The City of Newcomen

Nestled at the highest point of the Pass of Scales, Newcomen grew up around an ancient bastion known as the Cylinder. As the population grew and deposits of coal were discovered in the Dragonspine to the North of the city, the mining camps demanded protection from bandits. This led to the construction of the East Wall and the West Wall, each stretching from the impassable Trollspine walls to the South to the Dragonspine to the North, athwart the Pass. The mining camps, now known as the Carnot, expanded in the newly secured area which became known as the Beam. The Cylinder ceased to be a fortress and became the nucleus of a thriving town, sitting as it did upon the only practical route across the Spine. When rich iron deposits were found outside the Western wall, a new district grew up Southwards of the road to Sage and Grissomdale, known as the Firebox for its smelting.

With the Beam now full of buildings, apart from the large space of the Marketplace East of the Cylinder, and the only suitable land Westwards being the Firebox, the new district known as the Piston began to grow to the East, exploiting the newly discovered coal seams in the Trollspine. The smaller, less convenient coal seams below and North of the Carnot are now abandoned, leaving the residents of the Carnot to scratch a living as best they can.

Newcomen imports almost all its food, paying in refined iron, and exports coal to the city of Stirling, where it is used to smelt the rich copper found there, and traded to Diesel and Wankel. Newcomen also skims a tax from all transactions in the Marketplace, which is the only land-accessible place Wankel, Diesel and Stirling can sell their engines. Southwards of the Cylinder is an airship mooring tower known as the Crank.