Kibar-Kûn

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For practical applications, the use of steam to power engines happened in 1555. On Angvild, a remote and alien island, Engineen tinkerers created steam pumps, draining seawaters eating away at their island's underside. Angvild, not natural to the world around it, was again splitting. A lot of money was put into finding a way to stabilize the island and keeping the waters at bay. The latter was where the steam pumps came into play. As a result of the wealth and influence to be made, Engineen's government grew big and bureaucratic, with competing factions, civil engineering interested in stabilizing the island by magic and with bars to support weak areas like a latticework. Engineen's Department of Mechanical Engineering wanted to draw the water out by mechanical devices. Another group, the Department of Flight looked to the horizon, hoping to build flying ships to evacuate the island for more stable lands.

In 1584, a Class 2 Engineen Exploration Airship landed in the territory of the Fargimdal. The two sides, seeing technological gain, quickly became friends. Over six thousand miles apart, skyships were primitive for the time, making the trade of goods impractical. On the other hand, knowledge and advisors could be moved about with teleportation magic. Near the end of the year, Engineen exchanged their steam know-how for Fargimdal's knowledge of making concrete.

In 1587, Phorngoad Rail, then a small company, started an ambitious project called Kibar-Kûn. The Harworb Line, the first spoke of this railroad build-out, one planned to link the region's dwarven cities, was started at the rail hub city Bolnalmak.

In the building of the Tarbhunarâg Line, one destined to link Bolnalmak with Tarbhunarâg, war ensued over the exploitation of the Gwaellurth forest. One of Phorngoad Rail's shell companies was behind this, instigating a conflict with Fargimdal's northern neighbors, the Rúmil. The Third Gwaellurth War (1670 - 1685) ended when one of its heroes became a god, her passing into the ranks of Higher Powers a divine blessing on the forest around.

Movement on the railways is not fast. Brigands, monsters, avalanches, and other causes are always a threat. Sections of track have speeds governed by laws. Insurance rates vary based on an area's projected risk of danger.

Today, the region's dwarven cities are connected by a vast rail systems. These link all major cities, with mammoth trusses spanning deep gorges, crossing swamps and winding their way up, down, and through mountain ranges. Collectively called the Kibar-Kûn, it is a marvel of engineering and labor, its builders sparing no expense in its protection and efficiency. Numerous armored engines move about the rail lines, checking for saboteurs or destructive beasts. The railroads and their engines of pollution have long been a complaint and military target for of the High Wood Country's elven empires.