Iron Crucible
Ervenian Era, 1051 AB
The Iron Crucible is a world-shaft of hematite and glassed basalt bores through the Elemental Plane of Earth, drawing heat and light from beyond. Ore-veins run like frozen lightning through its walls; slagfalls hiss into obsidian bowls; and the air tastes of iron and hot stone. This is the Iron Crucible where the great throat by which Earth meets Fire.
Customs
Spark-Law
Open flames must be baffled; unbaffled sparks that cause injury bind the offender to a season’s brace-duty.Bracefast Oath
Any new cut sets braces under witnessed runes before the next bell or the rock will self-heal and entomb the crew.Ladle-Right
First pour from a new crucible belongs to the structure, cast into keystones and ward-seals.Red-Neutral
The Treaty Anvil is neutral ground; dao, azer, salamanders, and visitors parley under quenched steel bells.Heat-Marks
Crews tattoo their safe-temp bands; working past your mark without writ voids insurance and invites confiscation.Geography
The Crucible is a stack of ringed bastions and spiraling load-ramps around a central caldera where a red-white vortex roars to the Plane of Fire. Lateral adits honeycomb the walls into foundries, quench pits, and ore markets. Above, the Smelter Stair corkscrews past slag sluices and fume-vents; below, pressure caverns drum like hearts. Magnetic lodestone seams tug at tools and twist compasses. Along the Fireward face, rivers of molten rock plunge in shimmering curtains, cooling to obsidian terraces where caravans unload.
Notable Locations
The Throat
The blazing vortex mouth to the Plane of Fire; ringed with heat-ward altars and surge-meters.Crucible Gates
Four cardinal gate-rings with anchor pylons that pin teleport and ethereal entries.Lodestone Halls
Magnetite galleries that scramble needles and tug mail; used to foil metal-borne assassins.Slagfall Arches
Vaulted chutes where molten waste rains into obsidian basins, prime ambush and salvage ground.The Quench
Tiered quench-pits fed by regulated steam; azer smith-priests sing the temperature down.Treaty Anvil
A seamed steel dais under a bell-forest; oaths are struck here with quenched hammers.Ember Bazaar
Heat-proof market for ingots, alloys, fire-salts, and ward-glyphs; prices rise with the mercury.Smelter Stair
A mile-wide helical ramp carved from single stone; every fifth landing is a Bracefast chapel.Fume-Cloister
Vent-monastery where Cornerstone monks map pressure by breath and gong.The Red Ledger
Magistracy vault tracking tolls, writs, and safety debts; default too often and your gear is forfeit.Travel and Access
Throat Transit
The vortex opens on a schedule marked by tremor-bells; armored skiffs and heat-warded envoys pass into Fire during calm minutes. Anchor Gates Ethereal curtains and keyed portals deposit travelers on Gate-Rings for inspection; uncontrolled teleports are shunted to Anchor Yards and pinned. Ore Roads Chain-winch elevators and mule-track causeways connect the Crucible to major delves; certified earthglide lanes exist but are speed-limited and rune-logged.Tolls and Writs
Dao wardens assess the Smelt-Tithe (by weight, heat, and hazard). No-Quench-Without-Writ is absolute: shock-cooling unpermitted stone carries severe penalties. Economy and WorkExports
Alloy ingots (adamantine-tempered steel, fire-quenched bronze), warded keystones, pressure maps, ember salts.Imports
Water-ice in sealed blocks, foodstuffs, refractory ceramics, rare fluxes from Ooze/Water borders.Services
Toll-assayed smelting, heat-treating, controlled quench, portal escort, surge-window scheduling.Inhabitants
Dao overseers, pech riggers, and galeb duhr brace-masters keep the stone in true. Azer embassies, salamander guilds, and magmin runners handle Fire-side trade; thoqqua haunt old pipes like living boring bars. Earth elementals patrol load-lines; magma and steam mephits scurry in vents. Xorn assess purity; occasional efreet or fire giants negotiate bulk contracts. Smugglers and slag-rats work the shadowed ledges between toll posts.Localized Phenomena
Thermocline Veils
Invisible heat layers (Perception to notice crossing imposes exhaustion checks and can crack tempered gear.Lodestone Drift
Strong magnetism pulls ferrous items, imposes penalties on metal tools, and garbles compass/nautical magic.Slag Rain
Micro-meteor showers of cooling dross; harmless to warded crews, ruinous to bare skin and parchment maps.Surge Pulse
The Throat breathes; on a pulse, gravity skews, flames lean, and unsecured loads skate Fireward.Heat Haze
Mirage-like refraction; visual illusions misregister, and ranged attacks past two veils suffer.Stone’s Memory
Surfaces near the Throat hold the heat of last oaths; sanctioned diviners can read safety lies as cold patches.Trait Type |
Description |
|---|---|
| Gravity | Objective, “down” along the shaft; near the throat, gravity vectors tilt toward Fireward ledges and can briefly invert on surge pulses. |
| Time | Normal. |
| Shape & Size | A colossal vertical complex (many leagues deep and wide) of shafts, galleries, and calderas around a central vortex “throat”; functionally infinite through branching mines and service tunnels. |
| Morphic Traits | Elementally morphic. Stone answers to oath-set braces and engineer runes (Earth), while flows, vents, and temperature gradients answer to pressure chants and ember rites (Fire). Unwitnessed tunneling heals; unbaffled flames seek drafts. |
| Elemental Energy | Earth Dominant. |
| Alignment | Neutral. |
| Magic | Earth, metal, protection, rune, heat/fire, and magma effects are enhanced. Cold/water, unattended teleportation, and wide-area flight are impeded. Divinations about ore, heat, or stress lines gain clarity; illusions waver in heat haze. |
Type
Dimensional plane
Location under
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