Electricity

Electricity was a harnessable natural force found in Indratera. Modern electrcitiy was harnessed by rapidly spinning Waldenstromm Coils which drew in vortices of electrostatic fields, using Mithril bearings to eliminate friction and heat, and then stored the charge in Serite Crystals.
== How Electricity in Indratera Works ==
Though electricity was known to ancients, mages, and astronomers as the pure form of lightning, it had never been captured enough to use in industry. The scientists of various cities sometimes found ways to use it briefly, but until the 1550s, it was only temporary, and dangerous.
The precise modern mechanism to do so was discovered by the scientist Dr. Arnu Waldenstromm at some point in the 1550s. Arnu had placed herself in voluntary exile in the tiny East Rakkimarran town of Vörgåsen and there, she and her assistant Bertrand Malloy discovered how to harness it. Waldenstromm Coils, Mithril, and Serite Crystals were the 3 main ingredients of electricity.
=== Waldenstromm Coils ===
The Waldenstromm Coils were huge metal coils made of copper (copper's name in Euluska was translated as Lightning Metal). These coils were rotated to draw in galvanised air from natural electrostatic fields, which was faster during storms or at high altitude. The drawing-in created a vortex of air and a wondrous light show.
=== Mithril Bearings ===
Mithril was a subterranean natural metal occurring when any other metal was put under intense heat and pressure for prolonged time. It was noted because it could not be warmed or cooled - all energy that spread across Mithril became harmonious sound. Mithril machine parts never experienced friction or overheating, and it was very expensive and rare, being mainly mined by the Darim, Verdis, and Malphurians. It was used for the bearings and gears in the Waldenstromm Coil - with iron or steel bearings, the machine would overheat and break rapidly when spun.
=== Serite Crystals ===
The Serite crystals were naturally occurring silverish-purple crystals which were noted for their ability to store incoming energy. Therefore, they were used as energy sinks - they would act like batteries, glowing brightly as they were fed with stored electricity from the coil. When struck, they released their energy.
== A History of Electricity ==
=== Ancient Understanding ===
In the natural world, it was found in many places known to people. These included sea creatures like eels and rays, lightning storms, static electricity, and animal bodies themselves. Ancient societies understood and linked these animals and phenomena. 
For example, the Proto-Gildegran word for 'Eel', found in the cold waters of east Gildegra and western Rakkimar, was tuaqqarmiqikalliq, which roughly translates to 'thunder sea snake'. This gave evidence that these people understood the connection between a shocking animal and the weather.
In another example, the Old Rakki people described static electricity first, noting the slight shock one gets when touching a weapon or piece of metal with the word guranmannetti, which can be traced from the Proto-Tarkassic words karan and mana, thus roughly meaning 'lightning hand' or 'lightning touch'. 
=== Medieval "Guided Galvanism" ===
'Report 3a dated 2/8/1219, Professor T.E. Zeikos. Recent research has found that tall metal structures attract lightning best. Arcing behaviour also witnessed between arrangements over short distances. In addition, copper rods found to propagate lightning energy most efficiently and smoothly. One injury suffered by research team whilst moving rod number 6. Spidery burn marks witnessed on Dr. S. Vetzan's right arm down to left leg, combined with slight amnesia. No further damage caused. We are getting somewhere.During the 1200s in Datria, thanks to the work of a team of Euluskan researchers at the University of the West Danderillon led by Professor T.E. Zeikos and Dr. S. Vetzan, it was discovered that lightning could be 'guided' or 'coaxed' to a particular spot using metal pylons and poles. They also discovered that copper was the most efficient of the metals available to them for propagating it. However, there was not a whole lot of practical use to this, as they had nothing to use the power for. Nonetheless it piqued the curiosity of many more scientists. This led to breakthroughs in equations and understandings. From the 1200s to the late 1400s, these discoveries accelerated.
=== Rakkimarran "Copper Mazes" ===
'My friends, you may know of the land of Rakkimar, and its dangerous weather. Indeed, in the far off north, in the stormy mountains of the Kaserini, there are so many storms that the locals have taken to capturing the lightning in metal cages, and using it for their own ends to warm their homes.' 
-Henri Angier, exaggerating as he introduced his show Shock and Awe.
Scientists in Datria and Rakkimar discovered ways to channel electricity using complex "Copper Mazes" - arrangements of mountaintop rods and copper cables in the 1300s. They then used this energy to makes fires, melt snow, heat buildings, or create small but dazzling lights. It was progress, though it was slow. These experiments were often limited to small isolated stations in the snowy wilderness. Meddling with lightning was seen as dangerous due to how innately destructive it was - and indeed, these fears sometimes were justified, as its power to maim, kill, and cause fire was notable. Live electricity was highly lethal. 
Setbacks were a problem too. At the University of the Datria, years of research and technology were lost during the Violet Catastrophe during the Year of the Four Horsemen (1490); the explosion of the research department meant many prototypes, papers and even crucial people themselves were lost to tragedy. 
=== Mackenzie's "Lingering Current" ===
'Our reach exceeds our grasp.'In the 1500s in Felonil, invention was taking off. Johnovver Mackenzie 'invented' (stole) the idea of an electric copper-cable propagated telegraph from an unknown small scientist, and this was one of the first uses of electricity in the city for a while. The energy was harnessed into these copper wires by small 'forests' of copper pylons outside the city on a raised hill here or there, providing lingering current in the telegraph wire system. However, the current could not be stored - it lingered, but dissipated. In addition, the rods that drew the electricity kept melting after five or six lightning strikes. And, during periods with no storms, there was no lightning to fuel the system. It was temperamental at best. During this time a lot of workers on these systems were hit and killed by lightning. The skin effect on people was well noted by doctors, who eventually termed the branching burns as Ophiuchus Figures. 
=== Waldenstromm's "Captured Electricity" ===
In the 1550s, the work of J. Arnu Waldenstromm laid the groundwork for the harnessing of electricity. The 3 ingredients are visible at the top of the page. A machine was made for Henri Angier by Waldenstromm capable of using electricity simply for showmanship, but this machine kickstarted a chain of events that culminated in Waldenstromm's lab being ransacked and destroyed by her rival Johnovver MacKenzie. Luckily, Waldenstromm and her assistant survived, and at the behest of the Vortic Mercatorium (who offered her protection), she began teaching them how to build machines of clean, safe electrical power. This was unveiled in Halcyon in the 1570s, and by 1575, the whole city was hooked up to a central grid, with electric lightning, heating, communications, and more. Aurora, Rakkimar was the second city to acquire an electrical grid by 1576. These inventions were used for trains (Galvanic Rail), lights, heating, and more! 
== Collapse ==
After the intense geomagnetic flares during The Everlasting Night, global electric mechanisms generally ceased to work, and malfunctioned or exploded. Electricity in the Collapse era was exceedinly rare. One example of it was the St. Esmerelda Train.
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