Clockwork Carriage

The distinctive ‘tick, tick, tick’ of a Clockwork Carriage can be heard long before the carriage actually comes into sight, and it is a sound that is indicative of wealth and status. A Clockwork carriage is a miracle of Gnomish engineering, and its crew will often have one if not several Gnomes in it so that repairs to the complex and often delicate mechanism can be made as quickly as possible. The inside of a Clockwork Carriage is sumptuously fitted out to provide as comfortable a journey as possible to their passengers. On average, a Clockwork Carriage has a top speed of 30 miles an hour, but this requires a lot of hard manual work from the Gearsmen who have to almost continuously charge the mainspring of the mechanism.

Propulsion

The carriage is powered by an intricate clockwork mechanism that takes up a large amount of the back and undercarriage of the carriage itself. This mechanism provides power directly to the back wheels only. The clockwork mechanism is charged by the Gearsman, who will periodically recharge the mainspring of the mechanism as needed, which is on average once every ten minutes or so, more depending upon the terrain that the carriage is trying to navigate.

Communication Tools & Systems

Clockwork Carriages have three types of crew that will operate them:   Driver- The Driver steers the carriage and takes overall control of the vehicle.   Gearsmen- Every Clockwork Carriage will have one Gearsman, and depending upon the size of the vehicle, the terrain it is expected to navigate and the speed of travel that is desired, a given Clockwork Carriage can have as many as six Gearsmen helping to operate it. A Gearsman’s primary responsibilities range from charging the mainspring of the mechanism, which provides power to the whole vehicle, regulating the speed that the carriage is travelling and acting as repairmen if the carriage breaks down. As charging the mainspring requires a Gearsman to physically turn a handle, it can be very physically demanding work.   Footmen- Footmen ride on special platforms at the back of the Clockwork Carriage and are responsible for overseeing the embarking and disembarking of passengers and their luggage, along with responsibility for ticket sales if the Clockwork Carriage is being used in a public transportation system.
Price
Fare - 2GP per inner-city journey, intercity is private hire of 5GP for every 10 miles


Cover image: by Chris Pyrah

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