Baron Raspail

Baron Raspail of Godsiron Grove

Coat of Arms Coat of Arms Coat of Arms Lord Type: Merchant Lord | Domain Type & Location: Backwoods, West | Residence: Townhouse

Domain Features Retinue Boons & Drawbacks
Iron Mine Water Architect Favor of the Guilds
Adamantite Mystic Mine Earth Architect
Versatile Woodlands + Forest Shepherds Broker End Times
Granary Slave Trader Meaningful Savages Minority
Caravanserai Sheriff Do you hear the people sing?
Barracks Tax Collector
Knightly Order Marshal
Walls
Adventurers' Guildhouse
Dungeon

Baron Raspail


An ambitious but loyal member of the Western Trading Guild. He traveled to the four corners of the Empire to build his network that eventually raised him from his commoner status to the position he is today. Raspail is a man who doesn't let his heart obstruct his goals and sees his domain as little more than a large business to grow. The wellbeing of its inhabitants only matters so long as it secures his pockets. So far there hasn't been any conflict of interests, as both the Baron and his subjects benefit from the town development.

Plan

The stress caused by the return of Abaddon has taken its toll on the man already. He dedicated his entire life to become rich and he knows very well he would lose everything in a minute if a demonic army showed up at its doors. His only option would be to abandon the city and retreat to the Empire at any sign of danger. So he plans to buy a safe spot in a stronger fortress in exchange of advantageous prices on raw adamantite and exotic dwarven goods for the next ten years.

Godsiron Grove


https://www.deviantart.com/refiend/art/Oasis-961013747

An old dwarven settlement initially based around an iron mine, it boomed when adamantite was first discovered. But one of the eruptions of Mt. Velos caused a series of catastrophic earthquakes that reshaped the mines and revealed a massive gash whence hordes of insectoid demons and goblins poured out to ravage the surrounding lands. The dwarves were so desperate to reclaim their beloved adamantite that they offered the ownership of the land to anyone who could secure it and allow the extraction of the precious metal. The Western Trading Guild couldn't waste this opportunity and immediately sent a huge mercenary force led by Raspail to drive back the demons to their hole and take control of the mines.

The victory was decisive and soon, two architects and a group of druids set out to work on an artificial oasis to make the area more hospitable to humans, while dwarves rebuilt their underground city to resume mining operations as soon as possible. The Old Mine was repurposed into slaves pens to house the many savage humanoids captured in the Outlands, as more labor was needed to ramp up the ore production. And an Adventurers' Guildhouse was built to deal with the dungeons and varied threats of the Outlands.

The Old Mine

Emptied of its iron ages ago, it was repurposed as the slave district as it is only linked to the rest of the mines by a single fortified corridor going through the headquarters of the mine's guard and slave trading post. It is easily isolated and flooded by redirecting the water source. The savages live in small communities inside big tunnel pockets called cells and are mixed every day to avoid them organizing or forming bonds. They are brought to and from the mines one cell at a time all throughout the day and always mine with at least a 2:1 dwarf for slave ratio, not counting the guards. They only mine iron, the adamantite is reserved for expert dwarf miners as not anyone can extract it properly.

Order of the Coin coat of arms The Order of the Coin Order of the Coin coat of arms

A widespread military order founded by wealthy lords to protect trade caravans from bandits and savages. Its members are very diverse and vary from chapter to chapter. Some are pious knights who take their mission religiously, acting to protect trade routes and to secure the veins of the Empire, others are hardly more than elite mercenaries on the right side of the law.
Godsiron's chapter is a mix of both, its captain is a zealot who wishes to civilize the Outlands by protecting the new settlers and traders, and by enslaving savages. But most of his men are from varied backgrounds and don't share his righteousness.

The Adamantine Maw

Deep into the adamantite mine is an unexplored dungeon; a massive ravine, too dark and deep to see the bottom, from which giant bugs crawl and fly out to assault the miners and the freshly built dwarven fortifications. Its name comes from the large chunks of adamantite ore sticking out of its cliffs, giving it the appearance of a ravenous maw. And also because it ate all of the adamantite.
There is no proper entrance for adventurers, they have to abseil down while fighting the monsters, and climb back up to exit. Nobody has reached the bottom, yet, but multiple tunnels at different levels on the cliffs have been discovered already.

Production, Exports and Imports

Godsiron is mostly known for its adamantite ore, also known as the iron of the gods, the main component behind the adamantium alloy. But most of its production is still high quality iron from its one big mine.
This is not the only thing coming out of the mines. In its depths, where insectoids demons swarm out of the dungeon, soldiers and adventurers can collect chitin, silk, venom, and various fungi and plants. A fledgling industry is slowly forming around these raw resources, with few artisans transforming them into armor, clothes, dyes, tools and building materials. Rarer artifacts could certainly be found further into the dungeon where no one has ever set foot, yet.
Finally the man-made oasis feeds the barony with some common crops (wheat and maize) but also apricots, dates, figs, olives, and peaches. As well as (experimental) dwarven alcohols made of these.
Exports:
Everything mentioned above is for sale but the food, as its supply is still relatively unstable.
The dwarves who gave Raspail the barony also have a privileged contract to buy 75% of the adamantite mined. Would you need adamantium ingots or weapons and armors, you should ask them.
Imports:
Godsiron still needs to import food to maintain its population mostly composed of miners. Especially fish and meat as the nascent biodiversity of the oasis is protected by the druids.
It also has a need for processed items like wooden furnitures, weapons and armors (usually provided by the dwarves next door), and more advanced tools and machinery.
Finally, the people enjoy a few luxury items such as spices, books and any novelties to get away from their isolated life in the desert.

Other Stuff

To His Lordship, Lord Steerpike, Earl of Groan: https://archive.4plebs.org/tg/thread/92885711/#q92892918
To His Holiness, Saint Maluscomedo: https://archive.4plebs.org/tg/thread/92885711/#q92893753
Participation to Lampys Erymanthius's hastilude: https://archive.4plebs.org/tg/thread/93025268/#q93030871

Edit

Pub: 18 May 2024 15:43 UTC

Edit: 15 Jun 2024 21:42 UTC

Views: 223