Pre-industrial metallurgy requires mining, coal and blacksmiths. The author who puts the blacksmith without explaining the first two is lazy. Malignant sects may have slaves digging in mines, and cutting forests to make coal, but if all the material comes from slave labor the other sects are conniving and the government supports it. If members of the external court perform this service on a seasonal basis, there are periods of the year that no one obtains these resources. See? In five minutes the author could have a history of conflict between the good and bad sects all involving a blacksmith with a system, the difficult life of an outside sect member and slaves from the evil sect.
