The Slagpiles

The Slagpiles are a collection of ever-changing and growing islands in the oceans to the East of Osmen, between Osmen and Sedia. The islands lie beneath the dwavern floating state of Ettermeer; a huge landmass that floats in the sky, anchored to the world by an arcane chain built by the ancient dwarf God, Etteran. A unique and evolving habitat for creatures that have changed to suit the landscape, its scrapyard mountains are a threatening and ominous warning to those who try to sail through. The tallest of these, named "Etteran's Reach", is only a few hundred feet below the bottom of the floating landmass, a towering skyscraper of metal and trash.

History and Formation

Ettermeer's story is one of few that have been well preserved since the beginning of the First Age. It is said the dwarf patron god, Etteran, saved his ground-dwelling people from destruction of The Ruination by plucking their largest city from the ground. He chained it to the world, and used the last of his strength to ward the landmass from harm. The god Etteran died in the process, and today, the dwarves continue to create and forge as they did underground for millennia, suspended high above the world in the clouds.
The dwarves are leading pioneers in invention to this day. Claiming important milestones such as the development of steam power and the invention of airships, they trade their wonderous creations for all they need. Craftsmanship is their largest and by many accounts, only tradeable resource.
This unique lifestyle leads to unique challenges, the largest being the disposal and storage of scrap and waste metals and materials. In the early days of Ettermeer, with little other choice available to them, the dwarves simply discarded their waste into the ocean below. Over thousands of years, this built up a surprisingly large and stable land-mass. The foundation of waste rock, slag and metal made a sturdy island strong enough to stand on, and this island continued to grow. Over time, the islands and hills beneath the floating state became islands, constantly moving, growing and changing. These became known as "The Slagpiles".
Discussions were had among the dwarves about the way forward with their waste. With few alternatives in sight, the landmass continued to grow as they theorised ways to reduce their impact on the waters below. Aside from the obvious long-term risks, the dwarves of Ettermeer sourced a huge majority of their food from the oceans, and putting them at risk was incredibly dangerous to their people. Still, with their only way on and off of the island being a series of crafted skylifts to neighbouring ship docks, it was impossible to dispose of waste any other way.
With the invention of air travel, the dwarves finally had ways to move trash to more sustainable, manageable locations. Unfortunately, many dwarves were stuck in their ways, and dumping continued. Though efforts were taken to reduce the dumping of material into the sea, access to the skies also meant that the very carefully managed population on Ettermeer was able to grow and flourish. This meant Ettermeer was producing more waste, which more-or-less balanced out the hard efforts that conservation-wary dwarves were making. A conflict with Osmen in the 12,560s SA added to the debris and airships, battleships and other forms of war machines became ruined in the islands.
Today, waste is still regularly dumped out of the air into the sea. Additionally, boats and ships frequently collide with hidden metal in the waters around The Slagpiles, and their wrecked frames add to the growing islands. Reports have been made that others, such as some islands off of Osmen, regularly take ships to The Slagpiles to illegally dump their own waste and scrap. The Ettermeerian people still persist in coming up with new methods of slowing the growth of The Slagpiles, but a large portion of the dwarves have become fond of it. They romanticise Etteran's Reach and its "glittering copper cliffs", and insist that if their ancestors could adapt to living in the sky from living underground, then the ocean can too.

Lifeforms

Perhaps unsurprisingly, after thousands of years some species seem to have adapted to life in the Slagpiles, and aid in reducing its environmental impact. Myrrow thrive in The Slagpiles, finding the dotted landmasses and narrow waterways between scrap perfect for evading predators. The metallic reefs beneath the waves also happen to be a great environment for their prey. Some scientists suggest that the formation of The Slagpiles allowed for Myrrow to migrate to Aresia where they live today, by acting as a "stop over" point between the coasts of Osmen and Aresia. 
The Slagpile metal reefs have proven a surprising refuge to many fish species, provided they can resist the toxic oils and minerals that leech out of the wastes. Octopus find the nooks and crannies a good hideaway, and dolphins sometimes use defensible rings of metal as creches for their young, safe from large sea predators and sharks. 

