Dragonsteel Mine crisis

File:Dragonsteelmine.jpg

As the Dragonsteel Mine looks in present day.

The Dragonsteel Mine crisis was an event that occurred in the northern Wetlands in 167 AC. During the Dragonsteel Mine crisis, there was a heightened migration to the Wetlands in search of excavated, freely-dug dragonsteel, which was a unique, mysterious mineral that purportedly could only be made with the breath of a dragon. While there was some dragonsteel found in the foothills of the region, they were all connected to one main cavern -- later determined to be a former iron mine inhabited by a deceased dragon of great proportion, whose simple act of breathing was apparently enough to convert the iron into dragonsteel -- with remarkable (and presumably unintentional) accuracy, as dragonsteel is known to become too brittle when it is under or overheated.

All in all, an estimated 800 pounds of dragonsteel was excavated from the site, much less than contemporary estimates of the time, which put it at nearly ten times that or even a hundred times more, likely related to the hysteria surrounding the event, which was considered bizarre in Doras Edrossi and almost frightening in Andoras; many Andorasi had not accepted the fact that dragons might have dwelt amongst them. The dragonsteel that was excavated accounts for almost 95% of all known dragonsteel on Andoras, and with the entire motherlode considered, the whole sum of dragonsteel discovered could have been sold for a ludicrous sum of money -- and would have likely crippled a state's economy if one person was to do so. The price of dragonsteel was valued so highly in many nations that even minuscule amounts would have made anyone in possession of them the socioeconomic equivalent of an aristocrat, and Andoras had not even had a dragonsteel trade due to all existing dragonsteel being part of various ancestral weapons that were obviously not for sale.

The event sparked several towns to inhabit while in pursuit of the dragonsteel, many of which have been abandoned to present day. Leverecton is a famous example of this, partially because of the bicentennial visits beginning in the early 3rd century AC from priests of the Five Paragons and continuing to this day. One man in particular, Caelthon Taranyon, made off rich with around fifty pounds of dragonsteel during this event, temporarily migrating to the Wetlands and successfully leaving with his newfound riches when he returned to his homeland of Meyron. His descendants are now one of the richest -- if not richest outright -- families in Doras Edrossi, under patriarch Varen Taranyon.