Gadgeteering

Abstract
Gadgeteering is the science of constructing mechanical devices balanced with the artistic creativity of innovating practical tinkerings that are imaginative yet functional. Long considered the dreamworks of cracked pots and machinations of the insane and ingenius, Gadgeteering has emerged into the mainstream of Aelyrian society given a recent fascination with experimentation. Gadgeteers create interlocking gears using a variety of tools and implements, thereby arranging these gears to create a dynamic effect or consequence. Gadgeteering is a lore-intensive trade skill, for the practitioners need do much research to fully understand the implications of their detail-intensive work. There is little wonder, consequently, that gadgeteers are some of the most revered architects and sages in the empire, benefitting from the commissions of their works to their exclusive employment in the courts of local thanes and governors.

Background
Jealously guarded for centuries by the Dorin peoples, the art of Gadgeteering was reportedly lost to all cultures for many years before it had been rediscovered by an Arakmatan human mage, the Vizier Ali Al-Rahim, an advisor to the Al-Hakaar family of Sultans. Vizier Ali had a notorious obsession with detail and kept delicately fragile and intricate constructs of curiosity in his study. Stumbling across the legendary Dorin volume, The Mechanica, Al-Rahim uncovered the secrets of Mechanical Lore - how creating a series of small, interlocking pieces can alter the rules of force and nature, bending them to the instances of circumstance. Thus began the self-education of the esteemed Arakmatan sage in the ways of Gadgeteering. When learning of his advisor's discovery, Sultan Selim Al-Hakaar III ("Selim the Wise"), decreed that Gadgeteering would be a public science.

After the Sultanate of Arakmat joined the Aelyrian Empire, the enlightened sovereign, High Queen Melody de Lylles, immediately seized upon the scientific initiatives of the Al-Hakaar Family and the Dorins, and quickly employed a series of gnosti mechanicari (mechanical advisors) within her Imperial Court with the aims of establishing a uniform Scientific Process; a way of innovating scientific inventions so that they could be easily reproduced by other inventors. The famous politician, Praesul Socrates de Ambergois, was even reputedly involved the mysterious project. One of the High Queen Melody de Lylles' least lauded accomplishments, but no less significant than her artistic or economic pursuits, was the unveiling of the Imperial Scientific Code to publish manuals and booklets to distribute to the people on any of the natural or physical sciences, with Gadgeteering taking center stage.

Gadgeteering experienced an explosive growth, with studies reaching far beyond simple mechanical lore. The Imperial Scientific Code led to the formulation of hypotheses, which would be tested in predictable procedures, and later analyzed. Gadgeteering-specific lore burst forth in the form of combustion, clockworking, and even automatics. Gadgeteers soon became known as inventors, and their craft that of Invention. Though Gadgeteers congregated infrequently, and usually only at Invention Faires, the exchange proved beneficial and the structure of a discernable trade skill craft had at long last formed. After the gnomes and hobbits became fascinated with the craft, the Aelyrian Mechanists' Guild was called to order to preside over the craft and set its standards.

Tools of the Trade
Gadgeteers and committed Inventors are wise to invest in a Tool Kit. The standard-issue Mechanists' Guild-approved Tool Kit is an elongated wooden box with brass snaps and locks containing numerous variably-sized prongs, levels, weights, pliers, nuts, bolts and a larger collection of tools and instruments seemingly pertaining to other trades. Numerous measurement devices, such as measuring sticks and scales, often determine the differentiation of sizes of objects needed to interlock or otherwise connect; different-sized wrenches and restraining hammers and picks make this procedure possible. For performing tasks involving combustion and heat-sensitive experimentation, a strongbox holds several pieces of freshly mined flint and corestone. A curious device within the Tool Kit becomes almost essential for advanced inventors - the fabricator, a sizable silver-lined clasp into which molten rock is poured to form perfectly sized gears. Finally, a small assortment of mirrors, flasks and vials forms the basis for more complicated inventions requiring hydrollics or photometrics.

