Diamond Dwellings were small huts, occupied by slaves and serfs.  Typically they were built to share walls and reduce costs, and would line the back edge of wealthy estates, in a backgammon-board pattern. Walls were made by weaving a sheet out of grass, packing it with mud, and then covering both sides with pebbles.

The longer the adjacencies of Diamond Dwellings, the more stable the complex would be.  Unstable complexes could be knocked down like a stack of dominoes, provided the vandal had a powerful enough force.  It was typical for slave-owners to knock down the house of a slave that they felt would be profitable on the auction block. They would then turn up their hands and say, "You've no home? I'll be forced to sell you, then."

Serfs, especially in lean times, often had turf wars with the serfs of other estates, known as Serf-and-Turf Wars.  Having a domicile which was part of a long, stable comlex also offered protection against midnight raids by roving serfs. 

At the interior corners, where four Dwellings met, was a shared fire pit, open to all four Dwellings. 

During the last period, many individuals with slave or serf ancestry lived in giant shanty-towns of Diamond Dwellings. The biggest of these, in Ambarak, was known as the Slums Of The Forlorn. These shanty towns were built up unit by unit, like a beehive, and consequently interior units lacked an exterior wall and door. The fire pits became the only access point for fresh air and their use for fire was discontinued.  Above the shanty-towns, then, people were continuously streaming in and out, on route to work, or to beg for alms, or to buy goods. The only safe way to walk atop the towns was directly over the walls. Over time, ropes were laid out marking where one might walk, making a giant grid across the town.

During the Siege of Evangelicals, many of the shanty-towns and Diamond Dwellings were destroyed in an effort to purge the Uzdamalian Empire of that which is poor and dirty.

For related readings, see:

Ambarak

Siege of Evangelicals

Slums Of The Forlorn