lwhitehead wrote:I rather have thi setting on a original Fantasy world, so How can a Hard Fantasy world discover Steam Locomotives.
Simple.
Fire elementals.
A mad wizard trapped a fire elemental in a metal pot and tried to drown it (well, he was mad...). The resultant steam-burst flipped the lid into the ceiling and incidentally killed the mad wizard, leaving the unwilling apprentice/ritual fodder alive, slightly boiled and astonished. Said apprentice abandons the way of magic and starts experimenting with the power of steam (after all, it did fire the lid into the ceiling).
Fast-forward a decade and the apprentice has discovered how to use fire elementals to heat water into steam and has created a "nodding-donkey" type engine to allow workshops to be built in places where waterwheels are impractical. His new apprentice (a proper one this time) has a burst of genius and alters the steam engine, placing it on wheels. Since controlling its direction is hard, he uses a mining concept and places the whole thing on rails.
Once again, fast-forward another decade or so and the steam locomotors have become highly popular. Due to the use of fire elementals, they run on magic (stored in crystals) and each year, a new design comes out, smoother and sleeker as the designers get their inspiration from nature.
Ta-da. Magitech trains. Packaged and ready to use.
