NationStates Jolt Archive


Technical Advancements in The Clokwerk Horde

The Clokwerk Horde
30-10-2006, 19:38
A loud pop echoed throughout the room, followed by the hiss of a cracked pipe. Cursing, the lead technician ran for his roll of plumbers tape, scrambling over and around the various levers, valves, and miscellaneous contraptions in his way. “Reroute pressure from boiler four to boilers five and six!” he yelled over his shoulder.

Returning with the tape, he quickly wrapped up the leak. A sigh of relief escaped his thin lips as the needle of the pressure gage began to climb back up. –and then fall sharply. “We’re loosing power,” grunted an aide, whilst struggling to tighten a rusty bolt. Swearing again, the tech turned and promptly tripped over a protruding wheel.

“Is it a problem with the coal?” he asked, in between vicious curses.

“No! I don’t know what it is!”

A second engineer appeared from the deck below. “The furnaces are cooling!”

“Give me that!” the technician wrestled the wrench from his aide’s hands. With a mighty heave, the heavy iron tool hurtled through the air and impacted a nearby machine.

“Pressure is rising,” called the surprised aide, “you did it sir!”

Wiping his hands on his dirty coveralls, the technician nodded sagely. “Of course I did.” Sometimes steamwork could be fussy, but as long as you knew where to hit it, everything worked out all right.

The heat from the furnaces was quite oppressive, and beads of condensation had to be constantly wiped from ones brow. “Engine room,” spoke a bronze tube bolted to a wall, “increase speed to 900g. We must not be late.” Sighing, the technician called in his confirmation over the roaring din of the constantly pounding cylinders of the main engine. For after all, their cargo was far too precious to be delayed.

* * *

OOC: The recent skirmish in the New Connohaugh system has revealed multiple flaws in the Clokwerk standing army. To help correct these, the following new technologies have been developed:

Double-walled boilers – Thicker plating and reinforcement bands allow boilers to provide two to three times as much power as before, increasing the speed, strength, and carrying capacity of all retrofitted Clokwerk.

Fine coal – A new process allows Clokwerk engineers to break down already mined coal and reconstruct it with higher percentages of carbon and sulfur, replacing less useful materials found in natural coal. The result is a hotter-burning fuel that creates steam faster and more efficiently.

Flarelocks – A lack of ranged weaponry, especially amongst Footmen, puts the Clokwerk at a significant disadvantage. To remedy this, the flarelock has been invented. The weapon is smithed in two different versions, the rifle and the pistol.

The flarelock rifle is by far the most common of the two, issued to every Footman that can get their hands on one. The barrel is some 6 ½ feet (2 meters) long and has a caliber of .95 inches (24 millimeters). A reservoir of oil is attached to the end of the rune-inscribed brass barrel. This source of ignition lights the shells on fire as they pass, adding to their destructive ability. Firmly tied to the barrel, below the oil pot, is an axe-head that can be used as either a tool or to turn the rifle into a halberd. The sharpened fore-end of the blade can also work as a bayonet. An ammo drum holding 6 rounds is housed above the trigger, allowing for semi-fast reloads.

Flarelock pistols are much like their larger cousins, only lacking the length of the barrel (the pistol is only 4 feet (1.2 meters) long) and the axe-head. The ammo drums only hold three rounds, so the flarelock pistol is almost exclusively used by officers not in direct combat. The main advantage the pistols have over the rifles is that they can be double wielded.

No matter the version, flarelocks are quite deadly. However, the kickback on these weapons is truly immense, so only the psychically stabilized hands of the Clokwerk can properly use them.

Shokwerk – The Shokwerk were created to fill the great need for Psi Witches (or, at least, their powers). Forged with the arcane “electric” technology in mind, the Shokwerk are the next generation of Clokwerk. They can channel spells and whatnot nearly as well as any Psi Witch, cost much, much less in time and effort, and may use the new flarelocks with greater ease. Shokwerk come in as many sizes and shapes as Clokwerk, but in general resemble humans wearing ornate armor. Another advantage they have over Psi Witches is that they can “charge” fellow Clokwerk, enhancing the blast radius and power of the explosion following the Clokwerk’s death. A picture can be found here (http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a210/Zipline/NemFight.jpg) (the two pictured are fighting over which Vladistalk likes best). One interesting side effect of the introduction of Shokwerk to an area is that everything electronic, including power armor and sensors, ceases to function within 15 feet.

Gattlers – During the skirmish over New Connohaugh, the Clokwerk Flyers were nearly helpless against the small ships of the enemy armadas. To fix this, the Gattler was invented. Basically a steam-driven, water-cooled gatling gun, these weapons require a three-man crew to operate (1 gunner, 1 loader, and 1 engineer). Ammunition belts are dumped into a large hopper on the right side. To actually fire, the engineer must pull a large lever in the floor of the machine to connect the power couple of the boiler with the drive shaft of the gun. Then the gunner simply keeps the crosshairs on the target, and the gun does the rest.

Spidurz – As every reader of fiction knows, if you create a steampunk universe, it is required by international law that you include a steam-powered giant spider. I now comply with that law. Spidurz range in size, like all other Clokwerk, but generally have six 50ft (15.2 meter) legs, a large, square body with four decks, and a box-shaped head in the front. Weapons are usually restricted to Gattlers, mortars and cannon, but there really is no procedure for arming them.

Drillers – An offshoot of the creation of the Rollers, Drillers are basically mechanical moles. Equipped with a massive drill bit, a highly durable tracked motion system, and an ultra-reinforced iron hull, these cylindrical contraptions are capable of transporting up to 300 Footmen (depending on the size of the individual model) into a planet’s mantle, and then bring them out safely somewhere else. Drillers are also very useful for undermining fortifications.

Land Ships – A Land Ship is, more or less, a naval vessel with some form of terran locomotion. In other words, it’s a boat with tracks (or wheels, or legs, etc). Although Land Ships only work on relatively flat ground, their extremely long range, thick armor, and high-caliber weapons make them the perfect counterpart to a flotilla of Zeps. Some Land Ships are even able to launch and recover Scrammers.

Bombwerk – Bombwerk are Footman with a few modifications: namely, the replacment of most of their body with a giant furnace and boiler. A tiny head sits atop this hulking pressure cooker, directing the seemingly-small limbs to deliver the Bombwerk warrior to its target. Once there, enormous pressure builds inside the boiler within seconds, which then bursts in a mad shower of shrapnel and scalding water. Cheap to construct, easy to field and highly destructive, Bombwerk are the perfect troop moral assassins.