The Mechanical Era



12th of Heimz, 5018.

It was a cold, winter day in the city of Hoverdam. Carl, Armstrong, and Alan were all seated in a room, sitting on a desk, with their arms resting on a large wooden desk. They were all wearing their respective uniform, as the heat generated by the fireplace warmed up their bodies to the cozy level.

These 3 important figures had all been summed into the room, instructed to wait for Kant Maybale to arrive. The path to the door, and anywhere near it, is constantly being guarded by some DEF agents, as well as musketeer soldiers.

The men were all rather calm and comfortable with each other. As they waited, they began conversing with each other, about their lives, their wealth, and such. One of them, Alan, brought up a question.

"Say Mr. Armstrong, what was up with that suit?"

"Hmm?" 

"That suit. You know, the one with the blue suit and yellow tie? Did not go well together at all," Alan remarked. 

"I am colorblind," Armstrong replies. Alan was visibly shocked by the news, while Carl kept a level head as if he knew it was the case.

"What do mean by 'colorblind'? Can you not see color at all?" Alan questioned further, wanting to know more. 

"Well, I can see some colors. Though, I am not sure what the colors are. Often, I am told that one is one color, while another is another. But to me, they... they all look the same, and that makes it hard to differentiate between them." Armstrong answers. 

"Is that why your favorite color is blue, Mr. Richard Amstrong? Are all the other colors rather dull for you?" Carl adds in, wanting to join.

"Yes. That is why. How do you know?" Armstrong replies with his own question.

"I had a few agents of mine look at you before I got hired." Before they can continue their small talk, the door suddenly opens. Kant soon walks inside the room and sets a bunch of papers down. The men immediately stand up from their chairs and bow to Kant good morning. 

"Good morning, your majesty," they all speak out. 

"Good morning everyone. Sit down," Kant replies. The men obey. Kant walks over and closes the door. Then, with a key, he locks them inside. Kant then walks over to the window and looks outside. Using his head, he fully moves it left, right, up, and down, to confirm there was not anyone there.

"What is it, sir?" Alan asks.

"Nothing. I wanted to make sure nobody is listening," Kant replies, as he continues to look around. 

"Do not worry about it, sir. My agents didn't find anyone else, other than my own." After seeing that there was nobody there, Kant then walks back in and stands near the table, looking down at the other men. 

"Gentlemen, I thank you all for attending this meeting on time. We are here to discuss the future course of action and the general directions we will take this kingdom towards," Kant speaks. The men continue to remain silent.

"Now, due to some events that occurred within the span of years, our kingdom has found itself in a compromising situation. 

We have now become subject to the 'Aceaton Empire', who had managed to accumulate a large army march from the way from the city of Vallina, all the way to Hoverdam, located on the other side of the continent.

This has posed a security risk, that we need to deal with. As a result, I have come up with a plan, to mitigate this security risk, and maybe even eliminate it." Kant claimed.

"What is this plan, sir?" Alan asks.

"Simple. In order to patch up this security risk, we will have to rebuild or take massive amounts of influence over the northern side of the continent. This would create a buffer between the Aceaton Empire, and the kingdom of Hoverdam.

Now, I know that this will be challenging, however, I do believe it is possible thanks to a few key technologies that we have right now and a few that could be built in the future. Do you all understand?" 

"We understand sir. Although, I have a question. What are these technologies that you are speaking of?" Carl asks, a little curious.

"Well, the current two technologies are the steam engine locomotive and the firearm." Kant then hands over the first document to the three men and has them take a gander. The document features a map of the continent, featuring the rivers and the borders of the continent before and after the war.

On the rivers themselves, it featured arrows, pointing upwards from Vallina to the city of Hoverdam and other parts of the continent. These rivers were all connected to its tributaries, which connected most of the continent.

"As you can see on the map, the Aceaton Empire has a clear advantage in geography. As the rivers stream upwards, it would allow her troops to quickly make their way to the north, faster than the north can move any army down to the south.

With this geographic feature, it allows the city of Vallina to extend its power over its borders, and why it had been an important city throughout history," Kant explained as the men continue to examine the map.

"Now, in order to fix this problem, I thought of inventing a powerful steam-powered engine that could transport anything, whether it be materials, weapons, or people, across in a short period of time. This, as you all know, is a locomotive." 

Kant then hands them another piece of paper, this time depicting another map of the continent, with dotted lines all over it, connecting the cities altogether. 

"What you are seeing now, gentlemen is a theoretical railroad map. What I propose we do, is to build out a large rail network throughout the northern side of the continent, which we can use to integrate the other northern states, use them to extract important labor and materials, to grow our industrial base," Kant explained.