World of Magic, World of Iron

BONG… BONG… BONG… BONG… BONG… BONG… BONG… BONG… BONG… BONG… BONG… BONG… Those twelve rings would echo through history. 12:00 noon, the first demonstration of The Clock Tower of Darynth – a machine that could tell time. Before long, the people of the great city began to wake to The Clock, work to The Clock, eat to The Clock, and sleep to The Clock – in essence, The Clock came to structure every aspect of daily life. The machine that took Time itself from away from the Gods and the Cosmos, and gave it to the hands of the people. Some hailed The Clock Tower as a marvel of technology – a landmark of progress toward building a better world, and a symbol of the dawning of a new era where machines would relieve the burden of the common laborer. They dreamed of the wonders to come: of mechanized agriculture, transportation, telecommunication, health and safety. Of a utopia where the people could be free from the mindless toils of everyday work. Others saw a symbol of power – a tool to revolutionize economic efficiency and military logistics. A beacon, towering over the tallest cathedral, boasting to the entire world that Darynth, and Darynth alone was its enlightened capital. If the Darynthians could master Time itself, they could master anything or anyone. Others saw in The Tower a foreboding omen – an unnatural presence that drew the eyes of the Darynthians away from the sun and the stars, and toward the machine in the sky; twisting the people’s hearts into cogwheels driven by the Clock’s metal gears. They saw The Clock itself as a new type of God, with The Tower as its temple and the city as its worshippers. A God of Iron more terrible than the world had ever known. Perhaps the most forward-thinking thought nothing at all of the clock – an inconsequential novelty providing a minor convenience. This viewpoint was far ahead of its time, to say the least. From the modern standpoint, the invention of the clock was inevitable. However, historians debate the extent to which that 12:00 noon that marked the beginning of the end of the Age of Magic. One thing is for certain: The Clock Tower’s bells would echo far and wide, and its gears once set in motion would not be turned back.  

M. J. Vanderwolf, The Second Iron Age, Preface, Wallach University Press, 1693.