Iron Gate

[Mr. Moon]

[Iron Gate Island]

[Medium sized island in the middle of North Blue, which isn´t part of the world government. It´s famous mainly for its high quality iron ore and utopian society. ]

Civilization Name: Children of the One (Children for short)
Location: Roughly in the middle of the North Blue
Size: Medium sized island, spanning circa 800 square kilometers. 
Log Pose Time: None (North Blue)
Climate: Iron Gate is located in the temperate climate zone, meaning that it has all four standard seasons spanning approximately three months. The average temperature is changing between – 15 °C, during winter, up to the + 30°C in the summer. Thanks to its mountain range attracting many clouds, the Iron Gate island is also quite rainy, especially during the spring and fall seasons. But the heaviest rains are usually limited to the mountains, while the areas around coast are enjoying the benefits of relatively nice weather.
Climatic Type: None (North Blue)
Affiliation: Autonomous island, with it´s own government body, only loosely affiliated with the World Government through lively trade with it´s member countries.

Landmarks

• Wall of the One: Great coral reef, that is enclosing the whole island with a natural maze of razor sharp corals, dangerously close to the surface. Only skilled navigators, who knows the right way can navigate the ship safely to the island without risking shipwreck on the reef, more than kilometer away from the land.
• Iron Mountains – Massive mountain range, that represents biggest part of the island surface. With the height up to 2000m the mountains are mainly rocky with a sparse vegetation composed of mainly conifers and small bushes. As the mountains are harsh and dangerous, there are no real roads going through the inland and all traveling and trade between the cities is done at the sea. The highest peak is called Razor mountain (2300m).
• Stormy River: Iron Mountains as a whole are full of small rivers and streams that are gradually coming together to bigger rivers, which are the main source of a fresh water on the island. The biggest and most important one is Stormy River. Which is going all the way down from the Top of the Razor mountain, down to the coast, where it flows into the sea. Despite starting as a small spring, it collect water from many others streams turning itself into big and powerful river, whose lower third is navigable. Because of it it´s a main route for transporting wood and iron ore from a higher parts of the mountain. To protect themselves against floods during spring, the local build several dams on its course. They also serve as a reserve water tanks for summer months to ensure enough water to keep the ore coming.
• Emerald Valley: No gemstones here, Emerald Valley got its name because it´s the only known valley, hidden deep in the Iron Mountains, full of deciduous forests, herbs and game animals. It´s beautiful place a green paradise, rich in small rivers and waterfalls surrounded by dead rocks. Yet locals never settle there, nor they travel there very often as the roads are very dangerous.  
  
• Great Mine: As their name suggests Iron Mountains are rich in high quality iron ore, which is praised by weapon smiths all over the world. As the ore is main source of their riches and the primary exports commodity it shouldn´t be surprising, that there are many open cast mines as well as one deep mine, called the Great Mine as the best ore is coming from it. It´s entrance is located few kilometers against the stream of Stormy River and guarded by small mining town the only inland city on the island.
  
• Furnance town: On the Iron Gate island, there are many settlements and villages around the coasts but only one true city. Named after native breed of wolves, the Fenryl town is located on the banks of the Stormy river on the coast. With a population close to 80 000 people and the only big port on the Island is the center of local market, industry and culture. Whole city is divided on two halves by the river. The half on the right bank is industrial one. It´s seat of the blasts furnaces and many less desirable craftsman, such as tanners. People living there are considered to be of lower class compared to the citizens from the left bank, which is seat of the merchants, priests and other higher class citizens. Both sides of the city are connected with several bridges and by ferrys. One of the most important places in the city is a port located in the small estuary of the Stormy river. It has it´s own marked which is bigger but then the market in the upper city (left bank) The other noteworthy place is a big cathedral of the One, build on the small hill on the left bank of the river. The cathedral is accompanied by city hall and local school which is leaded by the priests.
• The Pit: Dark secret of the Iron Gate island, located right beneath the Cathedral of the One. Its a huge prison complex composed of almost kilometer of underground tunnels carved straight into the stone. All the tunnels are connected to the individual cells and the actual Pit. Underground arena with a stone auditorium where the prisoners are forced to fight each other to the death. Existence of the Pit is closely guarded secret of the inhabitants of the island which is kept away from all outsiders. 

