1316

## **A division of labor multiplies the product**

It was the nature of the industry – nearly *every* industry – that it was a cottage industry. There were a few notable exceptions, and they were usually large-scale projects. Dividing labor for smaller projects seemed superfluous: there wasn't that much demand for any given item. Even where there were waves of demand, like producing arms, that ebbed and flowed with the wars. It was easier to recruit more blacksmiths than it was to create the apparatus for existing blacksmith to produce more product.

The large-scale exceptions somewhat proved that rule. Mining had a division of labor, with specialists divided between the pick axe, to the cart drivers, to the sorting and so on. Ship building had specialists, but even then, the product would take months to complete. Castles and large structures had a division between unskilled (or minimally skilled) labor and craftsmen that were assembling the tricky parts. There, one person might work their entire life on the project and never see it "finished."

## Supply and Demand

At this point, Stonehearth needed serious output for everything they were creating. Eyeglasses, spyglasses, the books and scrolls, even the crossbows: the demand was far outpacing the capacity. Not only did this mean Stonehearth was leaving money on the table, it meant that they were sparking the rise of competitors to fill the need.

The small-scale exceptions also proved the rule, usually with a simple process creating a simple product. Watermills and windmills were perfect examples, usually limited to grinding grains (or, very rarely, operating bellows). Even then, mills through Faerûn were edgy mechanical advancements that usually required some schooling to make work properly (much less operate on a regular basis). If somebody knew a tinker, fantastic – but one didn't expect to see such high falutin' machines in every village that had a stream running through it.

### **Necessity is the Mother of Invention**

House Greathearth before them, and now House Stonehearth, had *exactly* that kind of tinker blood running through their veins. Equipped with both types mills, they brought the most import thing: the *frame of mind*. By 1316, they were adapting the concept of modular manufacture to more complex products.

This led House Stonehearth to invent a division of labour for small-item creation. This was the prototype of assembly lines in what was the first *manufactory* (a term that would eventually be shortened to “factory”). It was likely that the idea had come and gone a dozen times through history, but it had never held – opening the door to be reinvented now.

## The Tools and the Talent

Windmills were frowned upon in Baldur's Gate proper, but the open area of Hilcross to the east (near the fisherman's slums) was perfect. This led to Stonehearth staking big claims in the immediate and sparsely populated parts of the Outer City. Likewise, just upstream and downstream of the city, the Stonehearth Company already operated watermills on the River Chionthar.

With the concept of manufactured parts (which would soon find application in the armories), the same number of laborers could come together, under the guidance of the expert to create mass-produced products – *and they did*.

As for their shops inside the Baldurian walls, what could engineering invent that could make a mill move without either wind or flowing water? *Steam*. House Stonehearth was on the cusp of a magically-driven Industrial Revolution.

## Timeline Exploration

* Go back to the Primal Magic timeline...
* Check out 1316 in the Forgotten Realms original timeline...