Nalincium

"The wind swept snow, gray in the dimming light whipped around our shivering bodies as we trudged through the storm. The path, now almost indistinguishable in the maelstrom of churning ice, continued upward around the bend, a snake that slithered towards our destination. To this point, the only sign of civilization we had come across since leaving the base of the mountain hours ago was this path, wide enough for two carts to pass each other, hewn from the living rock of Mt. Nalin. However, as we turned the corner of the path, a large plaza was carved into the side of the mountain. The train, which I had foolishly decided to ignore in favor of experiencing the trek to Nalincium the original way, sat idling, waiting to leave this frozen wasteland on on side of this sculpted plateau. A few people rushed off and sheltered in the meager shelter provided along the platform to catch their bearings, then rushed across the large plaza to a set of arched double doors forged of mythril, about 30 feet square, embedded into the granite of the mountain. The entrance was flanked by two large towers rising hundreds of feet into the air, the front of which is carved with relief of the God Galriven. Metal pipes puncture the old relief sculptures and, dart in and of the towers in asymmetric patterns...
...I finally entered the main hall, one hundred feet high or so, 200 feet across, and a length that extended beyond my vision. From floor to ceiling, the entire space was filled with pipes, ramshackle huts of wood and metal built on top of each other , and people, who jostled and pushed past each other in silence. The hall was filled with the sounds of industry and hissing of steam. A central corridor, about twenty feet wide extended along the entire length of the hall, flanked with ramshackle shops selling the most exquisite devices and metal objects. I reached for my satchel, and found it missing." "-Travel Log of the Western Continent. Sir Derrick Caldo of Ronchamp.

Demographics

Nalincium was originally a largely human city with little class distinction. Upon the ascendancy of Nalincium to a world renowned industrial center, the city became more cosmopolitan, and more segregated along class distinctions. Wealthier individuals and their families tend to live in the labyrinth of Mt. Torend in private suites or complexes with views to the outside. Though wealthier suites can be found in Mt. Nalin and Mt. Firgral. Poorer classes tend to have to build their own homes in large spaces, which have created vertical slums from floor to ceiling. The slums can be found across all three mountains, but are most extensive in Mt. Nalin.
Ethnicity
Human: 40% Tiefling: 15% Gnome: 10% Dwarf: 10% Half-Elf: 10% Firbolg: 5% Goliath: 5% Genasi: 5%
Profession
Most of the populace works in mining, smelting, or manufacturing industries. A small segment of the population works in commercial pursuits. The wealthier individuals tend to work run the manufacturing processes or be the inventors of new products. These individuals either have friends on, or acre part of the Bureaucracy of Steam. The unemployment level, however, is around 10% due to massive immigration into the city, which has lead to a large amount of the population becoming wrapped up in the criminal world of Nalincium.

Government

The government of Nalincium is run by the Bureau of Steam. Which also run all lands beyond the city that are owned by the city-state of Nalincium as well. The Bureau of Steam originally regulated where and how much of the steam generated in the great boiler rooms is sent through out the city. This steam then warmed districts, industries, and defenses. Over time, the Bureau of Steam consolidated the power, and became the governing body for Nalincium, and then the supply lines that lead from Nalincium to its sordid holdings in the valleys below. The Bureau of Steam is run by the Council of Steam, a council of 20 elected officials, 5 of whom represent the population outside of the city, and 15 from within the city, all elected by their constituents. These officials elect one leader to run the foreign affairs of state, known as the Head Engineer, who maintains accommodating relationships with its neighbors. The Council of Steam in turn runs the Bureau of steam, one of the largest bureaucracies in Golren, which provides enforcement of the laws within the territory, and the collection/distribution of state funds through taxation.

Defences

Several cold resistant artillery platforms have been carved into the side of the mountain. These artillery pieces can fire at both land and air attacks effectively, and make this an impregnable fortress. Where the city comes close to the exterior of mountain, adamantine spikes have been hammered into the exterior of the mountain to strengthen the rock walls against bombardment.
Thus, the most likely course to cause the city to fall is through a prolonged siege to make the city drain its resources. After the Siege of 904 AE, the city of Nalincium started building a catacomb of store rooms and storehouses that became known as the Storehouses of Temporen. These storerooms hold up to 10 yrs of food supplies for the entire population.

Industry & Trade

The city of Nalincium relies on trade, it produces little to no food, mainly just mushrooms, and has to rely on outside sources for its food and many of its dry good supplies.
In order to generate funds, Nalincium is the greatest producer of industrial machinery in the world. Though others have produced them, Nalincium builds the most advanced steam engines and devices that are sold for both domestic and military purposes for economies and governments around the world. Machinery produced in the city are highly-efficient and are sought after by all cities in the Union of the Nine Cities.
On top of this, the city of Nalincium mines and produces a large amount of metal, which is refined and poured in smelters throughout the three mountains. The smoke of these refineries is often sent through large chimney stacks that pierce the fabric of the mountain.