Flora

• Overview – The majority of the island is covered by sparse coniferous forests with the most common trees being spruces and pines, together with some smaller bushes. The exception are only the Emerald valley and the rural regions near the coast. As for the emerald valley, its basically one giant deciduous forest composed mainly from oak, birch, beech and aspen together with some bushes, and herbs. Especially on the glades isn´t also uncommon to find a moss. As the fertile soil is rare on the Iron Gate island, local inhabitants are using it to its fullest. The few kilometers from the coast to the inland are full of small fields which are used for growing resistant vegetables such as potatoes, legumes, beet and turnip. This fields are usually accompanied by orchards full of apple, pear and cherry – trees.
• White oak: Tree related to the regular oak, which is growing only in the Emerald Valley. It has pure, snow white bark, which gave him it´s name and dark green leaves. The leaves are actually the most interesting part of the whole tree as they contain potent mix of toxins. When the leaves are green during the spring and summer, the toxins concentration is high and their poison may be lethal for average person. But when they turn red during autumn, the concentration of the toxins is much lower, so they can be used as potent antibiotics.
• Emerald dream: Specific type of moss, that is growing in the Emerald Valley, especially on the glades with a high humidity. It multiply easily, so usually when you find it, it creates soft green carpets that seems to invite you to a quite nap, literally. The trick is in the fact, that the moss spores are a weak natural sedative, that is causing drowsiness. Fortunately, they are completely harmless for humans and the worst thing that can happen to you is that you will wake up in fifteen or so minutes with a slight headache, well, if some big wild animal don´t find you sleeping on it´s front yard. 
• Deep mushroom – Nightmare of all miners on the Iron Gate island. It´s actually specific kind of lichen, that´s growing in a dark wet places like a natural caves or mining tunnels. It creates wide areas of a gray-white coating on the walls similar to a mold in shape and appearance. The lichen itself isn´t dangerous, but it´s spores are. They can enter human or animal body through the lungs and through them get to the blood stream. There, they will attached themselves to the blood vessels walls, where they grow for few weeks causing the victim fever, muscular weakness, headache and ultimately death. Unfortunately one in ten can survive this infection, developing fully grown fungus in their´s body. This fungus then starts to produce specific toxins which leads in the victim in increased aggression, paranoia and violent mood swings. In this state blood of the infected person contains high concentration of active spores meaning that the direct contact with their blood can spread the disease. On the Iron Gate the disease is incurable as the spores are resistant to regular antibiotics and other medications. And as the inhabitants are ignorant about the true cause of this disease they created whole set of traditions around it ultimately leading to the birth of their religion. Fortunately it´s very rare and dangerous (outside of hosts) body only few weeks after reaching maturity, which takes from three to five years. 
  
• Dazzling root – Despite it´s name dazzling root is actually pretty ugly tuber similar in the shape and size to the sweet potato, being visually distinguished only by its dark brown, almost black color. It´s growing only in the sparse soil at an altitude above 1500m and it´s stem is ordinary looking weed similar to the thistle, so it´s easily overlooked. Yet despite it´s unappealing look and it´s very prized in the Iron Gate community for it´s sweet chocolate like taste making it into one of the main ingredients for their´s desserts.
  

