Powder and Steam
Clockwork
Intricate mechanisms of gears, springs, and levers, clockwork devices are valued for precision, automation of simple tasks, or security. They do not involve self-aware automatons.
Primary Uses: Timing devices (public clocks, personal pocket watches, more reliable fuses for some explosives); complex locking mechanisms for vaults and strongboxes; fine gears in scientific or navigational instruments (chronometers, sextants); some luxury items like music boxes or intricate toys.
Impact: Allows for precise measurement and control in specific applications. Such devices are typically expensive, require skilled artisans (Clock-Wrights) to create and maintain, and can be delicate or prone to jamming in harsh conditions. Access to quality clockwork is often a mark of wealth.
Contradictions and Conflicts
The proliferation of technology exacerbates conflict across Dheghom. Nations armed with cannons and rifles gain advantages, pressuring allies and enemies alike to follow suit, or fall behind. Whether driven by necessity or greed, the pressure inevitably grinds those on the lowest rungs into the dirt. As a result, many nations find themselves fighting both external and internal wars as rivals try to take any advantage they can find and factions vie for power.
Technology has become so ingrained in many nations and cultures that they have begun to lose sight of any identity that does not include it. Meanwhile, traditional nations and cultures continue to rebel against the rise of black powder and steam, choosing to rely on more antiquated means of survival and warfare, oftentimes ostracizing members of their communities that stray too far from the paths of their ancestors. In the end, technology has become a source of tension, conflict, and outright violence regardless of actual adoption.
Black Powder
An explosive chemical mixture, black powder remains the dominant force in warfare and a crude tool for industry. Dynamite has not been invented, and nitroglycerin is not yet a factor.
Primary Uses: Propellant for firearms; charges for cannons of all sizes (field, naval, siege); creation of crude bombs (e.g., powder kegs with fuses, basic hand-thrown grenades); rough blasting for mining or basic demolition.
Impact: Has revolutionized warfare, making older tactics and armor increasingly obsolete. Its production is a key strategic industry. It is notoriously dangerous to manufacture, store, and handle, with accidental explosions common.
| Tech Rank | Nation | Continent | Tech Advancement | Tech Adoption | Role of Magic | Magic Attitude |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ibunor | Oskara | Integrated Industry | Innovator | Supplanted | Shunned |
| 2 | Bethune | Oskara | Integrated Industry | Innovator | Supplanted | Shunned |
| 3 | Kazak | Oskara | Diversified Industry | Early Adopter | Marginal | Feared |
| 4 | Acadiana | Island | Diversified Industry | Early Adopter | Supplanted | Shunned |
| 5 | Korath | Oskara | Diversified Industry | Early Adopter | Specialized | Regulated |
| 6 | Marcia | Anterra | Factory Economy | Early Majority | Marginal | Feared |
| 7 | Baleros | Oskara | Factory Economy | Early Majority | Specialized | Tolerated |
| 8 | Tuinleas | Oskara | Steam Power | Early Majority | Supplanted | Shunned |
| 9 | Gane | Oskara | Foundational Power | Late Majority | Marginal | Regulated |
| 10 | Kimara | Island | Incipient Industry | Late Majority | Specialized | Regulated |
| 11 | Askara | Oskara | Borrowed Industry | Late Majority | Specialized | Regulated |
| 12 | Avenar | Anterra | Borrowed Industry | Late Majority | Integral | Revered |
| 13 | Keld | Oskara | Borrowed Industry | Late Majority | Specialized | Feared |
| 14 | Khunland | Anterra | Borrowed Industry | Late Majority | Specialized | Revered |
| 15 | Steinlund | Oskara | Pre-Industrial | Laggard | Specialized | Revered |
| 16 | Brynnalyn | Island | Pre-Industrial | Laggard | Integral | Pragmatic |
| 17 | Sharasa | Island | Pre-Industrial | Laggard | Integral | Revered |
| 18 | Gialar | Anterra | Pre-Industrial | Laggard | Specialized | Revered |
| 19 | Tytherin | Oskara | Pre-Industrial | Laggard | Specialized | Pragmatic |
| 20 | Ryhoreiral | Anterra | Pre-Industrial | Laggard | Integral | Revered |
Steam Power
The true engine of the new age, steam power is generated by heating water, typically with coal, to produce pressurized steam that drives pistons and turbines.
Primary Uses: Fueling engines in factories for all manner of production; powering locomotives that pull trains across newly laid railways; turning the propellers and paddlewheels of steamships. It's also used for heavy machinery like industrial pumps, lifts, and some experimental equipment.
Impact: Enables levels of mass production and resource extraction. It drives demand for coal and iron, leads to the development of extensive rail networks, and results in cities choked with smoke and rivers blackened by industrial runoff. Labor is increasingly centralized in large, often dangerous, factory settings.
