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[b]An Engineer With A Vision[/b]

	It was a humid May night as Charles Amlore and the engineering team that currently composed Yorvagr Motor Company remained hard at work after hours in the shop. One Segaso [i]Modello 1[/i] sat untouched in the corner of the workshop that composed Northman Machining, with multiple drawing boards next to it that held replications of its design and [i]Segaso Systéme 3.2HP[/i] engine, all labeled carefully as well as the way in which the order in which every part was added. Not far away was the undisturbed Karqasia [i]Model V[/i] with its [i]K.A. 6HP[/i] engine and associated diagrams as well as a still-assembled Forino 4HP motor.

	About twenty yards away, nestled against the wall of the shop and surrounded by numerous machines to create parts as well as a number of blank drawing boards and the men of Yorvagr, were the mostly disassembled models of each automobile and the Forino engine. Amlore in particular stood in front of each of the three competing engines' parts, looking at each in detail as he took a slow drag on his cigar. After exhaling a plume of smoke that only added to that which already hung in the air from his fellow engineers, the man pointed at each one, "What do you each of you see in common with these engines?"

	For a few moments, everyone looked at each of them before Harold Yngold, the burly near-Dwarf muttered, "They're too bloody hard to take apart."

	Amlore chuckled, nodding at the same time before adding, "That is true. But there is more."

	"They all use two cylinders," noted Samuelle.

	To that, the Chief Engineer nodded again, taking another puff of the cigar, "Also correct. Put simply, these engines are a bitch to maintain and they're also rather inefficient in a way." Slowly circling the three engines he spoke, motioning to each one occasionally, "The K.A. is essentially just a replica of the Forino, and the Segaso isn't much different either. They're all made of an astonishing number of parts, and it would take even an intelligent person quite a while to disassemble them if something went wrong and say, a valve needed to be replaced. I've been reading up on the theory behind how these engines work as well, and I've come to the conclusion that we need to expand to [i]four[/i] cylinders."

	Harold stroked his beard for a moment, taking a draught of beer afterwards before asking, "What makes you say that, boss?"

	Smiling, Amlore raised a hand to reveal four fingers, "There are fundamentally four processes that a cylinder undergoes when it operates. Fuel and air come in, they get compressed and then ignited by the spark plugs, then this hot gas pushes against the valve of the cylinder and is eventually expelled to be replaced with fresh air and fuel. So what might happen with two cylinders?"

	The youngest engineer, Robére, slowly said as if unsure, "They get mixed together."
	Clapping his hands together before forcefully pointing at Robére, Amlore continued, "That's absolutely the right answer. Mixed together to the point where, if you think about it, the old, spent fuel and air gets mixed with the new air-fuel mixture. That means the engine isn't as powerful as it could be. Now, if we design an engine that isolates intake of the new fuel-air mixture from the old, compression, ignition and power stroke, followed by exhaust of the spent fuel-air mixture, the result should be a much more efficient, powerful engine. And if we take it one step further," once more, the man brought those four fingers out, "we can have a cylinder doing each process at one time. So there will always be a cylinder performing the power stroke, followed by exhaust, and so on!"

	Brushing his grayed hair back over his head, Amlore continued to pace, rubbing his chin thoroughly, "We've also got to reduce the complexity of the engine. We need to keep it simple. Keep everything simple. The more simple it is, the easier it is to build, maintain, and the less it'll cost. Every part we don't need needs to be stripped or fused into another. We'll make the cylinders be fused together into a single cast iron engine block, and then have the head be detachable so engineers and mechanics can more easily fix problems inside and so the car can be assembled faster... We'll strip all the unnecessary crap off the car, then try to use simpler materials instead of extravagant leather for instance. The cheaper it is to build in terms of material costs, the better, but," Amlore waved outwards towards the team, encompassing all of them, "labor needs to be taken into account too. The Segaso is mass manufactured, so we'll do the same, but we're going to do it [i]even better[/i]!"

	Taking a deep breath before stopping in front of the crew, Amlore finished his half speech half rant with, "And the objective is simple: not only meet the expectations of the contest, but attempt to go beyond them. I want us to revolutionize the automobile, even more than our competitors have revolutionized it. I want to make the automobile so affordable that even beggars will drive them. And everyone will want one. And we'll all be rich beyond our wildest imaginations!"

	There was a chorus of "Here here" as the men raised their glasses and cigars, quickly setting about work attempting to revolutionize the fledging industry. From a simple machining workshop in the quiet city of Ynghold, in the quiet nation of Illesia, six men had a fair chance to succeed enormously.

[b]Shaping an Army[/b]

	A group of young Illesian recruits gathered together in the morning of May 17th for their daily meeting, some of them sipping mugs of ale and talking amongst themselves when the group was quieted with an aggressive shout, "At-ten-[b]tion[/b]! Get in formation!"

