Human societies are divided among kingdoms, republics, city-states, merchant leagues, principalities, and empires. They have no single “human position” on relations with the Greathold. Even within one state, people depend on dwarven industry in different ways and disagree about what to do when those relations worsen.
Human cities buy dwarven pumps, lights, rails, weapons, and power systems. A municipal rail contract gives some people a reason to defend open crystal trade: the city now relies on what that trade supplies. It also makes public transport dependent on a foreign supplier and takes municipal work away from local mage guilds.
When relations with the Greathold deteriorate, the same parliament must hear from those who want trade kept open, those concerned about foreign dependence, and guilds that have lost work. One purchase has created several competing political interests.
Evidence and restrictions
Universities gather and assess evidence when the interested parties cannot agree on what it means. That evidence arrives with competing interests already attached. A disputed survey may come with restrictions imposed by a dwarven company, a model supplied by elves, and funding from a mage guild whose position is threatened.
Publishing the survey can change import law while the argument over its findings remains unresolved. Political decisions do not necessarily wait for academic agreement.
Some human states restrict core products, deep-mined crystals, dungeon tissues, and dwarven engines. They may be trying to guard against danger, protect domestic industries from competition, or reduce dependence on a foreign power. A policy can serve all three purposes at once.
Intervention
Human containment plans eventually target factories and mana depots. These targets supply networks that also serve civilians, so interrupting deep extraction can have consequences beyond the intended military objective. The same strike can stop a civilian rail line or a pumping station fed by the network.
Military communiqués name the intended target. Casualty reports account for what happened to everything connected to it.