Twin City
If there was a place that could look like a frozen hell on earth, it was Twin City. A massive walled mining facility occupying the crater where two pre-fall cities once stood, Twin City served as the Ironworks' primary ore extraction site during the Ironworks era. The ground had been ruined by years of mining and pollution, stripped of all capacity for natural growth. No wildlife survived. No forest remained. Jets of fire sprayed from exposed natural gas pockets, and the iron-gated walls gave the settlement the look of what it truly was: a massive prison.
The inhabitants were mainly Iron Slaves and convicted prisoners, doomed to a life of extracting ore from incredibly dangerous mines. Black lung, radiation exposure, tunnel collapse, and the fire jets from natural gas made every shift a gamble with death. Iron Slaves were typically sent here as a last resort, a final attempt to break the spirit of those who resisted elsewhere. Prisoners served sentences that could be reduced by finding rich ore veins, giving them a desperate incentive to push deeper into the most dangerous shafts.
The slave and prisoner region was an abysmal ghetto of cloth-and-rock hovels where inhabitants lived near-animalistic lifestyles. The staff district, set apart, was a miniature community with rationed food and basic amenities for the Wardens. These overseers served on five-year contracts, monitoring the grounds from catwalks above and the parapets of the city walls. All were trained in long-range rifles. They did not patrol the actual grounds, because the ground level was too dangerous even for the guards.
The standing medical protocol was as brutal as the work. One bullet wound in a slave meant patching up and returning to the mines. Two wounds and still alive meant the Abbey. Five wounds and still alive was considered possibly worse than death. The ore extracted from Twin City's mines was shipped to Steel City for refining and then distributed across the Ironworks, feeding the empire's insatiable appetite for metal with a currency of suffering.
The inhabitants were mainly Iron Slaves and convicted prisoners, doomed to a life of extracting ore from incredibly dangerous mines. Black lung, radiation exposure, tunnel collapse, and the fire jets from natural gas made every shift a gamble with death. Iron Slaves were typically sent here as a last resort, a final attempt to break the spirit of those who resisted elsewhere. Prisoners served sentences that could be reduced by finding rich ore veins, giving them a desperate incentive to push deeper into the most dangerous shafts.
The slave and prisoner region was an abysmal ghetto of cloth-and-rock hovels where inhabitants lived near-animalistic lifestyles. The staff district, set apart, was a miniature community with rationed food and basic amenities for the Wardens. These overseers served on five-year contracts, monitoring the grounds from catwalks above and the parapets of the city walls. All were trained in long-range rifles. They did not patrol the actual grounds, because the ground level was too dangerous even for the guards.
The standing medical protocol was as brutal as the work. One bullet wound in a slave meant patching up and returning to the mines. Two wounds and still alive meant the Abbey. Five wounds and still alive was considered possibly worse than death. The ore extracted from Twin City's mines was shipped to Steel City for refining and then distributed across the Ironworks, feeding the empire's insatiable appetite for metal with a currency of suffering.
History
Twin City was established as the Ironworks' primary mining facility, its crater location exploited for ore extraction. Over years of continuous mining, the ground lost all capacity for natural growth, and the surrounding environment was stripped clean of wildlife and vegetation. The settlement evolved into a combination prison and mine, where the Ironworks sent its most resistant slaves to have their spirits broken and its convicted criminals to serve reduced sentences through dangerous labor. Wardens served on five-year contracts, enduring the grim conditions in exchange for pensions in warmer places. The ore extracted here supplied Steel City's refineries, which in turn fed the manufacturing operations across the entire Ironworks axis.
Geography
Twin City occupied a crater where two pre-fall cities once stood, its perimeter defined by iron-gated walls. The ground within was devastated by years of mining and industrial pollution, with no surviving vegetation or wildlife. Jets of fire sprayed from exposed natural gas pockets across the ruined terrain. The staff district sat behind its own fortifications, separated from the slave and prisoner region by catwalks and parapets. The mine shafts extended deep below the surface. Twin City connected to the broader Ironworks through the rail network, with ore shipped south to Steel City for refining. Mini Soda bordered the settlement to the west, and Furrier traders from that frozen territory were among the few outsiders who traveled to Twin City by choice.
