Other Notable Information

In my travels I not only meet new people and visit strange places, I also pick up information about important subjects. In this section I will try to give a small overview of the things I learned.

Nillian

 


Human-Hybrids
Human-hybrid is the term that people in Kataria(*) thought up for people who had one or more limbs replaced by steam engines. These replacements were first designed by Dr. Biene(*), and after a successful operation he showed the application by giving a woodcutter back an arm he had lost in an accident. This first prototype was a very large and cumbersome thing, and the woodcutter was never able to return to his original work. In the years after this first operation a lot of research and design was done in creating the perfect replacements.

Most human-hybrids replaced their limbs after they lost them in accidents, but there have been some cases that people wanted to have stronger bodies, and thought that steam engines were the answer. The physics behind the replacements are very complex, as are the actual engines that are integrated into the body of the relevant person and the clockwork replica's that replace the lost limbs. The engine is partly heated by body heat, for the rest there is a small furnace inside the engine. The engine itself is a sealed system, so that there is almost no loss of steam as the engine operates. This of course can be very dangerous, as when the engines are used constantly the system can heat up and cause too much pressure, causing the system to explode. There are safety measures in place to prevent this, but as they work by letting off steam this can quite easily incapacitate the system all together. The clockwork limbs have to be kept oiled, otherwise they can catch and tear out the whole limb. The limb is always covered with a metal shell, often copper or nickel.
The engine that drives the clockwork limb(s) can only work with enough steam in the reservoir. But the replacement limbs are too heavy to just carry with you, so a human-hybrid actually needs the power from the steam engines to be able to move around. Because of the size of the engine and the weight of the replacement limbs the strength of a person is not greatly increased, though there is a noticeable difference. The fact that the replacements are made of metal makes them less shock absorbent (if you hit something your body has to absorb the shock, as the arm itself cannot do that) but stronger and of course you cannot feel anything with them.

There are a lot of discussions about human-hybrids, especially those who have replaced healthy limbs in the hope to get a 'better' body. Those people often try to improve and upgrade their steam engines for more power. This sometimes leads to their engines to explode, giving human-hybrids a bad reputation. There have also been some questions as to if human-hybrids are actually still human, and have the same rights and duties as everyone else. No real verdict has ever been given, also because the human-hybrid population is quite small at the moment. But in the future that might change, and then some real verdicts have to be reached.



Order of St. Joshua
Information from page 1.12:
Saint Joshua lived almost a thousand years ago. He was a priest of the church, and quite respected. One day he left the church and went away on a trip. Because he hadn't announced his departure the church put him in the ban after a month, sure that he had forsaken his duties. But ten years later he returned to the church. He was heard by the other priests, and was accepted back into the folds of the church. Soon after he was canonized, though no official reason was given.
According to rumours the vigour of his repentance is what persuaded the church to reinstate Joshua, and canonize him. This explanation is reinforced by the official mandate of the Order of Joshua, based on a book written by Joshua himself. In this book Joshua described his travels and the reason he returned to the church.

The Order of Joshua is based on the idea that everyone can join, and that everyone can repent their sins by dedicating their life to the church. The Order gives a second chance to people who have strayed from the right path, and have wound up with otherwise irredeemable sins. They often go out and seek people who need a second chance, and give it to them. In this search they often go to criminals who are held in prison for very bad crimes. It has happened that people condemned to the death penalty or to a lifelong stay in prison have repented and joined the Order, and thereby have skipped their punishment. These people are then never heard of again, so the accepted opinion is that the Order is quite successful.