The Ironfields of Vaulgast

The Ironfields of Vaulgast are ore plains, slag rivers, penal barracks, war foundries, and furnace towns where time is measured by shipments rather than seasons. Heat shivers above black ground. Workers breathe coal dust; overseers count carts; garrisons watch men who know exactly how valuable their labour is. Vaulgast feeds Drazakar's weapons hunger and gives leverage to anyone who controls it. Its beauty is infernal: rivers of metal, sparks like stars, engines beating through night. Its dread is that the realm has learned to call exhaustion productivity. Old furnace guilds, ration courts, barracks shrines, and levy offices still divide the fields into districts where work, punishment, and worship are hard to tell apart.