Rijk Crystal Rush of 1916

Causing the formation of Oorlog, the Rijk Crystal Rush of 1916, that still continues today, is one of the largest recorded Crystal Rushes, having uncovered vast Mana Crystal reserves underneath the Rijk-Mahmia Mountain Range. Because of the conflicted status of the mountain range, the Rijk Crystal Rush has led to rapidly increasing tensions between the Rijk Kingdom and the Mahmian Protectorate, which has been exacerbated by the behaviour of the prospectors and miners.

Flow Before the Rush

Build-Up

Up until 1914, very little had been done about the Rijk-Mahmia Mountain Range, left dormant and unmined. When, however, traces of Magicyte was discovered by an adventuring party's mage, multiple assessment teams were sent into the mountains to test for the source of the Magicyte, which took until 1915 to locate, when a more confident member of the assessment teams decided to test the magicyte content within one of the mountain caves, discovering a small ore supply of magicyte. Now, the hunt was on, as many more groups of people, official and unofficial, began to scour the mountains until someone started mining, discovering the small amounts of magicyte in the caves connected to a vast underground network of Mana Crystals that were within excavation depth.

First Digs

After the discovery of Mana Crystals, the Rijk Kingdom ordered preliminary excavation teams to assess the full extent of the crystal network, hoping to bring back promising results. Although the results took a vast amount of time due to the extent of the assessment team's predictions, it was eventually discovered that the the total amount of Mana Crystals would vastly exceed the amount even the most optimistic assessors expected, and from there it was off to the races. Official mining installations began setting up across the mountainside, small at first but with plans to expand when the Mana Crystals began pouring out.

Rushing to the Mountain

Early Prospectors

When word began to spread of the newly discovered Mana Crystal source, a few people began to travel to the mountains in the hope of finding work with the official mining installations, some of whom succeeded, but many of them were turned away, and yet the newfound hope didn't pass. It wasn't long before the small trickle of hopeful prospectors became a flow of workers pulled by the chance of making their fortune, small mining groups setting up on the outskirts of the government run mining operations, causing low level tensions between the two sides. Even though there was few places to mine without infringing on the government operations, the flow of workers kept coming, covering the mountain in people who either formed mining communities or worked their own, tiny chunk of the mountain.

Like a Tinderbox

As the number of workers began to far outpace the supply of plots, the Rijk Kingdom began to allow the public to use their official mining installations to ease the growing supply-demand imbalance, but it only bought them a little bit more time. Within a few months, the supply of plots had already reached straining point again, and now miners began to turn their sights to beyond the border, into the government-owned share of the Mana Crystals held by the Mahmian Protectorate. Even under threat of imprisonment, some miners began to cross into the other section of the mountain to begin mining, finding the much fresher supply of Mana Crystals that hadn't yet been tainted by the mass harvesting of the Rijk Kingdom. Although this helped to ease the tensions amongst the miners, it wasn't long before the Mahmian Protectorate got wind of the situation and was forced to mobilise their military in an attempt to protect their property.

Battle for the Mountain

Following the mobilisation of the Mahmian military, some of the illegal miners decided to pack up their tools and leave when ordered to but many of them chose to stay, engaging in battle with the Mahmian troops in a large series of conflicts known as the Miner's War, which rapidly deteriorated the diplomatic relations between the Rijk Kingdom and Mahmian Protectorate. As the situation continued to escalate, the Rijk Kingdom hastily negotiated the Crystal Pact which involved an agreement for Rijk and Mahmian forces to cooperate in patrolling and securing the border to keep the miners on the Rijk side and return the stolen Mana Crystals to the Mahmian Protectorate. It wasn't long, however, before the miners who had been deported out of Mahmia sneaked back across the border, jeapordising the entire treaty when they hunkered down in their encampments the next time they were ordered to move. Rather than breaking the treaty, the Rijk Kingdom and the Mahmian Protectorate mobilised their joint border force to evict the miners, their succesful operation leading to a warmer diplomatic relation between the two states, who were less chafed about their mutual task.

Stability and Prosperity

Settling the Dispute

After the border calmed down and the miners settled into order, a large development was brewing amongst the merchants and traders who, up until now, had just been scattered amongst the different mining encampments selling equipment and supplies. After a while, the merchants, traders and miners got together to have a large meeting that later became known as the Oorlog Conference, where it was agreed to form a central settlement to assist in mining as well as to provide permanent homes for the miners. This eventuaally culminated in the official recognition of Oorlog on the 24th of March in 1922 as a town.

Modern Day

Although not much has changed with the mining of Mana Crystals for the Rijk Crystal Rush, the mining town of Oorlog has slowly grown over time, helping to bolster not just the mining forces but also to set in motion a chain of events that has led the area from being a chaotic frenzy to make money into a thriving region that continues to grow and prosper. As for the border with Mahmia, there have been minor infractions by some illegal miners, but the other miners and the joint border force have prevented any major events like the Miner's War from happening again. Thanks to all of this, the flow of Mana Crystals from the mountain has become a steady source of income for the residents and workers of the area as well as helping to prevent any shortages that would've ruined the supply in the area.