The Mines
From a distance, the Coalinga Gem Mines don’t appear to be anything special. A decent sized creek offshoots from the Bluevein River and curves off toward a series of tents and small buildings just north of Riverfall. If one is close enough to see the buildings, they are close enough to encounter one of the many Cerulean guards in the area. The guard will immediately ask for papers confirming permission to be in the area and if none are had, the intruder may be sent on their way with, at best, a knot on the head, or worst, a few fingers missing.
If permission was granted and one makes it to the main area, it would appear to be nothing more interesting than a small village of tents. Bridges are erected over the creek, with a dam a short way down. Tracks are beaten in the grass leading from tent to tent, and one will see locked iron boxes nearly everywhere, and charts in discreet Tukant have been placed adhered to every single box.
Many tents are open to the sunshine, but there are a few scattered throughout that are tightly closed off. The open tents show people examining rocks and dirt, and occasionally low-end precious stones. If one were to inquire about the nicer, more expensive gems, the technician in question may glance at one of the closed off tents and promptly say to not worry about it.
People moving around and working in the tents are almost exclusively Akalak, and entirely male. Newcomers and visitors are regarded with extreme interest, as it doesn't happen often. The people are friendly, but the atmosphere can turn cold in a heartbeat if such newcomers show too much interest in one of the iron boxes or attempt to look into one of the closed off tents.
Set slightly apart from the tents is a pair of inconspicuous wooden shacks connected by an enormous chain taut between them. The grass has been stripped away surrounding the shacks, except for a single, broad tree shading the larger of the two. The smaller of the two, no bigger than a large closet, is primarily occupied by a fenced-in platform. When the pair of Ceruleans in the shaded building start rolling the crank attached to the chain, the platform descends into the main shafts of Coalinga Mines.
The main shafts of the mines are wide and spacious, well dug out through the centuries. The top level shafts are wide enough for a group to walk through comfortably, and they get progressively more narrow at the lower levels.
These main shafts are open to pre-approved visitors and tours, with Cerulean guards at hand. Guides will point out the saturation of gemstones, with varying types of gems at different levels of the mine. The lower levels are off-limits to non-personnel, save Council approved visits and Nevar Chivan himself.
The StaffThe days are long and difficult, and while there is little employment in Riverfall as back-breaking as this, the rewards are without compare. In the many years the mine has been dug, it has yet to run dry. All of Riverfall’s famous gems come from this single mine carefully pulled from the ground by its reimancers and diggers.
A large portion of the staff is made up of reimancers of all disciplines, doing their various parts to keep the mine in operation and the workers safe. Masters of multiple disciplines are highly sought after, but rare to find and harder to entice into the operation. Ceruleans and male slaves do most of the manual labor, though exclusively Ceruleans patrol the surrounding area for predators and intruders.
Water reimancers keep the creek from the Bluevein flowing at just the right amount to provide a continual supply of fresh water, essential for the health of people toiling away day and day out.
Earth reimancers work primarily down in the tunnels, digging out and sifting through deposits. A contingency of diggers work with the reimancers, digging out deposits too small to waste djed on. Ideally, the entire digging staff would be earth reimancers, but there simply aren’t enough in the city. Earth reimancers also trade out in shifts with the Cerulean in the elevator crank room; not out of pity for the exiled men, but because there simply isn't enough Cerulean to recover from working the crank and keep up patrols of the area. The massive chain goes mostly slack during these times, as the reimancers use the earth to move the platform.
Air reimancers also walk the mines, but have what some consider the easiest job. Gas pockets may be unleashed by stripping away the earth, and the air reimancers are sure to escort it out of the mine before it can harm any of the workers. Fresh air from the outside is also regularly swept through the mines, to keep the air inside from getting stale and the dust from becoming unbearable.
Fire reimancers are typically only called seasonally, to ensure the mines stay thawed and at least relatively warm in the winter. Even with these precautions, however, production is typically confined to a handful shafts during the winter season.
ToursAs the mines are run by the city of Riverfall, tours are sanctioned by a special committee of the Council. Tours don't happen often, but said to be spectacular at the deepest allowable sections of the mine. Cerulean guards accompany a mine tech and the tour group into the mine, though if there are many women in the group, the Council may send along a Kuvay'nas to make sure the Ceruleans behave themselves.
On rare occasions, visitors may be allowed to "mine" for jewels themselves in a special section of the topmost shaft. Any finds are usually the less valuable gemsstones, too small or flawed to be worth the effort of cutting. Usually in anticipation of mining tours, such stones are saved up and manually planted by an earth reimancer in the visitors section.
Name: Typhus Chivan
Race: Akalak
DoB: 11th of Spring, 326AV
PoB: Riverfall
Title: Head of Coalinga Mines
Skills: Reimancy 71, Intimidation 55, Business 49, Leadership 46, Gemcutting 40
Gnosis: N/A
Additional Info: Typhus is one of Nevar Chivan's two younger brothers and runs the Coalinga Mines with an iron fist. While Nevar excels at negotiation and leading by example, making him the idea leader of Riverfall, Typhus has a notorious temper and has little to no patience for incompetence. He's had multiple wives during his lifetime, siring many children, but his heart lies in the mines and romantic attachments never last.
Despite Typhus' reputation, the earth reimancers who work in the lowest levels find him a dedicated and skilled, if unsociable, reimancer to work alongside. Decades ago, he was down the shafts every day. These days however, the day to day business of ensuring the Mines stays organized and profitable keeps him from going down more than once every few days.
On top of reimancing and managing the business, all negotiations with the Cerulean that don't go through the Council go through Typhus. Every man on staff knows that any problems with a Cerulean worker go straight to Typhus and 'disciplinary actions' have occasionally come to blows.
Due to his busy schedule and insociable attitude, Typhus will never be present on a mine tour, unless it is for his brother.
* Credit goes to Rosela for location development.
