Athas is a dying world, its natural riches largely plundered. Good steel is found only in lost vaults, or the hands of the elite, like the sorcerers-kings and their servants. And even then, they kit their legions primarily with stone, bone, or obsidian. Metal is so scarce that a single quality blade could buy a comfortable, if unluxurious, year of life for most. This great scarcity is, in many ways, the primary source of Tyr’s wealth, for they control the only known iron mine in the Tablelands.

But what if I told you that isn’t the only metal monopoly Tyr possesses? That’s right, Tyr has one other at least near metal monopoly, and one far more valuable per pound than iron! That is, tin! How do we know this? Time. Well, (labor and transport) time, and references from The Verdant Passage.

So, what is it within The Verdant Passage that suggests this to us? First, the book opens on a conversation between High Templar Tithian and the Tyrant of Tyr Kalak: we learn in the Prologue that the Ziggurat must be finished within three weeks, giving us our timeframe for the possible imports to meet the construction deadline. Second, we know Kalak orders the gates of the arena fireproofed after Tithian points out the trapped citizens could burn their way out (this occurred within roughly one week or less of the prior conversation). Third, there are both tin ingots and skilled tinsmiths readily available in Tyr, as described in the appropriately titled chapter Tin Gates, which shows them well at work. To import all the necessary volume of tin ingots in less than a week on such a deprived world is highly unlikely; to both import material from afar and skilled labor in such short order would be a Herculean task. To this end, we must logically assume tin to be mostly available locally, which implies a local supply of both material and manufacturers. Further evidence is that veins of the primary tin ore (cassiterite) are known to occur only in granite strata, which is the primary rock of the Ringing Mountains.

So what is it that makes tin so valuable? Well, quite a bit! For one, at least in the crust of Earth, there is approx 30x more copper than tin, and we could assume this is the ratio on Athas as well. The locations usable tin can even be found in are also quite rare, being found as alluvial deposits in sedimentary strata or as toxic, complex sulfides. For game purposes, we can determine a likely cost of tin by looking at the commodity tables in Dune Trader and Trade Lords and applying some knowledge. In Trade Lords, the most recent trade splatbook, copper has a listed base price of 5 sp/lb and bronze is listed at 7sp/lb. With tin typically making up 10% of a tool or weapon grade bronze, we can derive a base price for tin of roughly 20sp/lb* for unworked ingots, assuming that 2sp of value difference comes from the one-tenth pound of tin in the bronze (note of course all prices are relative and subject to supply, disruptions, etc.) Beyond its use in making bronze, tin can also be used for art and tableware (typically in the form of pewter - the finest of which is 95%+ tin and the remainder copper and/or antimony, sometimes diluted with further to make trifle pewter, or with lead for lay pewter), waterproofing roofs or vessels, fireproofing dry materials, etc.

It stands to reason that on Athas, tin is primarily sourced from mines in the Ringing Mountains, and chiefly from Tyr. This key industry is likely, though not necessarily, a large part why Kalak was able to shut down Tyr’s iron mine and still maintain some level of diplomatic relations and commerce with the other cities. So long as the other city-states were able to purchase tin, allowing them to expand their easily recyclable tin-bronze stockpiles, they could tolerate Kalak’s caprices. So while the once-forgotten city-state of Eldaarich may have a tin lode (or perhaps arsenical bronze is the source of the city’s lower bronze price in Trade Lords, as it is even cheaper than Tyr’s bronze), and though iron mining is a much larger and highly lucrative industry, it seems likely that, pound-for-pound, it is tin that makes Tyr the greatest returns!

Note: A Trade Lords compatible trading chart containing all metals in this article, some additional metals, as well as reasoning for the prices etc. will be presented in the follow-up to this article: Athasian Metallurgy - Art and Alloys

Prices for unworked ingots/bars by the pound of new goods mentioned in this article:
Tin: 20 sp/lb, Fine Pewter: 18 sp/lb, Trifle Pewter: 15 sp/lb , Lay Pewter: 10 sp/lb, Lead: 2 bits/lb.

Adventure Hooks

Lost Caravan - A merchant house involved in the metal trade (such as Houses Vordon, Shom, or Wavir) expected the arrival of a caravan carrying, among other things, many bars of tin. Unfortunately for them, the caravan was attacked and only a few stragglers made it into the city-state. The metal is necessary for some project of the local sorcerer-monarch, or at least that’s what the merchants say. They are willing to pay handsomely to anyone able to retrieve the tin.

Alternatively, the PCs might have been among the caravan guards, and the group found themselves either lost, or ambushed by either raiders or large predators.

Placer Mine - A rich deposit of tin has been found (could be a merchant house, an independent freeman prospector, or an ex-slave tribe) The discoverer(s) are now looking for toughs to help clear predators from the area, and perhaps even protect the area around the mine from gith and other raiders on an extended basis. A lump sum is offered for initially securing the area , with a percentage of earnings from the mine offered on top of weekly wages for those that stay on long-term. Alternatively, the PCs are raiders seeking to either disrupt the rival of their employer, or to secure some amount of this valuable base metal.

Hidden Cache - A recent landslide in the Ringing Mountains has exposed a location of some sort (such as a ruin or tomb), and those that discovered it retrieved an assortment of small items made of bronze and fine pewter. Two of the original looters have mysteriously died in the days since, and others who have gotten close to the site claimed to hear terrible howling noises emerging from inside. Not more than a few days ago a dust storm drove a group of desperate vagrants into the site, only for a single pair of survivors to emerge hours later, bloodied and terrified. They seem to have gone (or perhaps already were) stark raving mad, as they have wildly differing accounts of what happened in the shadow of the mountain.

Pests in the Tyrian Mines - Multiple workers at Tyr’s largest tin mine have been found dead recently, but none have witnessed their deaths. However, all of the bodies appear to be riven with claws and bites. Most would appear to have been killed by hejkin, but at least one had a definite stab wound in the back, and two seem to have been savaged so thoroughly there is no way to identify who or what was responsible. Traditional guards have failed to solve the problem, and the Templars and state mindbenders have their hands full with larger matters than a few dead miners. Thus, to ensure there is no larger threat to the tin supply and their own profits, those responsible for maintaining the mine’s output have put out a call for capable operators to discover as much as possible about the situation, identify the source or sources of these killings, and put an end to this disruption. Their primary concern is the elimination of the hejkin, and if another is responsible for any of the killings, they may be taken, dead or alive.