Calkario Quarry

City Crest
Various, including outspread bat wings and a crescent moon behind a silhouette bat head.

Appearance
Calkario Quarry is deceptively hard to find, for those who don't already know the way. Hidden just outside the walls of Amaroth is what looks like an abandoned village, one of many littering the dangerous Selva. Almost hidden by overgrown jungle foliage is a crack leading into the mountain, no wider than 2 metres. Only close examination reveals the crack to be man-made. Following the passageway, the crack almost immediately opens up into a vast underground space that clearly shows the marks of the huge blocks of stone that were once quarried out. The floor is thick with at least a foot of bat guano, and as your eyes get accustomed to the darkness you can make out wooden gantries on the ceilings some 40 feet overhead. This is what you would see if you were invited - uninvited guests rarely get the time to let their eyes adjust.

Further in the twisting tunnels is an entire Orcish civilisation suspended on the roof of the old quarry. The Nightswoops number around 1000, spread out across wooden huts and stone rooms carved from the side of the cliff.

Economy
The Nightswoops are an allied nation to the Roth and so they mostly share an economy with Amaroth. The Nightswoops earn their keep by working in the city's standing army, mostly as scouts or air support. Other individuals may choose to contribute to the tribe in other ways, for example fruit and fungus harvest for the Orcs to live on, and husbandry of their spirit-bonded Dire Bats.

The only material good that Calkario produces is the incredibly strong liquor that the Orcs brew from some combination of fruits and fungus. This has proven popular with the Dwarves of the Cadogan Mountains and the current warchief, Korrara, has been responsible for brokering several trade deals with the Dwarves.

Culture
Like many Orc tribes, the Nightswoops have strong senses of community and spirituality. Leadership comes from an elected Warchief, chosen by the respected members of the tribe and ordained by the circle of shamans. Nightswoops respect age and experience more than youthful strength, and their last warchief, Kolreth, was leader until he died of old age.

Since their defeat at the hands of The Smiling Prince, the Orcs of Calkario Quarry pledge their ultimate allegiance to him as the oldest and wisest leader. For many Nightswoops this is purely ceremonial as the Prince is unlikely to call on them. But the warchief and circle of shamans are in constant contact as the Prince asks for their advice and commands the Nightswoops how best to protect Amaroth and her other citizens.

As they value wisdom over any other consideration, Nightswoops are relatively easygoing for Orcs and they rub along well with the other citizens of Amaroth. They also carry with them the lessons of their forefathers on the cost of arrogance and they are more likely to be quiet in the company of other races. The best way to guarantee a fight with a Nightswoop is to threaten either one of their kin or one of their bonded Dire Bat companions - and that's when outsiders find out that every Orc in the tribe is trained in combat before anything else.

History
As the name suggests, Calkario used to be an active quarry feeding the first walls of Amaroth. Manned by a team of humans and dwarves, in its heyday Calkario produced 10 of the huge wall stones per hour, ready to be ferried to the nascent city. It stopped seeing active use some 400 years ago as there began to be mysterious losses among the miners, and after some investigation the Smiling Prince declared it unsafe to work any further.

The quarry then stood derelict for some 250 years until the defeat of the Nightswoops led to them pledging themselves to Amaroth. Initially the Orcs lived alongside the Roth in their walled city, but this caused a great deal of tension, especially as due to the war there had been great loss of life on both sides. The compromise was to gift Calkario to the Orcs as a permanent home, although they would always be welcome in the city.