Geology in the worldlet
I started writing a story and got distracted before I'd finished the first sentence. I wanted somebody to start a story by looking at a shiny piece of coal.
But the most likely tellers of the story, I was thinking, would be merchants camping during the rainy season in one of the tin camps - a place where tin is close to the surface and can be mined. Tin is a major source of wealth in the worldlet, as the humans have a largely bronze-based metallurgy.
Dwarves have steel, but that's because they use tools to delve deep into the mountains to go get iron. The human areas are rich in copper in the uplifted areas, with some tin here and there. However, the few sources of iron available in the human half of the continent are way back in the forests, where humans really don't go. Forests are scary.
Anyway, to get back from the degressions - I wondered whether coal would be found geographically near tin. After some research, the answer is "not likely". Coal is laid down in sedimentary deposits and often exposed through uplift. Coal may be metamorphized to an extent, but mostly through pressure, not heat from volcanic activity. Tin ore is found near granite - an igneous rock. Tin might be found alongside gold or copper, but is not likely to be anywhere near coal.
Now, the dwarves do find coal, from time to time, but I've already decided that's not in the same areas as iron. I don't know what the cultural differences are between those dwarves who mine coal and those who mine iron. Perhaps it'd be like in The Hobbit, where it's a bit shameful to have to dig for coal. Maybe it's more of a hill dwarf/mountain dwarf type divide like you find in AD&D.
That leaves... would there be coal deposits available to humans in the worldlet? Would they use it for smelting, or carve it for decoration? (Anthracite coal, in particular, is very pretty when carved.) Would it be a curiousity?
These are the questions that occupy my mind, sometimes.
But the most likely tellers of the story, I was thinking, would be merchants camping during the rainy season in one of the tin camps - a place where tin is close to the surface and can be mined. Tin is a major source of wealth in the worldlet, as the humans have a largely bronze-based metallurgy.
Dwarves have steel, but that's because they use tools to delve deep into the mountains to go get iron. The human areas are rich in copper in the uplifted areas, with some tin here and there. However, the few sources of iron available in the human half of the continent are way back in the forests, where humans really don't go. Forests are scary.
Anyway, to get back from the degressions - I wondered whether coal would be found geographically near tin. After some research, the answer is "not likely". Coal is laid down in sedimentary deposits and often exposed through uplift. Coal may be metamorphized to an extent, but mostly through pressure, not heat from volcanic activity. Tin ore is found near granite - an igneous rock. Tin might be found alongside gold or copper, but is not likely to be anywhere near coal.
Now, the dwarves do find coal, from time to time, but I've already decided that's not in the same areas as iron. I don't know what the cultural differences are between those dwarves who mine coal and those who mine iron. Perhaps it'd be like in The Hobbit, where it's a bit shameful to have to dig for coal. Maybe it's more of a hill dwarf/mountain dwarf type divide like you find in AD&D.
That leaves... would there be coal deposits available to humans in the worldlet? Would they use it for smelting, or carve it for decoration? (Anthracite coal, in particular, is very pretty when carved.) Would it be a curiousity?
These are the questions that occupy my mind, sometimes.