Odrun’s Handle

Overview

Odrun’s Handle, often called the Handle, is the petrified shaft of the titan’s greatclub. It forms a long cliff face packed with reinforced gates, lifted platforms, and watch ledges. Behind the gates is a dense interior of chambers and corridors. Some passages are man-made and braced with plates and bolts. Others are natural routes left by ancient burrowers and later claimed by insects and miners. The Handle is active at all hours. Crews move ore, chitin, silk, brood sacks, and salvage. Overseers post route changes and safety orders. Patrols sweep for poachers and for signs of shifting nests. The Handle is dangerous but manageable with training, discipline, and current information. It is less hostile than Odrun’s Head but more unstable than the surface districts.

Structure and Extent

The shaft runs from the city’s upper terraces down to the lower escarpments. Its exterior shows dozens of large openings. Each opening anchors a gate frame and a lift or stair. Inside, the Handle breaks into bands called galleries. Upper Galleries hold the oldest reinforcement and the most stable floors. Middle Galleries are a mix of reinforced halls, fossil seams, and hive-scored walls. Lower Galleries connect to the Greatclub Tunnels. These lower bands are the most changeable and the most profitable. Many Middle and Lower chambers show ribbed walls where chitin was pressed into marrow long ago and turned to stone. Expansion follows the bone grain to avoid shearing. Cross-cuts use plate braces and bolt trees to distribute weight.

Authority and Permits

The Ashcoats manage excavation, reinforcement, and tool safety. The Barleys manage live capture, brood care, and silk harvest. The Promissory issues contracts, bonds cargo, and arbitrates disputes. The Cudgel maintains order, inspects cargo for contraband, and controls movement during emergencies. No one enters without a valid work slip or a posted exception. Work slips list crew size, expected route, cargo type, and return window. All slips require sign-off from the responsible guild. The Cudgel can suspend any slip if conditions change. The Promissory can halt export from a band if fraud or miscount is suspected. The Ashcoats can close a route if braces test weak or if gas readings rise. The Barleys can declare a brood hold and limit any action that might trigger a swarm.

Access and Flow

Most crews enter through the Upper Gateworks, a cluster of steel-framed doors set at the most stable cliff ledge. From there, lift cages and switchback stairs descend to the galleries. Cargo routes are one-way when volume is high. Runners signal lift status with drums and flags. Each gallery contains a Muster Row where crews form, check gear, and receive notices. Next to each Muster Row is a tally booth where the Promissory records in-bound tools and out-bound cargo. Exit checks confirm weight, grade, and handling marks. Spoiled cargo is set aside for processing or fines. The goal is simple: keep people moving, keep ledgers accurate, and clear bottlenecks before they become risks.

Mapping and Signals

The Handle uses a straightforward map system tied to fixed reference bolts. Every corridor is measured from known bolts, and every map shows the bolt IDs at junctions and drops. Markers on the walls repeat the IDs and point to return paths. Crews mark hazards with simple shapes: triangle for unstable ceiling, slash-square for active nest, circle for drop, bar for gas, and double chevron for water flow. Color tells status. White is cleared. Yellow is caution. Red is closed. Signal horns carry three standard calls: halt, retreat, and brace. A fourth long note means gas or smoke and requires masks on and heads down. Unauthorized marks are scraped clean after review.

Light, Air, and Water

Upper Galleries use mounted panes holding lantern worms grown by the Barleys. Middle and Lower areas use crew lamps, worm panes, and phosphor paste lines. Air moves through vent chimneys cut by the Ashcoats and by old hive tubes. Stagnant pockets gather near dead ends and behind collapse plates. Gas finds are most common at depth, and the rule is to test every new pocket with a copper wick, then with a fungus candle. Water enters through drip seams and sumps. Small flows are useful for processing and cooling. Sudden rises signal a rupture and trigger a route closure. No one drinks untested water. Boil, filter, or distill before use.

