Entropy Engine
A shoebox-sized generator that feeds on the chaos of the world.
The Entropy Engine is a self-contained generator that passively harvests ambient energy—heat, motion, and background noise—to produce a steady trickle of low-grade power. Rugged, decentralized, and requiring no fuel, it’s a vital tool for survivalists, field researchers, and anyone forced off the grid.
Utility
Designed for use in total isolation, the Entropy Engine powers signal repeaters, low-draw lighting systems, prosthetics, environmental sensors, or remote labs. Its passive nature makes it invaluable for stealth operations or field missions in hostile terrain. However, some claim misuse—running multiple Engines in proximity—can create unpredictable feedback loops. One prototype allegedly “fed” on its user’s movements until it burned itself out, cooking the surrounding room in the process.
The world is always moving. We just caught it in a bottle.
Manufacturing
New units are painstakingly assembled by The Engineers, requiring salvaged TL4 nanomaterials, piezoelectric fibers, and precision resonance chambers. Some components are grown in nutrient-rich bio-reactors, a process pioneered by The Doctors for use in living prosthetics. Every unit is unique—customized to respond to its intended user’s motion profile and thermal signature.
Social Impact
The Entropy Engine enabled isolated research, rogue settlements, and mobile medicine to thrive in post-Fall conditions. It granted energy independence to those without access to central grids, and allowed tech once considered unusable to function again. To some, it's a miracle; to others, a liability. Stories circulate of Engines that won’t shut off, or that become “attuned” to their users in unsettling ways.
It doesn’t take power. It listens for it—like it knows where the world is weakest.
Engineer-Matriarch Lysara Venn — a radical innovator from the early years of Camp Hope, known for her unorthodox integration of biofeedback sensors and noise-sink arrays.
The Entropy Engine is rare but not restricted. Camp Hope manufactures limited batches under the oversight of the Engineers, and some older units are still found in the wild. While not a secret, their complexity makes them uncommon outside of specialized fieldwork or faction use. Most are issued to Doctors on expedition, Engineers maintaining infrastructure, or Scribes working in isolated conditions.
Moderately complex. Each Entropy Engine requires fine-tuned internal regulators, specialized thermo-acoustic plates, and nanoscopic kinetic collectors. The parts are difficult to fabricate without TL4-era components, though the device itself is modular and easy to deploy. No external infrastructure is required, but careful calibration improves yield.
The Entropy Engine was first developed in the early post-Fall era by a coalition of rogue Engineers and Scribes salvaging pre-Fall environmental power arrays. Their breakthrough came in a ruined maglev terminal, where passive power collection systems still glowed dimly decades after abandonment. It was Engineer-Matriarch Lysara Venn who first miniaturized the process, tuning scavenged adaptive capacitors to draw energy from the ambient noise and vibration of the world around them.
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This earns you a prize! An 800x800 hand drawn digital image of your technology. To claim your prize join our prize discord server or email me at [email protected] so my artist, Gege, can work with you on the image. The grand prize winner will be announced on 8/30 during the World Anvil Twitch Livestream. The discord server link is valid for 7 days, after that email me for a new link if you need to connect.
I will be sharing your article on community posts and and hope to mention your article on Lavani's Reading List. When you join the discord server, check out the optional World Deck we are planning for the items. Congrats!
Thank you so much! I will connect with you on the discord.