Waterwheels in the Heartlands

Utility

Using the use of cams and other specialized gearing mechanisms, waterwheels provide a large amount of utility from crushing grains into flours to increasing the heating capacity of forges. It acts as an unlimited source of work power.

Access & Availability

Waterwheels are easily available technology, the problem is that people do not all have access to the ideal locations. It is preferred that a waterwheel is located at a lower elevation than the flowing water, which limited the number of locations those types of waterwheels are most efficient in. Other waterwheels are useful but prove less powerful and efficient.

Complexity

A waterwheel is not an incredibly complex machine. Its complexity arises in the minor details of its design to increase efficiency.
Because of the importance of waterwheels, they are sought to be protected. Some towns have cropped up surrounding some of the more efficient waterwheels around. However some waterwheels are ineffective for most work aside the production of flour. In these cases temporary fortifications are made to them to prevent their destruction, but ultimately abandoned at night. The existence of Nightfall Hysteria makes occupying a waterwheel at night too risky. Watertowns that crop up around these waterwheels however do no have to worry about such issues.

Discovery

No one is really certain about who first made the waterwheel, but it was likely developed around the The Great Burning as the waters from the city of Heartland started to flow. The sudden availability of moving water gave people in the region the means to set up waterwheels in wake of the destruction. It allowed for the rapid expansion of the region and the start of several "Watertowns"