Thanks for the good feedback :p
Right now, I'm hoping that my drive doesn't start sputtering out before the story is finished. Either way, it should turn out good, but it would be a disservice to the story to not finish it with the highest quality possible.
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Blitukus stood proudly. He now had a power source, and he could now build devices to put this power to use. He pondered just how he would get to heaven. He knew hell was down and heaven was up. He thought of what he could possibly do to get that high. Heaven lay above the clouds. He began to ponder the possibility of an elevator, the possibility of a steam catapult, loading himself into a steam-cannon and firing himself into heaven. All of these ideas literally fell short. None of these would bring him high enough. He realized, whatever method he was going to use some day, he would need a more versatile material than bronze. He would have to unleash the benefits of Steel. He needed iron, limestone, and a lot of coke to make this. He rested his pick axe on his shoulder, and smiled at the boiler as he walked down the tunnel. He reached the magma, and tunneled further into the coal vein. Once he had a sizable amount, one at a time, he brought the lumps to the smelter and processed them. He was frustrated with the inefficiency of the process. He had to burn coke to get coke. Perhaps if he used another source of heat, he would be able to make these metals far cheaper. Then, he remembered what he had read about magma furnaces. With the steel he would make, he decided he would channel the magma into the work-room and use the magma to fuel the furnaces. He could double his coke production efficiency that way, and smelt metals lower than steel using no coke at all. It was virtually needed if he wanted to make steel in any real quantity. He took a break for a drink, and continued producing coke, pondering the process. The dwarven magma furnaces had an uptake that required on the momentum of the magma flow in order to drive the magma into the furnace. This meant that, with the basic design, he would have to build it right on the magma river. This was a long walk, especially to haul the limestone. It wouldn't do. It was horribly inefficient as well.
He thought what he could do to improve upon it as he finished processing the last lump of coal. Now he could start the steel production process, but would likely need more coal in the future. First up was making iron bars. He cleared the smelter after the coke cooled, and proceeded down to the magma to haul the previously useless hematite back to the smelter. He continued his thinking. He had a power source, and he could use steam power to drive the magma into the furnace. This was the solution. He would have to be efficient with his steel, and use bars to make a steam engine and mechanisms to drive the magma into the furnace. He reached the smelter, loaded the hematite in with coke, and began smelting it, taking care as he produced the first stack of iron bars present on the glacier. Iron was the champion metal of human and dwarven civilizations... little did they realize how substandard it truly is. It's the second to most basic useful metal, and the second to least useful at that, raw copper being the worst. He would take the iron, and elevate it with a heavy dose of carbon, the amount then reduced, refined to the highest degree. First was the heavy dose of carbon. He needed to make the iron into pig iron. In doing this, he used limestone in the reaction and twice as much coke, for coke was the source of carbon. At least there wasn't much hauling to do. When he had finished, and cooled the bars, the pig iron was actually weaker than raw iron. The amount of carbon needed to be refined. He snickered, remembering hearing about the infamous Dwarven Pig Iron Bridge Experiment of 1072. That poor human caravan...
They say that over 10,000 monies worth of goods ended up downstream. Too bad those dwarves didn't know what they were handling! I remember hearing about the last 4 words out of the architects mouth. 'My god! It broke!' 4 words I doubt I'll be uttering any time soon. Hopefully. Just one more step... two more steps.
Blitukus was once again down to only one stack of coke bars. If he were to use that up, he would have to burn wood for charcoal again, or never make metal again. This wouldn't be a problem with a magma smelter, he could run himself fresh out of coke and simply use the magma to process up some more. For now, standard procedure still was called for. Again, he walked down the tunnel to mine more coal. As he dug, he found that the black dust was settling on his goggles, and settling in his body. He occasionally found himself coughing after toppling a coal-laden wall. With an environment like that, it's no wonder dwarves never smoke. He once again finished and began the cycle of hauling and processing the coke. This time, he interrupted himself to eat. Blitukus found himself often wondering why he had such weird tastes. Nearly all kobolds frowned upon eating anything other than meat or chewing on bones, but he found the purple mushrooms rather delicious. As he finished his meal, he felt his tiredness starting to get to him once more. He wanted to continue anyway, despite his tiredness, but working himself into exhaustion would either result in a ruined product or some rather nasty burn marks. After finishing his meal, he lay on his bed, and took his goggles off, setting them on the floor. He reviewed the designs for the magma furnaces, and sketched his modifications over the design drawings. After finishing the plans, he set it down, book open to the proper page, and let himself fall asleep. That day, he drempt of leaping off of the top of the mountain, and soaring on the back of a giant bat into heaven. The bat seemed to be even larger than the one that attacked him, yet was friendly toward him. When he awoke, he somehow had a feeling, telling him that he was on the right track. He got up, rubbed his eyes, and donned the goggles once more. He felt no unhappiness in getting right to work after he had fully awoken, and continued processing the coke. Yet again, he was interrupted by a need. He quenched his thirst in the river. He thought, it might be more convenient and comfortable to just build a well in the work room eventually. Then again, a thought occurred to him that such a structure would be just inviting the creatures of the river to infiltrate his home. He dismissed the thought. There was nothing to be worried about but a few bugs, as far as he knew.
