- Intent: Create a spice mine.
- Image Credit: PeteAmachree
- Canon: N/A
- Permissions: N/A
- Links: Spice
- Mine Name: Mining Outpost 4827
- Material:
- Location: Southern Desert region, Sevarcos II
- Affiliation: Rimward Trade League
- Size: Medium
- Population: Moderately Staffed
- Profit: High
- Accessibility: The mining outpost is located in the Southern Deserts. As such, the structure is largely exposed. High winds frequently reshape the sands and spice dust of the landscape and sandstorms are a regular occurrence. As such, a breath mask and eye protection are recommended for travelers, even outside of the mines, because of the spice dust present in the surrounding environment.
- Description: Mining Outpost 4827 was a spice mine operated by the Sevari through contracts with the Mining Guilds, with the raw and refined spice being pushed to the galactic market via the Rimward Trade League. Officially, this mine produced raw and legally refined andris for use in food preparation and preservation. However, andris was not profitable enough for the mine's overseers and the more refined version of andris and the illicit carsunum were also produced by the mine and sold on the black markets through criminal connections.
- Staging Area. The area immediately surrounding the mine, where the raw spice is brought to the surface to be sorted into crates and shipping containers, either for further refinement or direct sale. This is the area of highest security, intended to ensure that the miners coming up to the surface don't make a run for it.
- Entrance. The opening of the primary artery descending from the surface into the mine. A pair of security droids are posted here, while the Sevari overseers infrequently patrol to keep the miners on task.
- Mining Shaft Cresh. The current wing of the project being mined. A subterranean tunnel extending below the surface of the planet, with pockets of carsunum supply a much desired bonus to the profit generated by the mine's legitimate business.
- Mining Shaft Aurek. One of the earliest wings of the project, its resources were exhausted and the shaft partially collapsed from over-mining.
Low. A handful of Sevari who serve as the local muscle for the resident spice lord who owns the mine and oversee the unpaid labor. Most of the labor droids are exactly what they appear to be, but a few can be observed carrying blaster rifles. In general, security is focused on maintaining order and keeping the slaves inside the mine rather than being intended to battle or repel an external force attacking the mine. With the inhospitable conditions approaching the mine and the spice lords in control of the planet, there is a false sense of security over the mine's operation.
HISTORICAL INFORMATION
The Rimward Trade League has brought peace, security, and civility to the Outer Rim.
The arsenal of freedom. Prosperity through trade. Such words are better used for political slogans than for actual business ventures, particularly in this part of space. Officially, the workers in the mines are paid workers who sign on to the project, supplemented by forced labor as legally prescribed through the courts of Sevarcos for convicts being punished for violations of the planet's criminal statutes. They mine the innocuous but quite popular substance known as andris, which has, for generations, been used as both a food additive and necessary component for food preservation.
And that's true, from a certain point of view.
However, the reality is that the workers in the mine are wage slaves whose status is that of indentured serf at best, with the mine being operated as a debtor's prison for those who fall into debt to one of the spice lords. In theory, it is a means to an ends--the method by which they can work off their debt and secure their freedom. In reality, the fees levied for their food and board and health care and (nonexistent) health insurance add up so that, by working in the mine, they're actually getting further and further into debt rather than working their way out of it.
Not to be outdone, the prisoners committed to the mines are more often innocent, their crimes fabricated and their convictions no more than a stamp for those who cross the spice lord. They are tossed into the spice mine, only seeing the light of day when bringing up heavy crates of mined spice to the surface. For the few who are actual criminals, it matters not. It is a life sentence either way.
Some go mad. Others embrace death. It is widely rumored that Mining Shaft Aurek was purposefully caved in by a miner who sought release from his internment. Perhaps that is mere speculation. Or perhaps there is some truth to rumor.
Either way, it is said that no one escapes Mining Outpost 4827.
