Steamhold

A dwarven town with a turbulent history; Steamhold (originally named Shimmervein) can be found in the centre of the mountain range known as the Silverpeak Mountains, in Vallanna's western Windward Peninsula region.
Much of the town was devastated by the effects of The Great Vallar Impact, in 702 AoAM, although the mine remained mostly intact. Seismic instability caused by the comet's impact had led to the subsidence of a large section of the Silverpeak Mountains by up to one hundred metres in some places, causing the waters of the Sea of Vallar to flood into the lower valleys of the range.
While the town had once been on an mountain plateau, some forty miles from the ocean, they now found themselves on the banks of a newly formed estuary of massive proportions; luckily escaping their own submergance by only metres.
Rather than abandoning the promising source of mithril, the town was rebuilt, and took advantage of their newly acquired connection to the sea.
Many centuries later, making use of the abundant source of water, dwarven engineers from the town designed and built Altea's first ever steam-powered engine to improve the productivity of the mining operation. This invention was such a successful innovation that, in 212 AoU, the town was officially renamed from Shimmervein to Steamhold.

Demographics

78% Dwarf
13% Human
9% Other

Government

Like most Dwarven Settlements, Steamhold is operated in the main by members of the Dwarven Trade Guild. Falling within the borders of The Kingdom of Vallanna means that they also are nominally part of that nation, although enjoy some level of autonomy; provided taxes are still paid.

Industry & Trade

The main export of Steamhold is, and always has been, the mithril which is mined from beneath the town. In recent decades, however, the rich vein of ore has shown signs of petering out, and the miners of Steamhold have had to dig much deeper than ever before in order to meet their quotas.
As a result of the subsidence of the immediate section of the Silverpeak Mountains due to The Great Vallar Impact, and subsequent flooding of the lower valleys, Steamhold has been able to make use of its water connection to the Sea of Vallar to develop a thriving maritime industry, and to forge easier trade links for its mithril mining operations.

History

Originally founded in 534 AoAM to exploit the discovery of a promising and rich seam of mithril, the town was first named Shimmervein.
During the first 168 years of the town's life, it was a small, but prosperous mining operation, producing a respectable amount of high-quality mithril ore, but otherwise much like many other Dwarven mining outposts throughout the mountain ranges of Aetrun.

The Coming of the Comet

In late-Spring in the year 702 AoAM, the comet known as The Skydancer struck Altea. The primary impact site was in the Sea of Vallar, only around sixty miles to the north-west of Shimmervein. During the descent of the comet through the atmosphere, many smaller fragments broke off, leaving a trail of destruction for thousands of miles across the continent of Aetrun before the final impact occured.
Shimmervein luckily was hit by neither the primary core of the comet nor any of the smaller fragments; protected in the shadow of the mountain it was built into. The massive tidal wave thrown up by the main impact also did not reach as far inland as the town, although many coastal communities were wiped out. However, the series of earthquakes and ongoing seismic instability caused by the comet's impact were to level many of the surface buildings of the town. There were, thankfully, few casualties, with much of the town's populace able to flee into the mine to take shelter during the initial disaster.
This ongoing series of seismic shifts would however, reshape the entire mountain range which the town was built within. A very large section of the range began to subside; dropping up to one hundred metres in some places. Due to this, the waters of the Sea of Vallar, previously meeting the continent at a series of craggy cliffs, flooded their way inland, submerging many of the lower valleys of the range and creating a large estuary stretching almost through to the eastern borders of the mountain range.
If the original builders of Shimmervein had set their foundations just slightly lower down the mountain then the town too would have found itself underwater, but as it was, although devasted from the earthquakes, the town found itself now in possession of an unforseen resource - a connection to the ocean, and a series of waterways which would allow easy travel through the mountains to meet the plains of the east.
With much of the mine itself found to be mostly intact, the decision was made to rebuild what was lost, and to take advantage of the new landscape of the area.

The Invention of The Engine and the Renaming

Following the rebuilding of the town, and the establishment of new, lucrative trade-routes to the outside world, Shimmervein would prosper, drawing many new inhabitants hoping to build a life in this thriving boom-town. The Dwarven Trade Guild saw increased mithril profits due to the easing of transport difficulties through the mountains, and soon began to demand that more and more mithril be mined in the town to keep up with demand.
Reaching a plateau of production in the mid second-century AoU, noted Dwarven engineers in the town began to look at ways which production might be improved once again. Their eventual solution was to be revolutionary - on the banks of the estuary was to be built a large installation, which was to take the waters and boil them to steam, which would be pumped down into the mining complex through a series of specially constructed pipes. There it would be used to turn banks of colossal turbines, powering a whole array of specially constructed mining equipment.
Overnight, the lives of the miners were transformed. They could mine more mithril than ever before, without even half of the effort that they had previously had to endure to do so. Mithril production more than doubled, enriching many and improving the lives of the townsfolk to no end.
Seeing the potential in this new technology, the High King of The Dwarves declared its inner workings to be an industrial secret of the highest order. Any and all efforts should be made to ensure that the plans remain safely under the control of the dwarves, and the so-called 'Steam Engine' would be under constant guard against espionage and sabotage. Inquiring minds even from Vallanna were discouraged, sometimes forcefully, from investigating the new construction. Since, it has long been rumoured that the High King negotiated a secret trade deal with the King of Vallanna to supply them with a modest amount of Shimmervein mithril in exchange for not inquiring further into workings of the Steam Engine.
Very few, if any, additional Steam Engines have thus far been constructed elsewhere, although it is rumoured that the original engineers were employed, and subsequently sworn to secrecy, by the High King, to construct an entirely underground version of the Steam Engine to power the Royal Workshops, deep beneath the Dwarven capital of Steinstad, using the waters of an underground river.
The people of Shimmervein soon began to see the constant plume of steam emanating from the newly dug mountainside exhaust shafts as a sign of their continuing good fortune, and in the year 212 AoU successfully petitioned the High King to rename the town from Shimmervein to Steamhold.
In recent centuries, the population of Steamhold has stabilised at around eight thousand, and as the mithril seam has shown signs of finally starting to run dry over the past several decades, it is unlikely that the town will grow much larger than it currently is.

Founding Date

534 AoAM

Alternative Name(s)

Shimmervein

Type

Town

Population

~8000