Ethrocart

The ingredients to create the components of the arcane machinery are thousands of gold pieces each. I am worried that the funds are to great to even create the first possibiilty of an Engine Arcanus. I fear that my mind might have outstretched practical possibilities this time.

I can only hope that my designs work, even if just for demonstration. If they do, maybe someone with stronger means than I could create my vision. Especially if they have more prominent arcane knowledge than I do. My hopes lie only with what could be.

— Ethronis Wroughtbeard's Journal during the original creation.

The Ethrocart is a vehicle that is being developed to harness the use of arcane magic to create minecarts that avoid the use of rails. The original arcane designs originate from the City of Terlas, but have been expanded by two other inventors from across the realm.

Description

The Ethrocart is made of a tempered steel and outfitted with a number of arcane implements that allow it to hover up to 2 feet off the ground. Each Ethrocart requires 1 or 2 people to operate the mechanical components and another person who has to concentrate and maintain a ritual focus on the arcane elements of the vehicle. Each cart seems to have a vibrant blue glow at their base, which seems to stem from the arcane components that allow it to hover.

There are three forms of Ethrocart that have been developed since the first prototype in 689 AR and the revised creations started in 752 AR, each of them having a different purpose. These forms also possess a unique feature that allows them to fit their suited purpose more than other forms.

Ethrocart

General Information

Crew	2 to 3
Passengers	Up to 10
Cargo	up to 3 tons

Sociocultural Information

Plane	Material Plane (Nonvyrox)
Environment	Underground Land (experimentally)

Forms of Ethrocart

Plenace Ethrocart

The Plenace Ethrocart was the initial design of Ethrocart first created. Its initial purpose was to act as a small loading vehicle similar to a minecart. However, it was designed to work without the need for any rails to be placed. It can only hold a two person crew and up to 4 others or up to half a ton of cargo. The Plenace Ethrocart is uniquely suited to both over and underground travel, having been designed robust enough for consistent travel.

Guidance Ethrocart

The Guidance Ethrocart is focused on being a transportation solution for people. When fully built a Guidance cart can carry up to teams of 10 outside of the crew required to operate the cart. It is usually built sleeker without exterior walls, allowing for a number of comfortable seats for passengers. Uniquely, the Guidance Ethrocart seems to be able to collapse into a smaller form factor, allowing it to be stored more easily.

Loader Ethrocart

The Loader Ethrocart is focused on transporting large loads of cargo. It requires a 3 person crew due to its increased size and cargo load of up to 3 tons. The build is bulkier with reinforced walls to prevent falling rubble from breaking its metallic hide. Loader Ethrocarts have a design allowing them to be used with automaton legs and arms if the cart needs to hold even heavier loads and maneuver them into its storage.

History

The first prototypes of the Ethrocart were thought up by Ethronis Wroughtbeard in late 683 AR. He came up with the concept to try and replace the minecarts of Terlas, especially as it was costly and impractical to have the rail network expand throughout the entire city's depths. He had a functioning theory of how to create the cart by 686 AR.

However, the practical applications of his theories were costly, combining expensive magical components and custom manifactured mechanical pieces. Ethronis spent several years petitioning to get the funds from the ruling council in Terlas. However, due to their focus on military developments and the plans of Clan Durrik, Ethronis found no success.

By 689 AR, Ethronis was able to gather together enough from friends and family to create the first prototype of the Engine Arcanus, the central component of the cart. This prototype and Ethronis' notes were seized by Clan Durrik before their explusion from Terlas in 697 AR. As his work was seized, Ethronis was executed by Clan Durrik so he couldn't share knowledge with anyone else.

The seized notes were discovered again in 743 AR when a vault created to store inventions created by Clan Durrik was finally opened. One of the people who opened the vault was Elias Gnottstone, took the notes and prototype with interest to expand his own inventions. His family took the materials to their new home in Talkeep where they acted as envoys for Terlas.

After their father's death in 749 AR, the materials passed down to Telnar Gnottstone, who took them to a fellow tinkerer in the city of Triscalus. Hayllie Brookwillow worked with Telnar to realise the Ethrocart, in legacy of its original inventor and for Telnar's father. They created a working version of a Plenace Ethrocart in 752 AR, using their first few prototypes to see how they would work as transportation systems within Triscalus during 753 AR.

The experiment drew a rift between the two inventors. Each took the documents and one prototype to their respective homes, with Telnar working to have the vehicle as a tool to trasport cargo, and Hayllie focusing on transport of people. Each achieved a unique variation of the Ethrocart in 754 AR, both writing to the other to declare their successes.

In 755 AR, Hayllie was actively trying to use her inventions in the major city of Nagran to prove its use as a transportation vehicle. Meanwhile Telnar is using his heavy loading prototypes in Talkeep and currently proposing the use of the inventions to the council in Terlas to some degree of success.

Inventors of Ethrocart

Name	Pronouns	Description
Ethronis Wroughtbeard	He/Him	Dwarf Inventor. Ethronis was an inventor from City of Terlas in 680s AR. He was known for creations that were immensely arcane and technological in nature, combining mechanics with potential arcane enhancements. He originally designed the Ethrocart as a potential alternative to minecarts that his close friends used in their work. His invention was the basis for the Plenace Ethrocart, but he was unable to get the materials together to create the first full prototype. However, by 689 AR Ethronis was able to produce the first example of an Engine Arcanus, floating in the air with arcane and mechanical potential.
Telnar Gnottstone	They/Them	Dwarf Tinkerer. One of two close friends who discovered Ethronis' original notes, the pair were able to recreate a Plenace Ethrocart in 752 AR. However, Telnar wanted to focus on creating the Ethroncart as a vehicle to transport heavy loads of cargo, particularly from the mines. This created a fracture through the Ethrocart's development. Telnar took half of the work and continued on his own, creating the first Loader Ethrocart in early 754 AR. In the past year, Telnar has been focused on implementing the Loader Ethrocart in their home of Talkeep.
Hayllie Brookwillow	She/Her	Gnome Arcanist. One of two close friends who discovered Ethronis' original notes, the pair were able to recreate a Plenace Ethrocart in 752 AR. Hayllie wanted to create transportation that would help people cross the lands. After a fracture in the development of the Ethrocart, Hayllie worked to continue her development of the Ethrocart alone, eventually creating the first Guidance Ethrocart in late 754 AR. She is currently trying to gather the resources to create this as a wider form of transport.

Experimental Transport

The ideations of Hayllie Brookwillow has considered the ability to use Ethrocarts as an automated service to travel quickly around larger cities and surrounding regions. As a result, a number of experiments have become notable regarding getting both Plenace and Guidance Ethrocarts working in cities and smaller regions as a core part of transport.

The first experiment was undertaken by both Telnar Gnottstone and Hayllie in 753 AR. They took three Ethrocarts to the city of Triscalus, where they were supervised for three months by the inventors and a collection of tinkerers in the city. The inventors learned that the carts were not sufficient enough for transport, with significant limitations in capacity. Additionally, the need of two person crew and maintenance drew significant upkeep for the carts.

The latest experiment was directed by only Hayllie herself in the city of Nagran during Noivi 755 AR. She created a Guidance Ethrocart that was designed to travel across the city, taking on passengers for a small fee. There was some success in this endeavor, many people within Nagran finding the convenience for a low cost useful for travelling. However, it brought up the issue of size, the cart was limited on where it could travel due to narrower streets.