The Pyric Engines

The Pyric Engines, Artifact Designation: Transient Generator Alpha, are a chilling testament to the folly of relying on external power. In every glyph lies not just the mountain’s memory, but the echo of the hand that carved it; here, the echo is brief and scorching. These engines were crude, localized generators fabricated by the fractured human settlements clinging to the unstable periphery of the Iron-Grip Mountains during the desolate Age of Lingering Echoes. They stand as perfect examples of Surface Entropy, prioritizing immediate utility over measured longevity. Unlike dwarven devices that harness the predictable flows of Auric Resonance, these contraptions relied on highly volatile, chemically derived combustible agents, chief among them a thick, volatile sludge we refer to as Magma Oil. The Engines were engineered by a short-sighted collective, led by figures like Engineer Torvin, who sought to carve a momentary civilization using raw heat and noise, a gross perversion of true craft. Their purpose was to provide rapid, if brief, mechanical power for pumping water and simple lifting—a necessity borne of their failure to secure stable underground sources. Their historical significance is simple: they failed catastrophically. The unchecked thermal stress and rapid pressure spikes led inevitably to The Great Overpressure, a series of documented engine ruptures that left their own indelible marks upon the landscape. The physical remnants of these shattered boilers and shrapnel fields litter the highlands, forming what cartographers grimly term The Surface Scars. They are proof that power extracted from volatile externals guarantees only self-destruction, a fate the deep stone must always resist.