Skill Tree
Invention, or the trade skill of Gadgeteering, requires years of dedication and often lonely reflection. Unlike most trade skills, depending upon a master-apprentice relationship in a workshoppe, the early years of inventors are spent reading and researching through books, manuals, volumes, scrolls and tomes. After learning basic competencies, an intermediate practitioner shall attempt to create some modest inventions in order to impress a local mechanical academy or master inventor. For it is only with teaching that gadgeteers can progress beyond the advanced stage of trade skill proficiency. Yet, pupils are usually only taught for a few months; Gadgeteering is such a specialized science that once an inventor has selected areas of personal interest, he must once again perform research, experimentation and, finally, publication of the invention. Only those that are truly dedicated to Gadgeteering will become the renowned inventors of Aelyrian society.

LEVEL 1 - TINKER
In the crowded halls of the local libraries, youths and elders alike begin their journey into the science of Gadgeteering and the profession of Invention. One acquires the basic competencies of the Gadgeteering craft by reading about Mechanical Lore. Though The Mechanica remains the most comprehensive encyclopedic reference of mechanics, many more progressive tomes have emerged over the years that provide more balanced and far-seeing approaches to mastering the fundamentals of Gadgeteering. The study of Mechanical Lore will reveal the use of a variety of tools and measuring devices, and as shall soon become the case, the fledgling inventor will either begin collecting the necessary tools on his own or save funds and purchase the much-needed Tool Kit. With the proper tools, the first devices created by a beginner shall be gadgets, masculine sizable parts that have protruding extremities for interlocking with their counterparts, and widgets, the feminine counterparts of the gadgets, with intruding portions for interlocking. Gadgets and widgets form the foundational components of any serious invention.

Skills Learned: Mechanical Lore, tools and measurement
Construction: Gadgets and Widgets

LEVEL 2 - MECHANIST
Soon, the inexperienced inventor will find that books can teach only so much and that practical experience outside of the library is necessary in order to attempt a useful creation. Intermediate Gadgeteers flock to their privacy of their studies or workrooms, where they can take the principles learned through Mechanical Lore and apply them in creating a simple invention. It is often in this fashion that young inventors stumble across the secret of Segmentation - wherein a series of numerous interlocking gadgets and widgets can create collapsable objects. If experience does not teach accidental discoveries such as these, there are still manuals and guides available for a modest purchase at specialty shoppes teaching Magnification, or the use of mirrors and glass to amplify images at a distance. However, the most important discovery made by an intermediate practitioner would be that of understanding Dyanmics; that the consequences of one action can often lead to another action with its own set of results. After self-taught experimentation, intermediate gadgeteers produce simple objects using these new skills, though these simple items usually have no considerable market value.

Skills Learned: Segmentation, Magnification, Dynamics
Construction: collapsable objects, spyglass, simple traps and alarms, reactive devices

LEVEL 3 - GADGETEER
Creative inventors with a mind for utility are usually noticed by Gadgeteers who own their own establishment or workshoppe, and a mutually-beneficial relationship is established along the lines of a master and an apprentice. The Advanced Gadgeteer takes up residence with his master for several months, learning the trade of Invention - how to create utilitarian items that have market value, and how best to sell these inventions to the public. In exchange, the apprentice performs tasks assisting the master's establishment and the master imparts new principles and concepts necessary for creating items that are finally in demand. Among the skills learned in an apprenticeship would be the art of Tinkering, or creating small and delicate objects with fine, much smaller gadgets and widgets. It is seen almost uniformly in the trade that masters teach their apprentices how to use fire and heat in mechanical creations; this skill is called Thermodynamics. Learning Thermodynamics is an invaluable skill, enabling the gadgeteer to create waterproof candles and flames, for instance, which derive their source from the air within the water itself and produce a radiant, deep-blue flame. Extending this principle, the skill of Combusion leads to the discovery of how flame can be contained and heat can produce energetic results. Advanced Gadgeteers, consequently, can fashion oil lamps in the tradition of the original inventors, the Dorins. But the containment of heat also allows one to learn that through Combustion, hot air can lead to an elevation; so, gadgeteers can produce hot air balloons and simple, verticle-moving chutes.

Skills Learned: Tinkering, Thermodynamics, Combustion
Construction: fireworks, waterproof candles and flames, oil lamps, minor explosives, hot air balloons, verticle hot air chutes.

