Cinder-Gate¶

Region¶

Kaelroch

Description¶

The Empire’s most feared penal colony, built into the collapsed rim of an extinct volcano on the Ember Spine’s southern face. The compound is a series of open-pit mines connected by scorched tunnels, surrounded by walls of fused obsidian. There are no cells. Prisoners sleep in the tunnels, on bare rock, in heat that would kill an unacclimatized mortal within days. The guards — mostly Emberkin mercenaries who tolerate the temperature and have no sympathy for surface-dwellers — rotate on three-month shifts. Even they consider the posting unpleasant.

Cinder-Gate processes roughly four hundred prisoners at any given time. The average survival period is fourteen months. The Imperial bureaucracy keeps meticulous records of intake but does not bother tracking deaths — the ash fields around the compound serve as an unmarked mass grave.

Purpose¶

Prisoners mine obsidian, Cindralium, and volcanic glass for Imperial use. The materials are hauled out along the Scorchway — a carved road running south to the Zarnath border, where Ashveil traders collect shipments without entering the compound itself. No one enters Cinder-Gate voluntarily.

Sentences to Cinder-Gate are handed down for: - Second-offense heresy - Unlicensed Erythium trafficking (commuted from execution, at the Throne’s discretion) - Treason (where execution is considered too merciful or too politically inconvenient) - Repeated assault on Imperial officers

Key Features¶

The Maw: The main mine shaft, a vertical drop into an active geothermal vent. Prisoners lower themselves on rope harnesses to chip Cindralium from the shaft walls. The harnesses are old. Falls are common.
The Ash Yard: A flat clearing outside the compound where new prisoners are processed. Guards strip them of all possessions and brand them with the Mark of Shame. The brand is the last piece of Imperial bureaucracy most of them will ever experience.
No Escape Route: The surrounding terrain is volcanic wasteland. The nearest settlement is Ash-Thorn, over sixty miles south across open ash fields with no water, no shade, and toxic gas pockets. Escapes are attempted regularly. Successful ones are not.

The Emberkin Question¶

The Empire built Cinder-Gate in Emberkin territory without asking permission. The Emberkin clans tolerate it because the mining is confined to a dead caldera they have no use for, and the Empire pays Emberkin guards at premium rates. But the arrangement is purely transactional. The clans at Crucible-Home consider Cinder-Gate an insult — proof that the Empire sees Kaelroch as a dumping ground, not a province. If the Empire ever stopped paying, the guards would walk out the same day.

Role¶

The Empire’s most brutal penal colony and a source of rare volcanic materials. A place where sentences are measured in months survived, not years served.