Rocksea

Rocksea is a blue-hued mineral found only on the island of Blueland, to which it gave its name. One of the most durable minerals on the continent, it is highly prized for both that and its beauty. It is the country’s main export, and mining the mineral is Blueland’s main industry. Rocksea gets its name from the first observation of its appearance; that the huge rock formations rich in the mineral looked like someone had painted an ocean scene on them. It is generally used in the making of jewellery, and sometimes in luxury architecture. The survival of the Blueland population revolves entirely around rocksea, in two very different ways.
The land has no indigenous population, and it was explorers from the mainland which discovered rocksea. Settlers soon came to the land and began to mine the exotic new discovery, which proved incredibly popular across the continent. Demand rose and the newly-established state of Blueland’s finances swelled, its population more than doubling from the pull of promised wealth.
However it became apparent that rocksea was both a blessing and a curse. The deposits in the soil made it difficult to grow healthy crops or rear healthy livestock, and proved toxic to humans in the long term. The health of the people suffered and the population drastically fell. The accumulated wealth was used to overhaul the whole system, turning it into one where the people are reliant on food imported from abroad. It took a few generations to recover financially from the change, but the continued exportation of rocksea eventually led to a stable economy, if not a thriving one.
The presence of rocksea in the island’s rocky foundation affects every aspect of life on it. Almost all the plant life on the island—mostly scrubby grassland, with little in the way of naturally fertile soil—is tinged blue. The natural wildlife’s systems are built to cope with the presence of the rocksea deposits in their food and water, but species imported from elsewhere cannot, hence the problem rearing livestock. It took some trial and error for the Bluelanders to establish which of these species was safe for them to eat and which were not, dependent on how the individual animal processed the rocksea. Blueland led the way in the development of water filtration technology due to the need to remove rocksea deposits from drinking water and water used to cook or rehydrate food. Even so, the life expectancy of the population is lower than that in most countries on the continent.
The presence of rocksea even affects clothing. Due to the need to spend so much of their hard-earned wages on food, Bluelanders use fur from the native animals for warmth, and make most of their other clothing by spinning the local grass. This gives the final linen-like material a blue tint. Other local plants are used to dye different shades of blue, purple and green, but in general, it’s difficult to make other colours not based on blue.
While Blueland had a stable economy for several centuries, recent decades have seen alarming changes. The rise of the Keizon Empire, which covers around half the continent, accordingly held the largest trade contract with Blueland for rocksea. Incremental changes by the Empire led to a situation where they now dominate the industry, purchasing every ounce of rocksea which is mined from Blueland, and distributing it throughout the Empire or selling it at inflated prices to other countries. As such they now control the demand and the value, with workers in the industry exploited and Blueland’s economy suffering badly as they are forced to work harder for much less pay. Poverty now grips Blueland, with many struggling to afford the imported food they rely on for survival. This leads inevitably to less being purchased, which leads to less demand and therefore less being made, which makes the manufacturing process more expensive, the prices rising, and so the cycle goes on.
Another huge side-effect of the growing destitution is the lack of modern technology available in Blueland compared to the rest of the continent. Electricity was still quite new and expensive when the economy began slipping, so it’s only available in a few major settlements and then only in certain buildings, mostly public ones. Radios are more common but only owned by about one in four families; communities come together to listen, especially for important broadcasts. Telephones are only available in public phone boxes except for in government buildings, which have their own lines. Most travel is still on foot or by horse (domesticated descendants of the Blueland wild horses), with only important public figures owning cars. When air travel was invented, Blueland built an airport to be able to import and export via air, but this and occasional official visits to other countries are its only use.
The Keizon Empire does not control any territories bordering Blueland, but these tactics are not dissimilar to ones it has used in the past in preparation for taking over a new one. It is expected that within a generation, the country will be forced to join the Empire on the Empire’s terms in order to avoid the entire population starving. For now, many families out of desperation are feeding their children safe foods while living off of ones tainted with rocksea, knowing it won’t kill them outright but that the delayed effects probably won’t kick in until their children are old enough to be independent.