In the past two hundred years, Elan has steadily advanced technologically, with industry and society often racing to keep up. Inventors work tirelessly to make things easier, faster, and safer for workers - sometimes, even all three. Here, we profile the kinds of devices that Elanites may have been exposed to circa 1890.
By present day, coal and wood-fired steam engines are ubiquitous across Elan, where they power everything from thrumming machinery in mills and factories to the mighty locomotives that move goods and people across the nation. Their size and necessary fuel supply makes them impractical for any moving vehicles smaller than trains, often the only example of such technology in the frontier regions.
Conflict has always galvanized innovation, particularly in the realm of weaponry. Revolving pistols were innovated during the Gold Heights conflict at the turn of the century, and were spread throughout society as the veterans returned home, eventually becoming the go-to sidearm for many headed west. The recent war with Dorage has seen the advent of the repeating machine gun in Elan’s military, but the danger posed by the firearm has made possession by civilians a serious crime. Players are not permitted to use automatic ranged weapons at game.
Engineers at Huxley’s Jillert College produced the first shuttle loom in 1649, leading to an explosion in fabric and garment production. Recently, the tradition of custom-made clothing has given way to ready-to-wear garments, produced in standardized sizes - however, Elanites who can afford it often opt for bespoke garments as status symbols. With the growth of the nation’s infrastructure, many manufacturers have opted to sell goods via mail-order catalogue, including hardy clothing made for the rough-and-tumble life of the trail.
Electricity, although known since ancient times, was harnessed for common use only recently, spreading through the homes of the wealthy in the form of lights, heaters, refrigerators, and cooking devices. Although many cities are electrically lit, the unreliability and hazardousness of such networks has drawn wariness from smaller communities. On the Thorpe frontier, steam dynamos are rare and cumbersome, with lighting and refrigeration often their only uses.
Famed Wyllisite surgeon Dympna Forde began using anaesthetic in 1877, allowing her to take her time in performing surgeries on the sensitive tissues of the face. Its use spread rapidly through Elan’s hospitals, with more invasive and work-intensive operations becoming feasible with the patient’s pain not being a concern. Church-operated hospitals, however, have been slower to adopt anaesthesia, with some Shepherds referring to such practice as a violation of natural laws.
The first printing presses originated almost simultaneously in Nepton and Elan, the former for propagating literature and the latter for disseminating weekly news batches. Printed books, newspapers, and music have become readily available to many Elanites, especially on the trail where travelling mummers sought to standardize their performances by mass-producing scripts and songbooks.
The 1651 Grain Blight galvanized farmers to rethink their methods in order to avoid another calamity, looking to Nepton’s lengthy history of botany and arboriculture for guidance. From this period came practices like crop rotation and trait selection, revolutionizing the agricultural industry and causing a boom in production for Killock Province as well as parts of Huxley and Gauld. Presently, a great many crops are available to Elanites, with the most popular including rye (used for baking), corn, melons, citrus, rice, peanuts, lentils, root vegetables, berries, nuts, and oats. Linen and cotton are also immensely important to the garment industry. Many Elanites have traveled to Thorpe province in hopes of fecund soil and new crops to cultivate.