The Works

“Gently does it!” a voice calls out as you approach what looks like some kind of outdoor factory. “This stuff s’posed ta be brittle!” the voice instructs. It seems you aren’t the only curious onlooker as a small crowd of townsfolk had turned out to watch the proceedings. The factory, or foundry, you aren’t sure exactly what to call it, appeared to be some kind of metal workshop, a few large stone blast furnaces dotting one side while forges and miscellaneous other blacksmithing equipment scattered around the rest of the space. It seemed that the city’s entire stock of metal workers had come out to take part in this experiment in cast iron.

“It’s a pot!!” came the cheer as a man thrusted a pot into the sky. A massive row of cheers echoed through the streets for a moment before another man frantically waved them off.

“Boil something in it first!” the man demanded and all of a sudden, the workmen began frantically looking around for some water. You summon an amphora full of water and cautiously hold it forward. One of the workmen saw the amphora and that you were proffering it before rushing over, taking the piece of pottery, looking into it and sniffing before rushing back, spilling a few drops as he went.

With the water on hand, a burly blacksmith slammed some charcoal into a forge and began aggressively working the bellows while a trio of wood workers carved some sort of assembly to hold the pot in record time. In mere minutes, the pot was full of water and coming to a rolling boil over a forge, the workmen crowding around it in spite of the heat. After several minutes of watching the pot boil, one of the workmen stepped back.

“WE’VE DONE IT!!!” The cheers turned up several decibels as caps and other head coverings were tossed into the air, men grabbing each other and dancing around in jubilation.

“I’m glad for them and all, but what does this all mean?” one woman asked, frowning as she watched what could be several hundred men having a victory party on the spot.

“They just figured out how to make cheap iron” you say. The woman turned to you and frowned. “So, they make a stone mould in the shape of whatever they want, like a pot for instance, they melt the iron down, pour it into the mould and wait for it to cool, there’s your pot” you explain. “They can have a hundred by tomorrow,” you say, “so long as they have the moulds, iron and charcoal” you add. The woman’s eyes widened comically as she turned towards the partying workers.

“What’s that mean for clay workers?” she asked in a quiet voice.

“Not much, still gonna need our amphora, plates, and cups” you reply “Especially our amphora” you add “But they will be limited by the charcoal and iron” you say “Charcoal needs to be produced and iron mined before it can be turned into pots and pans” you explain.

“Yes, but thanks to you we have a way of turning a profit in a hurry!” Tevron told you, waltzing up to you with a massive grin on his face.

“So this is where you got the scrolls from” the burly blacksmith from before rumbled as he too approached you.

“Yes, now we need to figure out how they did steel” Tevron said “I don’t understand this carbon business” he added with a frown.

“What is this ‘carbon’?” the blacksmith asked “And why is it important for steel? I heard you needed a red headed midget to piss on the metal” he said with a frown. You snort at that, people will invent any superstition it seems.

“Carbon is in all living things basically, especially wood” you tell them “Charcoal is a good source of it” you add “Basically, it’s the black stuff you get when you burn things” you explain. You are a little off put by how intense the blacksmith was staring at you.

“And how does this affect the metal?” he asks. You shrug in response, truthfully you have no idea why carbon affects metal the way it does but still.

“All I know is that Carbon makes steel, but it needs to bond with the iron” you reply “So with bloomeries, the iron drips into the charcoal used to fire them, which is a great source of carbon” you explain.

“And the carbon sticks to the iron! Of course!” the smith said, carrying on the thought for you.

“Cast iron, by contrast, does not drip into a bed of coals” you say and the smith nods repeatedly.

“So it would be brittle, it’s just raw iron with nothing to it! We probably even fire out some of this carbon!” he said, rambling on a little “But if we mix high carbon with low carbon” he muttered, stroking his massive beard.

“That’s the theory, apparently the folks in the Chinese Empire mixed bloomery iron with cast iron to make their steel” you say, the blacksmith nodded again.

“Possibly cut out that process and pour molten cast into a stone vessel and add carbon to the mix” the smith mused.

“I’ll leave it in your expert hands” you say before turning to Tevron “Got a minute?” you asked. The governor nodded and you took off at a nice casual pace away from the metal works.

“What is it?” Tevron asked with a frown.

“This is all well and good governor” you say, making sure to use the man’s title to remind him of his role “But women are selling themselves on the streets to buy food” you tell him. Tevron paused mid-step and his eyes went wide.

“What?” he asked in a small voice.

“It turns out that in a merchant town, there isn’t a lot of work to be done, other than something merchant related” you tell the man.

“The markets were one of the first things to go” Tevron said in a small voice

“It is now your job to deal with this” you say, turning to face the man. “I won’t tell you how to run your city right now, but I will if I have to” you tell him. Tevron nodded before getting a faraway look.

“I need to get back to the Works” Tevron told you “I’ll deal with this” he added before turning around and striding off, a certain authority in his step.