The Barony of Stonesky

Part I: The "Sky-Train" Patent (Y95-Y97)

When King Arwon gave the "Council of Mages" their new mandate in Y95—"Find our resources"—the competition was fierce. The Mages fanned out across the mountains, each school seeking the resource that would bring them the most prestige and funding.

The race was won by a brilliant, pragmatic Transmutation Wizard named Telyna Volan.

She was not one of Arwon's original adventuring party; she was one of the "pilgrim" wizards who had arrived from Tayon (c. Y86) to help build Arcanus. She had spent years studying Arwon's "permanence" magic and, seeing the resource problem, dedicated herself to solving it.

In Year 97, she returned to Arcanus from the northern mountains. She did not bring a map. She brought a two-ton block of perfect, blue-veined marble, which she had floating gently behind her.

She had not only "discovered" the single largest, richest marble and granite quarry in the kingdom; she had invented the practical, commercial application for the "long duration Levitate" spell to move it. She called it the "Volan Sky-Train."

Part II: The Charter (Y98)

King Arwon was overjoyed. This was exactly the kind of innovation he wanted his kingdom to foster. He summoned Telyna Volan to the floating capital, Senzynia.

He did not just give her a research grant; he gave her a charter.

Telyna Volan was granted the hereditary title of Baroness of Stonesky. She was given full, autocratic control of the northern quarry, all the land surrounding it, and the "work town" she would need to build.

In return, she had two responsibilities:

1. Provide a steady, reliable supply of stone to the Kingdom (at a steep discount).

2. Pay Arwon's income tax on all her external exports.

Part III: The "Work Town" of Levistone (Y98-Y182)

Baroness Volan's new "work town" is named Levistone. It is not a beautiful, magical city like Arcanus. It is a loud, pragmatic, and incredibly wealthy industrial town, built into the base of the massive quarry.

• The Town: It is a town of practical, stone-built workshops, massive stone-cutting facilities (run by Golem-assisted Transmuters), and reinforced barracks for the thousands of miners, engineers, and wizards who work there.

• The "Sky-Port": Levistone's "docks" are not on a river. They are a massive, open-air stone platform on the cliff's edge. Here, the "Sky-Trains"—convoys of 20 or 30 massive, levitating marble blocks, each one glowing with faint arcane energy—are assembled by the Transmuters. They are then "launched" and guided by specialist "Sky-Train Pilots" on the multi-day, floating journey to Arcanus or the Bay of Rebirth for export.

• The Culture: Life in Levistone is noisy, dangerous, and very, very profitable. It is a town of Dwarven stone-masons (poached from Port Krell), brilliant Transmuters (sent from the College), and tough laborers, all working for the no-nonsense Baroness Volan.

By the Present Day (Y182), the Barony of Stonesky is the engine of Arwonia's economy and the most powerful of all the new "Noble" industrial houses.