Balatai is a mining settlement situated 3 days travel from Darkin, to the Counter-Night. Here a line of jagged hills are to be found, from which the famous Green Stone of Balatai can be mined in lustrous slabs. Caravans travel from Balatai to Darkin, and then Nightwards to the river valley. (A cart of Green Stone is Value 7). Balatai itself is a rough and haphazard settlement built in the shadows of empty quarry pits. Fresh workings are nearby in the surrounding valleys. A small amount of copper is also mined from the same hills, and spoil from the mines litters the slopes.
Balatai is often a destination for escaped Slaves, or penniless Freemen, hoping to make quick coin from manual labour. New Miners vie to join an existing gang, and take a share of the profits from the stone they excavate. The Clerks in charge of the mine pay the gang bosses, who decide how to distribute money to the members. The town has a few simple and rough taverns for the miners.