Dragocite Salvager

The Life of a Dragocite Salvager: A High-Stakes Gamble

A Dragocite Salvager is not a salaried employee; they are a high-stakes prospector, a gambler whose life is the ante. Their rewards are not steady, but they can be immense, attracting the desperate, the brave, and the reckless in equal measure. The pay structure is entirely dependent on which side of the law the salvager operates on.

The Licensed Salvager: The Path of Regulated Reward

A salvager who operates within the Kendroni system is a vital, if often looked-down-upon, part of the official resource economy.

• How They Are Paid: A licensed salvager is required to sell their raw, unrefined dragocite exclusively to state-sanctioned refineries or directly to the Tinkers' or Siphoners' Guilds under a pre-negotiated contract. The process is formal and heavily regulated. The raw dragocite is weighed, its purity is magically assayed, and its elemental resonance is measured.
• The Pay: Payment is typically made in Drakemetal Tokens (DT). The rates are fair but not exorbitant, and they are subject to heavy state taxation. A typical haul from a week of dangerous work—a few pounds of mid-grade, raw dragocite—might net a salvager enough to live comfortably for a month (around 50-100 DT). A particularly good find, like a vein of pure, elementally-attuned crystals, could be a life-changing score, earning them several hundred Tokens.
• The Rewards: The greatest reward for a licensed salvager is stability and access. They are granted legal protection, access to city markets, and the ability to purchase high-quality equipment. The most successful and reliable salvagers can earn lucrative, long-term contracts with the great guilds or even the Drakemetal Vanguard, who require a steady supply of the mineral for their operations.

The Unlicensed Poacher: The Path of Illicit Fortune

Many salvagers choose to operate outside the law, selling their finds on the black market to avoid taxes and regulations. This path is far more dangerous, but the potential rewards are exponentially higher.

• How They Are Paid: A poacher sells their haul in secret to criminal organizations like the Umbral Serpents, to unlicensed magi-tech experimenters, or to agents from rival nations. These deals are conducted in the back alleys of the Shadowmere Depths or in remote, hidden locations. There are no contracts, only a smuggler's handshake.
• The Pay: Payment is immediate and tax-free, often reaching two to three times the official rate. However, it is rarely paid in clean Drakemetal Tokens. A poacher is more likely to be paid in a mix of untraceable currency, raw gold bullion, rare gems, or even in-kind—with forbidden technology, rare alchemical ingredients, or a favor from a powerful criminal.
• The Rewards: The reward is the chance at true, life-altering wealth. A single, successful black market deal could set a salvager up for life. They are rewarded with the freedom that comes from operating outside the "gilded cage" of Kendroni law. However, the price of failure is steep: if caught by the Vanguard, their assets are seized and they face a long sentence in the mines of Eldoria. If betrayed by their criminal contacts, they simply disappear.

Every salvager, licensed or not, dreams of the ultimate prize: the "Motherlode." This is the discovery of a massive, perfectly pure dragocite geode, an elemental nexus of unimaginable power. To find one is to become a legend, a millionaire overnight. It is also to become the most hunted person in the kingdom, for a treasure of that magnitude will attract the attention of every guild, every government, and every dragon in the known world.

Dragocite Salvagers are the foundation of Kendron’s magi-tech economy, yet they occupy its lowest rung. They extract the raw, volatile crystal that powers sky-vessels, fuels elemental weaponry, and keeps the refineries of Platinus alive. Without them, the empire would grind to a halt.

Their work is brutal—marked by exposure to magical corruption, violent ruins, and elemental hazards. Salvagers absorb the risk that society refuses to face, serving as both shield and scapegoat for a world built on controlled power. Though indispensable, they are treated with disdain, seen as unstable outcasts tainted by their proximity to danger. In the pristine machinery of the Gilded City, salvagers are the oil-streaked cogs no one wants to acknowledge.

In Kendron, the Dragocite Salvager lives as a paradox—reviled in status, essential in function. Society views them with suspicion and scorn, branding them “Glow-fingers” for the visible marks of their dangerous trade. In a culture built on order and cleanliness, salvagers embody the chaotic and ungoverned. They work in ruins, skirt the law, and consort with volatile magic—traits seen as reckless and impure.

Yet behind closed doors, they are indispensable. The guilds, the Collegium, and even the Vanguard rely on salvagers to unearth the raw dragocite that powers the realm. No banquet table welcomes them, but no power grid hums without them. They are hired quietly, needed constantly, and respected only for what they provide—not who they are. In every way that matters, the salvager is both outcast and cornerstone.

A Dragocite Salvager lives and dies by their gear. The tools they carry must endure crumbling ruins and delicately extract crystals that can rupture reality. Most salvagers rely on the rugged essentials of the "Glimmer-jack’s Burden"—picks, hammers, and chisels for extraction; gloves, goggles, and lead-lined sacks for safety; dowsing rods and climbing gear for survival. Their masks filter toxic fumes, their blades fend off cave beasts, and their kits are heavy with the weight of necessity.

Those who survive long enough—or get lucky—upgrade to the "Dowser’s Arsenal," an elite array of magi-tech precision and protection. Resonance hammers and arcane drills replace crude tools. Alchemical rebreathers and warded containers make even the deadliest zones navigable. Resonance detectors, brass-and-crystal marvels, can pinpoint the richest veins and avoid the unstable ones. And when fortune draws danger near, an elemental-firearm—smuggled, salvaged, or stolen—can end a threat before it closes the distance.

The life of a Dragocite Salvager is one of constant peril. Each descent into the wilds or ruins is a gamble where the stakes are survival, sanity, and soul.

The mineral they seek is both prize and threat. Raw dragocite is dangerously unstable—one wrong strike can unleash elemental blasts of fire, ice, or force, or a flash of light that sears vision to blindness. Its resonance corrupts the body over time, causing “Glow-finger Sickness,” or Dracosis: a slow descent into madness, crystalline mutation, and eventual death as one’s body calcifies into impure dragocite. Leyline zones make matters worse, where wild magic distorts gravity, time, and even the laws of reality.

Salvagers must brave treacherous terrain: deep ruins cursed by the Dragonfall or haunted by the Mandraghal dead, fractured tunnels where a misstep means a cave-in or a plunge into toxic fumes. Creatures twisted by magic often lurk near dragocite, drawn to its energy or shaped by its influence.

Yet the most dangerous threat is human. Competition is fierce and deadly—motherlodes are often claimed with blades, not contracts. The black market thrives on betrayal, and deals with criminal syndicates like the Umbral Serpents often end in violence. Meanwhile, the Drakemetal Vanguard hunts unlicensed salvagers with relentless efficiency. Those caught face asset seizure and sentencing to the brutal mines of Eldoria—a punishment many would trade for death.

Every salvager knows the truth: the deeper the find, the greater the risk—and the more likely it is to kill you.