Zoloto (Shaking Going On)
The duchy of Zoloto is made of up a bunch of bluffs, cliffs, canyons, temperate mesas and caves. A lot of caves. The Duke is a half-giant, and if you're wondering how that happened, sit down for a story that starts a good 400 years ago, even before the Dwars, when humans spread their settlements east into the rocky outcroppings and ran into a giant problem.
As in, a problem with giants.
The human settlements in that area were constantly dealing with attacks from all sides by towering creatures with little concern for human life (well, beyond how fear made the meat gamier, but anyway).
These titanic attacks were seen mostly as just the way things were for a long time...until the Dwars.
Somewhere during the early days of the Dwars, the cliff-dwelling humans realized that they couldn't afford to fight a war on two fronts -- or, to be more precise, they couldn't afford to go fight a war on the front when that would leave their loved ones undefended on the homefront.
By this point in time, human advocates for peace actually had allies among the enemy: namely, a few select half-giants, the result of invading giants having their way with human men (sort of half-orc origins in reverse).
As opposed to half-orcs (who were often seen as stigmas and a reminder of a violent intrusion), half-giants were seen as prizes, sort of a living version of 'counting coup.' However, most half-orcs did not survive in the giant tribes, as their human parentage meant they were naturally weaker. Only the smartest or most cunning survived.
Fast forward to the peace talks. Humans and half-giants came together to figure out a way to make a lasting peace between the two residents of the area, and -- at last -- a pact was made.
The male leader of the humans mated with the female leader of the giants (for those of that sort of inquisitive mind, he drank a potion of Enlarge Person; no shame in it), with the agreement that their child would be the next leader of both societies.
It was very lucky indeed that their child was up to the task, as either a meek or a brutish child would have been disastrous to the peace. Their daughter, the legendary Dwar hero Sierra Gatebreaker, was neither, ruling well and judiciously from the moment she turned 18. She went on to champion the human cause in the Dwars, until she finally fell during one of the ill-fated rescue missions into the depths of Shadekat about 315 years ago. Her son, Dross Ironstring, took over, and went on to be a fairly respectable Dwar hero himself.
As the war wound down, and the human forces decided to make their union official, the Seven Spheres were formed, and the leaders of each 'sphere' was given a dukedom. Dross Ironstring was the first Duke of Zoloto, and the right of succession kept the Dukedom in his family for almost 150 years.
The right of succession in giant society is a bit complicated:
At its heart, it's a standard one-on-one alpha-dog challenge for leadership (only residents of the (now) duchy are allowed).
However, the leader may not be freely challenged until his/her oldest living child turns 18, challenges the leader, and loses.
At that point, anyone may challenge the leader at any time.
If a leader ever has no living children, he/she may be challenged immediately. Once a new child is born, however, See Rule 2.
If a leader dies outside of a one-on-one challenge, his/her oldest child assumes leadership. If that child is under 18, he/she may not be challenged until age 18, and even then, See Rule 2.
There are a lot of subsections and amendments to the system to close loopholes that have been exploited over the years (like challenging a leader when she's pregnant or scheduling a near-but-not-quite-assassination for 30 seconds before your challenge), but there has never been a successful exploiter who wasn't called out and swiftly punished. Zoloto is definitely about the Spirit of the Law.
There has also never been a non-half-giant leader. Giants mating with humans make half-giants. Half-giants mating with either humans or giants make half-giants half the time. And since the leader's eldest has the first crack at the challenge, and since the most capable leaders of giants and humans have both brawn and brains, half-giants have had it on lock since the beginning.
That might be about to change though, as the latest Duke of Zoloto, Stofe Armorbend, has over two dozen children: all of them bastards, none of them half-giants (the chances of this situation are fairly far north than one in a million, of which everyone is well aware).
As for less political topics, Zoloto is home to the kingdom's most profitable mines, quarries, and barbarian training camps (which is the sort of business idea that gets people laughed off of Shark Tank...right before it makes millions).
The largest attraction in the duchy is most likely The Cocoon. Back during the early days of the Dwars, when Shadekat used several local mines as their attack vectors, they released a Purple Worm ahead of them to soften up defenders. However, the worm was defeated (reports vary wildly on the 'how'), and, by the time Shadekat invaders reached the surface, the worm was completely encased in spiderwebs (more mystery), swarming with arachnids of all sizes. Since that day, the mummified carcass has stood as an impressive spectacle (and an enigmatic reminder that you Don't Mess with Zoloto).
Over the years, The Cocoon has not really changed size or smelled like rotting Purple Worm, which is a bit odd, but again: DMZ, people. D.M.Z.