Technology of Karil

The technology of Karil has reached something of a Renaissance era level. The very first glimmers of an Industrial Age are showing, but such a thing seems unimaginable to the average island inhabitant. Education is still poor, but with the beginnings of mass production, and the invention of the pistol, aristocracy is probably on the way out, which could well mean better public education as producers realize their employees need to be smarter to run their machines.

Karilian technology is fairly advanced in several areas. Astronomy and sailing are both refined arts. Food is often preserved in jars. Some of the biggest cities have running water. New uses are constantly being thought of for steam power, including powering a new type of boat with metal sides.

Technology most shows its deficiencies where magic is typically used to great effect. Medicine is so primitive as to be more dangerous than it is useful. Happily, the practice of bleeding has never come into popular acceptance, but other modern practices are nearly as ill-conceived.

Among the marvels of the age are the Great Clocks of Mestin, the capitol of Anson. The clocks track the path of the sun across the sky and display the current date.

Also famous is the Water’s Thunder, the flagship of the Ketteran navy. It is propelled by an enormous steam boiler hooked up to a pair of armored wheels, much like an old Mississippii riverboat. Its sides are made from enchanted wood as thick as your leg with plates of metal covering that. When its battery of ballistae are manned and a squadron of alchemists perches on its upper deck, few ships could last against it, and almost none would even try.

Indicative of the mining technology are the mighty steam drills of Nasqui. Powered by wood or coal, they tunnel through the ground far faster than workers can. Of course, they ARE smelly, loud, and dangerous, but progress usually is.

Lastly, a bounder gunsmith named Weston teamed up with a slith blacksmith named Thrist, and together they have produced some of the greatest pistols the world has seen. Each is meticulously handcrafted over the period of one year, and is said to be accurate up to an incredible range of 50 feet! They don’t jam, and almost never misfire like most guns do. These pistols are very rare and sought after, sometimes bringing as much as a small ship, and occasionally even more than that.

Unusual Items of Karil

Karil has a number of trade goods that anyone from our world would find alien and mysterious. These fall into four general categories: vitae, alchemical products, enchanted items, and the elusive and rare heartstones.

Vitae appear to be gemstones that glow with an inner fire. They are believed to be concentrations of magical energy built up over decades. Some creatures that are inherently magical form vitae in their gullets, while others are found buried under enormous trees, deep in ancient caverns, perched atop high mountain peaks, and so on. Vitae are always the same size, about that of a dime. In darkness, they will illuminate a 1’ radius in a color that depends on their nature. The different forms of vitae that are known to exist are: water, fire, earth, air, light, dark, time, plant, animal, life, and death.

Vitae are valued for their use as bargaining chips in negotiations with extraplanar creatures, and as components for use in alchemical products.

Alchemical products and enchanted items are described in the mage spells portion of this book. The fifty listed alchemical products are the only known formulae currently, but there may be others hidden away or waiting to be discovered. As for enchanted items, it would be impossible to list them all as there is very little you can’t do with enchantment. That’s what attracts so many to such a dangerous profession.

As for heartstones, they are the rarest of all Karilian minerals. Perhaps this is because they are said to form only from the hearts of truly good and honest people, which are in short supply in the Karils. Whatever the truth to this legend, heartstones are small, brownish lumps of what almost appears to be congealed blood. When dissolved in wine and drunk, a heartstone adds +1 to an attribute determined by the DM, permanently. These never, ever sell for less than 10,000s, and usually go for 15,000-20,000s.