Work and Yields

The Handle feeds Odrun Fell with three main products: hard material from fossilized marrow and bone, useful parts from insect colonies, and ore and titan-metal inclusions trapped in the shaft. Ashcoats crews cut plates, rods, and bolt lengths from bone seams. They also free crystalized marrow used as abrasive or reagent. Barleys crews take silk sheets, spinnerets, brood gel, venom nodes, and pheromone sacs. They also capture live specimens for breeding programs. Mixed crews locate ore and strange metals, then hand off to specialists for safe pull. All harvest follows posted limits. No flame near phosphor bloom. No cuts within five lengths of a marked nest. No solvents near braces. Breaking these rules ends permits and can result in fines, jail, or both.

Hazards and Responses

Common hazards include: swarms of huskboil mites that strip cloth and skin; wasp nurseries that respond to heat; harvester beetle trains that shove through obstacles; silk webbing that catches falling people and then holds them for nest guardians; gas pockets that flash or choke; and collapse zones where ribs shift after a pull. Crews carry body wraps, smoke pots, solvent vials, wedges, masks, splints, and line. Shields keep a return rope anchored at junctions. Cutters clear snags and set braces. Pullers move cargo. Every crew drills retreat patterns. If a nest moves, the crew yields and marks the line. If gas sputters a test flame, masks go on and the route is cleared. If a plate groans, wedges go in, heads go down, and motion slows until a brace team arrives.

Law and Enforcement

The Handle runs on four standing orders. Mark hazards. Keep time. Yield to patrols. Carry a return line. The Cudgel sets penalties for theft, poaching from a posted job, forging marks, tampering with weighings, and opening closed routes. First offense brings fines and loss of permits. Second offense brings forced labor and public posting. Third offense brings long imprisonment. Confiscated cargo goes to city stores, not to rival crews. Violence is rare but treated severely. Patrols break fights quickly and remove crews that cannot work safely beside others. During emergencies, the Cudgel assumes direct control of lifts and gates until the threat passes.

Guild Coordination

Daily coordination meetings occur at the start of each shift. The Ashcoats present brace tests, route closures, and planned cuts. The Barleys present nest status, brood counts, and silk draw limits. The Promissory posts contract prices, penalties, and inspection schedules. The Cudgel posts patrol routes, muster levels, and any search or rescue. Disputes are handled on site. If no agreement is reached, work halts on the affected band until a tri-guild panel rules. The rule is to keep people alive and to keep the Handle functional; profit follows order, not the other way around.

The Greatclub Tunnels Connection

The Lower Galleries open into the Greatclub Tunnels. This area is the most profitable and the most volatile within the Handle. Routes change after molts, collapses, and heavy pulls. The Handle sets a hard boundary called the Work Rim. Beyond the rim, crews must carry enhanced masks, double line, and a second light source per person. Patrols increase near the rim, and return windows are shorter. The city treats all work beyond the rim as high-risk. It is not as deadly as Odrun’s Head, but it is not routine. Only experienced crews with clean records receive slips that cross the rim.

Daily Life and Culture

Work in the Handle is structured and practical. Crews gather at Muster Rows, check gear together, and touch posted marks before descent. At shift changes, outgoing crews pass written notes and samples to incoming crews. This habit prevents repeat mistakes. People eat simple food that carries well and does not sour in damp air. A bell marks rest periods, and overseers stagger breaks to keep lifts staffed. Injured workers receive care at on-site huts and, if needed, are carried up the lifts for treatment in the districts. Families often wait at the Gateworks Ledge to see crews off or welcome them home. Memorials are plain: names cut into a brace plate near the muster point, a hung lantern worm pane for a week, and a ledger entry that ensures owed shares reach kin.

Role in the City

The Handle is the backbone of Odrun Fell’s industry. It supplies material for walls, tools, armor, and trade goods. It provides silk, brood products, and rare chitin for specialty crafts. It yields ore and strange metals that feed the forges and fund the guilds. It also trains the people who will one day work deeper in the Greatclub Tunnels. The city invests in the Handle because it returns value each day the gates open and the lifts move. When the Handle runs well, markets stay full and repair crews have what they need. When the Handle halts, the whole city feels it.