Goldforge

History

Becoming Goldforge

Goldforge was originally a small mining town called Coppertown. The only mines it held produced copper, hence the name. When Mohzall's attempted to crack the entire continent in half, his splitting caused seismic shocks throughout the land. One minor quake ruptured the mines in Coppertown. What should have been a catastrophe for a mining town, turned out to be a blessing. Many of the chambers collapsed and became inaccessible. However, after years of mining one of the new cracks in the earth revealed a vein of something other than copper, something even more valuable - gold.
Suddenly, there was a newfound interest in Coppertown. On the opposite side of the mines, a new settlement emerged, one that housed the wealthy families that had previously dealt with their investment in the mines from afar. The gold in the mines drew more and more important people and the new village became known as Goldforge as the jewellers moved in.

The Gold Riots

With a new export, hundreds of new citizens and a growing class divide, tensions began to grow. Both Goldforge's and Coppertown's numbers swelled in the years that followed the discovery. The rich moved in to supervise the gold mines, more smiths moved in to refine it, jewellers moved in to shape it and merchants moved in to sell it. Of course, with increased mining loads, more workers were also needed so Coppertown grew in conjunction too. Eventually, both towns grew to the point where they met in the middle. However, there was no class middle-ground. The workers on one side, the supervisors and organisers on the other. Not long after the physical merging, a decision had to be made. Since gold was the more financially useful export, in 388PCE, the town became entirely Goldforge with Coppertown reduced to merely a district.
That decision did not go down well with the lifelong Towners, and a few years later in 390PCE, the situation reached a boiling point. Full-scale riots enveloped the town, with the miners upset about the working conditions, the disparity of wealth and generally being treated as lessers. These instances of violence ebbed and flowed between general unrest and full-blown fights. Lives were lost during this time. However, in the early months of PCE, Goldforge's leader and head of the Goldforge Mining Guild, Kilburn Blackhammer fell ill and died. His younger brother, Redag Blackhammer took over. Redag was less set in his ways and with a more thoughtful leadership in place, eventually, a middle ground was found between the two sides.

Currently

Redag's son Mortan is in charge. Mortan follows the path his father started The frictions between the Towners and the Forgers are currently nothing more than quippy exchanges. Both sides typically stay within their own people, but the animosity has lessened to the point where they can work together without any problems.

Demographics

• 70% Dwarf
• 22% Gnome
• 5% Human
• 3% Other

Alternative Name(s)

Coppertown

Type

Large town

Population

10000

Location under

Aldenia

Owner/Ruler

Mortan Blackhammer

Owning Organization

The Goldforge Mining Guild