DR so it mattered little at the moment. In fact, Mirabar's 'Shadow District' reported that rumors told of Luskan attempting to work out the same deal as it had with Mirabar with Mithral Hall as well, prompting security to become more lax in the city.

Holidays
Each Midsummer, the Mirar Run was held, during which the inhabitants of Mirabar raced their khyeks (sealed leather canoes) along a twenty-mile stretch of the River Mirar.