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Description

A spell was woven, not a grand one but still one which required care to get right even with a sheet of parchment with a guide-spell inscribed onto it. Mystical energies flowed into a specially made steel bit before being sealed into place. Iron was naturally resistant to magic and the spell would dissipate within thirty minutes to an hour if left alone, but that was more than enough time. The bit was taken in a careful hand, carefully placed to a place on a steel band that had been anointed with a linseed oil based potion and with care was tapped with a special hammer. Each tap produced a few sparks of magical energy and forced the spell into the steel. After a few careful strikes, Kylairn ti'Keljin looked at the engraving and found no flaw in it. That done, he put the head of his Runeworking hammer back into a small brazier and got out another parchment to complete the rune.

For the past two years, Kylairn would spend his working days in this rough small workshop in Velnariath with Masters Breilyn and Hyjird, five other Journeymen and six apprentices. Blank flasks would come from the foundries and alchemists where the apprentices would inscribe them with basic conductive runes an affix steel bands to them. The process was slow going and delicate. One improper etching, a component spell applied out of order or a rune improperly consolidated and at best one of the steel bands would be ruined and need to be replaced, starting again from scratch. The items also had to be handled carefully. Even with the abundance of infused iron and steel available in Velnariath, it took at least three days for him to complete his work on even a Six-Vaul flask. Completing a chunky 36 Vaul flask like this one would require at least ten. This of course was leaving aside factors beyond his control. Tests and examinations were done every morning for quality and while most of them went smoothly he'd seen too many flasks fail or be found to have fatal faults and had to be scrapped. Most of which were the foundry's fault, but at least a few were done by the Runesmiths either by accident or negligence earning fines. As unorthodox as this set-up was the Guild had traditions and standards and it would not slack in them.

In general Kylairn had mixed feelings about this place. He and his wife had been sold a vision of taming a new frontier for Drow Civilization on the far side of the world. Of adventure in a strange land. In practice this meant working in a rough town of slapdash buildings in an oven of a wasteland. Like most members of the Guild he knew little about 'electrics' but he was glad for the addition of overhead fans. On the other hand they were making a lot of money. Good for them, good for House Kylairn. Valcas' demand for new Sun Flasks was constant, especially given how many Steam Engines this place had.

During his off hours, he wondered about this strange place. It was so unlike Valnothron. The City of Valnothron was ancient, having stood for more than 6,500 years. Most of the buildings in the Old City were at least a millennium old. Grand Halls, estates and compounds of stone which conveyed the power of houses, guilds and the Drow race. To walk it's streets was to be breathe that legacy and not even the new rail stations on city's the outskirts, steamship or the increased number of smokestacks would change this. In the Western Colonies they mimicked the motherland with rising houses jockeying for power. Velnariath in contrast was rough and new. Most buildings were little more than shacks, thrown up as quickly as possible. Even Lord Reival's manor was a plain brick building. The places where effort was being expended was on docks, the growing Ironworks, the mirror factory, the power-plant and a few other industrial facilities. There was also a lot of machinery here, with a presence felt in even in electrically illuminated slave barracks made from sheets of iron. A lot of this was of course temporary. The colony was still less than a decade old, growing and having crude shelter today beat a proper house that would be completed in three years and exposure in the meantime. What was not likely to change was Valcas preeminence, even with the Runesmith's Guild as essential partners, and what Lady Talnara was building here is something new. Possibly Velnariath would not end up emulating Valnothron, but the other way around.

But said thoughts troubled him little at his workbench. For all the frustrations it might have with it, he still got engrossed in his work and took pride in every flask he successfully finished.

From the Beginning...
Previous: Infrastructure: Part Three Hundred and Ninety Two
Next: Infrastructure: Part Three Hundred and Ninety Four

Description

A spell was woven, not a grand one but still one which required care to get right even with a sheet of parchment with a guide-spell inscribed onto it. Mystical energies flowed into a specially made steel bit before being sealed into place. Iron was naturally resistant to magic and the spell would dissipate within thirty minutes to an hour if left alone, but that was more than enough time. The bit was taken in a careful hand, carefully placed to a place on a steel band that had been anointed with a linseed oil based potion and with care was tapped with a special hammer. Each tap produced a few sparks of magical energy and forced the spell into the steel. After a few careful strikes, Kylairn ti'Keljin looked at the engraving and found no flaw in it. That done, he put the head of his Runeworking hammer back into a small brazier and got out another parchment to complete the rune.

For the past two years, Kylairn would spend his working days in this rough small workshop in Velnariath with Masters Breilyn and Hyjird, five other Journeymen and six apprentices. Blank flasks would come from the foundries and alchemists where the apprentices would inscribe them with basic conductive runes an affix steel bands to them. The process was slow going and delicate. One improper etching, a component spell applied out of order or a rune improperly consolidated and at best one of the steel bands would be ruined and need to be replaced, starting again from scratch. The items also had to be handled carefully. Even with the abundance of infused iron and steel available in Velnariath, it took at least three days for him to complete his work on even a Six-Vaul flask. Completing a chunky 36 Vaul flask like this one would require at least ten. This of course was leaving aside factors beyond his control. Tests and examinations were done every morning for quality and while most of them went smoothly he'd seen too many flasks fail or be found to have fatal faults and had to be scrapped. Most of which were the foundry's fault, but at least a few were done by the Runesmiths either by accident or negligence earning fines. As unorthodox as this set-up was the Guild had traditions and standards and it would not slack in them.

In general Kylairn had mixed feelings about this place. He and his wife had been sold a vision of taming a new frontier for Drow Civilization on the far side of the world. Of adventure in a strange land. In practice this meant working in a rough town of slapdash buildings in an oven of a wasteland. Like most members of the Guild he knew little about 'electrics' but he was glad for the addition of overhead fans. On the other hand they were making a lot of money. Good for them, good for House Kylairn. Valcas' demand for new Sun Flasks was constant, especially given how many Steam Engines this place had.

During his off hours, he wondered about this strange place. It was so unlike Valnothron. The City of Valnothron was ancient, having stood for more than 6,500 years. Most of the buildings in the Old City were at least a millennium old. Grand Halls, estates and compounds of stone which conveyed the power of houses, guilds and the Drow race. To walk it's streets was to be breathe that legacy and not even the new rail stations on city's the outskirts, steamship or the increased number of smokestacks would change this. In the Western Colonies they mimicked the motherland with rising houses jockeying for power. Velnariath in contrast was rough and new. Most buildings were little more than shacks, thrown up as quickly as possible. Even Lord Reival's manor was a plain brick building. The places where effort was being expended was on docks, the growing Ironworks, the mirror factory, the power-plant and a few other industrial facilities. There was also a lot of machinery here, with a presence felt in even in electrically illuminated slave barracks made from sheets of iron. A lot of this was of course temporary. The colony was still less than a decade old, growing and having crude shelter today beat a proper house that would be completed in three years and exposure in the meantime. What was not likely to change was Valcas preeminence, even with the Runesmith's Guild as essential partners, and what Lady Talnara was building here is something new. Possibly Velnariath would not end up emulating Valnothron, but the other way around.

But said thoughts troubled him little at his workbench. For all the frustrations it might have with it, he still got engrossed in his work and took pride in every flask he successfully finished.

From the Beginning...
Previous: Infrastructure: Part Three Hundred and Ninety Two
Next: Infrastructure: Part Three Hundred and Ninety Four