Fauna

• Overview – As the environment in the Iron Mountain is harsh, it´s native animals are smaller resilient species such as mice, hares and mountain goats accompanied with their natural predators like a marten, fox and a mountain lions. This differ greatly in the Emerald Valley which, thanks to it´s abundance of flora is the only home of large game animals, like a deer, boars and their natural enemy, wolves, on the island. Not native to the Iron Gate are the rural animals kept by it´s inhabitants in the regions around the coast. These includes mainly sheep, pigs, and few cows together with a home cats and dogs. The mountains are also home of several kind of birds ranging from a little songbirds such as sparrow, to the much bigger birds of pray such as kestrel, hawks and falcons, which are the biggest birds on the island. There are no eagles and only few small species of owls native mainly to the Emerald Valley. Speaking of which, it shouldn´t be surprise that the Valley is also home for many others forest´s bird species such as woodpecker and kestrel. Probably the rarest bird of them all is a kingfisher which lives near the rivers in the lower regions of the island. Thanks to it´s rivers the island is also rich in freshwater fishes such as carp, bass and zander, with the trout being the most favorite part of the local inhabitant´s menu.
• Cave bear – It would be nice if the mountain lions would be the biggest thread to the local people but unfortunately that´s not true as the Iron Gate is home to distinct specie of a bear. Size of the cave bear is similar to the more common brown bear with length around two meters and weight around 250 kg, but they can be easily distinguished from their cousins by their dark black fur and small circular ears. They are omnivores, living mainly on roots, berries, nuts and fishes rarely hunting fishes or a game animals in the valley. They have exceptional sense of smell and are naturally shy, avoiding humans if possible. Unlike the brown bears they are actually living in their caves and if forced to protect their homes they are exceptionally aggressive and dangerous. During winter both males and females hibernates in their caves and that is what makes them particularly dangerous and feared because sometimes their caves can by infested by the Deep mushroom. Being larger than normal man, bears can usually survive the infection and as they are hibernating they don´t start to be aggressive right away, meaning that mushroom can grow large in their bodies and fully develop to the stage, where it start to produce other toxins similar to the grown hormone of the bear. So during his hibernation the infected individual will grow significantly. When awakened it starts to be very hungry and aggressive. Thanks to it´s binges it´s quickly gaining mass growing from original 250 kg to 600 kg with the largest know exemplar being over 1000 kg. Losing it´s natural shyness it will sooner or later venture down from the mountains to the human settlements which are much richer in food sources. Switching from its omnivore diet to almost exclusively carnivore one it start´s to hunt cattle and even humans spreading it´s disease among local inhabitants and their animals. Even single infected bear can have disastrous effect on his surrounding, so it´s quite lucky that cases of their infection are extremely rare. With their exceptional sense of smell, they can usually avoid infested caves and even if they don´t they usually don´t stay in them in the dangerous period when the lichen is reaching it´s maturity. So the last documented case of infected bear being almost one hundred years old.
  
• Messenger – Strictly speaking, Messenger is a Kingfisher with a blue and silver feathers instead of the usual blue and red ones. It´s extremely rare and some scholars speculates that it´s special type of albino, rather than independent species. Either way, local folklore made him into messenger of the One (thus it´s name Messenger) and symbol of a good fortune and luck. Because of it´s place in their religion, Messenger is a considered to be protected species. Killing or even trapping it is considered to be capital crime punishable by death in the Pit.
  
• Domestic bear – Originally wild animal living on Iron Gate, this strong and courageous animal quickly became important part of many local families. With an appearance similar to it´s distant cousin the Cave bear, Domestic bear is a stocky and heavily muscular animal with a short legs board head and small rounded ears on it´s top. With a height up to 90 cm and weight around 80-90 kg it´s size is comparable to the larger breeds of dogs. Despite being solitary animals in the wild, this small bears are actually easily domesticated and fiercely loyal to their family. Being naturally intelligent they can be trained for many purposes from a shepherding to guarding houses or rescuing travelers lost in the mountains.
  
• Blue Viper – Only snake native to the Iron Gate island living exclusively in the Emerald Valley. The blue vipers are relatively small snakes with a triangular head, reaching up to 50 cm length in their adulthood. Despite being poisonous, they are not dangerous to the humans as their poison isn´t potent enough to kill healthy adult person, but of course it can be dangerous to small children and elderly. Currently it´s an endangered species as their skin is very prized for it´s metallic light blue color. 

