Arcane Engines

The Age of Expansion (AE) was an age of discovery and advancement. No longer did the population of The Kingdom of Archaria need to live in a primitive feudal society, where magic was rare amongst ordinary people, for in in the year 1 BAE (Before Age of Expansion), a floating city of Sky Gnomes, of enormous airships lashed together with rope and bunting, was captured over Ancient Zerbath. At last, humans and other land-dwelling people could unlock the secrets of sky gnomic technology! They had the power to produce it on a massive scale, and soon arcane engines were working in every city. They lit the winding streets and cluttered buildings of The City of Keelford with globes of crackling magical light in streetlamps, they allowed for hulking vehicles to speed across the plains and through the forests upon rails of iron. They built cannons infused with arcane energy to blast apart enemy formations, and even simple magical items to be used in every-day life. The Arcane Engines powered it all.
These glory days have long since passed. The wide and stately avenues of Gerrendale have been cast into shadow, the empty streetlamps lining the streets standing as derelict monuments to what once was. Factories lie ruined and dormant, their walls of crumbling brick festooned with lichen, their mortar turned to dust and sand, their wide and hollow interiors rife with decay. Now, the arcane engines are thrown back over The Blackwyrm Mountains and into The Lands of Ruination that they created in 53 AE. They lie thickly strewn across the mountainside, gathering rust and clogged with sepia dust, their ancient metal frames rotting like ancient bones in a graveyard of their own creation.

The Engines

Arcane engines are in fact a broad term describing the powerful technology created by Sky Gnomes, which was able to bypass Linain's Law (See sidebar). This includes magical transportation, such as railways, and magical armaments, such as arcane artillery and cannon. They often include many clockwork elements and leather piping and bellows through which magical energy is pumped around the machine.

Discovery

Sky Gnomes, being as reclusive as they are, have not disclosed how arcane engines were discovered in the first place, so as far as land dwelling people know, their discovery is lost to time. However, the first time the engines were brought to land was when sky gnome invisibility failed, revealing one of their floating towns flying over Ancient Zerbath. The Archarians on the ground through use of grappling hooks and flying mounts (e.g: Gryphons) were able to bring it down, capturing the sky gnomes and forcing them to produce the engines on a scale never before seen for use by The Kingdom of Archaria.

Public Reception

At first, the Arcane Engines were met with suspicion and hostility by the general population in Ancient Zerbath, leading to riots in the city, as the people believed that many jobs would be lost to the engines. It was Ommund Rifflock, High Priest of Hielel, Esteemed Sage of Mount Akkum, Noble Lord of the Kylis Tomes, Mightiest among Mortals, etc. (before he got all those titles) who calmed the crowds, arguing that the engines were sent by the knowledge god, Hielel, and that work would be created. He brushed over the fact that the sky gnomes were essentially slaves in Zerbath. Those who saw through his lies joined other gnomes and some elves and dwarves in a resistance movement to free the sky gnomes in an underground war known as The Engine Wars.

Availibility

When first discovered, the engines were only used for major infrastructure projects such as railways, but as time went by, enterprising individuals expanded the usage of the engines to printing presses, lighting and other commodities. Now, in the era of AR (After Ruination), the technology is banned, after it emerged that is was the cause of the disaster which spawned The Lands of Ruination (see sidebar). All arcane engines were ordered to be destroyed and thrown into the lands of ruination, resulting in huge scrapheaps strewn across the ruination side of The Blackwyrm Mountains. Some arcane engines are still out there, but are hard to come by, fetching huge prices on the black market.

Date Discovered

1 BAE / 0 AE

Date Expired

53 AE / 0 AR

Linain's Law of Artifice

Linain was an ancient artificer, famous for the discovery this law of artifice: The larger the arcane machine / magical item, the more unstable the magic within it will become. This makes it difficult to create larger arcane contraptions, and is what prevented land-dwelling races from creating arcane engines. Sky Gnomes however, were able to bypass this law through ingenious uses of Hielel's Cobweb, which is still not yet understood by land dwellers.

The Ruination

It is known by almost all that the Arcane Engines were the cause of the disaster which spawned The Lands of Ruination. However, the engines had been used for half a century by humans, and centuries before this by Sky Gnomes, without much ill effect, so what went wrong this time?

Gnome sabotage

During The Engine Wars, gnome freedom fighters were infamous for the sabotage of factories and infrastructure to spread confusion so that they could lead their sky gnome cousins out of Archarian slavery. Perhaps this time they went too far with their sabotage and the ruination was an unintended consequence?

Human Meddling

Sky Gnomes have an innate knowledge of arcane machinery, which Humans lack. Perhaps human magi tried to understand Arcane engines and create their own, only for these terrible consequences to occur? Maybe they were trying to create more powerful arcane war machines which the gnomes refused to make?

The Wrath of the Gods

Maybe the Gods didn't like it?