Enlightened Empire

Even after a lengthy wait, Egidius hadn't been let into the castle. Impatient, he stood in the evening sun and tapped his foot. However, before he could get angry enough to leave, one of the guards had led him back into Chukru Island, but took a turn downstream. An uninviting wall separated the northern half of the island from the commoners in his own home. Beyond this wall, it was said that the king kept his most valuable secrets. Once he entered, the clock maker's eyes began to beam. To most others, the strange, stinging smells or the film of smog laid over everything would have seemed uninviting, but to Egidius, they were the signs of progress, the signs of discovery.

Despite his express interest, Egidius had never been allowed to enter this place, of course. All things said, he was only a superficial acquaintance of King Corco. How would he be allowed to enter this most hallowed ground? Now given the chance, he decided to rush off and see everything King Corco had to offer, everything so much more valuable than the Chutwa glaze and the clear glass.

Or rather, he would have loved to do so, but a look over at his companion stopped him in his tracks. He really couldn't fault them for sending a guard with him. His own desires would lead him to spy on everything after all. Thus, Egidius was satisfied to sway along the road, from side to side, while his head craned up to peer into the small windows and high walls around him. Of course he couldn't see anything.

Mean as the secretive king was, he had built these houses much different from the ones in the clock maker's new home. The houses beyond the wall didn't have gardens, and their walls were closed off as much as possible, much like Xander's abode. After he had seen through Captain Atau's telescope on his journey east, he could understand why. Still, he would give the king a good talking to when he saw him. That he promised

Determined to let the king feel his wrath, Egidius stomped after his watchdog, towards the house with the tallest, blackest chimney around. Even now it spewed an endless stream of soot into the steel-blue skies of Saniya. This had started days ago, on and off, and could be seen all the way from his home. Already the clock maker's interest had left from the king's mean secrecy and returned to the wonders around him. Giddy, he followed the guard through the small door at the front.

Inside, a sudden wall of heat made Egidius reel back. How could such a stuffy atmosphere exist inside a city? He was brought back to the volcano he visited years earlier, on one of his expeditions. What in the name of the Lords would the king be doing here? For a moment he wondered if the guards had led him astray, some other purpose in mind. However, before his suspicions could develop, he once again saw the man who had led him all across the ocean.

Before the background of a giant furnace stood three silhouettes. Although he couldn't see them well against the orange glow of the forge, he could still recognize the stout figure of the king, or rather, the stout figure of his armor. Even now, Corco still wore his protection, though somehow Egidius doubted that it would be chain mail in here. Not with the unholy heat the giant contraption before him gave off. In the background he could see a number of men rush around to keep the insatiable beast fed.

Star-struck, Egidius marched forward, towards his goal. Though on the way, he marched past the king and was addressed. Rather than wait for his servant, the king had closed the distance himself.

"Aaah, Egidius, you're here!" he shouted over the noise in the back. Now that they were closer, Egidius could see all the grime and sweat on the king's face, as well as his strange outfit. Amber glasses as well as a leather apron. He knew what would be in store for him, since the king carried a similar outfit in his hands as well.

"Put these on if you don't wanna go blind or... you know... combust!" King Corco threatened as he pushed Saniya's newest fashion into the clock maker's hands. Though Egidius still struggled with the safety equipment, the king was eager to press on.

"Come over please, take a look at this! I'm sure you'll be able to appreciate it!" he shouted into the back of the room.

His arm around the clock maker's shoulder, Corco marched them straight over to the other two shadows. Once he had gotten close enough, the shadows turned into people.

"Good evening, Master Egidius. What a great time for you to appear, on this most historical of moments!" Hieronymus orated. Although he was as pompous as always, Ronnie appreciated his focus on what really mattered: The giant, glowing structure in their backs.

"Hey, youngster. I'm Asiro, local blacksmith. How are you?" another man, tall and covered in muscles, asked as his paw landed on the clock maker's bony shoulder. This one did not appear as focused.

"Egidius, clock maker." He frowned as he heaved off the bear's hand.

"My guys tell me Egidius here brought us something good! Let's get to the side and take a look for now."

"But the pour is almost ready!" Asiro the blacksmith pointed back to the orange glow.

"Aah, it's not gonna run away, is it? You said we still got at least a few minutes, and this will only take a second. Come, you're gonna like it!"

With a wave of his hand, the king marched to a table under a window, the best-lit place in the entire hall. Everyone else shared a knowing look before they followed.

Even though Egidius appreciated the fresher air by the opened window, a constant draft of heat blasted his neck on its flight outside. Still, he tried his best to ignore it and rolled out the plans he had brought. He had spent much thought on these plans and was eager to present them.

"While sire's original design was impressive, I decided to make a few modifications. First, I simplified the mechanism, which should improve the power transfer by quite a bit, if my calculations are correct. Since it proved too weak during tests, I had to thicken the metal at these points here. I expect the cogs to still get unduly hot, so I also designed..."

Rustling abound, Egidius put aside his first plan to show off his second idea for the day.

"...this pump here. There really is nothing special about the pump itself, but since we are building along a river anyways, I thought we could use the water to cool the lathe while it runs. What do you think?"

When he turned around again after his own explanation had been done, Egidius stared into two empty faces, and a sad smile from the king.

"...sorry, what are we talking about?" Asiro, the blacksmith, looked down at the sketches as he scratched his ear.