Inhabitants

• Inhabitants: Iron Gate island is inhabited solely by humans who came there several hundreds years ago. As the whole island represent quite closed community some common traits developed in it´s inhabitants. Typically, people of Iron Gate are shorter then average, with a stocky build and strong bones, which also applies to the women. They are naturally fair-skinned with a light-brown to blonde hair. Usually they have a round faces with a strong facial features. For some reasons mild form of albinism is quite common among locals. Almost 1 % of the population is born without hair pigmentation, leaving their hair white, and with a dark red or rarely, with a bright blue eyes. As the whole society is obsessed with their vision of “purity” the birth of albino is celebrated as a gift from the heavens, because they and their families are considered to be blessed by The One. Especially the blue eyed ones are considered to be destined for a great things.

Organizations & Groups

• Miners – Given that the whole island is living from their iron ore, the miners are one of the most respected and recognized members of the community. In the eyes of their neighbors, they are true heroes who are risking their lives and souls in the darkness beneath the world where various demons are lurking, waiting for careless soul which they could possess. There are many advantages associated with this position. Aside of very generous wage, the miners and their family are allowed to own houses on the left bank of the Stormy river, despite they themselves are living in the mining city near the Great Mine for most of the year. They are also exempted from regular taxes, have best seats during the mass and are given priority, when they want to marry. With all this it shouldn´t be surprising that many young boys dreams about career in the mine, but only the ones who are judged worthy by Elders can take this path.
  
• Children of the One – Or Children for short is the only official religion of the Iron Gate island, which is, in some degree, professed by it´s every citizen. Origins of this religion go back several centuries to the time, when the first settlers encountered effects of the Deep mushroom for the first time. Unable to explain what is going on, they tried to answer this scary questions through superstitions. As time went by, this simple superstitions naturally evolved into strict religion, which now controls live of all Iron Gate´s inhabitants. The basic of this faith is dualism between two gods, The One and The Other. The One is believed to be creator of the world, associated with heaven, self control and living nature. He is seen as a good and benevolent spirit, who is protecting his children against evil represented by The Other. He is seen as a violent and cruel spirit who resides deep underground where he was banished by The One. Always angry he waits there for a men who are not virtuous enough so he could posses their bodies and turn them into raging monsters, unleashing his vengeance against The One and his children. From this believe several laws and customs were born:
  
  • First and foremost all forms of aggressive behaviors are prohibited. Everything, from simple lash out to actual physical assault is viewed as a sign of corruption by The Other and possible threat to the society. So from a very young age children are taught how to control their emotions and behavior.
    
  • All weapons especially guns are prohibited. The only exceptions are Warden´s sword and tools of hunters such as spear, knives or bow.
    
  • Uniformity is a safety. All citizens are expect to wear similar clothes any deviation from norm is considered suspicious at best by the society.  
  • Jealousy is dangerous source of aggression. To prevent it one needs to give up his freedom to choose his own partner. All the marriages are based on the decision of Council who is choosing future couples according to their own interests. Only higher ranking members of the society such as Warden and Miners have right to influence this choice.
    
  • All important positions are filled on the basic of personal virtue. Every young person on the island is judged from very young age so that only the truly virtuous ones can think about becoming miners or even Warden.
    
  • Outsiders can be dangerous because they lack the self control of native inhabitants. Trade with them is necessary for the survival of the island, but they are banned from most of it´s parts and the sacred secrets of Children are kept from them.
    
  • If someone is deemed possessed by The Other he is thrown into the Pit. Vast underground prison complex where he is held captive and forced to fight other prisoners to the death. This fights are overseen by members of the Council who are officially there to make sure that the evil spirit will not escape the Pit to posses someone else. 
    
  As mentioned before, all native inhabitants of the Iron Gate are members of this church so it can be viewed as the most powerful and he most influential group on this island.
  