	Haphazardly and frantically, the group tried to align themselves and take up the position of attention as the sergeant approached, clutching a piece of paper in his right hand that he unraveled, yelling, "Alright, recr- Jamey, shut your goddamn mouth, now! And put down that fucking mug of ale! Now, listen up: The Illesian military is beginning to undergo a long series of changes with the goal of adhering to the following standards, handed down by the Marshall Triumvirate themselves. When we were focused entirely on defense, we became complacent. From now, we are going to push ourselves, all of us, together, to be the absolute best we can possibly be. And that starts today, here, with all of you. All of your fellow soldiers will also immediately be put into harsh physical training as well, so don't worry. Now, the standards that we are going to push your sorry asses to meet are as follows," the sergeant began reading directly from the parchment,

"1. Ability to lift at least 120 pounds of weight above the Soldier's head.
2. Ability to carry at least 80 pounds of total gear and equipment on the Soldier's body and march with it for at least six hours while covering at least twenty miles with few breaks for rest.
3. Ability to run three miles unencumbered within thirty minutes.
4. Ability to sprint 300 yards within 70 seconds.
5. Ability to perform ten pull-ups without resting.
6. Ability to perform fifty crunches without resting.
7. Ability to pass a marksmanship course that presents a Soldier with man-sized targets at 200, 300, and 400 yards. Every Soldier gets 50 rounds to use, and there are 20 targets at 200 yards, 20 targets at 300 yards, and 10 targets at 400 yards. To pass, the Soldier must hit at least thirty-five targets. To receive the distinction of 'Marksman' with accompanying ribbon and 10% more pay per month, the Soldier must hit at least forty-two targets. To receive the distinction of 'Eagle' with accompanying ribbon and 30% more pay per month, the Soldier must hit forty-eight targets.
8. Ability to disassemble and reassemble the Soldier's rifle within four minutes, blindfolded.
9. Ability to quickly re-establish chain of command when the Soldier's commanding officer is incapacitated.
10. Ability to stand at attention, in formation, without moving or talking, for at minimum three hours.
11. Ability to understand and execute the orders of the Soldier's commanding officer nearly flawlessly.
12. Ability to identify all ranks within the Illesian Army and respond accordingly.
13. Ability to perform basic live-saving first aid on a fellow Soldier.
14. Ability to properly wear the dress uniform of the Illesian Army.
15. It is unacceptable for a Soldier to be Drunk, Disorderly, Insubordinate, to Assault a Fellow Soldier or Officer, or to perform any other activity deemed unsavory by their commanding officers or the Military as a whole while on duty and ideally while off duty as well."

	For a few minutes, the sergeant remained quiet, letting his words sink into the group as some of their faces paled. Many of them had initially signed up believing that a job with the Illesian military was an easy one, considering they had barely fought anyone for longer than most could remember. That belief died that day. In the ensuing months, a number of Illesians would fail to push themselves hard enough to make acceptable progress towards the standards and be replaced with fresh bodies, but Illesia would eventually persevere as every Illesian soldier was ordered to begin a significant amount of physical and mental conditioning.

[b]Arming an Army[/b]

	Alexander Felize stood before the Committee on National Finances which had convened with the Marshall Triumvirate and King Avandre VII present on May 23rd. Felize was quite the elder businessman, having performed the job of CEO of Tournesol Armureries for decades. Tournesol was literally the oldest arms manufacturer in the world, and it was in dire straits. Debt was up enormously and only piling on more and more as the interest weighed in while no one seemed to be buying their outdated rifles anymore. And so, Felize had decided to come before the government in person, essentially begging for work in order to save the company, its employees, and the lineage that Tournesol represented.

	King Avandre himself had appeared, a fact which thoroughly surprised the old CEO as the King slid a paper towards Felize to pick up and read, "The Marshall Triumvirate, the Committee on National Finances, and myself, have inspected your request, Mister Felize, and we have come to a simple conclusion..." Felize's heart weighed heavily in his chest during that long pause Avandre gave, "and that is, that your rifles are obsolete. It's been, what, a decade since you designed a new rifle?" For a moment, Felize began to correct him before Avandre forcefully continued, "Exactly how long doesn't matter. The point is, Illesia needs a new rifle. We also want to try out some of these new machine guns that have been getting passed around, so that contract is fairly straightforward. If Tournesol Armureries can license the most up to date, effective and best rifle and machine guns designs from another private company, even a foreign one, within three months, for at least a period of one year of production, Illesia will buy every single rifle, machine gun, and round of ammunition your company can produce. Of course, we expect all of these items to be in working order."

	Eyes going wide, Felize slowly stepped towards the paper and took hold of it, signing his name where it was supposed to go, binding the government to its promise. As the man signed though, Avandre leaned forward and placed a single hand upon the paper, "Mister Felize, do not give the government of Illesia subpar weapons. It may not end well for you. We hope for your success. Oh, and, I want you to think carefully about this and ask your engineers, then inform us within a month whether or not your company can design rifle, machine gun, and field gun designs on par or better than current designs. Within a reasonable period of time, of course. If you can pull it off, Illesia will likely give Tournesol a contract for the production of those weapons. And don't lie to me, Mister Felize. I will personally take affront to it if you do." Avandre smiled and leaned back in his seat, releasing the paper.

	Gulping profusely, Alexander Felize bowed multiple times to the assembled men, "Yes, your Majesty. I will get right on all of your requests. Tournesol will do all that they can to not fail you."

[b]Forgotten Deadlines[/b]

	Fitzgerald was sitting quietly in the Committee on Infrastructure's conference room on May 25th when he received a paper from his secretary emblazoned with the King's own seal. Opening it, he quietly summed it up for the assembled Committee, "The King wishes to receive reports on our progress every two months, and informs us that we have six months to disburse all $5,000,000."

	A wriggly old turtle of a man, Saribold, shrugged next to Fitzgerald, "Alright. I was a bit surprised that the rest of the government had forgotten their deadline when they formed our Committee. Usually they're more clear.

(OOC: +1 to all Orders for May.)