• Location: Outside Firetown’s Town Wall, Ralar Region
• Address: 1 km from Main Gate
• Surroundings: Close to the Federal Prison (Gamma Ageonly), the (Federal) Geothermal Power Plant, the Firetown Tier-1 Energy Redistribution Node, and the Quantum Fusion Recalibration Station.
• Supply Line by Age: Beta Age → Firetown Copper Plant Inc. · Gamma Age → Federal Copper Plant

The (Federal) Copper Mine is the foundational extraction site that supplied raw copper to Firetown’s metallurgical hub across both eras. Conceived by the Free State of Settlers as a state-owned enterprise after a Last Frontier University survey (Dec 2625), construction began in April 2626 under GAIA using Manual Labor Bots and salvaged Last Frontier modules; the mine opened on 17 February 2627. In the Beta Age it fed ore to Firetown Copper Plant Inc.; after nationalization (2632), output was downscaled to treaty quotas and routed exclusively to the Federal Copper Plant under Federal Allotment Agency/GAIA coordination.

• Discovery: December 2625 by a Last Frontier University geology expedition into the Dark Side.
• Council Decision: February 2626 – Settlers’ Council voted to found a state-owned copper company.
• Construction: April 2626 – Executed largely by Service Bots using GAIA’s plans; materials included volcanic stone and salvaged Last Frontier parts.
• Opening: 17 February 2627 as a flagship industrial site of the Free State of Settlers.
• Ralar Complex: Alongside the Geothermal Power Plant, Tier-1 ERN, and Copper Plant, the mine formed the Ralar Complex – predating Firetown as a settlement.
• Staffing: ≈80% Service Bots (Manual Labor, Maintenance, Cleaning) powered by Quantum Fusion Batteries; ≈20% exohuman personnel (Engineers, Technicians, Sales Reps).

• Nationalization: 2631 under Communardism, managed by the Federal Allotment Agency.
• Downscaling: Operations curtailed under Peace Treaty quotas, with reduced output.
• Staffing Shift: Service Bots decommissioned; labor force replaced primarily by convicts from the Federal Prison.
• Security: Deputies of the Local Sheriff oversee site security, replacing Combat Drone patrols.
• Current Role: Supplies raw ore exclusively to the Federal Copper Plant under GAIA-coordinated quotas.

The mine complex is built for function and endurance in Firetown’s sub-zero Dark Side climate:

• Construction Materials: Volcanic stone from Ralar Volcano and salvaged Last Frontier ship modules.
• Floors (Operational Buildings): 2
• Design: Windowless façades with thumb-wide slits to minimize heat loss; trenches and covered walkways connect facilities.
• Heating: Supplied via geothermal heat from the Federal Geothermal Power Plant.
• Lighting: Beta Age – electric panels; Gamma Age – reduced electric use combined with torches.

Open-Pit Mine:

• A vast excavation with tiered 10-meter benches, where Service Bots extracted ore and delivered it to the processing unit.

Operational Buildings:

• Processing Unit: Automated sorting and grading lines run by Manual Labor Bots.
• Maintenance Workshop & Bot Dock: Facilities for repairing mining tools, Service Bots, and charging Quantum Fusion Batteries.
• Material Storage & Warehouse: Heated stockpiles of ore; adjoining Railroad Spur & Outbound Hub with a narrow-gauge track terminus and logistics bay. Ore shipments were loaded here by the Firetown Courier Service.
• Administrative Offices & Control Center: Offices for engineers and sales representatives and a modest staff area with 4 restrooms, equipped with the AuroraSan System.
• Dormitory & Cantina: Living quarters and dining facility (also equipped with Frontier Quickdraw) for exohuman engineers and technicians who stayed on-site before Firetown was founded.

Open-Pit Mine:

• The same excavation site as in the Beta Age, but now worked manually by convict laborers using hand tools under constant guard surveillance.

Operational Buildings:

• Processing Unit: Manual sorting and grading stations overseen by mining supervisors, replacing the bot-operated conveyors of the Beta Age.
• Maintenance Workshop: Repurposed for the repair of hand tools, carts, and mechanical equipment used by convict miners.
• Material Storage & Warehouse: Central stockpile of raw ore with an adjoining Railroad Spur & Outbound Hub directly connecting to the Federal Copper Plant. Shipments are handled by the Federal Courier Service and accompanied by a mine employee during transit.
• Administrative Offices & Break Room: Offices for the Plant Manager, supervisors, and logistics clerks, alongside a communal break room and 6 restrooms equipped with the AuroraSan System.
• Guard Facilities: Dedicated checkpoints, weapon lockers, rest stations for deputies of the Federal Sheriff, ensuring strict control over the convict workforce.
• Watchtowers (4): Placed around the perimeter of the mining site, each staffed by deputies and equipped with crank-operated searchlights. They provide constant surveillance of the open pit, the warehouse, and the transport rail line.

