Station III
"Machinery hums behind high steel walls. Up the hill, there are visible outlines of warehouses and a building with a spire. But the lamps are low where they burn at all, and your ship the only one in harbour."[1]
Station III is a top-secret facility located on an island in the Unterzee.
Nothing to See Here
"On the very edge of London's influence, curious matters are conducted."[2]
Station III is a mysterious location occupied by whirring machinery, sprawling warehouses, and a tall, spired building, all surrounded by a high metallic fence.[1] The station's gate is notably cold to the touch and is nigh-indestructible, repelling even the finest of chisels and mightiest of crowbars.[3]
The only evidence of outside visitation at the port's dock is a strange burner for incense, a log book detailing an enthralling song, worn ironmonger's tools, and broken medicine bottles covered in clumps of silvery metal, with a torn label reading "SOOTHE & COO...".[4]
Most curiously, any reports of this location's activities are relentlessly censored by the Admiralty and the Ministry of Public Decency.[5]
Heartmetal
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"They were in love with a writer who was dead before they were born, and kept it a secret from embarrassment. The Masters will like that."[6]
Station III is the manufacturing hub of a strange, silvery substance called heartmetal.[7] Heartmetal builds up inside human bodies and is primarily extracted here.[8] The Masters of the Bazaar are very interested in heartmetal pellets related to love and romance,[6] and as such, they were responsible for the creation and arrangement of Station III.[9] Any heartmetal bits that aren't useful to them are thrown to the Station's dump,[10] which is sometimes visited by marauders and thieves.[11]
The Echo Bazaar has a hand in the business of Station III,[12] but it also seems to have a heartmetal operation of its own, independent from the island. Many Soothe and Cooper Long-Boxes can be found deep within the Bazaar's bowels.[13]
The Heartmetal Smith
"Nothing like it for weaponry. Does more damage than any ordinary steel, and a little bit of the shrapnel will give you trouble to the end of your days."[14]
The Heartmetal Smith is a mysterious individual who is capable of working with discarded heartmetal to forge products for export.[15][16] He often creates products suitable for maritime combat, such as ammunition, hull plates, and harpoons, as according to him, heartmetal weapons are more powerful than their steel counterparts, and their shrapnel can cause chronic ailments that last for a lifetime. Unfortunately, the hardness of heartmetal tends to wear out his tools quickly.[14]
By his own account, the Smith came to Station III by swimming,[17] and now he toils without complaint in the solitude of his workshop, with a heartmetal locket and chain always fastened around his neck.[18][19] His ultimate goal is to eventually forge a suit made of heartmetal, so that he may walk where he came from without experiencing the grief of others.[20]
