Cogs of Sharn HELP!! [Archive] - Wizards Community

Cogs of Sharn HELP!! [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
asher3001
08-24-04, 09:04 AM ok, first i want to say how frustrating it is to have to wait for an extremely important book like Sharn to come out four months after the main campaign book. Sharn is the Major City in eberron for adventures.

second, the cogs in lower sharn are listed as being the industrial center of Sharn, huge factories, smoke and crowds all sitting on top of a lava bed.
what kind of industry? What products are these factories producing in mass quantities?
did they produce weapons and armor for the LAST WAR? if so are they abandoned now there is peace?
factories indicate an idustrial revolution, what idustires is this fueling?

am i misreading this? please help
GoodGuy89
08-24-04, 10:36 AM Your guess is as good as ours. You just have to swallow the bitter pill and wait till Sharn - City of Towers reaches a store near you. As far as i know, Hellcow (or other members of WotC) aren't allowed to leak information from upcoming books.
asher3001
08-24-04, 10:46 AM yeah i know, Wizards release schedule can at times be very poorly planned out.

but am i correct? does it make sense? there is nothing that is so common and factories needs to exsist.
i can understand small production shops makeing thing more effecient, but the mental picture they paint suggests major industry, what items are so common that a production line can exist?
Warforged are not supposed to be being created, the war is over, so no weapons or armor.
i guess there could be huge underground farms to feed the population of sharn, they have the heat and water to do such, but what about light. huge globes of daylight?
why do i see huge underground pig farms? mad max anyone?

Can Hellcow please just shed some light on this with out giving spoiler from the new book?
q'afuu
08-24-04, 10:59 AM Originally posted by asher3001
1) Sharn is the Major City in eberron for adventures.

2) what kind of industry? What products are these factories producing in mass quantities?
1) Meh. I use other regions more often than I do Breland, and that goes for cities as well. Sharn is *a* major city, but hardly the only one.

2) According to the book: (cheap) weapons, (cheap)armour, tools, processed ore, metalworks, manufactured goods, heavy industry. That pretty much includes everything related to metalwork, including just the processing of raw ore, which would be a huge industry even without weapons/armour.
The Steve
08-24-04, 11:10 AM Medieval towns reularly had industrial districts where the heavy metalwork was done with no need for factories etc. Lots of blacksmiths, weaponsmiths carpenters etc etc all working alongside each other. The smell and the heat, combined with the smoke would be very impressive - hope that gives an idea of what the district might look like.
ENHenry
08-24-04, 01:03 PM Originally posted by asher3001
Warforged are not supposed to be being created, the war is over, so no weapons or armor.
i guess there could be huge underground farms to feed the population of sharn, they have the heat and water to do such, but what about light. huge globes of daylight?
why do i see huge underground pig farms? mad max anyone?

Can Hellcow please just shed some light on this with out giving spoiler from the new book?

I'm not Hellcow, but one doesn't have to be him to make some extrapolations.

Just because the war is over doesn't mean there is no pressing need for metalwork. Those soldiers are now becoming adventurers, going to Xen'drik, Conducting mercenary operations out of Sharn, etc. Furthermore, the need for swords is lessened and the need for plowshares begins. People need farm implements, nails, tools, etc. in order to rebuild.

Farming is another important point: With all the heat and moisture generated, Mushrooms are one commodity that doesn't necessarily need sunlight, and some varieties (earth's Straw Paddy Mushrooms are a good example) actually prefer elevated temperatures to grow in. It doesn't take a strong flight of fancy to say that there is a variety of mushroom (magebred or not) that grows by the gardenful in the Cogs, and is made into bread product for consumption by the lower classes. I can envision adventurers slumming around in the cogs, goblins and halflings taking a brake in the taverns, downing cheap mushroom ale and bread...

Also, remember that all manufacturing is not metalwork: If you've ever seen an old-school tanning operation, it freaking SMELLS, if you're not used to it. The city middle to upper class would be only too happy to confine all tanning and leatherworking to the cogs.

You know, as I write this, it makes me think of the Old Black and white silent movie called Metropolis... :)
asher3001
08-24-04, 01:39 PM ok along those lines, i can see what to put here.

next question. getting raw material into the cogs can be difficult if it has to travel up and over the cliffside.
would there be shipping gates lover on the cliff side for at it base.
it would seem if not then the expense and effort to bring industy into the bowels of sharn may out way the benefits.

if there are gates then they would be heavily guarded.
any thoughts?
MarkB
08-24-04, 01:54 PM Perhaps the Manifest Zone extends out just beyond the cliffs. If so, then heavy lifting becomes cheap and practical - large loads can be shipped up and down with relatively little effort.
Greyson
08-30-04, 11:18 PM There is some insight on The Cogs provided in Dungeon #113 in the Queen With Burning Eyes adventure, page 21 to be exact.