He hauled the last lump of raw coal and processed it into a 2 stacks of coke bars, using one in the process. Upon finishing, he took a break to clean the table in his room of seeds, but he realized, he finally had all of the resources put together. It was time to make steel. He realized that an opportunity presented itself, mentioned briefly in the text. In the heat of bringing the pig iron to the right amount of carbon, a lump of hematite could be smelted into the molten pool, adding to the amount of resulting steel with little extra cost. He took the opportunity, and walked back down to the end of the tunnel, retrieving a piece of hematite and placing it in the smelter with the pig iron and prerequisite coke. Then, he fetched more limestone to add to the reaction. The process was large, and the interior of the furnace was cluttered. The process was also delicate. Too much carbon removed, and he would end up back at square one with raw iron. Too little, and he retrieved pig iron, having wasted precious coke on nothing. It took a special balance to turn the metal into steel. He worked slowly and cautiously. It would be a spectacular waste... if he didn't get it right on his first try. A while later, the fire died down and the process concluded. He let the bars cool just enough to solidify, and pulled them out. During the time he had waited, he pondered the steel making process. The process was overly convoluted, and inefficient, requiring much more carbon than was truly needed to make steel. He thought, instead of the ridiculous ceremony of puddling it to adjust carbon, the carbon could be simply dislodged at those temperatures. In fact, a powerful blast of air could adjust the carbon content. He retrieved the book, and took note of what was needed to build a magma furnace, further changing the design to allow for this air flow. Not wasting a second he pounded the metal into shape, to put into place as the sections of the furnace. He worked as efficiently as possible, saving the leftover steel to make a steam piston, a wheel for it to drive, gears for the wheel to drive, mechanisms to regulate the engine, a paddle wheel to move the magma, and a fan to blast air through the furnace. Blitukus had to use much more strength to work the hot metal, but this brought him a lot of joy. This metal was much tougher than bronze. He had succeeded. He had started with two stacks of steel bars, and now had the parts to make magma versions of the forge and the smelter. The forge used similar mechanisms to the smelter, minus the fan. Now he could dismantle his outdated smelter and forge, and dig a tunnel to bring the magma into the workplace. He waited for the smelter and steel to cool, and dismantled both the smelter and forge.
He had to stop and appreciate the metal. It was teh first time in his life he had seen steel. Steel was likely, literally, worth its weight in gold, and few had worked with it before. He found himself quickly falling in love with it. He picked up a piece of steel siding, hugged it, and pressed his face against it. He smiled as he pressed himself against the metal, then set the siding down. He definitely appreciated the secret alloy of the superpowers, but he had work to do, and it would have work to do. He took his pick axe, and tunneled along the wall to reach the boilers feed. He would tap the magma going to the boiler in order to feed the forges. He dug into the space adjacent to the tunnel along the wall, careful not to disturb the regions he would use to mount pipes in. He uncovered more opal while tunneling, but, he broke through to find that the magma was still there to greet him. Luckily, the inlet for the boiler was secure, and all it did was greet him. Still, it would be rather stupid to try to dig a trench to tap it while the boiler was running. He would likely fry himself trying to attach the channel to the feed. He pulled both control levers by the boiler, shutting the feeds off without having to shut off the magma tunnel entirely. Yet again, his upgrades were proving useful, and convenient. He started digging a trench from the feed to the work room, adding on to his already finished work.
He moved materials out of the way, and dug through smooth and rough floor, leading the trench along the wall of the work room. He smoothed the rough spots left behind by the old furnaces, and, having finished the modification, opened magma flow again. The magma proceeded into the boiler feed, and proceeded past, filling the channel up to the lip, and not going over. He opened water flow, and once again, the water passed through its tunnel, reaching the boiler. Steam flowed once more, and on top of it, magma was available to heat the furnaces.
He enthusiastically moved to begin placing the steel down, but found his enthusiasm painfully disrupted. He grunted and growled and cursed at himself under his own breath. After all that, a stupid mistake. He wouldn't be able to build parts of the furnace over the magma, a bridge wouldn't hold the weight of the steel. He would have to dig a feed trench for each furnace, modifying the channels again. He sighed and shut off the feed again. As he dug the small inlets, a realization came over him. He felt his frustration dissolve, and he laughed. He made a stupid mistake involving magma, and didn't kill himself! That was pure luck. It seemed luck, indeed the forces of chaos itself, were allied with him. He sighed. His laughter seemed to melt away. The snow outside receded, and the suns arc rose once again. It was new years.