Infrastructure

The deeper recesses of Mt. Nalin are filled with hundreds of boilers that generate super heated steam through a combination of geothermal heat and burning coal/Alvanian Oil. This steam is then transported throughout the city through a series of insulated pipes. The steam then turn engines in every required area, or heat floors/walls through hypocaust systems. The water then trickles back through pipes, back into underground reservoirs in the Storehouses of Temporen.
Tunnels connect all areas within each mountain to each other. These range in size from small passages about 6' wide, to avenues wide enough for a train. Each mountain is then connected to the other by a large steel and stone arch bridge. The steam pipes run from Nalin to the other two mountains in large, high-pressure pipes below the bridge deck.
The City is connected to the rest of the world through only two paths, a small road from the valley below, and a train track that leads to the city. Most of the cities supplies come through these train cargo runs from Tahenium. All industrial goods leave through this method.
Sewage and waste is broken down below the city, filtered with sand, and then released into the creeks that empty into the Hanten River.

Assets

The Great Boiler Rooms The Steam Engine Factories of Nalincium. The Golrenian Artificer's Museum The Storehouses of Temporen

Guilds and Factions

The Forgotten - Thief Guild The Miners - Thief Guild The Darkness - Leading Thief/Assassin Guild Bureau of Steam - Governing Body The Engine Guild - Most powerful industrial collective, Steam Engine Union

History

Nalincium was originally started as the Golrenian Dwarven Hold of Grazen Hold by the year 2003 BE. By 700 BE, the mine had been abandoned completely, and in less than one hundred years, the hold was occupied by trolls and goblins.
400 AE - The Capture of Nalincium from the goblin chief therein by the Galinian Imperium 412 AE - Establishment of the Council of Steam 606 AE - The establishment of the Golrenian Artificer's Museum and Society. 905 AE - Nalincian Independence 1240 AE - The discovery of the Steam Engine (Early) 1380 AE - The creation of the Union of the Nine Cities 1452 AE - The population explosion in the city

Architecture

Nalincium is a city carved out of the mountains. Very little of the city, save for some necessary artillery defense platforms, window punctures, and gateways, extend out of the mountains they are built into. The mountains are burrowed throughout with a maze of tunnels and rooms that connect the great halls, industrial caverns, and great hollows to each other.The mountains of Mt. Nalin and Mt. Firgral were largely carved out by the Golrenian Dwarves some time during the Second Age. Many of the architectural features are carved out of the stone in geological or crystalline patterns and structures. More often than note, some veins are left in these architectural features to provide beauty and interest in the structure. Gardens of immense size are provided in hollows that have been carved out of the roots of the mountains supplied with water from the valleys below. Most of these great hollows and halls have been filled with ramshackle and quickly assembled metal and wood huts stacked to the ceiling.
Mt. Torend was occupied after the mysterious exodus of the Golrenian Dwarves, during the long period of collapse of the Galinian Imperium. There are few halls, but extensive interior gardens in the the carved hollows within. The ornamentation of the interior of this mountain is largely spartan in comparison to the other two mountains.
Laced throughout the three mountains are large pipes from the central boilers and engines in the heart of Mt. Nalin. The pipes send steam, heated by the geothermal heat of the Great Mountains and the burning of coal, to every room and industrial space for heating and the powering of machinery through mechanical energy from the steam. The great pieces of art and architecture that make up a majority of the great spaces within the city have been punctured with these pipes extensively. Many times, works of aesthetic or archaeological have been defaced or otherwise destroyed for the purpose of these steam pipes.

Geography

The city of Nalincium is built within three mountains, Mt. Nalin, Mt. Firgral, and Mt. Torend in the Great Mountain Range on the continent of Golren. Three bridges of granite connect each mountain to the other at different levels with roads and ice resistant rail tracks. The city can only be accessed through one of three ways. The a carved road that leads from the valleys below to the Great Plaza, a large chunk of the mountain carved out to provide a stagin ground and outdoor entry point. A railroad, built only one hundred year ago, leads up from the valley to the Great Plaza, where a platform was erected. Rail lines extend from the platform to various spurs that are used to load or unload various goods. The third mode of transit is through the use of airships, which can land to the south side of the Great Plaza. This method is usually not taken, however, due to the fact that the weather around Mt. Nalin is notorious for shifting quickly, and grounding the aircraft. The mountains are surrounded by rocky valleys covered in sparse coniferous forests. Little ponds and lakes dot the highland landscape, which are primarily pumped from the valleys to the mountains above for the required plumbing.

Natural Resources

The mountains are abundant in metal rich veins that course through the granite mountains. Iron, copper, tin, gold, lapis lazuli, zinc, coal, and mythril veins can be found across the mountains, even after dwarven mining operations from previous generations. Within the myriad of tunnels and caves that explore the boewls of Mt. Firgral, there is even rumored to be a submerged cave of 20 foot long gypsum crystals.

Alternative Name(s)

The City of Steam, Three Mountain City

Type

Large city

Population

4 Million

Inhabitant Demonym

Nalincian

Location under

Golren