Other isles may have their own blacksmiths and pittances of iron, but when you need steel, you need it from Cracktooth. Cracktooth is an isle rising from the sea in the shape of a massive wedge of iron-rich rock, criss-crossed by mineral/metal-rich cracks and joints. The peak of Cracktooth is barren, but thick and tough vegetation covers the rest of it, down to the black sand beaches around its harbor. Water springs from the rock in places, and flows back into it in others; often rubescent with iron oxides and metallic to the tongue.
The people of Cracktooth are as hearty as the land they live on; although the Mandateum nominally governs the isle through a provisional mayor, the real power lies in the hands of powerful mining clans who compete fiercely for territory and contracts. The mayor plays the clans against each other, maintaining just enough spectre of imperial power to keep the steel forges firing, but not enough to truly cow any of the isle’s many leaders.
Cracktooth is also the Mandateum’s prison; the mines can always use more hands, and mining clans will bid on labor contracts for criminals. The Mandateum does not overly concern itself with the fate of the convicted; those who cause their new wardens more trouble than they’re worth tend to disappear in the mines.