The Steel River Valley
While focusing on the valley in the 'Dust Zone (formerly the Mountains) the River flows through, this article also provides some information about the River itself.
Named after the Steel River which runs through it, the Steel River valley is part of the Via Imperator. Originally gifted to the Ecclesiarch by Constantinus and then given by Ecclesiarch Danforth to the Daughters of Verity, the valley has changed significantly from when the Emperor walked as a man and led the charge against the Garrison during the Pacification of Ophelia.
Geography
A steep-sided mountain valley several hundred miles long with a wide and deep river at the base. Originally a starkly-beautiful yet fertile alpine wilderness, this changed when the Mountains were given to the Adeptus Mechanicus and became the 'Dust Zone. Although the River valley was officially untouched, run-off, pollution and illegal dumping from the factories damaged the natural ecosystem. The River, heavily contaminated with soot, silt and rust, now appears metallic and is known as the Steel River. The walls of the valley are a desert of rubble, junk and effluent. Picking through the piles of trash is the original pilgrimage route of the Via Imperator.
The valley opens out into the plains of Ophelia VII as the mountains give way to foothills, and the city of Saint Laertes is located there, at the spot where the Emperor issued His edict about the Mountains to the first governor of Ophelia. The Steel River broadens and flattens once it reaches the plains, slowing down and depositing its industrial silt in a great curved sandbar which is mined for its mineral wealth and dredged to prevent the capital from flooding. After the city, the River is much cleaner (so much so that if it is called the Steel River the origin of the name is not known) and meanders through the plains to its mouth on the coast.
The origin of the Steel River is a series of smaller waterways which feed into it throughout the Mountains; many of these tributaries have been covered over or moved into culverts by the Adeptus Mechanicus as a matter of efficiency. Although unverified (the Emperor's decree concerning the Mountains and the resulting primitive society meant little formal study was done) the headwaters are popularly supposed to be a series of springs high up on the central peak of the mountains. This water falls in a series of cataracts down the switchback up the face of the mountain which forms the final stage of the Via Imperator; this water is known as the tears of Verity and the waterfalls themselves as the Veil of Verity.
by AI Nightcafe generator
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