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Description
The last four and a half years of Engineer Taras Vorisovich life had been spent in slavery of the Dark Elvish House of Valcas and as one could expect, were miserable. Due to his qualifications as a trained engineer it was far better than the lot that most freshly captured slaves received, but miserable it was none the less. He worked long hours without breaks, was limited to his very spare quarters and his worksites, had to wear a collar, was given bland food and no alcohol, had to use an interpreter to talk to Drow and and was under the guard of a number of taskmasters who viewed him with contempt who were all to keen to remind him of what awaited him should he try to escape or rebel and give him the occasional 'restrained' strike. He was also alone, House Valcas managed to capture a few more engineers to assist in their projects but they were quite deliberately separate when they were not working on the same project. Even if the most of the staff of slaves spoke knew any language besides the Valnothron Slave Tongue, most of them where "Consecrated" slaves; the 'upper class' of the Drow's slaves. They came from families which had been under the yoke for centuries at least, got better treatment, did the jobs which were deemed to be 'sensitive' and bought into the Drow's hierarchy hook line and sinker. Newly captured slaves were supposed to be low in the grand scheme of things, that one would get preferential treatment was an affront. The only real company he got was the girl that they occasionally sent to his bedchamber at night. But worst of all was the fact that he knew that his efforts were now being used to bring terror, death pain and slavery down upon those he loved back home.

There was always a lot for him to, overseeing the production, testing and installation of new machinery and equipment and working out technical problems. All while Dark Elves and slaves took notes. House Valcas was powerful and wealthy, owning thousands of slaves and a from what he was told was powerful and influential, having long being involved in manufacturing. A few times he considered feeding them false information, but he never went through with it fearing that he would be caught and receive the attentions of torturers.

Among the older activities that they were involved in was gun making, having cornered the local market. Right now they were mostly involved in producing knock-offs of the Type-2R Rifle, Type-3R Rifle and Type-3P Revolvers. He was surprised to see that the process of making firearms had been broken up into a number of people doing specialized tasks, from teams that made and finished barrels, specialized spring makers and people who put the various bits together into a finished weapon, though they were largely using hand-tools. His work, and the work of several other engineers had improved their productivity by five times by what he had heard. Many of these were now powered by one of several steam engines. To his surprise, the Dark Elves somehow managed to make a working steam engine before he arrived. Once he inspected it he was not suprised to find that it was bulky and had a low power output while needing lots of fuel. Nor was he suprised to find out that this was the sixth one which they had built, the previous five having killed more than thirty slaves and maiming just as many more when their boilers exploded. Under their guidence, they were able to make steam engines which were stronger, more efficient and safer. A year and a half ago he had one of these these he had installed on a thirty meter long fishing boat. Much of his work was spent in the foundries, examining steel production and overseeing the creation of new machinery to aid in production, as well as the casting and processing of new cannons. The demand for these had gone up considerably. He had his suspicions on what they had him working on, which were only confirmed with the test that he was ordered to perform.

It first involved some discussion about seven months ago about steel production and the creation of a fairly large structure primarily made of steel. He said that such efforts could be realized in about five years. Then, after some time they talked about down to the matter of using wrought iron, which could be realized a bit sooner. Then a couple of weeks ago, an objective was given for a set of twelve test slabs of wrought iron, each of which being about 8 centimeters thick. He had them prepared and soon they were ready.

They were taken to a proving ground outside the city and were fixed in place on a frame against a fairly substantial earthwork. Each of them was subjected to a shot from a 8cm cannon at short range. But more notable than that was the fact that Lady Nallorenth ti'Valcas had come to examine the results. he was brought nearby, kept at a bow.

"Valas, the cannon has made dents in all them." She had said in a neutral tone in the Common Language of the Coldlands. Her command of it had improved as time went on due to practice, which she generally did around him. "You will speak."

"My beloved and revered mistress," he said "they have been dented by cannonfire. But they have not broken. Even a dented helmet may save it's users life. Had these been slabs of wood or brick, they would be but splinters or shards."

"Yes." She said. "Show us the back."

Some lower ranking slaves came in and dug a couple of them out. A few minutes latter, the backsides of these plate were revealed. It had been pushed in, but not broken. A few other Dark Elves converged and examined this and their was some conversation. His grasp on the slave tongue was shaky, it did sound like spoke with approval.

"Nice. Very nice." The lady said approvingly. "Taras, this is good work. Tomorrow you will get new instructions. You will get spice stew for dinner all week and for tonight some beer and a girl."

"This humble slave is not worthy of such gifts, but shall accept them with obedience and reverence to my most beneficent mistress." He said, mouthing the ritual words of respect which a slave was expected to say when given a gift from his masters. Underneath it all, however, he felt shame. He knew what he was now working on. He only hoped that they had improved their means, methods and final products back home since he was taken.

