Skalmarkelda

Skalmarkelda is a mining town along the western ridges of the Bjornheim Range, standing at the entrance to a honeycomb of old mining shafts, tunnels and caves. Skalmarkelda's mines are extensive enough to produce a variety of metals, and a few large forests worth of trees have been felled over the years to support the shafts.
Skalmarkelda is possibly the most populous settlement without a port in all of Scytharia, with more than 2,000 people calling the tunnels or the surface village home. Among the locals, the city, or sometimes more specifically the parts of it that are underground, is often known as the Kelda (roughly "basement" in Urskan). More than any other place in Scytharia, Bearfolk can found among the laborers and craftsmen of the city, with their great strength being exceedingly useful in the mines.
The shafts in Skalmarkelda are elaborate enough that it would take weeks to walk all of them, and the tunnels currently actively producing ore might sometimes be hours apart on foot. Since the reign of Jompá began, work assignments are doled out randomly by drawing painted bone chits out of a bucket at the beginning of a shift.

Demographics

Roughly even balance between bearfolk and other humanoids.

Government

In Skalmarkelda, the chieftain and the shaman are separate jobs, the former held by Jompá and the latter held by Kormak. While Jompá decides what must be done, it's usually his assistant Miski that goes around convincing people to do it.

Infrastructure

Skalmarkelda is home to smelters, smiths, glass blowers, and most other crafts that involve minerals, processing minerals, or crafting things out of minerals.
The surface parts of the city are sandwiched between the mountain and an enormous palisade wall composed of a mixture of metal beams, thick logs, and metal plates.

Alternative Name(s)

Kelda

Type

Town

Location under

Scytharia

Owner/Ruler

Jompá

Characters in Location

• Dexsia
• Jompá
• Kormak
• Miski