• Council: Council represents the ruling body of the Iron Gate island. It´s composed from the priests of The One. There can be only thirteen of them at any given time and if one of them die the rest of them will elect new members from the men who are over fifty years old. As every member of the community is supposed to know all of their traditions and laws very well they don´t need any specific education. The only requirements are the age and being recognized as important and virtuous member of the community. Between many responsibilities of the Council members are leading the mass, deciding marriages voting about laws acting as a judges in civilian disputes, judging criminals and most importantly, overseeing executions in the Pit. 
• Warden: Despite condemning aggression and violence the people of Iron Gate Island aren´t so stupid that they would believe that a single coral reef is enough to protect them from all the dangers of the North Blue. So they decided to select a Warden, highly skilled warrior to protect them. To become Warden one must be selected as his apprentice first. This selection is made by current Warden and it is probably the only major decision which can not be directly influenced by the Council. The Warden is selecting his apprentices from a children in the age between four to six based on their modesty, self control and virtue. From that moment onward the children are trained in the art of wielding sword by the Warden, until they turn sixteen. In that age, they are expected to leave Iron Gate and to go on the pilgrimage to the Grand Line. Many will never come back, fell victim to the many dangers of this harsh sea or to their newly founded freedom but some will. After reaching the Sabaody Archipelago they will turn back and go home to challenge the current Warden to a single duel. The winner will be the new Warden, the loser will sacrifice his life for the community. As for the position itself the Warden is revered member of the community despite lacking any political powers. Aside from the selecting his apprentices he can not influence any major decision as it is believed that he is existence too close to the realm of The Other. He is expected to protect the Island from both internal and external dangers, battling outside invaders just as monsters and dangerous criminals. For this services he is the only person on the whole island who can chose his future wife by his own free will (it is widely believed that his choice is led by The One himself), he is excepted from all taxes and can live in the Warden residence on the left bank of the Stormy river. He and his direct family are also the only people on the Island who can use the surname “Irongate” as their own name. 

Culture

• Industry: As mentioned several time before, Iron Gate is industrial island which main source of riches is coming from it´s mines, where local miners are mining high quality iron ore together with few other metals. The mined ore is then transported on the river to the Furnance town, where it is further processed into special type of steel, which is produced only on this island. This steel is dark in color with exceptional hardness and excellent edge holding ability which makes it very popular among the top end blade smiths in the world as swords created from this steel are very sharp and their blade doesn´t need to be sharpen very often. As the price of the steel is much higher than the price of the ore alone many years ago the Council banned export of the pure ore and now, Iron Gate is selling only their trademark steel. Aside from the steel industry there are many others craftsmen on from every major field on the island, so in terms of industrial production Iron Gate is almost self sufficient (although there is not enough of them to export their production on larger scale). The only thing they are lacking wood and some luxurious grocery like a quality wine, which they are buying from surrounding countries.
• Fashion: One of the basic laws of the children is saying that uniformity is a safety. To cope with it, long time ago Council decided on universal fashion for every citizen of the island. Compliance with this rule isn´t mandatory, but breaking from it can raise some suspicion about that person. 
• Cuisine: Iron Gate´s cuisine is quite straightforward and more functional than anything. For the poor the main source of food are different types of buns from a resilient types of grains together with potatoes and legumes. On average, the regular folks can afford meat only two to three times weak with the main source of it being goat usually cooked in stew together with a lots of vegetables and potatoes. Other types of meat, especially fish are considered to be luxury, which can be afforded only few times in a year so it´s part of their festive cuisine. Only the upper classes can afford them on regular basis. As mentioned before, the most famous part of their cuisine are sweet deserts, such as cakes and puddings made from a dazzling root. The worst thing about Iron Gate´s cuisine, at least according to the outside visitors, is a complete lack of alcohol which is banned on the island due to it´s tendencies to make people violent. The only exception from this rule is a vine, which is used during mass and can be consumed as a part of some rituals during their important holidays. 

