"They shall be my finest warriors, these men and women who give of themselves to me. Like clay I shall mold them and in the furnace of war I shall forge them. They shall be of iron will and steely sinew. In great armor I shall clad them and with the mightiest weapons shall they be armed. They will be untouched by plague or disease; no sickness shall blight them. No Magic shall oppose them as they shall be born of it. The Blood will protect them and aid them in their grand quest. They shall have such tactics, strategies and machines that no foe will best them in battle. They are my bulwark against the Ruin, Heretics and Terrors of the Old Night. They are the Defenders of the Holy Arcadia Empire and its people. They are Stormcast Eternals, the embodiment of storm and rage...and they shall know no fear."
The Holy Imperator Karl-Franz on the creation of the Stormcast Eternals
***
Codex: Laputa
City Fortress Laputa, the capital of the Grand Province of the Orleáns. Originally Laputa was a simple fortress built with the sole purpose of holding back the immeasurable hordes of the Greenskins living within the Orklands that conducted systematic raids on the province.
As the years flew by, the Laputa Fortress was expanding more and more, and within a few centuries, the rather simple fortress was expanded to become a monstrous City Fortress that was one of the best defensive points across the entire Holy Arcadia Empire.
Laputa is also home to the House Orleáns and it was built by the House Orleáns, who are now the Elector Counts of the Grand Province of the Orleáns.
***
Year 10,280 of Lordranese Callendar, August
Lands of Ancient, Holy Arcadia Empire, Reikland, Anor Londo
Three months have passed since the Great Convention Council of the Holy Arcadia Empire, during which many crucial decisions were made that would affect the Imperium. Be it the establishment of the Stormcast Eternals or the decision to merge the Healing Church under the Divine Throne of Sunlight and Cinder.
The process of emerging the Healing Church into the Divine Throne of Sunlight and Cinder was smooth and done quickly and without many problems. Now, the Holy Imperator obtained even far greater power over the Imperium.
With the direct control of the Healing Church with the Holy Imperator position becoming the highest authority within the Healing Church, none of the Vicars refused, and all of them pledged their allegiance to him.
Because Karl Franz was the chosen one of the Great Ones and bore the rune of the Oedon the Formless God Blood.
Due to that, nobody had any reason to refuse to pledge their allegiance to the Divine Throne of Sunlight and Cinder, and thus, the Healing Church became another branch of Imperator's power.
"Is this the final version?"
Right now, Holy Imperator Karl Franz was talking with the Supreme Patriarch of the Eight Magic Orders and Headmaster of the Byrgenwerth about the Project Stormcast Eternals, which was nearing its end.
"Yes, it is Your Holy Majesty."
Balthasar Gelt was tasked with the leadership of the Project Stormcast Eternals as he was one of the most knowledgeable people about various methods of getting stronger across the Lands of Ancients.
Though overall Project Stormcast Eternals was headed by more or like a council of people from various areas of the Holy Arcadia Empire; among them were several of legendary-like figures like Big Hat Logan or Master Willem.
"And the probability of the success?"
Karl Franz asked because he didn't wish to take chances with the forging of the Stormcast Eternals. The men and women who would be undergoing the Forging Process were something grueling and arduous and on their person, and he didn't wish to send them to death.
All of them were members of the Reiksgarde or Holy Knight Executioners; others were from the Sardaukar or other elite forces of the Holy Arcadia Empire, and the loss of every single one was a significant loss to the Empire.
While in the great scheme of things, it was not, but for the Imperator had a different mindset regarding it... another thing was that most of the people he trained and selected personally.
They were the results of his hard work.
"99%... we took every single precaution method available and are not leaving anything to the coincidence."
Balthasar Gelt said as he passed him several documents about this... Karl Franz skimmed everything with his eyes; it took him only several seconds to read everything, and in the end, after taking everything, he decided to give the Project the green.
"And the Forging... is it prepared?"
According to the Project of Stormcast Eternals, they would be literally forged in a process called "Forging" that would basically create the Stormcast Eternal.
"Yes, it is... unfortunately, it is a one-time use only because we don't have an infinite source of Magic for such tasks as the creation of the Stormcast Eternals. We managed to gather enough Magic escaping from the World Soul."
In that one moment, it felt like the entire world had stopped.
