Turquoise Hills County
The Turquoise Hill County is so named because of the tarnished copper color of many of the stones. This is because the area is rich in copper.
Government
The County is nominally tied by feudal bonds to the Duchy of Crescent Rock, but in practice, the County is mostly autonomous in how it runs things.
The goblins mostly stay in the mine or the ghetto but during the harvest seasons they will tote bails of hay and perform similar acts of grunt labor to help the farmers.
One privlege the human peasants enjoy unrelated to goblin slave labor is hunting rights. Rather than restricting all big game hunting to upper class as many dragon blood nobles are wont to do, peasant families are awarded temporary hunting rights on a lottery basis.
TOA0078 by National Maritime Museum of Greenwich
The human peasants enjoy low taxes and a lot of autonomy, enjoying a standard of living above most peasant farmers elsewhere in Swynfaredia. This prosperity is almost entirely on the back of goblin slaves doing all the most menial labor.
Industry & Trade
There is enough agricultural surplus from the numerous family farms to feed the upper class and goblin slaves. More or less. The regions own food is filling but bland. The upper class imports spices and luxury food items to broaden their pallates. During some holidays, they will give away free food and spices to the human peasants as a gesture of goodwill.
There is plenty of timber to meet local fuel and construction needs for housing and the mine.
Most drinking comes from wells and irrigation is not feasible, making farmers dependent on rainfall. The local water is safe to drink but certainly tastes coppery.
by me with Midjourney
The count pays his taxes and funds his discretionary spending from the proceeds of the copper mine making copper the sole export of the region. The region also houses skilled coppersmiths and bronzesmiths.
History
The realm was secured for House Gruffyl shortly after the Conquest of Talama in recognition for their contributions to the war effort.
The realm was formally established in 1718. Count Gruffyl the half dragon was still alive, but Kynan did most of the legwork so he became the first count, briefly acting as the Count of Turquoise Hills alone before becoming a double count upon his father's death.
1718-1789 Count Kynan ap Gruffyl
1789-1820 Count Broderick ap Gruffyl
1820-1838^ Count Rohdri ap Gruffyl
Points of interest
The region has fairly collection of bronze statues of past and present House Gruffyl members as well as statues of all four Swynfaredia dragon Founders.
Rohdri's father opted to use some of the realm's copper to flex. He hired a famously gifted bronze sculptor on retainer.
The original bronze sculptor had several children who all took up the family trade. They do freelance bronze artwork for anyone who can pay and are considered to be among the best, if not the best in Swynfaredia.
The village also holds a small mint that doubles as a regional office for the Arcane Registry. Rohdri's father wanted to establish a much larger office but due to political tug-of-war the realm ended up with a mint that is too small and understaffed to process all the realms copper.
Architecture
The realm's political seat is a strong castle with a solid stone foundation and a dry moat. There is a larged walled village near it where the county's tradesmen and specialists live. The village houses a temple dedicated Greymoria decorated with bronze sculptures of ravens and other symbols of the Dark Mother.
The realm is dotted by small farming villages and isolated farms. One of the villages houses a modest temple dedicated to Mera. There are a few simple Nonagon shrine set ups here and there.
There is a walled goblin ghetto near the main entrance to the copper mine where the goblins are kept under guard when they are not working.
Natural Resources
The realm has moderately productive farmland. The farmers focus on relatively drought resistant cereal crops such as millet, potatoes, and rye.
The realm has a some limited grazing land and a not so limited amount of timber land.
The main claim to fame of the County is a productive copper mine.
Type
National Territory
Location under
Owner/Ruler
Ruling/Owning Rank
Owning Organization
Characters in Location
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