Tarsu-un
| Tarsu-un | |
|---|---|
 | |
| City | Kar-Thal |
| Realm | Terasil |
| Function | Quarry Access and Miner Clans |
Tarsu-un is the outermost district of Kar-Thal, situated closest to the city’s vast quarry networks and mineral veins. It is the dwelling place of the stonecutters, tunnel shapers, and strata-cleavers whose labor forms the physical and civic foundation of the city. The district is known for its pragmatic tone, unadorned architecture, and the lineage-bound miner clans who operate in multigenerational guilds.
Function
Tarsu-un serves as the logistical spine for raw material extraction and tunnel expansion. Its corridors lead outward into the functional arms of the Citadel Mountains, providing direct access to basalt flows, mineral deposits, and untouched fault layers. The district houses tool-makers, chisel forgers, quarry scribes, and dust-weighers, all of whom are vital to the rhythm of Orasian civic growth.
Beyond its industrial role, Tarsu-un maintains sacred relationships with living stone—rituals of permission and fracture conducted before each excavation.
History
Tarsu-un was established during the early expansion of Kar-Thal, when internal space became limited and controlled quarrying became necessary to support the city’s growth. Initially little more than a cluster of open shafts and rough dwellings, the district evolved into a structured guild network over time, with each family bound to a specific stone-type or resonance zone.
Its practices were codified after a series of deep-quake incidents during the mid Era of Shifting Strata, leading to the formation of the Tunnel Mark Exchange, where all excavation paths are mapped, harmonized, and ritually approved.
Notable Locations
- Stone-Fall Commons – An open plaza used for load transfer and clan announcements. Dust-clouded but lively.
- Clanforge of Olm-Varek – One of the oldest working forges, maintained by a basalt-working lineage.
- Tunnel Mark Exchange – A carved hall where quarry paths are approved and tracked through etched strata maps.
- Hall of Dust-Weighers – The site of mineral evaluation, resonance content analysis, and civic quota marking.
Cultural Practices
Unlike the more ceremonial districts, Tarsu-un speaks in the dialect of purpose. Speech is clipped, rhythms sync with hammer strikes, and few words are wasted. Clan-stones are placed above entrances and coated with fracture-dust to mark lineage and quarry deeds.
Initiates from Tarsu-un often undertake the First Fracture Rite, in which they must extract a vein segment using ancestral tools, then present it unbroken to the Hall of Dust-Weighers.
Meal songs in the district are tonal but rhythmic—designed to echo through tunnel walls during long quarry shifts. Tarsu-un also maintains a rare tradition: the Stone Silence, a full day of muteness observed after a tunnel collapse, out of respect for the fallen and the unsettled stone.