Darkstone Minecot

[Anna]

Darkstone Minecot

Holder: Wordel
Hold Heir: Therrad
Hold Colors: Black and stone grey
Beholden To: Split Rock Hold
Badge Design: a black lump of coal on a stone-grey field
Creator/contact: Anna Smith, [e-mail]
Revised: 02/09/2009

Overview:
Darkstone Minecot mines coal. The folk at Darkstone appear stoic and reserved to outsiders, keeping themselves somewhat apart from the ‘overground’ folk from outside the cot. Darkstoners are characterized as direct, hardworking people who don’t say much and don’t put up with much, either.

Economics:
Coal 1/32 per hundredweight
Diamonds (undressed/unfaceted) 1 – 3 marks
Diamonds (faceted) 2 – 5 marks

Imports: Everything else

Darkstone has enough fields and crops to maintain the basic dietary needs for the cothold, but most goods need to be imported.

Location:
Leland Island, southern face of the northernmost twin mountains.

Hold Proper:
The cothold is built into a mountain-side, with rooms and apartments spreading out, close to the exterior ‘wall’ of the cliff. With most of their lives spent down in the dark coal mines, the cotters yearn for daylight in their own homes.

History:
Established in turn I186, by several mining families migrating from a closed mine on the northern continent, they were led by a master miner who’d discovered the rich vein of coal on his explorations as a journeyman. Teamed up with a master smith, the two crafters united their family by wedding two of their children and giving them leadership of the minecot. As the mine was developed, the population at the cot grew, but the cotholder strictly controlled who was allowed to join the cot. Historically, mines had been used as penal colonies for felons and deviants; it would not be so at Darkstone. Every stranger was greeted with reserved hospitality, and anyone who lingered came under close scrutiny. A minecot has little attraction for travelers or traders, and visitors were few. In turn 16, Wordel succeeded his father as the most recent leader of Darkstone Minecot.

Tradition has every son of the cotholder sent to the miner hall or the smith hall for training, and each must achieve journeyman rank and spend a number of turns as a practicing journeyman before returning to the hold.

Future Plans:
Expand mining operations and increase tonnage of coal for exportation.

Active Personas:
Wordel, M. Cotter. Age: 68 in turn 34. H: grey-white. E: brown. Wordel is a gruff, taciturn man who doesn’t say much and doesn’t like to have much said to him. A journeyman miner who inherited Darkstone from his father, he doesn’t see beyond his cot and mining the coal. All his children are married, and his heir is well-trained to succeed him. He has effectively ‘retired’ and left the running of the mine to his son, Therrad. (NPC of Anna Smith, [e-mail])

Tasina, F. Cotter’s wife. Age: 65 in turn 34. H: white E: blue. Tialne was once a tall, sturdy woman with a strong body. Time and repeated pregnancies have taken their toll, however, and she now seems a shadow of her once robust self. Where once she was strong with muscle, she’s now frail with age. Still energetic, she nonetheless has to be careful since she’s susceptible to losing her balance and breaking her bones. (NPC of Anna Smith, [e-mail])

Therrad, M. Cotter’s Heir. Age: 48 in turn 34 H: dark grey E: blue. Therrad has trained all his life in the mining craft, and to be cotholder after his father. With his father’s ‘retirement,’ he’s focused his attention on the minecot and left his eldest son the responsibility of being his right hand – and being the contact point with anything and everything outside the minecot. (NPC of Anna Smith, [e-mail])

Tialne, F. Therrad’s wife. Age: 46 in turn 34. H: brown, streaked with grey. E: green. Tialne is a sharp-tongued women with a quick intelligence and a quick temper. Her moods are mercurial and have become moreso as she approached menopause. She met Therrad on his journeys as a journeyman and hadn’t realized when she married him that the ‘cothold’ he was from, and would return to, was quite as large as it is. She finds the stoical nature of the cotholders frustrating and has tried to prevent her children from developing the same trait. Tried, and failed, much to her displeasure. (NPC of Anna Smith, [e-mail])

Adrako, M. Therrad’s son. Age: 26 in turn 34. H: Dark brown. E: Green. Adrako is quiet, with a steady mind and a stoic demeanor. He rarely shares his thoughts with outsiders, but listens closely to them. Recently returned from his journeys as a journeyman miner, he’s settled with his wife at Darkstone and is very glad to be home again. (NPC of Anna Smith, [e-mail])

Bryn, F. Adrako’s wife. Age: 21 in turn 34 H: pale blond E: brown. Bryn is delicately built with a usually happy, effervescent personality. She always has a smile on her face and is usually found going about her tasks either singing or humming. She’s not very good at it, so she’s usually left well alone while she’s doing it. She’s given Adrako two daughters and worries that she hasn’t given him a son. (NPC of Anna Smith, [e-mail])


There are a lot more NPCs, but I haven’t named them yet. These are the beginning.