Dwarven Steam

Within the great engineering libraries of the Airside Warren, historical records exist that detail some of the stories that grew from Tizen's last Interface with Bettax when the continent was overrun by entire armies of mechanized terrors.
And although those mechanical beasts were driven by some form of energetic nucleus (all of which were lost when Tizen disconnected from Bettax), the principles of manipulating pistons and assemblies through the force of steam was derived from the wreckage.
Today, steam-driven machines are used extensively in mining operations and dock work.
A steam-driven carriage was constructed by a group of Estragonian Dwarven engineers for a competition but it was ungainly, loud and incredibly slow (regardless, the dwarves took silver being told that gold would have been theirs if the carriage had been even slightly more practical).

Manufacturing

Typically an installation requires the construction of a good sized complex that includes a foundry, an ironworks and a steamworks not including the scores of other trades that may be involved depending on the commission. In some cases this complex is dissasssembled after the work has completed but the city always has the opportunity to purchase and use it themselves (the complex at Beltienne was purchased by the city).

Access & Availability

Typically, steam powered machines are used infrequently and only in the wealthiest cities as they require constant maintenance and care. Beltienne is the only city on the Burning Coast that uses steam power at their dock. Estragon, itself, has no large steam based machinery (although it is a covered topic in the Estragon College of Engineering).

Complexity

The boilers, regulators and valves involved with steam-based engineering are incredibly complex and creating the boiler system only is the work of Journeymen. The use of the motive force of expanding steam is left to master ironworkers.

Discovery

Berad Airside discovered and reverse engineered the mechanoids and applied that motive force to pistons, steam and gears.