Dorne Locks

The Dorne Locks is a massive system of locks and dams in the city of Millechutes, allowing vessels to traverse the rapids and waterfalls of the Dorne River. Serving as the very bones of the city, the locks are a marvel of Coreunean engineering. The mechanisms that operate the enormous gates of the locks are all fairly simple in design. Steam engines provide power for the gears that open and close the gates and the water is allowed to flow from lock to lock by gravity alone. Steam-powered water pumps are connected to the locks in case of emergency, but these are no more complex than the smaller pumps made to drain water out of mines. What makes the locks impressive is not the complexity of the mechanisms but their sheer size. One section of gate can measure a hundred or more yards long and several yards thick. Made of dense oak and wrought iron plating, just one panel weighs several thousand tons. The cogs on the axles of the gates are so large that if one were turned upright, a man could stand between the teeth of the gear and not be able to reach them. The upper edges of the gates are paved with cobbles and used as streets while the gate is closed and the lock is cycling. Numerous walkways and bridges span the locks, and stairs and ramps connect the various terraces around the different levels of the locks.
In ancient days, boatmen had to land well before this stretch of river and were forced either to turn back or drag small boats on land around the falls. Trying to ride them out became a popular form of gallant suicide. Intrepid engineers of northern Coreune solved this problem using a series of mechanical locks built between 1450 and 1460. The construction of the locks cost a large fortune contributed by investors all along the river and the lives of 204 workers. Over 150 of those workers are entombed in the structure of the locks, buried where they fell during construction when their bodies could not be safely recovered. Although the process is tedious, the system of locks allows commerce to travel both directions on the Dorne and opens markets between the wine country north of the locks and the grain country south. Traders can even reach the sea if they are willing to cross Gallinou Marsh at the river's mouth. Traversing the lock system and passing through the city takes a typical merchant boat three or four days due to bureaucracy, customs inspections, and traffic congestion. Due to the locks' sheer size, even with all civilian traffic halted and all bureaucratic inspections waived, it still takes military vessels an entire day to travel through in an emergency - the enormous mechanisms and the millions of gallons of water they contain simply cannot cycle any faster.
Category:Locations in Millechutes
Category:Locks