Train Robbers
Oct. 25th, 2010 09:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bluegargantuaHi,
Not surprisingly, it was the Dwarves who were first to resolve the issue of how to build a wagon train that wasn’t powered by souls of the damned. Some of their engineers were among those forced to help Kallikas build his original rail system and they formed part of the resistance to help the Alliance infiltrate and sabotage the system. Additionally, the Dwarves propensity for mining and finding solutions for common mining problems gave them a technical edge.
An inter-clan Moot composed of some Dwarven kingdom’s brightest minds eventually hit upon the steam engine and a crash course of development took the first crude prototypes to more robust designs used to pump water from mines and power drills and then to a more efficient engine that could be mounted onto a carriage and drive the wheels. From the start, Dwarven engines were powered by coal deposits which had been a known, if rarely-used power source.
The Moot did it’s best to keep their technical advances as secret as possible. Although other races had some idea that the Dwarves were making progress, a campaign of disinformation left everyone else thinking that they’d never gotten past their original prototypes — low-power, multi-ton behemoths that were interesting novelties, but probably impractical for motive power.
Thus, it came as a terrible shock when the Dwarven machines suddenly appeared all over the rail network. The new engines never strayed beyond Dwarven borders, but the remaining soul-powered wagon trains were forbidden from Dwarven areas forcing a transfer of cargo to the Dwarven machines. The engines were actually a bit slower than the necromantic wagons, but they were capable of pulling a great deal more cargo so it evened out in the end.
The Dwarves held the rail network in a firm grip. Their prices were calculated to be as high as possible without driving traffic to other, slower methods and the clans maintained a solid oligarchic front against the complaints of other races. Worse, as the various soul-powered wagons fell apart, it was clear that the Dwarves’ control over the network would soon become total.
Something would have to be done.
He was Dimitri Firecloak, mortal wizard who gambled his soul in psychic battle with Kallikas. She was Koona, huntress of the jungle who’d penetrated the Obsidian Oubliette. These two humans were some of the Alliance’s finest heroes and through fire and ice they’d forged deep bonds with Gundhir of the Iron Fangs, the Dwarven specialist who’d applied his know-how to bring down every obstacle that stood in the Alliance’s path.
Dimitri paid a long-overdue call on his old friend Gundhir. In his great hall, they drank deep and shared memories of campaigns and battles and long-lost comrades in the fight against Kallikas. All the while, Koona inched her way through the twisting passaged of Gundhir’s mountain fortress, disabled the ingenious traps he’d placed around his workshop, discarded the fake papers and absconded with the plans to the Dwarven engines.
She was swiftly arrowing back into human lands when Gundhir discovered the theft the next day. He knew at once there was only one thief daring and clever enough to steal his secrets and he had no doubt about who had distracted him while his secrets were being taken from him. For his part, Dimitri had remained in the guest rooms Gundhir had provided even though his magical skill was more than sufficient to allow him to escape. He made no denials about his part in the theft of the plans. He knew that without giving Gundhir any ability to save face or make an example, the Dwarven clans would go to war with the rest of the Alliance and Gundhir himself would probably be exiled for his failure to stop the humans from acquiring the secrets of steam.
So Dimitri quietly accepted his fate, crushed beneath the wheels of a steam engine, never once calling on his power to save himself. Gundhir retreated into deep silence and isolation and none know what became of him. The Dwarves closed their borders to human traffic for many years, but a wider conflict was avoided and soon the human kingdoms were quickly producing their own engines.
