Stone River Hollows
Stone River Hollows is a small mining town in the Great Ilmenite Desert on Lepidos. Noted for its economic importance more than it's geopolitical power, Stone River Hollows is aligned with the city-state of Steel Mill Corners.
Demographics
The 12,000-strong population of Stone River is almost entirely Northern Lepidosian in ancestry and is majority Raikepist in faith. This is all in spite of the routine visits from Evermornan humans involved in the joint Protectorate-League outreach programs; while many Evermornans would love to settle down with Lepidosian spouses and vice versa, Evermornans are from a cold, damp world and don't fancy living in the aridity of the Great Ilmenite Desert over the long term. The town is a bit of a genetic isolate, and outsiders must be occasionally brought in - or locals sent away - to find spouses. On the other hand, the fact that many of the townsfolk can point to shared family ties means that the social ills of more rarified societies, such as crime, poverty, and loneliness, are virtually nonexistent in Stone River Hollows.
Government
Stone River Hollows is a representative democracy, with all major public offices subject to the will of the electorate. The town is still small enough that citizen can suggest legislation during town hall meetings and have it get a fair hearing.
Industry & Trade
The majority of the population is involved with ilmenite mining, stone quarrying, or industries that support those industries. Stone River hollows produces primarily rutile and other titanium-containing feedstocks for later refining. Older mining efforts for other ores left the groundwater contaminated with teratogenic chemicals. This contamination effected some pockets of the water table more than others. Midori Milan, one of the most famous natives of Stone River Hollows both on Lepidos and throughout the Cobalt Protectorate, was born with no arms as a result of exposure to these contaminants; ironically, had this never happened, she would have likely never met the Protectorate outreach program and, thus, never left the planet. Environmental remediation efforts are ongoing.
The transportation industry is the second most common employer in town. While there is some refining capacity in Stone River Hollows, there is little in the way of heavy manufacturing which would make use of the metal ingots produced. Thus, the Hollow's outpost is mostly traded to the Cobalt Protectorate outpost or other production hubs, where it is then used primarily in the aerospace industry.
The arid terrain surrounding Steel Mill Hollows is nonetheless suitable for limited crop production. Onions, garlic, alfalfa, and hay are the primary vegetable products. Cows, chickens, and horses provide most common animal products, such as milk, hair, feathers, eggs, and meat. Secondary products include dry cheeses.
Infrastructure
As a municipality, Stone River Hollows is old, but well-maintained, cowboy-prospector town. The occasional tourist typically comes to see the pre-Magocracy architecture and 'relive' the 'good old days' of ore prospecting. Infrastructure tends to be build extra-tough to cope with geological shifts; after a number of historic buildings fell into sinkholes created as a result of collapsing abandoned mineshafts, significant efforts were undertaken to fill undergound voids and shore up existing foundations with concrete. The town museum houses some of the more interesting artifacts found during these civic works projects.
Geography
Stone River Hollows is built in, on the walls of, and around a steep canyon formed in the hills just above where the West Spur River and Stone River meet. Stone river hollows is technically on the West Spur River, not the Stone River, but the eponymous Stone River Hollows terrain feature extends well north of the fork.
by BCGR_Wurth
by Hero Forge
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