Taldrin Pass

The only navigable route through the central Spine, a narrow corridor between two active volcanic peaks. Taldrin Pass is more garrison than town — its inhabitants exist primarily to keep the road clear of debris and warn travelers when eruptions threaten. Vesta Hollow lies a day's walk south. Within the Ashen Spine, this site is part of the long chain of forge-towns, quarries, and iron-vein settlements that work the world's oldest forges from Ironmark down to Old Varr. The smoke is the climate. The Fray here is physical — cracks open in the rock, tunnels appear that were not there the day before — and the Cleaved is the regional consequence. Forge guilds keep their own records, and they keep them close.