The mine buzzes with the coordinated efficiency of Service Bots: humming conveyors, rhythmic clanks of ore being sorted, and the faint whir of automated drills echoing into the vast excavation. Yet beyond the workfloors, the open pit is cloaked in perpetual darkness, the faint light of electric panels struggling against the endless night of the Dark Side. The air is bitterly cold, breath forming pale clouds that linger in the frigid stillness.

Above the pit, Combat Drones hover silently, their rotating light cones sweeping across the site with mechanical vigilance. Their searchlights cut through the shadows, reminding every worker that GAIA’s watch is constant and unblinking. The interplay of darkness and shifting beams gives the entire mine an eerie, surveilled atmosphere.

Inside the industrial halls, GAIA’s presence is palpable in the seamless precision of operations, but the atmosphere remains sterile and lonely, as if even the hum of machines cannot fill the void. Exohuman staff tread the metal gangways with quick, purposeful steps, their voices muffled and quickly swallowed by the cavernous silence. Surrounded by tireless bots, their human figures seem small, isolated, and almost out of place in the vast, mechanical rhythm of the mine.

After their shifts, the engineers and technicians retreat to the dormitory cantina, seeking warmth in mugs of self-brewed alcohol and the intoxicating pouches of the Frontier Quickdraw. For a short while, the cold and loneliness of the Dark Side dissolve in laughter, heated arguments, and the faint glow of makeshift stoves — before the endless night swallows them again the next morning

The open pit has changed. Where once Service Bots worked in unison, the darkness is now filled with the labored grunts of convicts hacking at the frozen rock with pickaxes. Their movements are slow and weary, every strike echoing into the abyssal blackness of the Ralar Region. The cold is merciless, seeping into skin and bone despite layers of coarse uniforms. Frost clings to beards, lashes, and the edges of tools. Even the faint electric lamps strung along the worksite seem powerless against the eternal night. Only far on the horizon does the distant glow of the Ralar Volcano break the darkness — a fiery reminder of the planet’s raw, untamed power, casting a dull red shimmer that seems both menacing and unreachable.

From the perimeter, four watchtowers loom — each with deputies staring out into the darkness, their crank-powered searchlights sweeping across the pit. The shifting beams catch the convicts’ faces in sharp, fleeting fragments: hollow eyes, clenched jaws, and breaths puffing white into the void. The deputies stand silently, isolated in their wooden boxes above the wind, wrapped in furs but unable to escape the same cold and loneliness. Their duty is endless: watching, waiting, listening for the crack of a pickaxe that sounds wrong or a whispered plan carried on the wind.

Inside the administrative building, supervisors hunch over ledgers and GAIA’s quota readouts, their offices dim and draughty. In the break room, deputies and clerks warm stiff fingers over weak geothermal heaters, sipping stale coffee or gnawing hard bread supplied by the Federal Food Plant. There is little laughter, only murmured talk and the occasional flare of frustration.

For the convicts, relief comes only after their shift, when they trudge back to crowded barracks near the pit. There, in the stifling gloom, they share illicit bottles of crude prison-brewed alcohol passed hand to hand, muttering bitter curses or dreaming aloud of escape.

The mine feels less like an engine of progress now and more like a prison carved into the frozen earth. The loneliness is not only the convicts’ — it belongs to the guards too, men and women condemned to stand eternal vigil in a world of shadows, where the silence of the Dark Side presses in heavier than the stone they extract, and where even the glow of the Ralar Volcano offers no warmth, only the illusion of distant fire.

• Supervising Engineers (10): Oversaw GAIA-aligned operations.
• Technicians (5): Monitored Service Bot performance and maintained Quantum Fusion Batteries.
• Sales Reps (5): Coordinated with the Trade Guild of New Kourou for copper distribution.
• Service Bots (≈80): Manual Labor, Maintenance, Cleaning Bots – performed 80% of work.
• Security: Combat Drones & Guarding Bots secured the site and rail connection.

