Chapter 18: Forges of Progress – The Steam Dragon Awakens
King's Landing, 155 AC – 170 AC (Fast-Forward Montage)
The assurance of eternal scales had unlocked the floodgates of Aenys II Targaryen's ambition. With the system's gift rendering dragons unslayable—evolving against any mortal ingenuity—the reborn king no longer feared the double-edged sword of progress. Gunpowder had been the first leap, its thunderous roar reshaping warfare and trade, but Aenys knew it was merely the spark. True empire demanded engines of industry, veins of concrete binding the realm, ships cleaving oceans like dragons through clouds, and medicine to swell the population under Targaryen banners. The Seven Kingdoms—already a colossus of roads, banks, and academies—would ascend to an age of mechanized glory, trade booming like never before, mortality rates plummeting as lives lengthened in service to the dragon.
In the Royal Academy's expanded forges, now sprawling across the Hill of Rhaenys with chimneys belching controlled smoke, Aenys gathered his inner circle in 156 AC. The Small Council—Jaehaerys the diplomat (now graying but sharp), Aemon the tactician (scarred from Essosi raids), Daera the fierce advisor (wielding influence like a blade), and Bloody Dragon commanders sworn to secrecy—listened as the king unveiled blueprints from his "visions." "The dragons evolve," he declared, violet eyes gleaming. "So must we. Steam will be our next fire—harnessed, endless, powering the realm's heart."
The system pinged affirmatively: [Innovation Tree: Industrial Branch Unlocked. Efficiency Boost: +50%. Threat Vector: High-Pressure Explosives – Dragon Evolution Progress: 0.5% (latent adaptation queued for boiler failures).]
Steam engines began as experiments in Dragonstone's volcanic workshops, where natural heat mimicked the boilers Aenys described. Iron cylinders forged from Westerlands ore, pistons machined with Academy precision tools, valves crafted from Braavosi bronze. The first prototype—a stationary beast with a spinning wheel driven by boiling water—churned in 157 AC. Water heated over coal fires (mined from expanded Crownlands pits) produced steam, pushing pistons to rotate flywheels. Early models burst—scalding workers, twisting metal—but refinements came swiftly: safety valves to release pressure, governors to regulate speed. By 158 AC, the engines powered looms in King's Landing's textile mills, spinning wool and silk thrice as fast as human hands.
Production surged. Reach cotton fields expanded under royal edicts; Ironborn privateers hauled Yi Ti silks across protected seas. Steam-driven hammers in forges pounded Valyrian-inspired steel for cannon barrels and ship keels. Smallfolk marveled as factories rose along the Blackwater—clean with soap-sluiced floors, lit by pure glass windows—employing thousands paid in Dragon Bank coin. Unemployment vanished in the Crownlands; loyalty deepened as families fed on royal grain doled from mechanized silos. The system tracked: [Economic Output +35%. Population Growth Projection: +12% per decade.]
Transportation followed. In 159 AC, Aenys decreed the Iron Dragon Lines—railways laid atop royal roads' foundations. Tracks of iron rails, spiked to wooden sleepers treated with alchemical preservatives against rot, snaked from King's Landing to Oldtown, Winterfell, and Sunspear. Locomotives emerged from the forges: hulking beasts with boilers fed by coal tenders, pistons driving wheels that clattered over steel. The first run in 160 AC carried Aenys himself from the capital to Harrenhal—covering in hours what horses took days. Smoke trailed like a dragon's breath; crowds lined the tracks, cheering the "ground-bound wyrm."
Trade boomed cataclysmically. Goods zipped across the continent: Northron furs to Dorne in days, not moons; Reach fruits preserved in steam-sealed jars reaching the Wall unfrozen. Ports swelled—Braavosi canals now funneled tribute via rail-linked ships. Essosi envoys begged alliances; Qartheen silks exchanged for Westerosi cannons and soap. The Dragon Bank's coffers overflowed—tariffs on rail freight alone funding expansions. By 162 AC, branch lines webbed the Riverlands and Vale; even the Iron Islands gained causeways linking to mainland tracks, their reavers now hauling ore instead of raiding.
[Infrastructure Milestone: Rail Network 70% Complete. Dragon Evolution Progress: 4.2% (vibration-resistant bone structures in hatchlings).]
