Thank you! I’ve been experimenting with linear perspective lately. The Machine isn’t really the optimal program for doing that sort of stuff, but that’s what makes it fun 
Perfodiemus
Founded: 1696
Headquartered: Mexico
Corporate status: Private
Primary business: Mining
Aetherite
Also known as aurum arcanum, zwergenerz, truestone, eterit, skumium and lönnsten, among others. Aetherite refers to any mineral charged with astral energy. To humans it is indistinguishable from common rock, but to dwarves it gives off a pale blue light. By running a high voltage electrical current through a piece of aetherite the astral energy is released, which generates immense heat. A pound of aetherite contains 200 000 times more energy than a pound of coal.
The Texcoco Mining Group provides 88 percent of the world’s aetherite supply, making it arguably the most powerful organization in history.
A simplified illustration of an airship’s truestone engine. Excess heat is channeled to the gas bag.
1. Aetherium core
2. Pumps
3. Boiler
4. Steamline
5. Piston
6. Water tank
7. Coolant line
February 1755: Emperor Gottfried V of the Protestant Union fights the Catholic Concordiate and their Ottoman allies in the Twelve Years War. He orders the dwarven engineer Marnr rukh Skandza to design the ultimate weapon. A year later Marnr presents his thirteen aetherium charges. By converting the heat output from the truestone reaction into electrical energy, and then using that energy to enhance the reaction itself he aims to achieve a snowball effect where the power of a massive block of aetherium is released in a few seconds, which will be heat enough to annihilate entire armies.
August 7 1756: The cities of Alexandria, Lisbon, Ankara, Dublin, Palermo, Novgorod, Istanbul, Madrid and Marseille are destroyed overnight. A tenth charge is dropped in Rome, but fails to detonate, later to be retrieved by Union troops. The Concordiate surrenders unconditionally two months later, and is disbanded the following year. Marnr rukh Skandza, horrified that his weapons were used on civilian targets destroys all his research and blueprints, and flees to parts unknown.
September 2 1783: The remaining four charges are stolen from a secret location. The perpetrators are never found.
August 7 1856: The dwarven hold of Rukh Skandza is destroyed, presumably by one of the missing charges. To this day (1900) any attempts to excavate the city that was once home to half a million dwarves have failed due to the immense heat of the bedrock.