Spring has arrived!
To many this was a cause for celebration. To Blitukus, and the rest of the empire which he came from, it was a cause for mourning. It had been a year since the assassination. This day marked a bitter, dark day in the history of Anthath Sizet, and in the history of Blitukus' life. The day his mother left the mortal plane. Blitukus found himself slowing, but he forced himself to continue. He pressed his teeth together in emotional pain, and felt as if at any moment he would fill that very channel with his own tears. But, that never happened. Had it really been an entire year since he was driven out of his own empire? He was starting to feel rather lonely. Still more was to be done, the magma had to flow. He slowly walked back into the tunnel, and shoved the lever, allowing magma to flow once more into the boiler and work room. He emptied his goggles of his tears, and watched the magma slowly make its way by. The sight of the magma, glowing red in the tunnel, triggered his sadness to convert. He walked to the water feed lever, and pushed it forcefully with his foot. He watched the water flush through the tunnel, pouring into the magma, steam rising, the boiler hissing as it accepted the influx. It was 1081, a year had passed. This was the day in which his mother had died. This was also the day he had decided, it was coming true. His mothers death was driving him to his true destiny as the death of her family drove her to hers. A year ago, he was helpless, stranded alone on a glacier. Now, he had summoned from his own strength and intelligence the force of water, fire, steam and steel. He had a new type of furnace, never before seen to build.
With new determination, he took up the steel, and began placing it, riveting the parts together and assembling the entire structure with efficiency and speed. He built the forge and the smelter, and routed steam to them both through bronze tubing. He then capped the unused vents in the manifold and opened the valve. After he had finished, he returned to his new furnaces.
Their steel surface beautifully reflected the light, bringing the structure an unusual shine. Now was not the time to admire his accomplishments, he felt immensely driven. Now was the time to bring more steel into the world. He walked down the tunnel with quickened pace, and retrieved some hematite. He hauled it back, and placed it into the magma smelters furnace. He pulled the lever, engaging the piston engine. The steam hissed into it, and the piston pressed forward, driving the wheel. The gears meshed, and the paddles scooped the magma from the channel inlet into the steel furnace. The fan spun and air was sucked into the bottom of the furnace. The piston extended with a hiss, and retracted with a sigh, letting out a puff of steam on each cycle. The machine accelerated, and eventually made quite a racket as it reached top speed. The magma rose to near the air inlet, and the superheated gas was forced upward through the furnace with intense pressure. The hematite was smelted down rapidly into iron, and no coke was required at all. The process was actually immensely faster than the coke-fired furnace, and Blitukus found himself happy of his achievements and sad of his mothers death simultaneously. He listened to the music of the machine, a symphony of steam and steel, and he was the conductor. The iron neatly poured into the steel moulds, and the slag was separated by a slide, much quicker and easier than scooping it off.
This process was far faster, far more efficient, and the furnace had much more room to spare. He thought, the process could be done with multiple loads of hematite, it could be done en masse. He stopped the steam flow to the engine, and let the machine slowly spin to a stop, the magma draining from the bottom of the furnace all on its own. Blitukus found himself amazed with the speed and quality of this new process, compared to the old. He thought, similar methods could be applied to other processes. He smiled and let out a bitter-sweet laugh as he realized the implications of his achievements, tears of mixed emotions once more beginning to pool in his goggles. Blitukus had developed a new way of making metal, and a true use for steam power, and maybe even they would name it after him some day, but he had not just built a better furnace. He had developed an entirely new concept of how to produce things. No longer would he have to rely on simple tools and manual labor for everything, for steel and steam powered gadgetry could make much of the process far quicker, and production could be done en masse. If this were applied to all manufacturing, then even the poorest nations could provide an abundance for their people and tame their environment. No longer would people have to suffer and starve as they struggled to eek out an existence. His laughter intensified as he realized the full scale of what he had achieved this day.
Goodbye, era of iron. Blitukus Siegedriven, son of Fale Siegedriven, has advanced to the next epoch in technology.
His mother had fought a grand revolution and won, but maybe, in trying to reach his mother, he had also started a grand revolution of an entirely new type, 700 years before it was due. Despite the global impact that could come of this discovery, it was only a means to an end, for now. He now had the industrial power to build his grand machine, but he still needed to design it first.
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I did a little bit of looking things up but I still probably got something wrong involving steel making. I'm not a metalsmith IRL, so what I know about steel is generally after the fact.
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Topic: A Kobold's Quest II (Read 76109 times)