The Copper Mountains

Home sweet home, and one of the few places I can talk about with a deep familiarity. The cold mountain air feels more natural to me than anywhere else on Minerva.

Notable Locations

Before moving on to other information about the region it is important to know some of the important places in the Copper Range.

• Arsenal Basin: The headquarters and the largest settlement belonging to the Copper Mount Militia. The area is made up of farmland, and a town bordering on the size of a city.
• Reserve Arsenal Delta : A bunker now within the area we call Arsenal Basin, named after this structure. Many forgotten era texts and weapons were discovered here, and remain under strict guard.
• Thunder Pass: The site of a major military engagement between The Militia, and We of the Sand. After how much blood was spilled here it is taboo to go through the pass for any other purpose than to mourn the loss of life which occurred. This taboo is slowly fading over time.
• High Northern Valley University (HNVU Ruins): The ruins of a school that has remained mostly unexplored due to strange, aggressive creatures that roam the campus. The parties that have returned from the larger buildings have been able to acquire forgotten era artifacts. Include the very tablet I'm writing this on.
• Clink's Mine : Originally a settlement under the control of The We, it now falls under Militia control. Acting as the main trading post between us and the people outside of the Copper Range.
• Silverbark Grove: Sometimes called Silverado, though no one knows where that name comes from. According to legend, it is a mist-covered valley with a massive grove of Silverbark trees. Great fortunes lie in wait for an explorer to discover, but those who have looked for it either find nothing, go missing, return with stories about a burning man in the mists, or of cloth men.
• Metal Spire Forest: A strange place where trees are scarce and small plants grow between cracks in the concrete and pavement of old roads. Rusted metal frames spire up into the sky, some retaining small dwellings of soft rock construction. It's an unnerving place as its clear it was once a city but what it once appeared to be has been lost to time. It acts as a landmark and small settlement for traders coming in from the south.
• Scrap Hill: An old junkyard sometimes picked over by scavengers. There is a rumor of a bandit gang that hides here but I don't know if those rumors are true.

Geography

The Range is comprised of tall, jagged, snow-topped mountains and lush valleys. High up on the mountain slopes it's thick with evergreen trees while the valleys are filled by deciduous trees that change color with the seasons. The land is continually renewed by the snowmelt and soft precipitation from the icy shores to the north. Rivers and streams run from the tops of the mountains down into the valleys throughout the range make freshwater abundant. Many lakes and small water deposits have formed, the largest of these lakes being Arsenal Basin. The mountains are navigable due to worn pavement and cement roads built in the forgotten era that runs throughout the range. The only overgrowth on these trails is a thin layer of grass, weeds, and the occasional tree. There are many old ruins that dot the mountains of what appear to be finely made homes, but that is entirely my own observation of what these small structures might be.

Fauna & Flora

The deciduous trees found in the valley come from many different genetic families, while only pine and some spruce trees survive further up the slopes where the biodiversity thins out. Moss found growing everywhere higher in the mountains can't be found on the valley floors where the undergrowth is thick with berry bushes or other small shrubs. Grass grows in unfettered patches all across the region. This makes the seasons a myriad of colors with fall being the most brilliant with reds, yellows, oranges, and greens. The floor beds of the valleys make ideal farmland as the fallen compacted leaves make fertile soil. The farmers of the area grow flax, and potatoes with many additionally growing mushrooms in the abundant caves found in the mountains.
Our wildlife is just as diverse as the plant life, with squirrels, rabbits, deer, and elk make a solid foundation of primary consumers for a food chain where eagles, bears, and tree-splitters make up the secondary and tertiary consumers. The most common scavenger being the packs of cag's that roam the mountain slopes. These packs are generally left alone by the other animals due to their sheer size and aptitude. Many can be found happily living near awoken settlements, often being taken in as pack animals and pets. Some of the lakes also contain various breeds of fish that reproduce quickly, normally ending up as food for both the Awoken and the wildlife in the area.

Natural Resources

The mountains gain their name from one of its most abundant resources, specifically the massive deposits of exposed oxidized copper ore in the mountains that create huge streaks of teal that stand out against the landscape. One can't live off copper alone, and with water being as abundant as it is we find ourselves trading barrels of fresh water, timber, and hides hunters bring back to Fields Union traders. Among ourselves, however, we stick mainly to flax grains, food products, hides, meat, and other basic necessities. To acquire metals and other necessaries The Militia salvage from the many ruins in the area or send parties into the Classless Badlands where other materials can be procured.

History

Originally the Copper Range was simply speculation, as no one knew about what laid beyond the high desert where We of the Sand call home. An expedition was assembled and sent out by the high council to colonize the area to the north for The we.
After what I can only speculate was hundreds of miles through the Classless Badlands the desert slowly gave way to the forests of the Copper Range. The expedition followed the roads that eventually lead them to the M.P.G. Reserve Arsenal. Inside they discovered powerful weapons from the forgotten era, along with a library of books. Seeing the opportunity to escape the repressive culture of The We, they took up arms and vowed to never return to the desert they had come from. After a generation passed, scouts from We of the Sand finally realized what was going on, and started war with the newly founded Copper Mount Militia. This lead to the building of Clink's Mine as a base of operations for their war parties. Their force massed and tried to move through what we now know as Thunder Pass. Its name coming from the sound of Militia machine gunfire as the ambush cut their forces down till none were left standing.
Since then the people of Clink's Mine have joined the Militia, along with several other tribes and small townships.

Tourism

Sometimes, on very rare occasions we get visiting traders from the prosperous Fields Union. They trade textiles, foreign grain, dried spices, and books on the other regions of Plenumia hot from their printing presses in exchange for scrap metal, silver, and copper. You can find them when they do come staying at Arsenal Basin or Clink's Mine. Sometimes they pass through Metal Spire Forest, or Thunder Pass despite the taboo about it. This makes many of the older awoken quite grumpy, and can sometimes spark arguments that have yet to ever come to blows.

The other group that visits regularly is Wild Heart mercenaries and explorers generally brought to the range due to legends of Silverado. When I was a teenager, an entire army came searching for the Silverbark Grove and left with half their men missing, a quarter muttering about the Cloth Men, and the rest screaming about the Flame in the Mists. It's unknown what happened exactly as the leaders of the expedition went missing with half their fighting force.

Alternative Name(s)

Copper Mountain Range, Copper Range

Type

Mountain Range

Location under

Plenumia

Included Locations

• Reserve Arsenal Delta

Related Ethnicities

• Mountain Strider
• New Striders

Contested By

• We of the Sand

Related Tradition (Primary)

• Mountaineers Feast

Inhabiting Species

• Tree-Splitters