The Leytower

Ever since the land grant that founded Alcedene, one of its most recognizable features is The Leytower up on sweaty hill.

Purpose / Function

The original purpose of the Leytower is unknown.
Once the big wheel attached to the side started moving again it never stopped, and the motion was harnessed to a grindstone. It's better and more reliable than any windmill.

Design

The Leymill stands 24 feet tall, with a diameter of 12 feet at the base. The spinningwheel is 16 feet in diameter.

Sensory & Appearance

The tower and the hill it stands on are both uncomfortably warm, and they throb. A repetitive, muffled thumping sound can be heard.

Alterations

Next to the wheel, a stone bowl as a bottom has been installed. A millstone rolls on a pivot, pushed using a lever attached to the wheel on the tower.

Architecture

The tower itself is an orichalcum cylinder. Nobody has been able to open it up to look inside, but by the sounds it's believed that there is some kind of internal piston. A strange device is attached to the top, also orichalcum, that collects lightning strikes whenever a thunderstorm rolls through. From a port in the side, an axle spins a large wheel with some mechanism from the inside.

History

When the settlement started, the tower was just another ruin, albeit an unusual one. Neglected into a solid mass of patina, the strange not-quite-bronze tower was apparently useless through the years. It was Grimwise Thunderless, an expatriated gnome, that got it going again, though even he didn't understand what exactly it was or how it worked. During his exploration, he had scrubbed off the patina and found that the metal polished up like new rather easily. After he had polished enough, the whole thing began grinding to life.

Alternative Names

The Old Wheeltower, Old Reliable

Type

Mill

Parent Location

Alcedene

Environmental Effects

The air around the tower has an odd metallic taste to it, and long exposure can render one paranoid and irritable.