"Ah, how about we start from the beginning. This," the king pointed back to the clock maker's first plans, "is a metal lathe. You've probably all seen lathes before, but those are usually for shaping wood. I think there are ones for glass blowing too? Anyways, they're usually powered by hand, which is terribly inefficient. I don't want a lathe for wood, I want one for steel! So I asked Egidius here to help me design a new one. This lathe will be water-powered, with energy from the water wheels we've started to build along the river. You might have wondered what we'll fill those empty buildings with, and the answer is: This thing, for now."

"And this 'lathe' is supposed to cut metal?" the blacksmith frowned as he bent over Egidius' shoulder to look at the table.

"Exactly," the king smiled. "Although it might seem unrealistic, it'll work much better than you think. The head on this machine will be made from our best steel, courtesy of you." Asiro stepped back with a grin on his face. "Also, it'll rotate at a thousand rotations per minute-"

"Up to five hundred, depending on the speed of the water," Egidius corrected.

"-what-he-said per minute, so it'll cut through most metals like butter, including iron and-"

"Master Asiro!" a scream interrupted them. "The iron looks ready!?" From across the hall, a worker looked towards them, a megaphone held on his lips.

"Aah, I'll take care of this. Please continue, King Corco." After a sloppy bow, the blacksmith returned to his work.

"So, wouldn't this lathe be quite useful then?" Ronnie picked up the thread. "With this, we could mas produce cogs, and drive shafts. Since we need more grindstones for our harvests, that would save much time."

"In fact, when I worked on it, I thought about the use of the instrument as well. Wouldn't the best use of it's abilities be to bore new matchlocks for king Corco's soldiers? If it works as intended, one could mass-produce smooth and even barrels." Egidius added. Too late did he realize that his question might be misunderstood as a complaint. He wouldn't mind if this great invention would be used as an instrument of war. After all, invention was an integral part of warfare. Still, he couldn't even come up with apologies before the king brushed him off.

"That's not everything," Corco raised a finger. "The invention of the lathe marks the beginning of the industrial revolution, at least as far as I understand it. For us, the lathe is the first proper precision instrument. It allows for consistent, detailed work at an unimaginable pace, which will ease all our other efforts. Here's where the magic comes in though."

As if he was about to regale them the secrets of the world, Corco lowered his head. "With this lathe, we will be able to make better, more precise instruments and tools... like improvements to our blast furnace back there. A lathe will lead to the production of better steel and better, more precise tools. With improved tools and better materials, we can once more build a better lathe. And then the better lathe can again improve the tools again! As the number of lathes increases with their work speed and precision, it becomes an endless virtuous cycle, ever faster and closer towards perfection! All the way until we reach the diamond pickaxe!"

Although the king's final remark was strange, Egidius hadn't even registered. Instead, he focused on the sentence before. The lathe would bring them closer to perfection, with each new iteration. Wasn't this the goal he had worked towards all these years? Wasn't this his own eternal wish? Now more than ever, Egidius was glad that he had made the leap onto that boat across the ocean. Still, the more he thought about it, the more he realized that there were still many obstacles to overcome. Determined to see his dreams become reality, he decided to make his king aware, even if it would be viewed as an insult.

"In that case, we would need to overcome all the relevant bottlenecks. Otherwise, they will slow our progress to no end. For one, we would need a near-endless stream of materials. Since the number and quality of tools will increase exponentially, so will the amount of quality steel we need. This appears to be the most critical obstacle."

For a second the king stared in disbelief, before he burst into a self-satisfied laugh, his head held high and all.

"Right! Exactly! Indubitably! That's why we're here!" he spun around to present the giant furnace in the distance, but the hot air forced the king's high head back down. Unperturbed, his voice retained the same strength as before. "Look at this, the second most important invention for today!"

"Hmhmmm," to the side, Ronnie cleared his throat.

"Okay, one of the most important inventions today! Let's go, it looks like they're about to start the first pour." Again he followed the king, ever closer towards the unearthly heat. Once they were close enough that his face felt like fire, Corco shared a nod with Asiro the blacksmith, before his powerful baritone spread across the hall again.

"Behold, the blast furnace! From our friends on the Verdant Isles we've received some good quality brown coal, which our grand alchemist has since transformed into coke! Ah, the coke burns at a higher temperature, which is important!" he shouted with a look to Egidius. Although he already understood the punch line of the king's speech, he still stayed quiet and listened. After all, there was always something new to learn.

"Anyways, then we designed this massive furnace, together with Asiro here. Although we don't have pure oxygen for now, the furnace lets us blast air directly into the fire, which increases the temperature even more."

"I never thought man was capable of such inferno," Egidius replied. In a trance, he stretched his hand towards the flames. His fingers began to swim before his eyes.

"According to our newest thermometers, the furnace can reach temperatures of about 1600!"

"1580, said our last reading!" Asiro corrected.

"Right, what he said! Anyways, with that level of heat, we can liquefy the iron and get rid of all the impurities, to be siphoned off as slag! Turning it into decent steel after that is as easy as baking a pie!"

Now they stood before the furnace spout, and watched the workers pour the liquid metal into square forms. Of course these were only tests. Egidius could imagine all kinds of forms to be used here. Considering the amount of metal they were handling, the speed and precision boggled the mind. To him, the iron glowed as hot as the sun, to spread its light across the world. What a privilege it was to be alive at this time, in this place.