Lock of Giants
The river which divides Kadaver and the Wyrmsea Republic connects two seas by passing through a mountain range. The two sea levels are slightly different, partially due to the effects of The Craw nearby on the coast of Baross, as well as the intervening mountains.
Sailing around the continental landmass which separates the Lunar Sea from the Sea of Storms takes many weeks, so a team of stone giants from the Cyclopean Shores was hired to widen and deepen the river and build a series of canal locks, allowing ships to traverse rapidly from one side of the continent to the other. The giants did their work well, and the result was sufficiently epic in scale to allow ships to traverse in both directions at once.
Kadaver and the Wyrmsea Republic have quarrelled bitterly for years over the ownership of the canal and the locks, known as the 'Lock of Giants' thanks to both the builders and the scale they constructed it at. Skirmishes and small wars have been fought repeatedly, but both sides have been cautious to avoid risking damage to the valuable locks and the lucrative passage fees they earn. Possession of the Lock changed repeatedly between the implacable undead legions of Kadaver and the doughty sailors of the Republic, until eventually the merchant lords ruling Bajapur pointedly made known their displeasure at the instability.
Relations between the two countries settled into an icy neutrality, with an independent authority created to administer the Lock and divide the royalties between the nations. Auditors from each realm are exquisitely formally polite to one another, while their escorting armed guards glower silently.
The length of the canal through the mountain was exquisitely shaped and carved by the stone giant artisans, and dwarven stonemasons are often to be seen aboard ships navigating the locks as they admire the work. Each lock gate is controlled by fantastically finely balanced counterweights, and huge mechanical pumps push and pull the river water between the sections. There is only the slightest grate of stone on stone as the doors swing, yet they seal flush and watertight when closed.
Each lock gate weighs many tonnes, and the gates and pumps are controlled by huge dwarven-made chains, each link the height of a full-grown dwarf. A mixture of golems, automata, and tamed monsters are used to work the various mechanisms as needed, including the huge valves that fill and empty each chamber of the lock from the nearby lakes. Although the locks are filled and emptied with lakewater by gravity, when the water is pumped out and back to the lakes the work is done by huge waterwheels spinning in the flow of the river, with energy stored in clever dwarven flywheels. Teams of human and dwarven engineers from nearby Baross ensure that everything is kept at peak functioning at all times, with maintenance carried out at a strictly regulated breakneck pace every night after the locks close for the last transit.
Using the locks cuts weeks off the travel time for shipments, while allowing merchants to avoid the hazards of land travel. The powerful professional navy of the Wyrmsea Republic also protects shipping throughout the south-eastern end of the Wyrmsea and the Wyrm Straits, so piracy is limited. This allows Kadaver and the Republic to gain healthy tolls from users of the Locks, while the strength of the Bajapurian merchant houses prevents those tolls from becoming excessive.
Sailing around the continental landmass which separates the Lunar Sea from the Sea of Storms takes many weeks, so a team of stone giants from the Cyclopean Shores was hired to widen and deepen the river and build a series of canal locks, allowing ships to traverse rapidly from one side of the continent to the other. The giants did their work well, and the result was sufficiently epic in scale to allow ships to traverse in both directions at once.
Kadaver and the Wyrmsea Republic have quarrelled bitterly for years over the ownership of the canal and the locks, known as the 'Lock of Giants' thanks to both the builders and the scale they constructed it at. Skirmishes and small wars have been fought repeatedly, but both sides have been cautious to avoid risking damage to the valuable locks and the lucrative passage fees they earn. Possession of the Lock changed repeatedly between the implacable undead legions of Kadaver and the doughty sailors of the Republic, until eventually the merchant lords ruling Bajapur pointedly made known their displeasure at the instability.
Relations between the two countries settled into an icy neutrality, with an independent authority created to administer the Lock and divide the royalties between the nations. Auditors from each realm are exquisitely formally polite to one another, while their escorting armed guards glower silently.
The length of the canal through the mountain was exquisitely shaped and carved by the stone giant artisans, and dwarven stonemasons are often to be seen aboard ships navigating the locks as they admire the work. Each lock gate is controlled by fantastically finely balanced counterweights, and huge mechanical pumps push and pull the river water between the sections. There is only the slightest grate of stone on stone as the doors swing, yet they seal flush and watertight when closed.
Each lock gate weighs many tonnes, and the gates and pumps are controlled by huge dwarven-made chains, each link the height of a full-grown dwarf. A mixture of golems, automata, and tamed monsters are used to work the various mechanisms as needed, including the huge valves that fill and empty each chamber of the lock from the nearby lakes. Although the locks are filled and emptied with lakewater by gravity, when the water is pumped out and back to the lakes the work is done by huge waterwheels spinning in the flow of the river, with energy stored in clever dwarven flywheels. Teams of human and dwarven engineers from nearby Baross ensure that everything is kept at peak functioning at all times, with maintenance carried out at a strictly regulated breakneck pace every night after the locks close for the last transit.
Using the locks cuts weeks off the travel time for shipments, while allowing merchants to avoid the hazards of land travel. The powerful professional navy of the Wyrmsea Republic also protects shipping throughout the south-eastern end of the Wyrmsea and the Wyrm Straits, so piracy is limited. This allows Kadaver and the Republic to gain healthy tolls from users of the Locks, while the strength of the Bajapurian merchant houses prevents those tolls from becoming excessive.
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