Royal War Train
There are a myriad of trains that run on the ley lines all through Vallermoore, delivering passengers and goods to their destinations, but they all have to give way by Law when the Royal War Train comes through.
In the early days of the railways, the trains had to move upon tracks. Such tracks could be blocked accidently or on purpose, or sabotaged by attacking armies or malcontents, or have trees fall over them in bad weather. In the reign of Queen Eleanor V it was decided to industrialise magic, and to call up the powers of the great ley lines and use them as magical railways to run the trains upon. Such lines are almost impossible to sabotage. Physical tools and weapons are ignited on contact with them; whilst all but the most powerful magic bounces back upon the caster, either frying his or her body or destroying his or her mind. They are easily seen even in daylight, so there is no danger of walking into them by mistake-they glow a dim red that is far brighter at night, and they criss-cross large areas of the country, yet not too much of it. Trains can be bigger, heavier, and run a lot faster then they used to, and the Royal War Train is the largest of them.
The Royal Train, with more then a hundred carriages, is like a small moving palace in it's own right, able to house all the soldiers. servants, courtiers and royal ministers that the Queen needs. With mighty steam loaded harpoons and crossbows that can pierce any armour light enough to be worn on the body, and cannons capable of damaging even war mechs, the Train is more then capable of holding it's own in any revolt or battle. It's armour is so thick that only heavy weapons are capable of breaking it, and the inside of the Train is covered in thick soft felt to minimise the fragments that result from such damage. With enough food and water on board to last for weeks, even if some way was found of Spellbreaking the ley lines that the Train runs upon, it could withstand a lengthy siege until the Vallermoorian Army could come to it's rescue.
Whilst there have been no wars or major revolts in Vallermoore for many decades, the Train is still very useful for the Queens of Vallermoore; it provides safety and security and a very quick method of getting from place to place, capable of moving at up to two hundred miles an hour with little or no chance of being derailed, since anything placed on the line is incinerated. The Train itself floats magically above the ley line in an anti-gravity magical field. Of the carriages, ten carry food and water, ten carry ammunition for the cannons, steam-guns and large crossbows mounted upon every carriage of the train, seventy are for the passengers, and the remaining eleven are the Queen's bathroom, sleeping car and other private royal quarters. All in all, the Train is a true marvel of magitech.
Steampunk!
Any sort of steampunk at all from thaumatech to simple old-fashioned steamtech.
Wind up your imaginations and start the kettle boiling!
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? Responses (9)
It is a fantastic idea. I seem to remember there being a lot more to this train, descriptions of the inside and the station.
Do you want me to add more to it before you vote then? :)
I will vote whenever you want. What score would you like?
How much do you think it's worth. I think it's a 3.5 myself, good, but hardly my best submission. Not bad, given that I pulled it from a challenged submission.
I do like the train, and I do like Vallermoore. I will not argue with your 3.5 assessment.
After reading I was left wanting more, more detail of the specific routes, some plot hooks, a few key operators on the train, perhaps descriptions of any unique train carts?
As it is this feels like the beginning to something larger, I would really love to see it expanded upon.
I'll update it when real life lets me. :)
These are neat, apart from the lethality of the rails. I would have the rails only energize when a train was a mile or less down the tracks. Otherwise this will cause massive economic damage - you would need tunnels or overpasses everywhere.
I think more of a 4/5, what I took from this to score it higher than my fellows is the idea of ley lines being VERY tangible, I've never seen anybody come up w/ this. It seems so obvious an idea yet here is the first time I ever saw it.