Clockwork Technology

- Clockwork is some of the finest, and only, engineering you are likely to encounter around Guildereim.

While it's not unheard of it is uncommon, since not only is it difficult to learn but requires expensive and precious materials such as precision tools and valuable metals. However it remains more than simple engineering, the process of using gears and springs to produce incredibly accurate machines, able to tell time, power small devices, play music and even simulate the movements of the stars in the sky. It's even possible to build much larger clockwork devices, although such things are very seldom seen by the common man and even more rarely owned. Still, it is more art than engineering that makes it so rare. It usually consists of fine detail and minute work that has to be utterly accurate. Few have the skill to learn, even fewer can master such a difficult subject.

Likely items of clockwork to encounter:
  • Musical devices
  • Time pieces
  • Small trinkets and toys*Rare examples of Clockwork
  • Vehicles
  • Weapons
  • Traps
  • Animals or People


Weaponry

  • Any and all blades, hammers, axes, etc are allowed as long as they're not say.. lightsabers or motorized blades.
  • Nothing that requires electricity. Tazers as we know them wouldn't exist, but magical items that would create the shock of a tazer would be allowable.
  • Firearms:
    • Cannons - Stuff the powder in, then the cannonball, point and light the fuse. They're perfectly allowable, just remember that they have a huge recoil and need to be chained down.
    • Flintlock pistols and muskets - These weapons require black powder to be poured into a priming pan and powder to be poured into the muzzle or breech and a metal ball to be placed infront of the powder as the projectile. No weapons with fully encased metal bullets as we know them would be fitting with this setting.
    • Pepper-box weapons - For your multishot needs. These weapons have two to many muzzles. All must be loaded beforehand and the plate spins like a revolver. Between each shot, the black powder on the primer plate must be replaced. Though you get more shots from these weapons, they are less accurate than the single shot varieties.
    • Blunderbuss - For when you just really want a shotgun. These are similar to flintlock muskets, but they have shorter muzzles and are loaded with small diameter bullets or "shot."
    • Grenades - No pull the pen and throw types of grenades. These would be less reliable grenades in the form of molotov cocktails or containers filled with gunpowder (and perhaps scrap metal) with a fuse that is lit before throwing. These are very dangerous to the user as fuse burning times can vary.


Music

- Live only, no phonographs or player pianos. With magical help, something resembling a phonograph or player piano would be possible, but it would be a rarity and prohibitively expensive. Say 1500 gold or more.


Food and Kitchen

  • Ice - This is created magically at the Tether and food is also kept cold via enchantments. For the average person, food would be cured to be stored for any length of time.
  • Food of almost every kind is available at the Tether as it's a cultural hub.
  • Seafood is cheaper and more abundant than red meat because domesticated animals require large pastures and the rocky/jungle terrain of the island doesn't allow it.


Communication

  • No cell phones/telephones/internet.
  • Slow communication:
    • Letters - Often travel by ship. It can take up to three days of travel just to reach the main land.
    • Carrier Pigeon - Faster than ship for shorter distances with less information. The message is less likely to be intercepted this way.
    • Slave/Courier - Generally this is on island only and the slave is tasked to take a message by foot or horse somewhere.
  • Quick Communication:
    • Magical Mirrors - These function in much the same way as a video phone, allowing instant contact with the person on the other side assuming they are at their mirror. This technology is also cost prohibitive and can easily run 2,500 gold.
    • Other types of fast communication include telepathy and teleportation and other abilities patrons may possess.


Transportation

- If it needs gasoline or a battery, count it out.
  • Mounts:
    • Traditional - Horses, scarhawks, camels, steer, oxen (for wagons mostly)
    • Flying - Griffins, Dragons, Winged Hybrids
    • Swimming - Dolphins, Sharks, Sea monsters
  • Ships - Ships are sail powered, not steam powered and are subject to the whims of ocean and weather. Passage is comparatively cheap and can house a few to many people.
  • Airships - These ships are kept in the air by hot air balloons or magical/elemental means. They are far, far more expensive than traditional ships, but about twice as fast.


Art

  • Pencils, charcoal, pens that are dipped in ink (quills, etc), and chalks.
  • Oil paint and water colors.
  • Wax is used to remove lead/charcoal from paper, and sandstone or pumice is used to remove ink.
  • Paper - Papyrus or parchment. Both are fairly rough paper even while new.
  • Books - are handwritten.


Medicine

  • Often more or less rudimentary. Organ transplants and huge surgeries are rare and extremely difficult.
  • Anesthesia is usually administered via ether or some other cocktail of herbs/etc known to put a patient into a coma for a short while. Some patients never wake up.
  • Sterilization is done via heat, boiling water, or alcohol.
  • For a badly broken bone, amputation may be the only choice to prevent death. However, such cases may be handed over to magical healers.
  • Birth control is administered to both the male and female slaves as a mixture of herbs in their food so that no baby slaves surprise the Tether. For patrons, birth control is available from the infirmary, as is a morning after cocktail. Sheepskin condoms are the norm.
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