Terrain of the Borderlands IV

Meniri Mountains Pt.4

Welcome back to a overdue article on the Meniri Mountains. Thank you to the patience of the people that provide money for this. +1 Beer is owed.

In this article we’re going to do some generation of mineral deposit using the excellent rules from By This Axe which come from the Ore Never Changes article from the Autarch Patreon. We’ll see what interesting adventuring points this adds to this section of the mountains. Here’s where we left off last article ….

The way we do this is by twenty four mile hexes which are the larger grey hexes. You get thirteen full and six half six mile hexes which is a damn big area. We’re also going to only spec out the mineral deposits that are surface accessible. To the average group an Iron Ore deposit a quarter of a mile down is of less than minimal use. Well, to a Dwarven group that’s a different story but we’re going for the broader audience here. If you’re interested in the process of what is determined where and how check out that Patreon Article ‘Ore Never Changes’.

So we’ve got a pair of Iron Ore deposits right next to each other on the northern slopes of the mountain. That’s interesting that they’re side by side. We’re going to say that they led to the same major vein of Ore since they’re so close. But this is going to be another poor poor Dwarves situation. This would have been a pair of mines inside their borders but now it’s in the Auran area of control and feeding the Cyfaraun markets. Now one of the two mines has a much lower reserve of mineral so we’re going to say that’s the one that Dwarves hit harder, maybe it’s more accessible. Maybe they decided to play one out and leave the other. Hell, it could be that the second mine is a Dwarven secret. They could have been holding it in reserve, so here’s something that could be a treasure map location.

• Iron-Copper Deposit: Sustainable capacity of 300 work gangs and deposit reserves of 43,200 work-gang-months.

• Iron-Copper Deposit: Sustainable capacity of 500 work gangs and deposit reserves of 223,200 work-gang-months.

So I’ve rolled most of the western stretch of the mountains until we got some more joy, so to speak. Most of the north / south stretch is bare of close surface deposits. We’ve gotten an interesting result down in the Minmen River gorges. It’s a series of Ore Deposits that are near #51 Redoubt on the Earthway. This makes sense since the Dwarves built out on underground river from Azen Kairn to this fortress on the river. That would have allowed the Dwarves to be able to ship goods underground on the river to the Mirmen and then up the Mirmen to the markets along the river and out to the sea. But a Big Red Dragon did a fucking number on that so ruins.

First we’ve got a Copper Mine but its a poor one. They likely mined this deposit due to the ease of the location, even a poor mine is valuable when its right next to a river to easily ship on. This one has likely been left to collect dust under Nindukugga’s not so gentle reign.

• Iron-Copper Deposit: Sustainable capacity of 100 work gangs and deposit reserves of 16,800 work-gang-months.

Second we’ve got a Marble deposit that isn’t a great quality find. The quarry has been almost entirely played out. This was likely quarried for construction of the Earthway fortress due to the location. It’s likely been left to be a lair of a monster that’s a henchmen to Nindukugga. A quarry would be a very interesting location for a lair. We’re going to use the MA symbol for Marble

• Marble Deposit: Sustainable capacity of 300 work gangs and deposit reserves of 4800 work-gang months.

Third we’ve got another Copper Mine, this one with a very sustainable capacity and insane reserves. This is a monster mine that Dwarves dream about, enough that you’d build a domain just to access it. But sadly it’s likely been left to fallow under Nindukugga’s rulership. She’d got neither the resources or the skilled labor to exploit it. Dwarven elders cry themselves to sleep dreaming about being able to restart this mine.

• Iron-Copper Deposit: Sustainable capacity of 500 work gangs and deposit reserves of 432,000 work-gang-months.

Fourth, another Iron Ore mine but without significant Copper deposits. It’s going to be an ‘easy to access from the surface mine’ due to the big number of sustainable work gangs I rolled. It’s still got good reserves left. Another big sad for the Dwarves and their lost empire.

• Iron Deposit: Sustainable capacity of 600 work gangs and deposit reserves of 127,200 work-gang-months.

Fifth, and its a fat one, a Gemstone mine! Only a 2% chance of those. Now Ore Never Changes doesn’t have a breakdown of what type of Gems they are so let’s do a little research. The High Atlas’s have some deposits of Amethysts and I like the sounds of that so that’s what we’re going with. I’ll likely have to find a chart to use to randomly determine gemstone types in the future, but I’ll worry about that when I roll the 2% chance. The deposit must be easy to access but let’s change this to make this one a little more unique. I’m going to go with an underground cavern that is close to the surface where the gems were deposited, because again it has a high work gang value. Plus holy fuck that reserve number is huge. This is a monster find.

I’m going with surface erosion lead to a river wearing away at the surface creating a cave tunnel that intersected with the Amethyst deposit from an extinct pocket of underground magma that didn’t quite make it to the surface. A large cavern that is lined with Amethyst deposits that would sparkle in light brought from the surface. Let’s use the AM symbol for this deposit

• Gem (Amethysts) Deposit: Sustainable capacity of 800 work gangs and deposit reserves of 1,411,200 work-gang-months.

Sixth another Iron Ore deposit. Likely used in the building of the hydraulic mechanisms and defenses of the Earthway Fortress. This mine looks mostly played out based on the numbers. The Dwarves likely mined it for the construction and then left it in place, perhaps as living quarters for families or a future area for the Earthway Fortress to spread to. This would be a good place to park a monster lair, perhaps a particularly important tribe of Ogres serving Nindukugga.

• Iron Deposit: Sustainable capacity of 200 work gangs and deposit reserves of 9,600 work-gang-months.

Seventh, and last, is a Silver-Lead Mine. It’s got a very high capacity for work gangs and large reserves. But it’s slightly out of the way of the other reserves in the area. This likely would have been under or next to an Earthway Fortress outpost. It would be keeping in the Dwarven character to build outposts on top of their mines even if it wouldn’t be the most strategic point to the Human mind. To the Dwarves securing the minerals would be more important.

• Silver-Lead Deposit: Sustainable capacity of 600 work gangs and deposit reserves of 957,600 work-gang-months.

So this is all I have time for today. The mowing of the lawn calls to me. My schedule has lighten up a bit so I should have time to finish the west to east sweep of the mountains and see what other interesting gameable bits we find in the randomness of the dice.