Location: Midgard Company Ironworks, Outside Armathane
Time: Day 225 After Alec's Arrival
The Midgard Company Ironworks weren't beautiful.
They weren't meant to be.
They were loud, hot, black with soot, and alive with the rhythm of metal: hammers striking billets, bellows groaning, waterwheels creaking as they drove crushing cylinders into ore.
To most visitors, it looked like chaos.
But to Alec, it was order, forming under fire.
đ The New Structure of Metalwork
Where once smiths had worked as isolated artisansâeach with their own forges, tools, and apprenticesâAlec had created a production chain.
Smelting was separated from forging.
Forging was separated from finishing.
Finishing was standardized by type: tools, weapons, fittings, reinforcement structures.
Each hall had a supervisor. Each worker logged hours, outputs, and failures. There was no mysticism here. Only yield, temperature, and process compliance.
đ„ Smelting & Ore Purification
Alec had repurposed three former bloomery stations into proto-blast furnaces, modifying airflow using double-action bellows tied to large vertical piston weights. Controlled heat zones were now maintained using pre-heated air from vertical clay ducting.
Charcoal was still the base fuelâbut under Alec's guidance, the Company began controlled coking experiments using selected coal sourced from Sundheim.
"We're not burning it," he told the engineers. "We're distilling it. Remove moisture. Remove sulfur and volatile gases. What remains is nearly pure carbon."
He'd created a rudimentary coke ovenâclay-lined, sealed at the top, fed through a rear vent. It wasn't airtight. But it was effective.
The first batch of coke changed everything.
It burned hotter, lasted longer, and allowed for consistent bloom separation.
đ§Ș Early Steel
Iron was easy.
Steel was not.
The traditional smiths of Midgard had mastered bloomery iron and some basic case-hardened weapon forgingâbut true steel, with reliable carbon content?
That was beyond them.
Until Alec showed them carburization control.
"Low-carbon iron absorbs carbon when heated in a closed environment," he explained to the gathered smelters, pointing to his diagram of a sealed crucible packed with carbon-rich materials.
"We heat wrought iron with charcoal inside clay crucibles. Maintain temperature for twelve to twenty hours. The iron absorbs carbon slowlyâbecomes what you call... 'refined blade metal.' But this isn't luck. It's science."
He demonstrated the process himself:
Pack crucible with fine iron, crushed charcoal, and crushed bone for calcium stabilization
Seal with clay cap
Place in preheated chamber
Maintain ~950°C using coke and bellows
Cool slowly, crack open, test for fracture line brightness and grain
The first batches produced what Alec called "proto-steel": uneven carbon saturation, but vastly superior to normal bloom iron.
The smiths named it Greyfire Steel, after the color it gave when folded.
đ© Weapon and Tool Production
Steel was not reserved for swords.
Alec insisted the first batches be used for chisels, mining drills, hinge bars, wagon joints, and grain scythes.
"Tools make tools," he said. "Weapons come after."
Some nobles protested.
They were ignored.
đ Training and Knowledge Transfer
Alec organized rotating instruction blocks for every forge worker:
Iron chemistry (simplified: "carbon is both poison and power")
Heat color calibration ("Orange to yellow: forging. White: risk. Dull red: shaping.")
Tempering behavior (quenching oils vs. water, air cool vs. brine)
Failure logs â tracking when, where, and why steel shattered or warped
The old master smiths grumbledâuntil their tools lasted twice as long.
Apprentices, however, flourished.
The top ten were selected for a "Forgemaster's Track" â Alec's long-term plan to build technicians, not craftsmen.
đŹ Dialogue â Alec & Forgemaster Kett
Kett, a broad-shouldered blacksmith with thirty years of experience and a voice like grinding gravel, approached Alec during a bellows break.
"This ain't the art I was taught," Kett said, folding his arms. "You make the forge a factory."
Alec glanced at him. "No. I make it a system."
Kett scowled. "System can't replace soul."
Alec replied, "Soul doesn't guarantee uniform tensile strength."
Silence.
Then Kett smirked. "You don't talk like a smith."
"I'm not."
"But I'll be damned if your steel don't cut better than mine."
â Political and Economic Implications
The Midgard Company began logging steel-to-iron output ratios.
Within two weeks:
Steel was priced 18:1 to raw iron
Requests from noble workshops tripled
Two independent smithing guilds tried to sabotage the crucible ovens (caught, publicly fined)
The Ducal Armory formally requested 400 units of Greyfire steel for experimental halberds
Alec refused to produce ceremonial weapons.
Instead, he ordered mass production of hardened rebar, bracers for wheel spokes, and metal framing for grain towers.
đŻ Closing Reflection â Alec's Notebook Entry
Steel is not the end goal. It's the beginning of reliable structure.
Where steel goes, pressure follows. Where pressure flows, control forms.
Metallurgy is not about making better blades.
It's about building a world where bridges don't collapse, hinges don't rot, and carriages don't fail under war weight.
The nobles think they want swords. I'm giving them infrastructure.
Eventually, they'll realize that's more dangerous.