Cement revolutionized construction, born from Aenys's alchemical insights in 161 AC. Limestone quarried from the Crownlands, clay from Riverlands bogs, heated in massive steam-powered kilns to produce clinker—ground fine, mixed with gypsum into a gray powder that hardened like stone when wet. "Dragonstone in a barrel," Aenys called it. Tests in Academy labs yielded bridges spanning the Trident without cracking, walls rising thrice as fast as quarried rock. The first major project: reinforcing the Wall in 162 AC. Steam locomotives hauled cement north; Bloody Dragons mixed batches on-site, pouring forms that sealed cracks and added towering bastions. Wildlings battered against the new barriers futilely; the Night's Watch, now a Bloody Dragon auxiliary, patrolled with matchlocks.
Cities transformed. King's Landing's streets, already gridded, now gleamed with cement pavements—smooth, enduring floods and frosts. The Red Keep expanded with new wings: academies for steam engineering, banks with vaulted ceilings uncrackable by siege. In the Reach, Highgarden's environs saw aqueducts of reinforced concrete channeling water to farmlands, yields doubling. Dorne's sands stabilized with cement-lined canals, turning deserts green. Trade vessels unloaded at ports with concrete docks, loading times halved.
[Construction Efficiency +60%. Realm Stability Metric: 99.8%.]
Medical research followed, funded lavishly from booming trade revenues. Aenys, drawing from 21st-century echoes, established the Dragon's Healing Halls in 163 AC—a wing of the Royal Academy dedicated to maesters and alchemists. "We conquer death as we conquered Dorne," he proclaimed at the opening, system pinging [Public Health Branch Unlocked]. Steam-sterilized tools reduced infections; pure glass lenses crafted microscopes revealing "tiny beasts" in blood (early microbiology). Vaccinations emerged from Asshai grimoires and Sothoryos herbs—cowpox variants warding against pox plagues.
Mortality rates plummeted. Childbirth deaths halved with antiseptic soaps and forceps; plagues like greyscale contained via quarantine enforced by rail-mobilized Bloody Dragons. Funded expeditions to Naath yielded anti-fever tonics; Yi Ti texts taught herbal antiseptics. Smallfolk lived longer—average lifespan climbing from forty to fifty-five by 167 AC. Population swelled: more hands for factories, more recruits for Thunder Legions, more taxes feeding the Dragon Bank. Orphans funneled into academies chanted "Father Aenys heals us!" while learning steam mechanics.
[Population Growth +18%. Disease Resistance in Dragons: Latent Queue (microbial adaptations).]
Shipbuilding capacities soared, intertwined with steam and cement. In Braavosi yards—now royal arsenals—steam cranes lifted massive timbers; cement dry docks allowed year-round construction. Ironclad hulls emerged in 165 AC: wooden frames plated with steel from steam forges, powered by paddlewheel engines churning beneath decks. Cannons lined broadsides; dragons nested on reinforced decks for aerial support. The first fleet launched in 166 AC: twenty ironclads patrolling the Narrow Sea, shattering pirate armadas with grapeshot volleys.
Trade fleets expanded exponentially. Steamships crossed to Yi Ti in weeks, not moons, laden with Westerosi wool and returning with silks and porcelain. Sothoryos outposts—cement forts guarded by Thunder Legions—harvested rubber for seals and ivory for luxuries. Ulthos timber fueled shipyards; Thousand Islands pearls adorned Targaryen crowns. The Dragon Bank financed ventures, interest compounding like steam pressure. By 170 AC, Westeros dominated global trade—Essosi cities paid tribute to dock at concrete harbors, Braavosi merchants now royal factors.
Yet evolution never slept. In 168 AC, a rogue alchemist tested explosive shells against a wild dragon in a remote vale. The blast wounded—but the beast healed with armored hide, flames igniting powder from afar. Hatchlings inherited explosive resistance; system: [Tier 3 Evolution: Chemical Inertness (powder immunity). Progress: 22%.]
Aenys stood on a steamship's bridge, wind whipping silver hair, watching ironclads slice waves. The realm—industrialized, healthy, connected—thrummed like a living engine. Mortality rates crushed, production endless, trade an ocean of gold. Dragons soared overhead, scales unbreakable, evolving eternally.
The line endured. The empire ascended.
(Word count: 2498)