Broxie Canoe Crabs

In 11,344, a half-dwarf researcher named Dr. Burran Broxmire, a researcher of arcanobiology at Texora Academy, made a breakthrough in his groundbreaking attempt at selectively breeding the South Osmeni Canoe Crab. A gigantic crab capable of reaching almost 4 metres in clawspan when fully grown, the South Osmeni canoe crab is famous for using old boats, ships and driftwood to make a protective hermit-crab-like shell. Also an avid and non-picky scavenger that evolved to feed on dead whales, leviathans, dolphins and sea-carrion, they are an obvious choice for a cleanup-crew species to introduce to The Slagpiles. Unfortunately, they are very sensitive to arcane frequencies and will hide from airships, magical phenomena such as Weavetears or anomalies. The Slagpiles are inherently magical in this way, due to the arcane tether of Ettermeer to the ground, as well as the persistent hum of boats, airships and other arcane machines.

Dr. Broxmire aimed to reduce sensitivity in crabs he bred in captivity, and found that by exposing the young crabs to intensive arcane frequencies and anomalies and selecting those that survived for ten generations, he was able to entirely breed the trait out. In 11,350 SA, Dr. Broxmire released 100 selectively bred crabs to The Slagpiles, where they thrive to this day.
Now known lovingly as "Broxies", the offspring of the selectively bred crabs are one of the most common creatures on the Slagpiles. Since around 11,800 SA the waste makeup of the islands has been significantly improved. The crabs are very effective at cleaning up organic trash, faeces and bone in their scavenging; cleared significantly of this organic waste, mountains are now primarily made up of rock, metal, crystal and glass.

The crabs also fashion themselves shells from old metal and slag, and dig through and move the trash to find good pieces for this purpose. This churning of the metal slowly breaks it down, and buries it deeper into the ground, assisting in dealing with the bulk of the waste.
This has, unfortunately, lead to a changed attitude among many dwarves on Ettermeer who now feel there is no need to reduce waste dumping because the crabs are so effective. Additionally, the dwarves now frequently hunt the crabs for food, and in modern times, a growing dwarf boy hunting his first broxie is considered a right-of-passage to many families.

There have been unfortunate downsides to the intentional breeding of the crabs. Unintentionally, Dr. Broxmire seems to have also bred a familiarity with humanoids into the crabs he released, and the general behaviour of the crabs on The Slagpiles reflects this. The crabs don't fear passing people, and will frequently threateningly clack their claws towards ships or travellers. They have been known to attack passing ships on many occasions. Even bold crabs in Osmen can be dissuaded easily with any burst of magical energy, the strong rev of an airship, or a pulse from a specially built "crab repellor". Broxmire's specially bred crabs are immune to these repellants, and their new metal shells make them almost invulnerable to normal forms of attack.
It seems that the Broxies, thriving in The Slagpiles, are slowly adapting in their own way to the environment, leading to further concerns. The crabs are shown to be resistant to many forms of manufactured poison; a great adaptation in the oil-slicked metal islands. This is however, yet another method of control that will not work should their numbers get out of control. The Slagpile crabs are also larger than their Osmeni ancestors, and seem to be much stronger; a result of adapting to carry heavier shell material than wood and old boats. The largest crabs can wear the heaviest shells of metal and rock, and those crabs survive to reproduce.
Broxie Canoe Crabs are now considered their own subspecies variant of canoe crab, and are well on their way to diverging into their own unique species in future.

Scavenging

The Slagpiles are frequented by nomadic travellers who make a living scavenging useful junk. Often called "scavs", these wanderers are usually born on the sea and spend their entire life on the sea. Some scavengers have temporary or semi-permanent docks and homes scattered through the archipelagos of metal, but this is fairly uncommon. They may occasionally dock on land in various countries to trade, but this is often a problem as many aboard these ships have been at sea for generations, and don't have required passports or travel permits to dock. Usually, they prefer to raise the iconic "Scav's Flag", a rusty red flag with a golden cog insignia, and approach ships. This shows they're approaching to trade and don't mean any harm.
Scavengers have become a sort of faction in their own right, whether purposely or not. Often made up of demographics consisting of dwarves or part-dwarves, as well as humans and folk with orcish blood, scavenging is an occupation taken up by those with few land-faring options open to them. The dwarves from Ettermeer welcome the scavengers, as they tend to clean up their debris and keep trade moving through the waters beneath the country. Some other governments and countries have attempted to "crack down" on scavenger ships in the past, stating the ships are made up of criminals or wanted men, and that they tend move into piracy over time. Most of these "crack-downs" haven't amounted to much, and scavenging remains a common practice.

Type

Archipelago