Nema

Nema is a small mining town located on the eastern edge of the Barbarous highlands that is built into the side of a sheer rock face which constitutes the Southwestern face of the Ghochin mountain, part of the Gholask Range. The town is sparsely populated, having only a few dozen residents who reside year-round, thus possessing a small but closely-knit community. Nema is a seasonally based mining outpost; the only of its kind in Monde. This means that there is only a brief window of time during any given year in which labourers can mine for the precious ores and gems which can be found with great ease within the extensive mines located within the mountain.

Founding and History
Nema was established as a mining point in 77 IP. A fairly detailed chronological history of Nema exists, and the town has had a colourful contemporary past.

Originally, Nema was settled in 76 IP by Jansen Nema, an explorer who hailed from the Anglian Republic. Jansen was an avid mountaineer who had climbed many of the most prominent peaks in Monde, including the central-Northeastern Alcali Mountain in Elum, and Rorgens Peak in the North of the Erfolg continent. Eventually, Jansen set his eyes on Ghochin, a mountain famed not for its height but rather the climb, which is among the most difficult technical climbs in Monde.

The town itself began as a base camp for Jansen's attempt to climb Ghochin. Originally, cozy barracks to house a dozen men at best, a small cooking house, and a basic supply shed constituted the first permanent structures in Nema. Eventually, in an attempt to create a cellar of sorts for provisions, Jansen decided to carve a small indent into the rock face. Upon making his first cuts into the rock, Jansen happened upon a fist-sized Sedis crystal. Promptly selling the stone, Jansen hired several men to begin a small-time mining operation, and upon completion of a comfortable home in the shadow of Ghochin, he conquered the mountain and then settled down to write his memoirs.

However, in 81 IP Jansen fell into an astral rift, entered the astral realm, immediately fell into another open rift, emerged at the top of a crevasse in the tangible world, and plummeted to his death.

Nema has always been a contested area in Monde, and has switched hands quite often throughout its history.

Most recently, the town itself has been caught up in the death of Calhan Lukimo, which sent shockwaves through the Nema Mining Guild and the town itself.

Mining
The mountain that Nema is built in to contains a labyrinthine maze of mining shafts and halls that have been painstakingly carved out over the decades that Nema has been a major mining point in the Barbarous highlands. However, despite the immense amount of backbreaking manual labour that is required to cut through the dense quartzite which encapsulates ore veins and precious gems, Nema has remained a highly valuable mining node that has been contested quite often.

Nema is unique in that the many disparate ores found in Nema share no similarity in origin. Setamite and Tetrakite, two minable substances that are rarely found together, exist in close quarters as if they were concentrated and stored in Nema purposefully. However, the current understanding of geology suggests that this is a complete impossibility.

One of the stranger aspects of Nema is that it is classified as a seasonally based mining facility, that is, mining can only be performed during the autumn months. This is because during the winter, the bitterly cold weather turns the mining labyrinth into a practical deep freeze. In the spring, the melting snow and ice form torrential water flows through the mines. In the summer, it is simply too hot, and the mines overheat. Autumn is the only temperate season which can facilitate mining processes.

Politics and Governance
The Nema Mining Guild (NMG) is the administrative body that regulates the mining activities of Nema. The NMG arranges all mining contracts, overseeing the seasonal hiring of labourers for work in the mines, and also controls the exports of raw materials in and out of Nema. Along with these simple aspects of administration, the NMG also handles all investments made by outside powers, as well as directing research and development for new mining technologies. Currently, the Guild is presided over by Donald Telenor.

Largely considered to be politically neutral, Nema's capital investments have been the driving force behind conflict connected to the town itself. Many nations such as the Yakumo and Anglian empires have funneled large amounts of cash into hiring labour and developing new technologies. The increase in competitive capital investment has generated a type of financial vacuum; the sharp rise in available capital has set financial precedents that must be met each successive year, else the mine fails to operate properly.

Capital competition has also led to armed conflict, though not in the immediate area or town of Nema itself. Rather, conflict has manifest itself in the form of proxy wars that have been waged by indirect extension on behalf of those who have financial interests. Involvement in the manipulation of these proxy wars is always denied at every level.

Imports and Exports
Vast amounts of supplies and provisions are required each Autumn for the standard mining practices of Nema. Due to the large workforce, weekly supply trains funnel in large amounts of hearty foods such as root vegetables, mutton, thick milks, and grains and flours to make heavy breads. These four provisions make up the majority of the diet during the mining season, but diet is not limited to these items alone. Special provisions are often brought in for workers with specific dietary needs, such as Therapod or Yakumo labourers. Often, great hips of beef or many trays of smoked fish are added to the weekly provisions, which brightens the mood of labourers who otherwise perform daunting and difficult tasks.

In the weeks leading up to a mining season, building materials are transported to Nema for general repair, as well as to build additional barracks for the labourers if needed. Accompanying the materials are usually fresh beddings, garbs, and tools. If there are new technologies for the mine, then they also arrive during the prior weeks of the season, along with the engineers or experts that are familiar with their usage.

Due to the difficulty of mining through the very hard quartzite which forms the majority of the Gochin mountain, Nema does not export high volumes of usable materials, but rather provides a wide variety of materials in different quantity. These exports are sent out daily on a standard three cart train, and are often accompanied by armed guards and astral forces of the country who earned that season's contract, in the event of attempted holdup of the train, which occurs with striking frequency.