Yamnat
Built on a bend of the upper Yuhanem River on the shoulders of the Karanam Mountains, Yamnat is less than 20 years old, having been established for the sole purpose of controlling and supporting the adamantium mines in the nearby mountains. While the town is surrounded by a sturdy stone wall, its buildings are all constructed from rough-hewn local wood, and it lacks many of the amenities one might expect in a town of its size. This is partially due to a lack of demand, as most of the miners are convicts who receive no pay for their labor and have little time for leisure. However, enough others work in the area to sustain a modest number of establishments catering to their needs for drinking, gambling, and private recreation.
More than just a mining town, Yamnat has the facilities and craftsmen to process the ore from the ground into ingots and even to manufacture some finished goods. This avoids the labor of transporting the bulky ore to one location for smelting and another location to have it worked. To ensure the town’s success, Axuum encourages experienced smiths as well as mine workers to move to Yamnat, though any sales must of course go through approved Axuumite merchants or agents.
The rare metal is much more time-consuming to mine than iron or gold, and more difficult to work than steel, so progress is slow. King Urtigaddi of Axuum takes a personal interest in the adamantium mines, and so Nem-Mulya Mehadis does as well. Mulya Ayzur paid a pretty penny for his governorship and sees this as his big chance to break into more lucrative levels of government service, as well as putting away something for himself from the profits of the mine. That means he is constantly pushing the miners to work faster and the smelters to get every bit of the metal out of the raw ore. He tried pressuring the smiths but that didn’t go well, as any smith with the ability to craft adamantium can easily find work in other places. Ayzur was bluntly told to leave them alone or they would all quit and he would have to explain the situation to the nem-mulya, so he stays strictly away from the smiths except for inspecting their work and keeping the occasional dagger for himself “as a sample.”
Ayzur is also a bully to others in town, constantly expecting free services and threatening anyone who crosses him. He is disliked by most and outright hated by a few, but the company of the Royal Army in place “protecting the mines” keeps him safe until he crosses a person with nothing left to lose.
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