The First Successful Steam Locomotive Created

Construction beginning/end

Following the Rojarsham Competition, the Rathen-Eradonnus Railway (R.E.R.) purchases a small fleet of steam locomotives from scientist and inventor Cormic Harrussan to run the length of their rail line. The Rathen-Eradonnus Railway, which eventually becomes the National Railway, is the first railway to run solely steam-powered vehicles.

During the construction of the the Rathen-Eradonnus Railway (R.E.R.), board members were facing immense pressures from the Wagoneer's Guild to utilize horse-drawn services. Even as King Theodoric I had attempted to remove and break Adraus' immense guild monopolies through his policies and ordinances, The Wagoneer's Guild held immense power as it owned a majority of the horses used on all of Adraus' horse-drawn railways.   At the same time, a young yet prominent Rathen inventor, Cormic Harrussan, was promoting a new, viable form of vehicle which he claimed could be powered by steam. His invention, known as the "Adannan", was heavily publicized and met much resistance by the Wagoneer's Guild. Still, it was cheaper to maintain than horses and was supposedly faster.   At Rojarsham, a small town in northern Adraus, the Rathen-Eradonnus Railway board funded a competition between the Wagoneer's Guild and Cormic Harrussan's "Adannan" to see which was faster. Both teams were given a two mile stretch of rail to race against one another. The Wagoneer's Guild presented three fully loaded coal wagons pulled by their best team of horses while Harrussan's "Adannan" would pull the same, alone.   During the test, the "Adannan" started slowly and was quickly overcome by the team of horses. However, by the halfway mark, the locomotive had managed to meet up with the horses before overcoming them at the 3/4th mark. The "Adannan" not only proved to be faster and easier to maintain, but training engineers was also easier than expected as Harrussan proved by teaching two, unexperienced railway workers in only three days.   By the end of the event, Harrussan was awarded the contract to operate his "Adannan" on the railway, which was a massive blow to the Wagoneer's Guild. Over the next twenty years, horse-drawn railways would quickly become obsolete, as would the Wagoneer's Guild.