| abstract | - The Engineers Guild is one of the most important, powerful and secretive of all the Craftsmen Guilds of the Dwarfs, whose purpose is in providing the Everlasting Realm with the latest in a long-line of technological advancements and magnificent machinery. This illustrious institution is located within the great workshops of Zhufbar, located along the shores of the massive lake known famously as Black Water. It is from here that the Guild regularly teach new and would-be Dwarf Engineers on the basic's on mathematics and standard engineering. Most of their inventions are practical: pump to clear water from mine workings, engines to draw steel cages up vertical shafts and steam-powered drilling devices to penetrate the underworld. Since their beginning, the Engineers Guild has also developed machines for battle, war engines to wreak havoc upon their foes. Despite many technological breakthroughs, it is a conservative guild, believing proven methods are best. Innovation is frowned upon, and apprentices are taught that, ‘new ideas lead to trouble’. Naturally, some youths oppose this mindset and tinker with outlandish inventions. Most, such as the alcohol vapour engine, come to a bad end, but a few are begrudgingly accepted. The tension between creation and tradition has caused many visionaries to be expelled from the guild, which has a number of traditional (and highly embarrassing) rites of expulsion. Some win re-admittance if their invention later wins acceptance, although typically, acknowledgment occurs long after its creator’s death. For those few Engineers, the exile is often the anvil upon which many fantastical inventions are forged.
|
