Snowforge

Hey buddy, you know what I've heard ? Apparently there are ruins of before the Cleansing right under us. That's how the aristocrats got all their shiny gold, apparently. But hey, that's just rumours.

An Icevalian worker to his friend

Heart of industry

The city of Snowforge is a strange one. Built on the ruins of a Technocian factory and using semi-magical retro-engineered versions of it, it is the core of Icevale, almost as important as the capital. Its foundries can melt blacksteel, making it a weaponsmith's dream and allowing such a crucial transfer inside of the duchy. The worker caste is especially vast here, and for good reasons. As such, few nobles actually live there, and the tensions between worker and patron are high.

Another thing making it particular, other than the great technological superiority in industry, is that it harbors the Crystal Mines, allowing ample supply of essence crystals for mages. This makes it the heart of Icevale's economy, as most important resources for trade are harvested and refined here before being sent to other places like the capital to be turned into usable goods.

History

When Snowforge was created in 34 AS, the colonists had no idea of what they would create. A small camp of hunters, some explorers decided to go to a cave they saw. There they found a lot of charcoal, which allowed them to replace wood. After they fully explored it, they left to come back with better tools.

After mining a lot of coal, they decided to settle there to be able to mine more of it. However, while they were digging the first galleries, they found colored pebbles of shiny crystals. As they dug deeper to make more jewelry, they saw larger and larger pebbles, until they were rocks. At one moment, a hunter broke down a wall and discovered ruins. They were of no use and even had some strong defenses, so they ignored it.

500 years later, a circle came to explore the ruins the settlers found. After taking care of strange iron elementals bombarding them with magical projectiles, they discovered strange machinery. The government declared the place devoid of anything and censored any information about it before sending more people to analyze the ruins. A few decades later, they managed to create a sort of replica of the machines.

This sparked a new age for the city, as they could now produce way more material than before. The city quickly industrialized to become the resource-creating beast it is now. Smoke covers the sky as the heat of the forges warm the entire city. Only the upper city stands clean, as they are protected from pollution using magic.

Blacksteel

Blacksteel isn't a regular metal. In fact, it isn't even natural. Blacksteel is a black unknown metal found deep underground. However, they are almost always near or inside ruins of an ancient civilization scattered &cross the world. Not only is it very hard to reach it, but they also often have some kind of defensive iron spirits or elementals guarding them. However, the Kernian Republic seems to have great amounts of it, and their constructs seem suspiciously close to some of those found underground. Maybe they really are the descendants of this ancient empire?

The Upper City

The Upper city is the domain of the aristocrats. Unlike the rest of the city made for production, it is a place full of parks, statues, and other decorations. Far from the miserable life of the workers, they live in luxury and manage their many factories and mineshafts from afar, often sending lesser minions to inspect them. Icevale's aristocracy isn't really liked, but those owning some industry in the city are especially disliked by their workers. Despite all their problems, the lower classes are unified by their hate of the upper class, and it is uncommon for someone to not be friend with most of their co-workers and even those next-door.