LEVEL 4 - MECHANIST
Leaving the apprenticeship is never an easy thing to do, but inventors are often the first to recognize the limitations of serving under a single individual for far too long. Expert Gadgeteers tend to travel from city to city, working at different workshoppes and trying to learn as much lore as possible to expand the breadth and knowledge of his creations. Eventually, the Expert Gadgeteer settles down and opens his own workshoppe, and can even teach the craft should his schedule permit. Yet, Expert Gadgeteers are capable of producing complex devices, given that they have mastered the skill of Clockworking. By creating very fine gears in the fabricator, and interlocking these gears, Gadgeteers can produce clocks and time-keeping devices. Yet, the limits of clockworking, whose energy is derived from cranks and pressure mechanisms usually wound for use, are confined to the imagination. Curious devices that seem to behave repeatedly are known as Clockworks. Experts also learn the skill of Steamworking, enabling them to create clockworks that are driven by hot air and steam (and, curiously enough, called Steamworks), rather than by winding pressure. Using his tools and his research, the Expert Gadgeteer also becomes quite proficient with Magnetism, able to attune the natural energy of rocks and stones so that they create an invisible field of force between them that attracts or repels, appropriately. Only a positive charge can attract a negative charge, and vice-a-versa, for placing two of the same charge will result in mutual repulsion of the magnets.

Skills Learned: Clockworking, Steamworking, Magnetism
Construction: clocks, clockworks, steamworks, magnets, advanced dirigibles and complex devices

LEVEL 5 - GRAND MECHANIST
Very few Gadgeteers can dedicate the all-encompassing resources necessary to becoming one of the few truly renowned inventors of our times, but those who create unique devices with a signature flair to them, are very regularly called Masters of their craft. Usually, the honor is bestowed by a guild or through the consensus of the public, but the distinction is considerable, for with the added commissions and fame, comes the opportunity to experiment and broaden the horizons of invention unlike never before. Knowing now how gears create a series of complex and dynamic relationships, the Master Gadgeteer can attempt to create an Automaton. Automatics is the skill of replicating predictable behavior through gearworks, as in the case of clockworking or steamworking; yet automatons often behave just like animals or people, and display characteristics bordering on life. Yet these devices have their behavior created for them by the inventor; they are not sentient and lack free will, but demand for them is remarkably high and the price for an automaton is rather lucrative. After all, the wealthy aristocracy would prefer to have a chamber servant that they need not pay. The skill of Hydrollics expands upon the knowledge of water and fire, air and earth, to regulate the flow of oxygen within the water itself, and enable the inventor to create an Aquamask - a water-breathing device. Photometrics, another skill which can only be learned given the fame and recognition that a Master has, is the pristine science and art of communicating using a series of blinking lights. Photometers, devices which can often communicate great distances using this principle, come in a variety of shapes and sizes, and can be used to send simple messages when needed. The Imperial Government, for example, has a network of Photometers skillfully placed throughout the Aelyrian Empire in order to ensure communication during times of emergency or great need.

However, Master Gadgeteers often leave the individual trade and work for a local benefactor or patron, who commissions works from the inventor at a regular pace and at excellent prices. This is because Gadgeteers have the planning and creativity to learn Mechanical Siegeworks, and thus create Mechanical Siege Weaponry. Though many armies have created, with great ease, traditional siege weapons, such as catapults and balistae, mangonels and battering rams, only Gadgeteers can use the principles that they have learned to create truly unique siege weapons, driven by mechanics. The best example of this in history was the Gadgeteering enthusiast Minister Sabre Kane, a member of the Ministry of Defense who had gone mad. When Empress Fire ordered the destruction of the ancient city of Aslangrad in order to quell a rebellion, Minister Kane unleashed his "Fire Ship", a floating dirigible capable of delivering explosive fire from the skies which has since been banned by Imperial Edict. Though a malicious creativity was surely behind this machination, it demonstrates just one possibility of a dedicated Master Gadgeteer in creating the devices and gadgets capable of altering the course of natural events.

Skills Learned: Automatics, Hydrollics, Photometrics, Mechanical Siegeworks
Construction: automaton, aquamask, photometer, mechanical siege weaponry