Jackal Among Snakes, Book 9: A GameLit Fantasy

When there's a calamity with the potential to end the world, it stands to reason they might meddle with said world rather directly. For instance, such a calamity might exploit the volatile forces of the planet's core, ending everyone from within without seeking their say in the matter. It would be a brutal and effective way to see its goal to fruition.
Of course, that isn't actually happening. It is, however, a convenient deception to engage in diplomacy with the reclusive dwarves, who've long ago mastered the depths of the planet and have decided to leave the fate of the surface to the surface-dwellers. Argrave desperately needs their knowledge, yet their democratic culture looks down upon their monarchic ways as backward and unproductive. Given the (metaphorical) height their people have reached, it could be said they're justified in doing so... but Argrave's never been one to let justification hold him back.