Threshers

Content warning

Kidnapping, slavery, pretty much torture

The multiple connected, long metal carts accompanied by the men wearing the emblems of the Harvesters slowly moved through the Hall. It still wasn't their place to stop and begin "Harvest" and so, the people just talked with each other, relaxed. If their mission would go without a hitch, they soon could receive quite a big payment. The machines that were moving with them were called threshers, and it was they that would soon bring quite a fortune to the harvesters.

Threshers are vehicles created by Harvesters specifically for one purpose - to safely transport their "cargo" through the Halls that will optimize their profits the most. These carts, equipped with Light-powered engines, resemble snakes made out of long, connected boxes on wheels more than normal carts.

Design of the cart

Outer design

Threshers consist of long metal boxes, the segments, made out of thick, sturdy material, with a long lid on one of the sides that, in most cases, can only be opened from the outside. On the front of the cart, there is a perch where the driver sits during the travel. While most perches are just simple seats, some more advanced models of threshers have the perch enclosed for the safety of the driver. Depending on the area Harvesters operate in, the threshers they build can be equipped with either wheels or tracks that will help with more difficult terrain. If the carts are designed to transport more "cargo", the segments will already be connected to each other, with softer, elastic material every few of them that works as joints, should the vehicle turn during its journey.
The engines of the threshers are usually located on the side opposite to their lid, giving the power to their drives, the lights, and to the inside of their boxes. This, however, makes them an easy target should something want and know how to immobilize them by shooting at the joints on the side of the engine. Most of the threshers nowadays come equipped with Light-powered engines already built in.

Interior design

Depending on the size of the Thresher, its interior consists of bunks with straps lying next to each other. The taller models might have multiple bunks placed at the top of each other with barely enough space for a person to lay and be able to breathe but not move in any way. At the head and the foot of each bunk, there are two lights that shine during the travel, covering the "cargo" in light of Blinding intensity. Those lights are controlled by the console on the outside of the vehicle. Without them shining, the inside of the vehicle is pitch black thanks to how it was constructed, not giving any protection from the light, especially when the light-powered engines are activated to refill their generators during the "Harvest" time.

Previous designs

While the current design of the threshers is the most commonly used one today thanks to the amounts of resources gathered by the harvesters growing (thanks to the better designs of threshers), these vehicles went through many other versions and iterations.
Before the first threshers came to be, the most common way to feed the Darkness was to tie a few people together and escort them into the target Halls. This came with many flaws. The prisoners weren't protected in any way from danger, they could try to escape more easily which would lead to their death or wounding if the harvesters decided to stop them or they would lose them in the darkness of the Hall.
The first way to solve some of those problems was what became the first iterations of threshers - several stretchers connected together with the prisoners strapped to them or the moving cages. Both of them stop any "cargo" from escaping however they wouldn't make it safe from the predators. Additionally, it introduced a new problem. Since the prisoners were now strapped to the beds, it was harder to protect their bodies from being covered in the Darkness and that would leave them open to losing possibly valuable parts in the transit Halls.
And so, the next designs quickly started resembling the modern ones, however, due to the scarcity of metals back then, the harvesters experimented with many other, easier-to-acquire building materials. And so, they used various woods, monster parts, even types of stone present only in the Dark Halls. While far from perfect, each design increased the efficiency and "safety" of their prisoners, exponentially increasing the amount of resources (especially metals) they could gather with each Harvest Festival.

Nickname

Cadaver carts, hearses

Current location

Dark Halls

Related Professions

• Harvesters

Rarity

Common for harvesters, quite rare for everyone else

Related Technologies

• Light-powered engines

Width

2-2.5 meters reserved for the "cargo" + 0.5 meters for the engines, wires and lighting system, + 10 cm of metal for the outer shell of the vehicle and 4 cm for the wall between the "cargo" and engine part

Length

Varies depending on the number of segments, shortest can be 1.5 meter long longest ones tend to reach 30 meters

Height

Depends on the number of layers, 1 inside layer is 0.5 meters in height. The largest ones usually reach 3 meters with additional 20 cm for outer walls

Speed

5-30 km/h

Cargo & Passenger Capacity

Usually don't go below 4 "passengers", the largest carts can have up to 120 "passengers"

Upgrades and defenses

Thanks to the problems caused by Ala, a group that hunts down the harvesters, and some creatures of the darkness adapting to the new designs of the threshers, many of them are built with defensive add-ons. The camouflage, cloaks made out of stealthy creatures, sound mufflers, and directional lanterns are all used to help the threshers move as quietly as possible while remaining unnoticed. Protective shell layers, the "rib cages", armored tires, and armored padding on the engines, all increase the vehicle's resistance to damage. The prop carts increase the length of each thresher but if hit, no equipment or cargo will be damaged. If a certain route might often encounter the same type of monster, threshers passing through it might be equipped with lures and baits that will keep them away for as long as possible or make them an easier target for the guards of the caravan. Should any of those fail, the vehicles might be equipped with spring-loaded blades and wires, small explosives, and even saws connected to their lids and engines so anything that tries to access them without first disarming it the right way will often meet its bloody end or will be heavily wounded.