The Cogs is full of slaughterhouses, tanneries, furnaces and foundries. The place is smoke-filled because trash is burning, forges are at work on ore and work on other raw material is being conducted. Steam billows up where boiling water and lava are in proximity to each other; there are long, dangerous stretches of darkness; there is a pronounced scent of sulfur and ash in the air; the heat is sweltering in some areas of The Cogs. The basalt caverns are like great honeycombs where there is plenty of room for the unsavory to hide.

HERE (http://www.coveworld.net/eberron/machines2.gif) is a small picture of an open area in The Cogs that houses some of the place's machinery - the gear, cogs, shafts and axles driven by the steam, lava and magic of The Cogs. This machinery operates ventilation shafts, chutes, moving skybridges, windmills and other wonder in Sharn's upper reaches.

Does any of this help?
Korhal IV
08-31-04, 01:26 AM ok, first i want to say how frustrating it is to have to wait for an extremely important book like Sharn to come out four months after the main campaign book.Sharn is the Major City in eberron for adventures
This is a little pet peeve of mine - the ECSB makes such a point of going "Sounds like a good place to start, eh?" *wink* *nudge* that it totally ruins Sharn. It sounds like the newbie zone in Everquest or something. Yeah, you want to start here, because you have piles of NPCs drooling at the chance to give your party some assignment. :rolleyes: It's the one part of Eberron I just don't like so much. Heck, I don't like Breland in general - land of liberty after 102 years of war? As U.S. President Adams said, "War is the foremost enemy of liberty."

Sorry, but I'd much rather that the first book out for Eberron focused on something more interesting - like Q'barra, or Sarlona. When will we get to the good stuff? :weep:
WizO_Sith
08-31-04, 11:12 AM One idea I've been toying with is to model Sharn's undercity along the lines of the underworld in the classic silent film "Metropolis" (made by german director Fritz Lang in 1927).

The underworld is populated by virtual slaves, dehumanized by their constant, backbreaking labor. A nightmare realm of servitude that most of those on the upper levels aren't even aware of.

(The following is taken from the website Fritz Lang and Metropolis - The First Science Fiction Film (http://www.persocom.com.br/brasilia/erika.htm#resume) A website devoted to discussiong the film)

"The city of Metropolis is a crowded one where people are either of the privileged elite, or of the repressed, impoverished masses. Vast numbers of the lower class live underground to run the machines that keep the above ground Metropolis in working order. The workers run the machines, but the machines run the lives of the workers. The monotonous droves of workers are truly a, “mass of men leading lives of quiet desperation,” to quote Thoreau. Lang portrays this with a montage of cattle-like herds of people, grinding machinery, and clocks."

---

I think it adds a distinctly noir element to the setting to have an underworld populated by the disenfranchised dregs of Brelish society.