***
MC POV
Hearing what Balthasar Gelt said made me pause in my tracks because harnessing the power of the World-Soul was a hazardous move. In a certain way, we could be all happy that this didn't end with the destruction of considerable parts of the Lordran or other parts of the Azyr.
World-Soul is the name given to the powerful, Nascent Soul of a Titan. The first and most vulnerable stage of a Titan's life, World-Souls, originate as masses of energy spun out into the Great Dark Beyond at the moment of its creation, eventually finding comfort in the warmth of a sun.
In time, a planet coalesces around the newly formed World-Soul, protecting it as it grows.
The Soul slumbers for ages within the planet's fiery core, suffusing the planet with their energies as generations of life live and die upon it before eventually awakening as a living world.
World-Souls only exist within a small number of planets scattered throughout the Great Dark, and every single planet that has a World-Soul will eventually develop into an extremely powerful world with a mighty civilization.
We were treading on thin ice because even the slightest injury to the World-Soul could cause a world-destroying event.
"And the other Titans?"
I asked very carefully about this, almost fearing for the answer, because if the Titans felt something was amiss, then... only the protection of the Great Ones would be able to save the existence of the Azyr.
"Nothing... we even made the ceremony to ask for the permission of the Great Ones for this, and they gave us the answer in a positive manner. If not, nobody would ever allow something like this, the Byrgenwerth still has in its archives the information about the Titans and their power and if they fear that one of their brethren may be endangered, then they would wipe our entire civilization."
Titans were a race of colossal, planet-sized cosmic beings composed of Arcane Magic and the primordial matter from which the Cosmos was born. They roamed across the Cosmos like walking worlds, imbued with the raw power of creation itself.
The Titans used this incredible force to find and awaken others of their kind. Hailing from the far reaches of the cosmos, they shaped and brought life and order to countless worlds across the Great Dark Beyond.
They were described as perfect and majestic beings who are akin to Gods, and the power of the greatest among their kind was said to equal that of the Great Ones apparently.
"Now... it makes sense indeed... why the Ruinious Powers are so adamant about obtaining Azyr for their own devises... the birth of another with the power equaling the Great Four..."
I wasn't really aware of the true state of the World-Soul of the Azyr; I was only told that it existed and it was left at that. It was a secret that was deeply protected by the Byrgenwerth and it was known by only two people of the Imperium.
Only to the Headmaster to the full extent and to me to a certain degree.
"I want to know everything about the state of the World-Soul from now on. I understand that you have been protecting this secret for countless years, but it is also something that I need to take into consideration..."
I said sternly because this was something that could decide the fate of the entire world and attract the attention of the being from the Great Dark Beyond... an attention that we really don't need as we already had enough of it.
"As you wish, Your Holy Majesty. Though I have to warn you beforehand that even within the Byrgenwerth, we don't have a lot of information on the Titans and World-Souls because it is still a very obscure topic even for the Scholars of the Byrgenwerth."
Balthasar Gelt stated almost indifferently because even within the Byrgenwerth, the topic of Titans or World-Souls was something pretty much obscure. The heavy majority of the information gathered about it stemmed from ancient records that were old more than ten thousand years ago.
"When can we start with the first batch of the Stormcast Eternals?"
Sooner or later, there would be a need for the Imperium to search for the resources even in the Great Dark Beyond... but that was hopefully millennia away, but one can never be underprepared for such things.
"In a few days, we would have everything prepared together with the first batch of people... though how many of the Stormcast Eternals do Your Holy Majesty wish to create?"
The Headmaster of the Byrgenwerth asked as he looked at the Holy Imperator.
"4,500 Stormcast Eternals divided into 4 Temples of Reiksgarde Temple, Judiciary Temple, Paladin Temple, and Vindicator Temple."
The overall structure of the Stormcast Eternals would be divided into these four Temples, with each Temple would consist of Chambers with each Chamber consisting of 500 Stormcast Eternals and led by Lord Celestantis.
Subsequently, each Chamber was divided into two Retinues of 250 Stormcast Eternals led by Lord Relictor. Every Retinue was divided into two Sadalities of 125 Stormcast Eternals led by Tribune, and each Sadality was divided into 5 Shield-Companies led by Shield-Captain.
Above all of them were the Temples, each temple led by Lord Celestant Prime, who created the conclave together with four of them and the overall leader of the Stormcast Eternals, the Lord General-Kommandant.