Technological Adventures
Technology's presence provides unique scenarios for your Dheghom campaign. You might hook the party with a factory poisoning local lands; perhaps they must choose between direct action against the owners and navigating the desperation of workers needing the jobs. Consider adventures aiding or thwarting rebels fighting industrial expansion, or missions to sabotage machines of war. Sites like strip mines, railway yards, and factories can offer a change to traditional dungeon delving, offering a chance to create unfamiliar challenges for your players.
Beyond quests and locations, technology forces difficult internal struggles upon both PCs and NPCs. Consider an inventor wrestling with the unintended uses of their creations: does pride, profit, or a sliver of conscience guide their actions? For the community resisting industrial encroachment, how do they measure their heritage against the necessity of adopting the technology they despise?
Exploring these conflicts allows you to delve into the seductive lure of technological power, the compromises forced by survival, and the erosion of principles under constant pressure.
| d8 | Hook |
| 1 | The Luddite's Plea: A group of displaced artisans wants to hire the party to destroy a factory machine that took their jobs. |
| 2 | The Poisoned Land: A factory's runoff is devastating local farmland that the community sold to the factory years ago; now, facing starvation, they regret the deal and demand the factory be shut down, ignoring their contractual obligations. |
| 3 | The Railway Impasse: A new railway line must pass through a community's land; the company offers coin, but the community refuses to yield. |
| 4 | The Defective Rifles: A military unit receives new factory-made rifles that are dangerously defective; the factory owner denies any fault. |
| 5 | The Unsafe Mine: Miners demand safer conditions and better pay after a recent collapse; the mine owner responds by hiring armed guards to break their strike. |
| 6 | Breaking the Iron Horse: A new railway line undercuts a guild of wagon freighters who held a long-standing, exploitative monopoly on the route; now desperate, the former monopolists are destroying tracks to "protect" their business. |
| 7 | The Choking Smog: Thick, noxious smog from a cluster of factories settles over a poor district; its residents fall ill while the factory owners ignore complaints. |
| 8 | Thirsty Engine: A large factory diverts a river to feed its steam engines, causing a downstream village's wells to run dry; this was part of a deal where the village provided labor in exchange for a share of the profits, which have not yet been paid. |
Personal Impact
Technology has left its mark on every corner of Dheghom, shaping the lives of those who thrive and those who suffer under its weight. Whether through innovation, exploitation, or resistance, no one is untouched by its reach. When players create characters in a Dheghom campaign, consider how technology’s rise has influenced their backgrounds. Here are a few topics to explore:
Labor and Industry. Was the character a laborer in a factory or workshop? Did they witness firsthand the exploitation of workers, the danger of unsafe machinery, or the destruction of their craft as machines replaced artisans? Did they rise to resist their conditions, or did they comply to survive?
Rural Upheaval. If the character hails from a rural area, how has industrial expansion affected their home? Was their village displaced to make way for a railway or factory? Did they grow up hearing tales of the land’s desecration or seeing the scars of logging and mining operations?
Technological Advancement. Does the character embrace progress? Were they an engineer or inventor, someone who saw the potential of steam power, clockwork, or black powder as a means to change the world? Did they create a device or weapon that fell into the wrong hands, and do they now seek to atone?
Traditional Beliefs. Did the character come from a community or culture that rejects industrialization? Were they raised to view technology as a corruption of natural or divine order? If so, do they still hold these beliefs, or have they been swayed by the power of progress?
Personal Loss. What has the character lost to this age? Did their family suffer from exploitation, displacement, or environmental destruction? Were they separated from their loved ones by economic pressures, forced to migrate to cities or mines?
To add a more concrete technological event or connection to PC or NPC background, you can roll on or choose from the table below for inspiration.
| d12 | Impact |
| 1 | You grew up working 12-hour shifts in a factory or mine. |
| 2 | Your home village was razed to build a railway/factory. |
| 3 | You escaped an 'indentured servitude' contract tied to an industrial operation and are still hunted. |
| 4 | You or a loved one were maimed working in a factory and then fired for no longer being able to keep up. |
| 5 | You were involved in a bloody factory strike as either a striker or a scab. |
| 6 | Pollution from a nearby mill/mine has poisoned your homeland or caused chronic illness in your family/community. |
| 7 | You were blacklisted from work for attempting to organize laborers or reporting unsafe conditions. |
| 8 | Your invention or craft was stolen or made obsolete by industrial processes. |
| 9 | You were a skilled artisan whose job was replaced by industry. |
| 10 | You saw firsthand the horrific 'cost-saving' measures (unsafe gear, locked exits) that led to a disaster. |
| 11 | You came to rely on a factory job that came to your town. After your community was ruined by pollution, the factory moved on, leaving the community poor and desperate. |
| 12 | An industrial accident (boiler explosion, mine collapse) killed someone you loved. |