The Iron Maw Council

The Iron Maw Council gathers tunnel chiefs, gate wardens, war-smiths, tribute speakers, and witnesses who know where old bodies were hidden. It decides which passages open, which clans muster, which debts are paid in ore or blood, and which feud must wait until the gates are fed. Its chamber smells of smoke, iron oil, damp stone, sour wine, and charcoal dust. The Council is ancient because Kharod learned early that ungoverned fear becomes knives in the tunnels. Its dread is simple: when it fails, politics spill into darkness and return wet.