Reiksgarde Temple was essentially the former Reiksgarde tasked with the protection of the Imperial Palace of the Anor Londo. They would be just stronger and more powerful, but their tasks and goals won't change.
Paladin Temple were essentially the former Holy Knigth Executioners of the Healing Church and they would be tasked with the same things as the former Holy Knight Executioners were doing.
Thus combating the forces of Chaos and Ruin across the Lands of Ancients and spreading hope to the people.
And there were two new Temples, the Judicator Temple and the Vindicator Temple.
Vindicator Temple was just a nice name for the assassins that were taken from the Imperial Military Intelligence, as their best ones were conscripted into the Stormcast Eternals and remade to serve the greater purpose.
The Vindicators would be trained in the best assassination techniques of the Imperium and tasked with removing the most powerful and dangerous targets to the stability of the Holy Arcadia Empire out there.
And finally, there was the Judicator Temple. If I should describe it somehow, I would say it was something akin to an internal police that should be helping secure the internal security of the Imperium. Their main task would be hunting the Heretics and Rogues of the Imperium and putting them down.
"That is certainly a number, Your Holy Majesty."
I could swear that I heard a bit of fear in his voice because the force that I was building was something that would essentially make the rule of my Dynasty eternal. Because every single Stormcast Eternal would be ageless due to the special Forging and binding to the Divine Throne of Sunlight and Cinder.
And I can even understand it from a certain point of view... it was logical because the Stormcast Eternals would become the eternal symbol of the unrivaled might of the Imperial House.
But alas... there is nothing they can do about that...
"And who shall be leading this glorious organization, Your Holy Majesty?"
Indeed... who, but I have one person in my mind who would be perfect for the position for such arduous and important taks. There was nobody who was more suitable to become Lord General-Kommandant of the Stormcast Eternals.
"It would be Maria, naturally... who else would I entrust it?"
Indeed, Lady Maria Vileblood was the best choice for the position of the Lord General-Kommandant of the Stormcast Eternals, and she was also the person whom I trusted the most with the responsibility and power.
Not to mention, I wanted for the position to remain within the family, as they liked to say, because it was the safest solution that I could come up with.
Even though the chance of betrayal was zero due to the binding to the Divine Throne of Sunlight and Cinder, I still wanted Maria to take some important role within the wheels of the Imperium.
She had been long enough avoiding the responsibility and playing around; now it was time to change it. Mainly for the fact it would create a bad image for the Imperial House if one of the future Empresses was playing around and hunting the Beasts.
Even though the job of the Hunter was prestigious, there would still be voices of discontent among some of the nobility who would be talking behind our backs. And I was leading the example, so my wives needed to follow in this example.
Because...
If the King doesn't move, then his subjects won't follow.
"Then let us start, Headmaster Gelt. Let us start..."
I muttered quietly... there was a lot of work to be done.
***
3rd POV
Several Days Later, Dungeons beneath the Imperial Palace of Anor Londo.
The Imperial Palace complex was divided into two security perimeters, which essentially function as separate urban regions, the Outer and Inner Palaces, both of which were marked by countless defenses, defensive weapon systems or Magic Towers.
To cross from the Outer Palace into the Inner Palace one needed to pass through the Ultimate Gate of the Ultimate Wall that separated the two palaces. Then one needed to pass the Eternity Gate that led to the heart of the Inner Palace, the Sanctus Imperialis.
And from the Sanctus Imperials one would find a hidden way to the Dungeons underneath the Imperial Palace. The Vaults of Rython, were a particularly sequestered and forbidden subdivision of the deep levels below the Imperial Palace complex on Terra.
It was here where the specialized Shield Host of the Reiksagarde, known as the Shadowkeepers, stand eternal vigilance over rune-locked portals which contain terrible things locked away for all time -- eldritch terrors from the depths of Age of Ancients that could annihilate the Imperium and probably the entire Known World.
It was here where the process of the Forging of the Stormcast Eternals would be taking place, in the most secure place within the whole Holy Arcadia Empire.
There were several people present or rather too many people present, as there were two thousand people present. The Forging of the Stormcast Eternals wouldn't be done in one go because that could very well paralyze some of the structures of the Holy Arcadia Empire.
Not to mention, the newly forged Stormcast Eternals would need some time to adjust to their new strength and power, master the skills they obtain and many others. The approximate time would be around one or two weeks; fortunately, it was only this little due to the enhanced learning capabilities of the Stormcast Eternals.
