Rebuilding Science in a Magic World

After getting all the terrace work figured out with Zeb, I found myself wondering what I should personally work on next.  While I could have just assisted with the existing projects for a while, instead, I could also get a head start on some of the things that need done in the next few years.  For instance, while we just had the auction a few months ago, I could grow the next crystal early, and we could use it ourselves for a bit.

I could, honestly, grow the next two crystals even, just to have it done.  By then, we should have the new artificial tide pool completed, and I'd expect that the tunnel will have made it far enough that I could spend a few days using maximum power tectonic sense to see if I find any deposits or other points of interest.  This winter, I have quite a large list of import requests I'd like to make.  After those start getting delivered, I'll have a lot of projects I want to work on, so it's probably for the best if I plan on getting the crystals finished now, rather than later.

Given that I had focused my efforts before on growing the larger crystals, I ended up spending just over four months growing the next two auction crystals.  In the downtime on the mountain, I also completely depleted the deposits of mana crystals from the surrounding area I'd mapped out with tectonic sense.  Which, after doing some calculations, and excluding the moderately large natural crystals, it seems like these two crystals are the extent of what this deposit can grow. 

I could dip into the medium sized crystals, and have enough material to grow two more large artificial crystals, so it's not like we're doomed, but the medium and larger natural crystals are actually pretty useful in their current state, since they're portable, and don't hurt to use directly.  Though I'll need to consider how useful they'll actually be if they're just left up here on the mountain, rather than turned into larger crystals.  If the tunnel finds a deposit, I could always attempt to move some of the crystals down using stations of the mana absorbing poison during an eclipse.  I'm sure that'd also speed up tunnel construction over time as well, so it's something I'll consider doing in the future.

Right now though, we're very close to winter, so I'm going to haul one of these two crystals down, and install it near one of our many ongoing worksites that could use the extra mana source.  After that, I'll get our trade goods organized for the year, and head over to the far side of island.  I plan on requesting the merchant make a double trip this year, so I'll probably spend the whole winter on that side of the island.  They've been hauling stone from the terrace project to that side of the island, so I'll start working on getting those jetties I discussed made.

Once all the salt and paper was ready for trade, I brought a bunch of goblins along with me to the other side of the island to help haul everything.  Unlike previous trips, where we were the only ones on the road, the inns along the way were quite busy, as carts full of stone were parked overnight full of literal tons of stone making the journey every day from one side of the island to the other.

Once we arrived on the other side of the island, it was apparent that I had a lot of work ahead of me, as did the goblins that I brought with me.  Months of stone being cut and piled over here has resulted in a few very large piles having formed.  I'm glad that they're at least somewhat organized.  One pile is comprised of larger, oddly-shaped stones, another of smaller oddly-shaped stones, and the final pile is made of smooth cut stone, which would be easy to stoneshape together.

What's a little more interesting is that the stone arrives only sorted in two types, smooth cut, and oddly-shaped, and the goblins unloading sort their load before returning home.  I asked one goblin why they did that, and he just shrugged and said, "It's what everyone else is doing, so I'm doing it too."  After I asked a few more goblins, it seemed like none of them knew exactly who had started the organization this way.  It will make my job easier though, since the larger stones are the ones we want to use for the jetty base, and the smaller stones can simply be poured in between the larger stones before the outer layers are attached.

Before that though, there was actually a decent chunk of work that we had to do first.  Both flanks of the bay on this side of the island were still overgrown, and had no roads reaching the edges.  The bay is flanked by small ridges that reach further out into the water during high tide, though at low tide, it's less pronounced.  So, I wanted to extend our roads along the sides reaching to where I want the jetties to be.  Part of achieving that goal required me to cut down a few dozen trees, which barely moved the compass on my level.  By the time all the trees were cut, I'd gained a single level, and based on when I last gained one, I was already pretty close before cutting them down.

I was interrupted while I was working by the trader arriving.  He had quite the haul of goods that were requested last year.  Some waterproofing supplies, a bunch of iron, some more bargas, various human and dwarven goods, and some tools that were requested by our craftsman.  Initially, I just assumed the tools were for the dwarves and humans, but as it turns out, a few were for our carpenter goblins and our weaver.  When I get back to the city, I'll have to ask them about how they came about requesting these goods, though I suspect it was conversation with some of our continental residents that informed them of certain tool's existences.  I'm all for it, we have the money for the tools, and I've basically moved on from building tools for most of our craftsgoblins, so it's a good alternative.

I then placed our orders for the next year.  I placed a large order for quartz sand for making glass, though we'd also take recycled glass to use instead.  I used up quite a lot of our available quartz supply while making the greenhouse, though most of it had been used up in retrofitting old buildings, so it hasn't been a huge detriment that we're nearly out, but it could become one in a year's time.  Next, I placed an order for some seeds that would be grown at higher altitudes. 

Given the dwarven continent is fairly mountainous, I expect they also have a large diversity of plants that they've learned to grow in different climates.  We don't have that much land at higher altitudes, but it'd be nice to start taking advantage of that space, especially if they have some good plants for it.  I explained our different altitudinal climates to our merchant friend, and he said he knew of a few plants that he'd bring around next year.

Unfortunately, I didn't get any news back from Konkur on any of my questions.  I hope that he's doing fine, and just unable to respond for some reason or another.  Despite that, I did have another note made for him, discussing the questions I had about fluorite abundance and uses.  The merchant didn't have any new samples of fluorite for me either, nor did he have much of an idea of it, since it's usually not traded.  Him and Shasta both had a vague idea that it's sometimes used in dwarven deep forges, which peaked my interest.

I asked them about what a deep forge was, given the name, I had a decent idea, and my guess ended up pretty close.  They're forges constructed deep under mountains, where very little mana gets to.  When a new mountain is designated for mining out, they first dig a central deep forge, where all the ore will be transported and smelted.  Large fans keep air flowing through the central tunnel, ensuring there is enough oxygen for smelting, while the consistent temperature that deep underground makes precision processes easier.

We had our brief rise in fame temporarily thanks to our mangalloy, but ultimately, dwarven steel is considered the best on the market, and master smiths hone their craft in the constant climate controlled environment of a deep forge.  Most deep forges are operated by a regional warlord or the emperor who can afford to pay the large workforce to support them.  Outside of that, they still have plenty of normal blacksmiths, like Karsh.

So, I also ended up paying for a few ingots of dwarven steel, just to see it for myself.  All that was in addition to the other metals I ordered, and more of the various humanoid's goods that they requested for this year.  After getting the trade settled, I paid a premium to have a load of the quartz sand and some of the metals brought over this winter again, then went back to working on the jetties while I waited for the merchant to return.