1410

## **One Year since North Point ground breaking**

At the One Year mark, **1410 DR**, the House Stonehearth Capital is officially moved into the keep.

Construction on the main keep had reached the point that the Marquis moved off the Man o’ War and into the heavy granite structure. A Mythal was already being crafted and heavy cannons were on high points with clear fields of fire. They had ranged their fire in practice, and were able to track, lead and target any point within visual.

That was a good thing given that trolls alone were the rough equivalent of angry war wagons…

As NPK stabilized its immediate area, Stonehearth developed the local economy.

The marquisate paid homesteaders to start farming the nearby highlands, hired fishermen to feed the work crews and so on. Meanwhile, Stonehearth started their own mining company, prospecting the nearby hills.

This was in support of the docks that were built just north of the keep. With a safe harbor came a steady stream of maritime traffic. With their location just south of the prized-but-difficult Orlumbor islands, and mid-way between Baldur’s Gate and Waterdeep, their traffic virtually exploded.

With the constant flow of the river, there were mills that utilized water wheels outside the walls. This hamlet quickly turned into a village named “Mill Stretch” – and that had a true frontier feel: they were as protected as they could be, but operationally, Stonehearth couldn’t extend the walls that far. In the main city, there was enough of a breeze that small windmills on towers assisted work done within the city.

It wasn’t just staple farming, Stonehearth was encouraging cash crops.

The wider variety of agriculture developed the economy of the area as much as the subsistence necessities. Recreational agriculture (like tobacco and similar) were immediate crops, as well as the raw materials for the massive SMC potions business.

One of the quickest cash crop fields came the herbalist – and it wasn’t even magic. Rather, this was agriculture to support a concoction mostly of concentrated silphium (a fennel-family herb thought to be extinct) that acted as a powerful “morning after” contraceptive measure.

That was a huge seller – *and sold only at North Point*.

## **The SMC invents commercially-available *Magical Lighting***

The Magical Discovery was invented in the Gate, but released in North Point. It was possible to create magic that did nothing but create light. That light, they quickly found, could vary in intensity, brightness, color, duration and source.

From starting as a replacement for a burning torch, it had quickly evolved to shining crystals, to formless fog of twinkling light.

They lighted the side of the castles with a warm tone at night, making it a beautiful sight (and making it impossible to sneak around the castle at night without being seen). On occasion, they cast clouds of twinkling “stars” to hover over the castle at night. Sometimes they moved, sometimes they would twinkle in place.

The Magic Itself

* This was intended to replace candles, oil lamps, torches, etc.
* It could be immediately sold in a dozen fashions (and expanding rapidly)
* It was considerably safer than open flames. Doesn’t dim, won’t go out in rain, etc.
* Magical power sources came from a dozen different directions, with some more expensive than others.
* Some were extremely cheap models that had no crystal, and once faded, were discarded.

They were working on permanently enchanted models that also used no crystals – but already some in the capacity, they were nowhere near release yet.

## **Back the Gate, “Strong Steam” exploded…**

While the new home base was the focus, not everything orbited North Point. Over the last 16 years, steam now reliably operated with 50 psi, and had low speed variability for consistent work. They experimented with different engine configurations, including creating the Cornish steam engine and the Porter-Allen high speed engine.

By 1410, the inspiration had been brewing for the Compound engine.

By mid-year, they’d created the “Rotary Valve Engine” (essentially a Corliss steam engine), jumping in efficiency yet again. The Corliss engine had greatly improved speed control and better efficiency, making it suitable to all sorts of industrial applications, including spinning.

The College engineers used separate ports for steam supply and exhaust, which prevented the exhaust from cooling the passage used by the hot steam. They also used partially rotating valves that provided quick action, helping to reduce pressure losses. The valves themselves were also a source of reduced friction, especially compared to the slide valve, which typically used 10% of an engine's power. They also used automatic variable cut off. The valve gear controlled engine speed by using the governor to vary the timing of the cut off. This was partly responsible for the efficiency improvement in addition to the better speed control.