"It looks rather imposing, don't you think?"
Karl Franz heard a voice belonging to the Atreus Atreides, who standing next to the Imperator; the tone of his voice was more casual compared to the formal tone when they were on public occasions.
Atreus Atreides was one of the few people that Karl Franz could call friend, a former gladiator slave within the grand arenas who rose to the position of the highest prominence within the Imperium.
"Yes, it is... how are the soldiers feeling?"
The Holy Imperator looked at the men and women from the various units of the Holy Arcadia Empire who were collected to undergo the process of Forging.
"Nervous, some are excited and eager... some are reciting the Litany over and over... but overall the morale is high."
Atreus Atreides answered; he was already informed that he would basically keep his position, just his title would change to the Lord Celestant Prime of the Reiksgarde Temple. The sole change would be the fact that he would be answering to the Lord General-Kommandant who would be Lady Maria Vileblood.
"That's good then..."
Karl Franz looked at the men and women, sons and daughters of the Imperium that would soon become the very first Stormcast Eternals, his bulwark in the war against the Ruinious Powers, against the Heretic, Mutant and Traitor, against the Greenskins or those from the Great Dark Beyond.
Soon enough, the process of the Forging would start, and it essentially consisted of several Phases that would all happen within a very short time, one after another. The first thing that would happen would be strengthening the overall physique with the Winds of Magic that were directly harnessed from the World-Soul.
This would then allow the Runemasters to inscribe the Stormcast Runic Set on their bodies, which consisted of 7 Runes. Usually, the progress of adding Runes to the body depended on the unique qualities of the body and typically, it corresponded to the Level of the person.
The top-notch Runemasters of the Holy Arcadia Empire were working day and night on the creation of the Stormcast Runic Set that would be able to fit the needs of the Stormcast Eternals perfectly.
Naturally, the Stormcast Runic Set had four variations, depending on the Temple to which one would belong. While the Stormcast Runic Sets of the four Temples were relatively similar to each other, but they still differentiated in certain aspects.
After the Runes were inscribed on their bodies, they would rank the special concoction of the Old Blood and the Grail Essence and be infused with another wave of the Magic from the World-Soul together with the Holy Empowerment of the Great Ones like the current Holy Knight Executioners of the Healing Church got.
It was a mixture of various methods of strengthening across the Holy Arcadia Empire into one, with the hope and aim of creating standardized Level 4 elite soldiers. Naturally, those who are more talented or stronger would become Level 5 elites of the Stormcast Eternals, who would take the leadership roles.
There was even anticipation of the birth of a new Level 6 Professionals among the Stormcast Eternals in the next decade or so.
This should create the strongest warriors to be ever created in the Lands of Ancients.
Obviously, the strain on the Imperial Treasury and even the personal finances of the Imperial House were enormously staggering.
"We can start."
When the order was given, the process of the Forging was given, and everyone who participated in the creation of the Stormcast Eternals hoped it would be successful because the consequences would be dire if it were not.
A tremendous amount of resources was invested into the creation and establishment of the Stormcast Eternals, and a lot of elite soldiers were and high-profile people were participating in the Forging.
Soon enough, the process was starting as the Source of the tremendous Magical Power that was congregated within a crystalline shape in the middle of the enormous underground room in this part of Vaults of Rhytor started shining in bright purple color and penetrating the enviroment.
'Then only the finishing training and I will have a fanatically loyal force at my disposal... now as the Head of the Healing Church and representative of the Great Ones on the Material Plane, I can use this to deepen their loyalty and fanaticism...'
The Holy Imperator observed everything happening as the first steps in the creation of the Stormcast Eternals were taken. But that was for much later because he would need to find a suitable group of people that would become a new Temple...
He wanted to create death commandos that would be even more fanatical and loyal than the ordinary Stormcast Eternals, somebody that would become his sword in the darkness, even darker than the Vindicare Temple or the Shadowkeepers of the Reiksgarede Temple that guarded the Dunngeos beneath the Imperial Palace.
The Vaults of Rhyton.
After the first Phase was finished without a hitch, as was expected, countless Runemasters that were collected from all corners of the Holy Arcadia Empire started inscribing the Stormcast Runic Sets on the future Stormcast Eternals.
