We should probably raid Da Vinci's workshop.
+1
Non-military design: Moonseeds and the Steam TrainOne thing that led the great renasiance was the discovery of moonseeds. During one skirmish with Askia over this decade, a deposite of sunseeds was left forgotten in the snowy peaks during a winter. As we all know, Sunseeds interact with water to boil. But snow is far more solid, and doesn't actually interact with it.
Eventually, a Etroan came across them during a scouting mission next summer. They looked like opals and were found with Etroan gear, but when they tried to actually use them, water turned to ice rather than steam.
They were brought back, and eventually it was discovered that leaving sunseeds in the snow turned them to moonseeds after a month of cold. While leaving moonseeds near lava's sweltering temepatures for a month turned them to sunseeds. Or just leaving them buried in a hot enough fire for a few hours.
In this manner, the first proper Steam Engine was created. While there were the steam-hammers before that, now a combination of a Moonseed where steam gathered, and a Sunseed where water rested. Together, these two created a compact steam engine with great water retention. It could continue to produce power for days steadily and continuously. And so they were used to turn the gears and wheels of the First Steam Train.
With the The Angamolen of Damrod and Lunguma, The Heavy Hand, tracks were set up. To the east trains ran to the Icona people, greatly improving their ability to travel and the transport of food and materials. This is also where, each winter, Sunseeds became Moonseeds. And to the west, we built our tracks to the many people beyond the Isthmus. Though expansion, trade, diplomacy, and sometimes a good war, we expanded the empire and brought their people and cultures into our own.
And so we entered a Cultural Renaissance, where travel was easy, trade plentiful. And peace secured by hammer and trade, or shard and war.
Military Design: Plasma Bomb ReactionThe Plasma Bomb Reaction was probably the first discovery towards true dominance. And one of the worst cases of destruction imaginable.
By mixing magnesium powder into sunseed powder, and then filling a shell with the result, we created a shell. When flung by a catapult or shot by a cannon, it didn't do much. But once hitting something and cracking, the air around it turned to plasma.
What actually happened was the mix actually triggering a chain reaction in which oxygen in the air was superheated. This was primarlily due to the combanation of kinetic impact with a surface, and the cracked shell letting an influx of air mix with the powder combination. Magnesium ignites, and the ignition ignites the Sunseed powder, which in turn ignites all the air around it until there is no oxygen left from the shockwave the plasma creation produced. Which turned out to be around 20 meters for a basic 3 foot shell. Larger shells tended to add 10 meters for every foot.
By using cannons, catapults & trebuchets, and sometimes bows, we mowed down our enemy with fire and plasma, busting apart fortifications and enemy lines. The bow in particular used a simple tin arrowhead casing filled with it, and always cracked on impact, generally removing whatever it hit as an issue.