History

• - 500 years: Iron Gate was discovered by accident when a fleet of merchant ships shipwrecked on it´s coral reef. Soon enough the survivors discovered that they are trapped on the island by the very same reef and by the bad weather which was surrounding the island.
  
• - 499 years: Survivors build their first city on the place, where is currently standing Furnance town, its name was Hope.
  
• - 495 years: Five years after the shipwreck, first infected bear attacked the Hope town, killing almost half of it´s population, before he was finally killed by Arthur Way.
  
• - 493 years: Another wreckage on the coral reef supplemented the population by a new survivors.
  
• - 492 years: First human infected by a Deep mushroom. Group of kids ventured into local caves after which they got fever. All four died within a week.
  
• - 481 years: War between several neighboring countries created wave of war refugees. Many of which ended up on Iron Gate. Thanks to this, population of Hope reached 1000 persons, many other villages nearby were founded.
  
• - 473 years: Another bear attack. It destroyed two villages and wrecked Hope town, before it was killed.
  
• - 473 years: Few people who survived attacks of the beast were infected by the Deep mushroom disease. All of them succumbed to it.
  
• - 473 years: Punitive expedition was send to the mountains with a goal of killing all local bears. Member of this expedition discovered huge cave complex and killed eleven bears before returning home.
  
• - 473 years: All of the expedition´s members fell sick, unfortunately, one survived his sickness and went on rampage in the Hope town. Any other expeditions to the mountains were banned.
  
• - 400 years: As the last 73 years were calm the ban on traveling to the mountains was canceled.
  
• - 399 years: Rich iron deposits were discovered, surface mining began.
  
• - 391 years: Great Mine was founded, in the same year another bear attack occurred. First legends about demon sleeping under the mountains began to spread.
  
• - 390 years: Albert Draske created formula for Iron Gate steel.  
  
• - 387 years: Irving Gaul discovered route through the Coral Reef and made contact with the outside world. This prevented closure of the Great Mine as the Iron Gate steel quickly became desired commodity.
  
• - 379 years: Hope town was renamed to the Furnace town.
  
• - 373 years: Another bear attack with a causalities over 100 people. Another discussion about closing the mine was held and beginning of religious unrest in the community. 
  
• - 371 years: After short yet bloody civil war the religious fanatics seized control over island. Children of the One become official church of the Iron Gate. 
  
• - 370 years: Creation of the Council, one of their first decisions granted miners their special status. That year were also many religious customs codified and promoted to laws.
  
• - 320 years: Another bear attacks. After fifty years of peaceful existence there was no experienced fighters so the causalities were extremely high, almost 400 people.
  
• - 315 years: First official Warden was selected and granted his special rights and privileges.
  
• - 289 years: Dying Warden created test to select his successor. All of his students were send to Grand Line the first one who can make it to the Sabaody Archipelago and back will be new Warden.
  
• - 287 years: Lavy Rouse came back from the Grand Line, becoming second Warden of the Iron Gate.
  
• - 285 years: Thomas Lee, another student of previous Warden came back from the Grand Line, killing his predecessor and becoming third Warden of the Iron Gate. The battle for supremacy between Warden and his students was created.
  
• - 261 years: Albrecht Ward was born.
  
• - 209 years: Building of the Cathedral together with the Pit was finished. On this occasion Albrecht Ward, now know as the best smith in the Iron Gate history created Warden´s sword. Powerful weapon comparable to the O Wazamono swords.
  
• - 113 years: Emerald Valley was discovered by group of hunters. Month later it was declared as sacred ground by Council.
  
• - 57 years: Battle for Independence took place, when the World Government turn Iron Gate to a member state by force. But the big fleet from neighboring nations was destroyed by combination of a bad weather, coral reef and Warden´s battle prowess. Survivors were taken captive on the island.
  
• - 56 years: Survivors from the Battle for Independence exchanged for a guarantee of neutrality for the whole island.
  
• Present: First person in the Iron Gate history managed to escape from the Pit.