Redstone Warrens

The red rock spires that mark the surface above the Warrens are visible from a considerable distance — iron-rich stone that has oxidized over centuries into a distinctive rust color, rising in irregular clusters from the grey wasteland plateau. They serve as navigation landmarks for raiding parties returning from extended operations. They also mark, for anyone who knows what to look for, the location of one of the March’s most operationally significant installations.

The Warrens themselves are underground, which is the point. The surface spires draw the eye; the ground beneath them contains the administrative infrastructure that keeps Ashbound March raiding operations organized and functional.

The Subterranean Network

The Goblin engineers who developed the Warrens worked with the rock rather than against it — the natural fracture patterns in the red stone provided initial passages that were widened, reinforced, and extended over generations. The result is a network of tunnels proportioned for Goblin movement: passage heights that would require a Hobgoblin to crouch continuously, intersection chambers large enough for planning sessions, storage alcoves sized for provisions and equipment.

The deliberate sizing is not incidental. The Redstone Warrens are a Goblin installation. Hobgoblin raiders use them as a staging area, but the administration of those operations — route planning, provisioning, record-keeping, debriefing of returning parties — is Goblin work, conducted in spaces built for Goblin frames.

Staging Operations

The Warrens’ primary function is the preparation and dispatch of scouting and raiding parties into the territories surrounding the Ashbound March. Before a significant operation, parties assemble in the Warrens for provisioning, route briefing, and coordination with other simultaneous parties. After operations, returning parties report here before dispersing.

The intelligence accumulated through this process is maintained in the Warrens’ record chambers — maps annotated across generations, route assessments updated with current observations, notes on defensive changes in neighboring territories. Outside sources that have attempted to estimate the quality of Ashbound March tactical intelligence consistently place it higher than the territory’s apparent resources would suggest. The Redstone Warrens are the most plausible explanation for this discrepancy.

All three directions see active operations, but Gorhask Plain is the most frequent target. The geographic proximity is the primary factor — operations into the Plain require shorter logistics, shorter exposure time in the field, and faster return routes. The Orc settlements of the Plain are closer and their defensive patterns are better documented in the Warrens’ record chambers than either the Kraghvor Expanse or the Roaring Wastes. The Kraghvor Expanse sees fewer operations; Mon Oger scale creates risk profiles that Ashbound March doctrine requires larger party sizes to manage. The Roaring Wastes sees irregular contact, primarily where the Human factions there are weak enough to exploit rather than as systematic raiding.

Security

The Redstone Warrens are not publicized. Their location — identifiable by the spires to someone who knows the pattern — is not advertised outside the March, and access to the tunnels from the surface involves concealed entry points that are not visible to casual observation. The Goblin administrative practice of not documenting information that would be useful to enemies is evident here: accounts from outside the March that reference the Warrens do so by inference from operational patterns rather than from direct observation.

The surface above the Warrens is patrolled, though the patrol patterns are irregular in schedule and route. This is standard Goblin security doctrine in the March: patterns that can be predicted can be worked around.

Population

The Redstone Warrens maintain a small permanent population of Goblin administrative staff and support personnel. The larger and more variable presence is the raiding and scouting parties that pass through on operational cycles. The permanent residents are responsible for maintaining the tunnel infrastructure, updating the intelligence records, and managing the provisioning stores that parties draw from when departing.

The conditions of permanent residence in the Warrens are austere by most external standards. The Unbroken orientation that shapes March culture considers this unremarkable. What the rock provides, you endure. What the rock does not provide, you do without.