Inscribing the Stormcast Runic Set took much longer than he anticipated because no matter how skilled the Runemasters were, there were still too few of them and there were more than two thousand people waiting for their Stormcast Runic Set.
One by one, the initiates of the Stormcast Eternals were awaiting for their Stormcast Runic Set, depending on which Temple they belonged to.
Fortunately, as they were strengthened by the Winds of Magic directly harnessed from the World-Soul, the process of inscription of the Runic Sets went without many problems.
It just took several hours because while the Runemasters were working fast, they needed to handle the entire operation with meticulous care, not to make any mistakes, as even a single mistake could lead to severe injury and more serious cases, even in irreversible damage to the people.
Runes were always tricky things and only the most competent and powerful would be dealing with them. Contrary to other types of equipment, like swords and shields, the Runes were not purely external influences on the body of a person.
No... they were something in between the Internal and External concepts.
While they were fundamentally some sort of external tool when they were crafted and created by the Runemaster, the very own second, they were inscribed on the person, the Rune Bearer as they were called, they would become their very own part.
The Runes would then fuse with the Rune Bearer, becoming the complete extension and part of the person. Some Runes, the most powerful and rare of their kind, the ones with the Growth Aspect that could grow in power alongside the Rune Bearer, would evolve, but the time passed.
But the Imperium had the best Runemasters available participating in this process, the elites of the elites and people that crafted the Stormcast Runic Sets for all four Temples of the Stormcast Eternals.
So they progressed at a steady pace, and within six or seven hours, the process of the Runic Inscription was finished and went without a single complication. Sometimes, it was pretty hard to understand how much time had passed in the dungeons beneath the Imperial Palace.
"The Runic Inscription has finished, Your Holy Majesty. They can drink the Ashen Concotion to blend all of the types into one perfectly."
The Ashen Concoction was an essential part of the Forging Process.
The Ashen Concoction was a special blend of the Old Blood, Grail Essence that was used by the Brettonians to create the Grail Knights.
Naturally, this Ashen Concoction also contained the Seed of Holy Empowerment that was a method of the Healing Church in creating the Holy Knight Executioners of the Healing Church.
After they drank the Ashen Concoction, it would perfectly blend together various powers within their body, create one singular method for them and most importantly, permanently fuse the Stormcast Runic Sets with their bodies and Soul, and evolving the Stormcast Runic Set.
Allowing the Stormcast Runic Set to obtain the Growth Element would allow the Stormcast Eternals to progress much faster.
This method was mainly chosen for the simple fact that if the person didn't achieve some sort of balance between various methods of strengthening, it could be detrimental to their future growth.
The Grown Element for the Stormcast Runc Sets was also crucial for the future because there would be several of the Stormcast Eternals that could outgrow their Runic Sets, and creating every single Stormcast Runic Set with the Growth Element installed would probably consume resources of the entire Imperium.
One needed to know when creating a Runes with the Growth Element it required a tremendous amount of resources; such a thing was not taken lightly because the Growth Element was indeed something that only top-notch Rune Masters of the Imperium could achieve.
And even they would consume a tremendous amount of resources to create a single Rune with such a thing; that was the reason why all Runes with the Growth Elemenet were always outrageously pricy.
For this reason, they chose to have Ashen Concoction as the evolving factor within the entire Forging Process.
"You can start with the Ashen Concoction and prepare the Winds of Magic during the process... it should greatly ease the burn on their person."
When they drank the Ashen Concoction, it would fundamentally remodel their bodies and souls, and the more Magic they had in their disposition, the safer the process would be and they even may reap some benefits from it.
Fortunately, they harvested a lot of it from the World-Soul, so it was relatively okey and safe to use it in this way. The Ashen Concoction was relatively dangerous if Karl Franz had to admit it; it was pretty much dangerous due to the power it held deep within.
That was one of the reasons why Karl Franz was very curious and also nervous about the Ashen Concoction, but most importantly he was also wary of it and knew its dangers. When the initiates of the Stormcast Eternals started drinking the Ashen Concoction one by one, they were undergoing the final parts of their ascension.
The ones that were undergoing the procedure right now were the common members of the former Reiksgarde, Holy Knight Executioners of the Healing Church, Grail Knights of the Brettonia, Magic Knights or Sardaukar...
