The World's End Beacon is a massive lighthouse-like construction made out of diabase, on a small cliff close to the coast, part of the Trinity of Oceanykan monuments. It is 158 metres tall, and features an enormous tunnel leading down 1.5km into the Earth's crust, connected to the sea, with a bronze gate which may be opened or closed at will. At the bottom lies a chamber where the saltwater is evaporated, leaving behind a pond of brine, and emitting large quantities of hot steam at the "chimney" which can be seen from afar. Water will only enter the tunnel at high tide, when the sun begins to set. It is at this time that the inhabitants of the coast may enter, reaching the same depth, through a 6km long slanted tunnel to collect the salt, ensuring that the lighthouse would continue working the next morning, and obtaining the valuable product. At the bottom of the slanted tunnel is a large chamber to perform work, with a third tunnel connecting in an inverse L shape to the main chimney, thus allowing hot air to rise and cold air to come down. This "working chamber" is separated from the brine and salt deposit by an enormous bronze door. In the past, to collect salt from the Beacon was an extremely dangerous profession reserved for convicts and slaves due to the risk of overheating, though the commercial value of salt made it worth it. Up until the colonial era, nearly 40% of salt produced in Oceanyka came from the Beacon. In the modern day, it is done by the local inhabitants voluntarily, though a great deal of technology is involved; there is a central railway which transports the salt and the miners up and down, the miners have heavy duty machinery and insulated suits, and the "working zone" is refrigerated. Furthermore, a turbine generator has been installed within the monument itself, providing electric power to the nearby city of Awadnen, and to the mine's own systems.
The Department of Knowledge has tore itself apart over the modifications that have been done to the World's End Beacon on numerous occasions. However, both the locals and roughly half of its academics have agreed that the Beacon is not only an architectural monument, but also a facility built to provide sustenance and utility to the descendants of those that built it. To enhance it with technology (saving the lives of its workers and increasing production), without affecting the outer structure, is be the greatest honour that mankind could offer to its builders. The World's End Beacon was, after all, an extremely technologically advanced construction from its inception until the Industrial Revolution.