YMMV, of course.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
asher3001 08-24-04, 09:04 AM	ok, first i want to say how frustrating it is to have to wait for an extremely important book like Sharn to come out four months after the main campaign book. Sharn is the Major City in eberron for adventures. second, the cogs in lower sharn are listed as being the industrial center of Sharn, huge factories, smoke and crowds all sitting on top of a lava bed. what kind of industry? What products are these factories producing in mass quantities? did they produce weapons and armor for the LAST WAR? if so are they abandoned now there is peace? factories indicate an idustrial revolution, what idustires is this fueling? am i misreading this? please help
GoodGuy89 08-24-04, 10:36 AM	Your guess is as good as ours. You just have to swallow the bitter pill and wait till Sharn - City of Towers reaches a store near you. As far as i know, Hellcow (or other members of WotC) aren't allowed to leak information from upcoming books.
asher3001 08-24-04, 10:46 AM	yeah i know, Wizards release schedule can at times be very poorly planned out. but am i correct? does it make sense? there is nothing that is so common and factories needs to exsist. i can understand small production shops makeing thing more effecient, but the mental picture they paint suggests major industry, what items are so common that a production line can exist? Warforged are not supposed to be being created, the war is over, so no weapons or armor. i guess there could be huge underground farms to feed the population of sharn, they have the heat and water to do such, but what about light. huge globes of daylight? why do i see huge underground pig farms? mad max anyone? Can Hellcow please just shed some light on this with out giving spoiler from the new book?
q'afuu 08-24-04, 10:59 AM	Originally posted by asher3001 1) Sharn is the Major City in eberron for adventures. 2) what kind of industry? What products are these factories producing in mass quantities? 1) Meh. I use other regions more often than I do Breland, and that goes for cities as well. Sharn is a major city, but hardly the only one. 2) According to the book: (cheap) weapons, (cheap)armour, tools, processed ore, metalworks, manufactured goods, heavy industry. That pretty much includes everything related to metalwork, including just the processing of raw ore, which would be a huge industry even without weapons/armour.
The Steve 08-24-04, 11:10 AM	Medieval towns reularly had industrial districts where the heavy metalwork was done with no need for factories etc. Lots of blacksmiths, weaponsmiths carpenters etc etc all working alongside each other. The smell and the heat, combined with the smoke would be very impressive - hope that gives an idea of what the district might look like.
ENHenry 08-24-04, 01:03 PM	Originally posted by asher3001 Warforged are not supposed to be being created, the war is over, so no weapons or armor. i guess there could be huge underground farms to feed the population of sharn, they have the heat and water to do such, but what about light. huge globes of daylight? why do i see huge underground pig farms? mad max anyone? Can Hellcow please just shed some light on this with out giving spoiler from the new book? I'm not Hellcow, but one doesn't have to be him to make some extrapolations. Just because the war is over doesn't mean there is no pressing need for metalwork. Those soldiers are now becoming adventurers, going to Xen'drik, Conducting mercenary operations out of Sharn, etc. Furthermore, the need for swords is lessened and the need for plowshares begins. People need farm implements, nails, tools, etc. in order to rebuild. Farming is another important point: With all the heat and moisture generated, Mushrooms are one commodity that doesn't necessarily need sunlight, and some varieties (earth's Straw Paddy Mushrooms are a good example) actually prefer elevated temperatures to grow in. It doesn't take a strong flight of fancy to say that there is a variety of mushroom (magebred or not) that grows by the gardenful in the Cogs, and is made into bread product for consumption by the lower classes. I can envision adventurers slumming around in the cogs, goblins and halflings taking a brake in the taverns, downing cheap mushroom ale and bread... Also, remember that all manufacturing is not metalwork: If you've ever seen an old-school tanning operation, it freaking SMELLS, if you're not used to it. The city middle to upper class would be only too happy to confine all tanning and leatherworking to the cogs. You know, as I write this, it makes me think of the Old Black and white silent movie called Metropolis... :)
asher3001 08-24-04, 01:39 PM	ok along those lines, i can see what to put here. next question. getting raw material into the cogs can be difficult if it has to travel up and over the cliffside. would there be shipping gates lover on the cliff side for at it base. it would seem if not then the expense and effort to bring industy into the bowels of sharn may out way the benefits. if there are gates then they would be heavily guarded. any thoughts?
MarkB 08-24-04, 01:54 PM	Perhaps the Manifest Zone extends out just beyond the cliffs. If so, then heavy lifting becomes cheap and practical - large loads can be shipped up and down with relatively little effort.
Greyson 08-30-04, 11:18 PM	There is some insight on The Cogs provided in Dungeon #113 in the Queen With Burning Eyes adventure, page 21 to be exact. The Cogs is full of slaughterhouses, tanneries, furnaces and foundries. The place is smoke-filled because trash is burning, forges are at work on ore and work on other raw material is being conducted. Steam billows up where boiling water and lava are in proximity to each other; there are long, dangerous stretches of darkness; there is a pronounced scent of sulfur and ash in the air; the heat is sweltering in some areas of The Cogs. The basalt caverns are like great honeycombs where there is plenty of room for the unsavory to hide. HERE (http://www.coveworld.net/eberron/machines2.gif) is a small picture of an open area in The Cogs that houses some of the place's machinery - the gear, cogs, shafts and axles driven by the steam, lava and magic of The Cogs. This machinery operates ventilation shafts, chutes, moving skybridges, windmills and other wonder in Sharn's upper reaches. Does any of this help?
Korhal IV 08-31-04, 01:26 AM	ok, first i want to say how frustrating it is to have to wait for an extremely important book like Sharn to come out four months after the main campaign book.Sharn is the Major City in eberron for adventures This is a little pet peeve of mine - the ECSB makes such a point of going "Sounds like a good place to start, eh?" wink nudge that it totally ruins Sharn. It sounds like the newbie zone in Everquest or something. Yeah, you want to start here, because you have piles of NPCs drooling at the chance to give your party some assignment. :rolleyes: It's the one part of Eberron I just don't like so much. Heck, I don't like Breland in general - land of liberty after 102 years of war? As U.S. President Adams said, "War is the foremost enemy of liberty." Sorry, but I'd much rather that the first book out for Eberron focused on something more interesting - like Q'barra, or Sarlona. When will we get to the good stuff? :weep:
WizO_Sith 08-31-04, 11:12 AM	One idea I've been toying with is to model Sharn's undercity along the lines of the underworld in the classic silent film "Metropolis" (made by german director Fritz Lang in 1927). The underworld is populated by virtual slaves, dehumanized by their constant, backbreaking labor. A nightmare realm of servitude that most of those on the upper levels aren't even aware of. (The following is taken from the website Fritz Lang and Metropolis - The First Science Fiction Film (http://www.persocom.com.br/brasilia/erika.htm#resume) A website devoted to discussiong the film) "The city of Metropolis is a crowded one where people are either of the privileged elite, or of the repressed, impoverished masses. Vast numbers of the lower class live underground to run the machines that keep the above ground Metropolis in working order. The workers run the machines, but the machines run the lives of the workers. The monotonous droves of workers are truly a, “mass of men leading lives of quiet desperation,” to quote Thoreau. Lang portrays this with a montage of cattle-like herds of people, grinding machinery, and clocks." --- I think it adds a distinctly noir element to the setting to have an underworld populated by the disenfranchised dregs of Brelish society. YMMV, of course.