Quartz is a very precious material to the Dwarves. It’s very durable, it doesn’t react when exposed to a number of different solvents, it also refracts light in a very appealing way. Some variants of quartz are more special than others though. One of these
special variants of quartz, when struck, generates a very small but very potent distortion to the direct area around the crystal. It generates a small attractive force that compels objects that are nearby to move towards the crystal. The purity or quantity of the crystals determine the strength of this attractive force. This is a more recent discovery for dwarfkind but they were quick to utilise this knowledge.
One such example of the use of this technology is that of the inter-city travel network which enabled fast trade between larger city structures. These are mainly cargo trains that are held on a rail attached to the ceiling with guide rails on either side. The guide rails provide not only stability to the surrounding caverns that encase them but also house a series of exposed grav crystals. The trains are outfitted with purpose-built quick ratchet rotors with striking plates on each of the ratchet teeth. When the train is moving, these striking plates hit the crystals generating a small attractive force that propels the train along. With very high numbers of these crystals, some very high speeds can be achieved. Any type of vehicle that is capable of running along these tracks has a terminal velocity which is directly correlated to its weight.
When the train system was first introduced by its creator
Frobious Grav’nak, it caused an industrial shockwave across the dwarven empire. Previously, the only way to transport goods between settlements were through the use of winding passageways and the use of cargo
Stags. The slow rate of transporting goods was very quickly replaced and allowed city states to freely exchange goods on a much larger scale and at a much greater pace. This also led to specialised cities that could make greater use of their surrounding resources and thrive. Some
cities closer to the surface handled outer trade for all kinds of goods. Some deeper city states specialised in difficult to obtain ores/gemstones that could only be found at lower depths. The possibilities seemed to be endless.
Smaller
passenger variants of the train system have been trialled but haven’t made it past the price point for the nobility as of yet. The number of crystals required to operate a smaller system is the main limiting factor and as such, it is currently reserved for the
elites of society.
This is a submission for my first ever Summer Camp in 2024 - I hope you enjoy my writings and I'm looking forward to hearing your feedback!
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