• Plant Manager (1): Federal appointee coordinating quotas with GAIA and the Federal Allotment Agency.
• Mining Supervisors (5): Enforce safety and oversee shifts.
• General Miners (≈155): Convicts from Federal Prison working under guard.
• Logistics & Maintenance Crew (20): Transport and tool upkeep.
• Deputies (20): Permanent guards monitoring convicts and transport.

To maximize productivity, the mine operates on a three-shift schedule:

• Morning Shift: 8:00 AM – 4:00 PM
• Evening Shift: 4:00 PM – 12:00 AM
• Night Shift: 12:00 AM – 8:00 AM

Convicts are rotated by armed deputies; in the Gamma Age, Service Bots enabled seamless 24/7 efficiency in the Beta Age.

• Guarding Bots & Combat Drones: Free State of Settlers–deployed sentry units patrol perimeters and rail lines.
• Secured Perimeter: Reinforced fencing surround the facility.
• Rail Escort: Each ore train is accompanied by Combat Drones during transit to the plant.

• Alert System: An Analog Siren connected to the Local Sheriff’s Office for emergencies.
• Security Perimeter: A reinforced fence encircles the open pit and operational buildings, with guarded checkpoints regulating all movement of convicts and staff.
• Watchtowers (4): Placed at the cardinal points of the perimeter, each tower is staffed by deputies and equipped with crank-powered searchlights, providing continuous surveillance of the pit, the warehouse, and the rail line.
• Deputy Patrols: 20 deputies stationed on-site rotate between perimeter patrols, tower duty, and convoy escorts, ensuring strict control over convict laborers.
• East Gate Guards: Deputies stationed at Firetown’s East Gate supervise all train movements, inspecting cargo before and after passage.
• Convict Control: Deputies monitor shifts closely, with armed escorts during transport to and from the Federal Prison.

The (Federal) Copper Mine and Plant are seamlessly connected by a rail system designed to transport raw copper efficiently.

Rail System:

• A narrow-gauge rail line facilitates the movement of ore from the mine to the plant, ensuring a steady supply of raw materials for processing.
• The train consists of 12 carts, specially designed with insulated compartments to prevent copper from freezing in Firetown's constant subzero environment.
• In the Gamma Age, the exterior of the carts is coated with Luminofera Dualis, a bioluminescent material that makes the train visible in the dark and enhances safety along the route. In the Beta Age, the carts were equipped with rechargeable electric lights powered by Quantum Fusion Batteries.

Animal-Powered Locomotion:

• The trains are pulled by Hoos
• Trains operate continuously, traveling back and forth between the mine and the plant, maintaining a steady flow of copper ore.

Travel Time and Operations

• The rail route between the Federal Copper Mine and the Federal Copper Plant takes 1 hour each way, allowing for efficient transport and minimal delays in the supply chain.
• In the Gamma Age, each train is accompanied by an employee of the Federal Copper Mine, who oversees the cargo during transit to ensure its safety and proper delivery.In the Beta Age, a Combat Drone accompanied the train.

The East Gate:

• After the founding of Firetown in 2628, a dedicated East Gate was constructed in Firetown’s Town Wall to accommodate rail traffic.
• The gate is equipped with reinforced doors and a secure locking mechanism to protect against unauthorized access and potential raids.

The Federal Copper Mine offers a wealth of possibilities for Dungeon Masters to create compelling scenarios in their campaigns:

• Sabotaged Bots – A faction of engineers has reprogrammed several Manual Labor Bots to smuggle copper out through hidden carts. PCs must track the sabotage, confront rogue engineers, and decide whether to report, exploit, or join the scheme …

• Prison Revolt – A group of convicts plans a desperate breakout during a night shift. PCs could be hired by deputies to stop it, or secretly recruited by prisoners to aid the escape …

• Beta Age
• Gamma Age
• Ralar Region
• Firetown
• Free State of Settlers
• Trade Guild of New Kourou
• Firetown Copper Plant Inc.
• Federal Copper Plant
• Geothermal Power Plant
• Federal Geothermal Power Plant
• Communardism
• Federal Confederation
• The Allotment Agency
• The exohuman economic system in the Gamma Age
• Firetown Courier Service
• Federal Courier Service
• Federal Prison

Known employees of the (Federal) Copper Mine:

• Torben Bordeaux (Gamma Age)
• Ketu Kainerugaba(Gamma Age)