Koona herself came to regret her theft for reasons beyond the betrayal of trust and friendship. Humans didn’t have ready access to coal, but wood-fired steam engines worked almost as well and soon large swaths of forests were being cleared to feed the hungry metal monsters. Seeing the destruction, Koona washed her hands of the whole affair and retreated to her jungle lands far to the south to avoid the wanton destruction and predicting a terrible retribution for the Alliance’s mad quest to maintain the rails.
later
Tom
Not surprisingly, it was the Dwarves who were first to resolve the issue of how to build a wagon train that wasn’t powered by souls of the damned. Some of their engineers were among those forced to help Kallikas build his original rail system and they formed part of the resistance to help the Alliance infiltrate and sabotage the system. Additionally, the Dwarves propensity for mining and finding solutions for common mining problems gave them a technical edge.
An inter-clan Moot composed of some Dwarven kingdom’s brightest minds eventually hit upon the steam engine and a crash course of development took the first crude prototypes to more robust designs used to pump water from mines and power drills and then to a more efficient engine that could be mounted onto a carriage and drive the wheels. From the start, Dwarven engines were powered by coal deposits which had been a known, if rarely-used power source.
The Moot did it’s best to keep their technical advances as secret as possible. Although other races had some idea that the Dwarves were making progress, a campaign of disinformation left everyone else thinking that they’d never gotten past their original prototypes — low-power, multi-ton behemoths that were interesting novelties, but probably impractical for motive power.
Thus, it came as a terrible shock when the Dwarven machines suddenly appeared all over the rail network. The new engines never strayed beyond Dwarven borders, but the remaining soul-powered wagon trains were forbidden from Dwarven areas forcing a transfer of cargo to the Dwarven machines. The engines were actually a bit slower than the necromantic wagons, but they were capable of pulling a great deal more cargo so it evened out in the end.
The Dwarves held the rail network in a firm grip. Their prices were calculated to be as high as possible without driving traffic to other, slower methods and the clans maintained a solid oligarchic front against the complaints of other races. Worse, as the various soul-powered wagons fell apart, it was clear that the Dwarves’ control over the network would soon become total.
Something would have to be done.
He was Dimitri Firecloak, mortal wizard who gambled his soul in psychic battle with Kallikas. She was Koona, huntress of the jungle who’d penetrated the Obsidian Oubliette. These two humans were some of the Alliance’s finest heroes and through fire and ice they’d forged deep bonds with Gundhir of the Iron Fangs, the Dwarven specialist who’d applied his know-how to bring down every obstacle that stood in the Alliance’s path.
Dimitri paid a long-overdue call on his old friend Gundhir. In his great hall, they drank deep and shared memories of campaigns and battles and long-lost comrades in the fight against Kallikas. All the while, Koona inched her way through the twisting passaged of Gundhir’s mountain fortress, disabled the ingenious traps he’d placed around his workshop, discarded the fake papers and absconded with the plans to the Dwarven engines.
She was swiftly arrowing back into human lands when Gundhir discovered the theft the next day. He knew at once there was only one thief daring and clever enough to steal his secrets and he had no doubt about who had distracted him while his secrets were being taken from him. For his part, Dimitri had remained in the guest rooms Gundhir had provided even though his magical skill was more than sufficient to allow him to escape. He made no denials about his part in the theft of the plans. He knew that without giving Gundhir any ability to save face or make an example, the Dwarven clans would go to war with the rest of the Alliance and Gundhir himself would probably be exiled for his failure to stop the humans from acquiring the secrets of steam.
So Dimitri quietly accepted his fate, crushed beneath the wheels of a steam engine, never once calling on his power to save himself. Gundhir retreated into deep silence and isolation and none know what became of him. The Dwarves closed their borders to human traffic for many years, but a wider conflict was avoided and soon the human kingdoms were quickly producing their own engines.
Koona herself came to regret her theft for reasons beyond the betrayal of trust and friendship. Humans didn’t have ready access to coal, but wood-fired steam engines worked almost as well and soon large swaths of forests were being cleared to feed the hungry metal monsters. Seeing the destruction, Koona washed her hands of the whole affair and retreated to her jungle lands far to the south to avoid the wanton destruction and predicting a terrible retribution for the Alliance’s mad quest to maintain the rails.
later
Tom