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Description
The last four and a half years of Engineer Taras Vorisovich life had been spent in slavery of the Dark Elvish House of Valcas and as one could expect, were miserable. Due to his qualifications as a trained engineer it was far better than the lot that most freshly captured slaves received, but miserable it was none the less. He worked long hours without breaks, was limited to his very spare quarters and his worksites, had to wear a collar, was given bland food and no alcohol, had to use an interpreter to talk to Drow and and was under the guard of a number of taskmasters who viewed him with contempt who were all to keen to remind him of what awaited him should he try to escape or rebel and give him the occasional 'restrained' strike. He was also alone, House Valcas managed to capture a few more engineers to assist in their projects but they were quite deliberately separate when they were not working on the same project. Even if the most of the staff of slaves spoke knew any language besides the Valnothron Slave Tongue, most of them where "Consecrated" slaves; the 'upper class' of the Drow's slaves. They came from families which had been under the yoke for centuries at least, got better treatment, did the jobs which were deemed to be 'sensitive' and bought into the Drow's hierarchy hook line and sinker. Newly captured slaves were supposed to be low in the grand scheme of things, that one would get preferential treatment was an affront. The only real company he got was the girl that they occasionally sent to his bedchamber at night. But worst of all was the fact that he knew that his efforts were now being used to bring terror, death pain and slavery down upon those he loved back home.

There was always a lot for him to, overseeing the production, testing and installation of new machinery and equipment and working out technical problems. All while Dark Elves and slaves took notes. House Valcas was powerful and wealthy, owning thousands of slaves and a from what he was told was powerful and influential, having long being involved in manufacturing. A few times he considered feeding them false information, but he never went through with it fearing that he would be caught and receive the attentions of torturers.

Among the older activities that they were involved in was gun making, having cornered the local market. Right now they were mostly involved in producing knock-offs of the Type-2R Rifle, Type-3R Rifle and Type-3P Revolvers. He was surprised to see that the process of making firearms had been broken up into a number of people doing specialized tasks, from teams that made and finished barrels, specialized spring makers and people who put the various bits together into a finished weapon, though they were largely using hand-tools. His work, and the work of several other engineers had improved their productivity by five times by what he had heard. Many of these were now powered by one of several steam engines. To his surprise, the Dark Elves somehow managed to make a working steam engine before he arrived. Once he inspected it he was not suprised to find that it was bulky and had a low power output while needing lots of fuel. Nor was he suprised to find out that this was the sixth one which they had built, the previous five having killed more than thirty slaves and maiming just as many more when their boilers exploded. Under their guidence, they were able to make steam engines which were stronger, more efficient and safer. A year and a half ago he had one of these these he had installed on a thirty meter long fishing boat. Much of his work was spent in the foundries, examining steel production and overseeing the creation of new machinery to aid in production, as well as the casting and processing of new cannons. The demand for these had gone up considerably. He had his suspicions on what they had him working on, which were only confirmed with the test that he was ordered to perform.

It first involved some discussion about seven months ago about steel production and the creation of a fairly large structure primarily made of steel. He said that such efforts could be realized in about five years. Then, after some time they talked about down to the matter of using wrought iron, which could be realized a bit sooner. Then a couple of weeks ago, an objective was given for a set of twelve test slabs of wrought iron, each of which being about 8 centimeters thick. He had them prepared and soon they were ready.

They were taken to a proving ground outside the city and were fixed in place on a frame against a fairly substantial earthwork. Each of them was subjected to a shot from a 8cm cannon at short range. But more notable than that was the fact that Lady Nallorenth ti'Valcas had come to examine the results. he was brought nearby, kept at a bow.

"Valas, the cannon has made dents in all them." She had said in a neutral tone in the Common Language of the Coldlands. Her command of it had improved as time went on due to practice, which she generally did around him. "You will speak."

"My beloved and revered mistress," he said "they have been dented by cannonfire. But they have not broken. Even a dented helmet may save it's users life. Had these been slabs of wood or brick, they would be but splinters or shards."

"Yes." She said. "Show us the back."

Some lower ranking slaves came in and dug a couple of them out. A few minutes latter, the backsides of these plate were revealed. It had been pushed in, but not broken. A few other Dark Elves converged and examined this and their was some conversation. His grasp on the slave tongue was shaky, it did sound like spoke with approval.

"Nice. Very nice." The lady said approvingly. "Taras, this is good work. Tomorrow you will get new instructions. You will get spice stew for dinner all week and for tonight some beer and a girl."

"This humble slave is not worthy of such gifts, but shall accept them with obedience and reverence to my most beneficent mistress." He said, mouthing the ritual words of respect which a slave was expected to say when given a gift from his masters. Underneath it all, however, he felt shame. He knew what he was now working on. He only hoped that they had improved their means, methods and final products back home since he was taken.

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