Factory of Windbury
This sprawling, industrial facility lies in the heart of Windbury’s innovation district. Run by the eccentric and brilliant gnome artificer Hevatin , the factory is responsible for the mass production of Warforged, a line of sentient and semi-sentient constructs that were originally developed to minimize mortal casualties during the The War of Brifux. With its looming smokestacks, thundering gears, and steaming pipes, the factory is a symbol of Windbury’s transition from arcane dependence to mechanical ingenuity.
Purpose / Function
Commissioned by Riament Grangerford five years before the rise of the Dragon Queen, the factory was built to assemble Warforged units based on Grangerford’s magical schematics. While Hevatin provided the engineering genius to bring their bodies to life, the magical infusion process—the very thing that granted them sentience—was managed by Grangerford’s circle of mages. The Warforged were intended to act as soldiers, laborers, and expendable scouts in foreign conflicts.
Alterations
Non-magically infused Warforged have been reassigned as internal laborers within the factory, helping Hevatin with his personal projects. Recently, a new wing has been added to accommodate steam-based vehicle prototypes, including Hevatin’s passion project: a functioning steam-powered car.
Architecture
The warforged factory is an immense iron-clad structure that dominates its sector of Windbury. Thick plumes of smoke belch from squat chimneys that line the upper edge of the facility, while the constant grind of gears and hiss of pressurized steam echo from within like the heartbeat of some metallic beast. Inside, the layout is a tangled mess of suspended walkways, conveyor lines, and work platforms all crammed together with the urgency of function over form. Light spills down from a ceiling riddled with swaying lanterns—some magical, others fueled by sputtering oil—that cast flickering shadows over the assembly floors.
History
The factory’s construction began under urgent circumstances, with the ink barely dry on Grangerford’s decree when the first steel beams were being hauled into place. The war in Brifux had taken a toll that Windbury’s citizens could scarcely comprehend, and Grangerford saw in Hevatin’s work the promise of a bloodless future, or so they thought. Five years before the rise of the Tiamat, The Queen of Dragons, Hevatin was given free rein to design and build what would become Windbury’s single most controversial landmark.
In those early years, the factory operated with a frenzied intensity. Warforged units were crafted by the dozens, their bodies hammered into shape by mechanical arms and imbued with roles by Grangerford’s spellcasters. Some saw the Warforged as saviors—others saw them as abominations. Regardless, the factory delivered. But with the war's end and the city’s gaze turning skyward toward innovation and airships, interest in the Warforged waned. Hevatin, undeterred, redirected the factory’s purpose toward his own ambitions, including his much-publicized attempt to build a functioning steam-powered vehicle.
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