The majority if not all of them were at Level 3 in terms of physique. This was chosen purposely because they needed to convert the ordinary members and the officers and elites of the former organizations that already stood on Level 4 would undergo the Forging Process at a later date.
Those would require a far more careful and delicate approach... and that was not talking about the commanders and leaders of the former organizations. Even the former commanders of these organizations would undergo the Forging Process because they would be leading their respective Temples.
It was already affirmed that Atreus Atreides, former commander of the Reiksgarde, would command the Reiksgarde Temple, Ludwig the Holy Blade former commander of the Holy Kniught Executioners of the Healing Church, would command the Paladin Temple.
For the Judicator Temple, Karl Franz chose Gurney Halleck, a man of very interesting origins, because he was one of the most famous gladiators of the Holy Arcadia Empire for most of his life before he was taken in by the House Atreides as the leader of their armed forces.
And for the Vindicare Temple, he actually made an interesting choice because he chose the Ciaran, female commander of the 2nd Legion of the Silver Knights because there was no one better suitable for the position of the Lord Celestant Prime of the Vindicare Temple.
"It is a beautiful sight... this growth of power... and also the intoxicating feeling..."
Karl Franz stated as he observed the first batch of the Stormcast Eternals being born in the Holy Arcadia Empire and that would walk the Lands of Ancient Lords. They would be their greatest defenders and strongest conquerors.
They would be the bulwark against the terror and hope of the people of the Imperium.
***
MC POV
Several days later after the Forging of the Stormcast Eternals, the Imperial Palace of the Anor Londo.
One report after another flowed into my solar, especially those about the progress of the new Stormcast Eternals and the progress.
Because the Stormcast Eternals were a mish-mash of several elite units of the Holy Arcadia Empire, they needed to be brought onto the standardized combat style and other, many, many things.
Now, most of them were learning the fighting methods of the Sardaukar, which was regarded as one of the best, if not the best, within the Lands of the Ancient Lords. The swordmasters of the Sardaukar were legends of their own and it was of utmost importance for the Stormcast Eternals to learn the standards of the Gianz Swordsmanship.
After several weeks, the remaining people would undergo the Forging to become the Stormcast Eternals, mainly the ones that were destined to become the members of the Vindicare Temple, as those were chosen mainly from the Vampires due to their racial abilities and affinities for the Darkness and Shadows.
"What is this?"
I asked as several letters with the mark of the Landsraad landed on my table.
"It's the summons for the Landsraad, Your Holy Majesty... apparently there are several important disputes between the members of the Imperial Nobility and the High Chancellor wants to have Your Holy Majesty present during the meeting."
The butler that brought the summons answered as I visibly cringed because I could see what these things were about. Once again, there would be nobles squabbling for the territories and fighting with each other.
My presence within the Landsraad would ensure that everyone behaved like cadet progenas of the Schola Progenium.
"What's this about this time that important that I need to be present?"
One of the reasons why I even established the Landsraad was to not deal with idiotic things like hearing out petitioners at the court. One of the most annoying activities that could happen to the monarch and I wanted to avoid dealing with it.
But not every time I could really avoid it.
"There are only three things, Your Holy Majesty... the first is that, during the excavations at the World's Edge Mountains, the excavators found a legacy of the some faction that dwelled in the Necromancy and other branches of Magic of similar origin, this created a conflict between the Viceroy House Necrarch that is actually this time backed by Elector Count Draculya-Tepes and entirety of the Sylvania and Byrgenwerth, more precisely the Amethyst Order."
I frowned a bit hearing this, but I could see that this was a relatively serious dispute between them because the combined might of the Sylvania was one of the best among the Grand Provinces and they could collectively pressure even the Byrgenwerth to a certain degree.
"And the next two?"
Hopefully, the next two won't be as severe as these ones.
"Territorial dispute between the Dwarves as it seems, the Wildhammer Tribe is having a conflict with the Longbeard Clan over the new loges of the several precious metals that were found on the edge of their territories. And the last one is more like the personal feud between two chambers of commerce; both want to obtain the exclusive rights for the voyages to Westeros but were denied by CHOAM..."
My head hurts just by thinking about it... like they said, one was better than another and there was even conflict between the dwarves.
Though it must be pretty serious, if they had already passed it to the Landsraad, normally, the Council of Three Hammers or the Conclave of the Forge would resolve all of these matters between the dwarven clans.
They had the highest autonomy within the Imperium.