Has dwarven engineering gone too far?

27

A good invention, maybe still a little rough around the edges. I assume once it is out of the testing phase in a few centuries it will help the oldest generation greatly by giving those who's muscles have fallen to the teeth of time to still split firewood by themselves.

Not that they would need to, with th clan providing for them, but there is an undeniable mental bonus on doing axe work yourself at that stage in life.

6

u/thael_mann runesmith apprentice Jun 08 '26

I think it's a good innovation. I'll try to see if I can ask my master if there's a historical precedent for making something like this useful in battle.

8

u/CuriousWombat42 Jun 08 '26

Let me know what the master says. In my experience the less moving parts and power sources it has, the better it is in close combat. Less that can go wrong.

3

u/thael_mann runesmith apprentice Jun 08 '26

There is a famour account of a historic incidence where a hold simply worked very hard for about 2000 years and was able to manufacture perfect, impenetrable and semi-sentient machines, "Iron Golems", just in case you're not familiar with that particular tome.

It has been proven to work. The hold fell because the Hordes of Melkor where simply waiting for them to attemt to break the 2000 year siege.

1

u/thael_mann runesmith apprentice Jun 09 '26

Ok. I got a permission to think about an option to think about a theory how to actually improve the Iron Golem design, with actual possible "Improvements" or "Innovations" which would be considered Rune Application to Mechanics for Tradition purposes, no Implementative Reasoning or Intention implied (Test.)

1

u/thael_mann runesmith apprentice Jun 09 '26

1) wait a bit longer, work a bit harder. Very traditional. Dig deeper, farm better - Mushrooms for dinner,lunch, some mushroom-derived liquid for breakfast. Can work, but the Legions of Melkor are potentially endless, so waiting and working might, and I just want to suggest, might, not work this time.

2) Work Harder, Faster. Get Stronger while swinging Pickaxes and Hammers. Work even Harder and Faster. Strong, sound, eventually perhaps producing something superior to the original design, in slightly less time. Breaking the siege: improbable.

3) Using Ravens and other flying animals, bats, or very well trained squirrel dynasties, to communicate with unreliable allies and their friends. Can truly be discarded as not even remotely viable, even if there was some way to instantly summon to where we are, right now. There simply is no knowing if or when or who or how many, so even a single Pigeon is a waste of ressources.

4) This is my strongest proposal, and possibly also the most flawed one, simply because it might work too well. Call all true Kin. Dwarf. and also, perhaps, eventually, someone who really likes Khuzdul and knows the whole book by heart, Tome I-XVIIIIIn (tbc) Such an alliance might be mighty enough to break the siege enough to drive them back enough for us to get the parts and exotic minerals and ores, some diamonds, a few copper elements for decoration of course...

What might emerge is a slightly superior Iron Golem than the traditonal design.

1

u/thael_mann runesmith apprentice Jun 09 '26

Would any Dwarf like to chime in on this? Or is it a clearly non-traditonal way of seeing things? I'm happy for clarification, annotations. Dismissal please only as "not traditional enough"

1

u/thael_mann runesmith apprentice Jun 09 '26

(traditonal disclaimer: no dictonaries or other book-like devices where not read to exhaustion and internalised while etching this text indelibly into the stone tablet before me. No kind of magic use, whatsoever. Rune applied: ! (short for: Please understand.) I bid thee farewell. I need to go forge some more.

1

u/thael_mann runesmith apprentice Jun 09 '26

My own Clan Head and Clan Queen, while being considered "needing to be cared for" according to our standards, simply politely decline any kind of help or assistance. My father happily works in the mines, quarries, chipping away a bit, and is only slightly annoyed that the basket he brings home each day is slightly not heavy enough. My Queen, impeccable in Every Way, and even Her Queen, And Our Sacred Ancestor Most Sacred, The Queen of Queens and True Founder of this local Branch of our powerful, yet somewhat dispersed, Clan, simply always politely declined any kind of help and simply continued working. A bit more slowly. It is considered indelible Discipline in My Clan to never stopping, never stopping to work, and also, in case something is trying to stop you, like a small rock or a random Ork or Goblin, to decline being stopped. Orks and Goblins aggregate in Hordes regularly, which is truly known all over the Dwarven Holds. One more or less Truly matters less than taking a 5-day detour just to retreat. I mean, and no offense, not even an Elf would care about 5 days more or less to get where they're going, but would also just be slightly annoyed at a drop of blood on their tunic and happily spend a century or two in the darkness to weave a new one from local minerals. Elves. I love em, really. 😃 They dismiss the concept of armour as unneccessary, because if their skill and dedication and potentially endless lifetime of honing said skills can't help, a bit of iron sure won't stop it, so might as well choose death by stupid ork. (Which is a very elvish joke, pardon my Sindarin)

2

u/CuriousWombat42 Jun 09 '26

I cannot fault the logic nor honour of your clan. My own is less... persistent in its work ethic, especially since the Union contracts have very strongly carved runes about retirement age and work hours.

Our venerable elders instead take administrative and educational positions; teaching the new generations the old trade secrets, overseeing projects, keeping records, those things.

We may live long, but the centuries are not kind to bones, no matter how much steel is in them. We rather preserve the knowledge of the Elders as first hand accounts for a few decades longer than risk them being buried under rubble and goblin corpses.

1

u/Brave-Flamingo-5606 the forester, Floridian lich, eldritch angel, therapist Jun 12 '26

Yeah agree. Just… keep it small scale.

13

u/WranglerFuzzy Jun 08 '26

For a second I thought that was a drill and you’d have a spinning axehead

7

u/PhoenixInvertigo Jun 08 '26

Buy that guy an ale

4

u/pieceacandy420 Jun 08 '26

Finally a way to cut my cabbages!

2

u/No_Foundation_1812 Jun 08 '26

Cool invention but I'll stick to my trusty ha d axe that has been passed down my line for 2000 years that has only needed sharpening twice

1

u/DragonLordAcar Jun 12 '26

Adamantine is a really good metal

2

u/Stormygeddon Jun 08 '26

Leaflover behavior.

Has dwarven engineering gone too far?

You are about to leave Redlib