Crystal King
"Only on the Crystal King can you find a poor man with twelve diamond rings."Crystal King is a dangerous settlement despite its docile temperament. Only a small portion of lava elemental has been kept cool enough to build upon. The small formation of crust is slowly expanding as genasi and lesser elementals work with the August Elemental to keep parts of itself stable. The relationship that the genasi have established with the Crystal King has revealed a shy creature, something akin to an untested artist. Crystal King loves to show its creations to whoever it can. It is the only August Elemental known to create avatars of itself. These small lava elementals tend to look like small kobolds made of barely hardened rock. They scurry about excitedly throughout the gem tunnels, pushing gems and crystals into the colonists hands as they walk deeper into the massive geodes.- Carter Geary, human Master - Jewelcrafting
Demographics
Genasi -~50%
Genasi are essential to life on the back of this lava elemental. Lava is not a typical phenotype of elemental and is thus temperamental and rather unstable. The genasi are still learning about this variant of elemental even as they coax it from the homicidal edge.
Humans -~5%
Humans find it difficult to live on Crystal King for more than a few weeks at a time. Their relatively delicate physicality precludes them from long stays.
Dwarves -~20%
Dwarves have been steadily growing their numbers through pilgrimage and determined colonization. There is wealth to be had on the back of the Crystal King, it was only a matter of time before the dwarves decided to invest.
Kobolds-~25%
Kobolds are an incessant nuisance on the back of this August Elemental. No one knows how they found the settlement; only that they refuse to stop stealing and won't leave despite determined campaigns to remove them from the elemental. Their fanatic pursuit of a dragon to worship has persuaded the small cult of thieves that the beating heart of the elemental is an Ancient Red Dragon. You can still find young kobolds attempting to be Burning Born every full moon.
Government
The settlement is run much like a multinational colony. Representatives from many nations and races send their emissaries to stake a claim on the highly lucrative back of the August Elemental. There, raw materials harvested from the elemental are sent back to the rest of the world via the Gemmed Cove owned by Carter Geary; a Master - Jewelcrafting researching the August Elemental phenomenon. The Gem Cutters Guild takes their tariff of all goods passing through the portal in the Gemmed Cove, giving the guild a firm grip on the elemental.
Defences
A hostile take over of Crystal King has been attempted. Once. Unsuccessfully. The Battle of Baranathis was the only display Crystal King gave its inhabitants over its ability to protect itself. During that attack, Crystal King warded meteors by plating itself in spikes hundreds of meters long, made of a pale blue diamond-like gem. These spikes pierced the meteors, shattering them before they could hit the elemental properly. Lava began oozing out between these spikes, swallowing the infernal assault team that Baranathis had allied himself with. Baranathis narrowly escaped geysers of lava that erupted from the landscape surrounding Crystal King.
The veracity of the legend has been called into question many times. The Battle of Baranathis also says that the demons were pulled into the lava "as a stone falls into a pond once it's released from your hand." The pale blue diamonds were said to have shattered after the attack with the colonist quickly gathering them and shipping them off to their current countries. This is why so many royal jewelry collections across Corvayn tend to include pale blue diamonds. Or so it's said.
Industry & Trade
Crystal King is an import/export colony. Precious, rare, and unknown gems and crystals are shipped across the world through the Gem Cutters Guild's portal within Carter Geary's Gemmed Cove. It is by far the most wealthy settlement in the world.
Infrastructure
It is important to remember that the August Elemental does not want to kill its inhabitants; who else would it show its precious gems to? Keeping the small patch of rock that the settlement itself sits upon cool is no small feat, however. Water and air lesser elementals work beside genasi of the same persuasions to keep the small patch of crust stable on this August Elemental's back. Fire and earth genasi are still working with the Crystal King to teach it how to keep parts of itself cool enough for its inhabitants. As this relationship is being developed, the amount of ground that is habitable is slowly growing, giving more room for future colonists.
Houses are little more than small huts, pimples on the back of enormous roaming volcano. Few stay here long enough to make any place cozy.
Districts
There are two distinct portions of the settlement on Crystal King: the collection of small huts at the center of the small island of stable rock and a ring of tunnels that surround the settlement. These huts are where the colonists from across Corvayn live while they stay with the August Elemental. The caves surrounding the settlement are where these colonists descend to find the gems they are braving the heat for. These caves turn out to be more akin to geodes however. Every surface of these tunnels are lined with gems and crystals; some of which have never been identified before. Wealth is but an arms length away. These tunnels are jealously guarded by the nations that have sent colonists, with new tunnels mysteriously appearing whenever another nation or race sends its representatives, preventing any bloody disagreements that such wealth normally brings.
Assets
Gems, minerals, crystals and other rare formations of pressurized and transformed elements are common place in the tunnels of Crystal King. Metals are no where to be seen however, making Smithen's and Crystal King's fiefdoms absolute.
Guilds and Factions
The Gem Cutters Guild has a firm grip on the settlement, giving permission to import/export the gems on the August Elemental to nations and races when they see fit. This power is not absolute however. The political ramifications of excluding any one nation from the portal would quickly present the guild with a potentially marshal problem, one it would rather avoid.
Points of interest
Carter Geary's Gemmed Cove is the only notable location on the frustratingly hot elemental. Here, colonists enter and leave the elemental when their excursions into the gem tunnels are complete. His laboratory is nestled deep within a gem tunnel and hosts small shops where young gem cutters offer to cut or evaluate gems that other colonists have taken from their tunnels. When unknown gems are discovered, the copious, varied, and incredibly powerful gem golems that the guild provides Carter insist that the gem stays with the guild. The colonist is remunerated with many times that gems weight in sapphires, rubies, emeralds, or whatever other gems the colonist desires. This is often the goal of many colonists since the unknown gem is likely useless to them but worth many more tons of gems when traded.
Tourism
The economic value, limited residential space, terrible environment, and cut throat nature of merchants and colonists prevents any tourism.
Type
Town
Population
~300 humanoids and 300 lesser elementals
Inhabitant Demonym
Kingsmen
Included Locations
Owning Organization
Characters in Location
Comments