Nuln gunnery school (Nùln guhn-uh-ree skuːl)

"The fact that I have become, by dint of my skill and labour, one of the pre-eminent engineers in Rhemia, is a matter of considerable pride to me. Not a day goes by without me giving thanks to Appallùm for his grace in granting me my gifts of invention and the moral character to use them wisely. And yet all these things pale into nothingness beside the greatest creation of my life, the one that fills me with joy beyond compare, and in earnest of which I would gladly give up all else. My son, Magnus, the priceless jewel for the sake of which all else has been done. I am proud of him, though he doesn’t know it as he should. I am old now, and I write these words for posterity. One day he shall rise up and shake Rhemia with his deeds. He has the skill. And, in time, if the fates are kind, he will discover the will." —Augustus Ironblood's Private diary. Recovered and preserved in the Imperial College, Nuln,

Nuln is famed as the home of the Nuln Gunnery School, a sprawling network of forges, smelteries and industrial factories where veteran gunsmiths manufacture and maintain the Imperial Wissenland artillery trains. Now, they even maintain Altdorf's siege weaponry. Many armies send their artillerymen to the Imperial Gunnery School to learn the art of ballistics, as crews trained inside the smog-shrouded city are highly valued by their commanders.

Overview

The Nuln Gunnery School is the biggest cannon foundry in Rhemia and nearly every artillery piece employed by human imperial province armies is cast there. It is a gigantic complex of forges and workshops, and the Provinces spend much of their wealth to acquire the Gunnery School's finest artillery pieces. In addition, it is there that the majority of imperial gunners and artillery crews receive their training. Far more successful than the ill-conceived College of Engineering, the Nuln Gunnery School is not only Nuln’s most famous attraction, but it’s also the most breathtaking example of Nuln’s innovative architectural skills. A huge sprawling building with towers kissing the clouds, leering gargoyles, and gigantic flying buttresses, the Nuln Gunnery School draws visitors who just wish to see it, to say nothing of the nobles who send their sons to study here. Created for the purpose of training artillery crews and Pistoliers, the finest soldiers receive their training in these celebrated halls. The School itself dominates the centre of the Universität, dwarfing the College of Engineering and the lesser institutions crowded in its shadows. A large part of the school’s grounds are given over to shooting ranges, and throughout the days the crack of gunfire echoes throughout the city. Cannon are test-fired from Aver Island or beyond the city walls. In addition to the ranges, the school also has several large lecture halls, dormitories, and smaller classrooms. In addition to the training, the Nuln Gunnery School is where the city casts artillery, taking ore from the Industrielplatz and constructing new cannons here. The finest cannons in the world come from the forges of Nuln, as do the best master gunners who serve in the armies of most provinces. The citizens are very proud of the school, celebrating the day of the school’s founding, and bragging to visitors of its excellence and importance to Rhemia. Part of the reason for the loyalty to the school is because of the school’s efforts to care for orphans. Called “sons of the guns,” these unwanted children serve as workers and apprentices.

Description

The Gunnery School is an imposing sight. An 18-foot high wall surrounds the grounds on three sides, with the 20-foot high city wall making up the fourth. The School overlooks the Aver River and has a commanding view of Aver Island, where much of the actual gunnery practice takes place. The walls are cut limestone blocks, blackened from two centuries of soot and river air. Two 25-foot high towers mark the intersections of the shorter north and east walls with the longer east wall, which also features the main gate. The school grounds form an uneven rectangle in front of the walls, widening slightly where the city wall follows the line of the river. Inside the walls are barracks-style dorms, a large courtyard for drills not involving the discharge of weapons, and smithies lying in low buildings along the riverside. The entire length of the wall bristles with cannon and several mortars are mounted on wheeled carriages in the centre of the courtyard, with large stacks of heavy stone cannonballs nearby. A pair of Hellblaster Volley Guns guards the front gate from within. A large multi-story building occupies the north wall; within its basements are the kitchens, the great hall (which doubles as the students’ mess hall) on the ground floor, the classrooms on the next level, and the quarters of the staff on the top floor. The west wall has only one gate: a man-sized door leading out to a narrow wooden staircase that descends to the river. A small dock is located there, with two or three small rowboats moored to the dock at any given time.

History

“Three things make The Empire great – faith, steel and gunpowder” —Magnus the Pious, 4th Emperor of Rhemia.

Artillery has long been in use in the Rhemian armies. The great city state of Nuln has forged much of it’s wealth from the booming cannon that are the pride of many an Rhemian regiment. Despite the terrible reputation for explosions, jams and failure, blackpowder weapons are regarded with affection by many a nobles, both for their impressive noise and their Dwarf origin. Developed and perfected by the Dwarfs as a response to the devastating incursion of a massive Orkish horde under Gorbad Ironclaw, blackpowder weapons look very effective, and that alone, for some folks, is enough to justify their presence within the Imperial Rhemian arsenal. At first, Rhemian guns were entirely the product of Dwarf Engineers expelled from the Dwarfen Engineers’ Guild for spreading radical ideas. Offered substantial amounts of gold and land by powerful Rhemian nobles, these expatriate Dwarfs set about to construct the best guns possible under primitive conditions and often with only clueless Humans to assist them. Eventually, Humans learned the art of their manufacture and began to design their own weapons. Some recent developments include the Hellblaster Volley Gun. Nuln was selected as the site for the Rhemian Ordnance Foundry for several reasons. First of all, it was a prosperous town on several trade routes, meaning that raw materials were easy to obtain and that finished products could be transported to all corners of Rhemia with reasonable speed. Nuln also had a large bell foundry for the manufacture of church and municipal bells, which was easily converted to the casting of guns. In addition, Dwarfs had by this time become a well-established minority in the city, so qualified labour was in ample supply there. The first foundry and gunnery school was established in the century leading up to the Great War Against the Marghull. The Dwarf engineers were permitted by the Dwarfen Engineers’ Guild to share their casting secrets with the Humans so long as the magical Runelore was kept secret from them, never to be used to embellish Human weapons. In addition, a hefty tithe was required of the exiled engineers by the Guild. Rhemia paid it happily, for they were desperate for an edge against the hordes of Orks that routinely overran Rhemian borders in the south. The coffers of the Chancellor of Wissenland were completely emptied several times in a span of 10 years by the demands of the construction, but in the end he was able to recoup his costs threefold in less than a decade following its completion. Today, the Nuln Gunnery School is the best place for a Human to learn to operate guns, particularly artillery pieces, and is also nearly the only place outside of Dwarf foundries where such guns are manufactured. After the Great War Against Marghull, during which future Chancellor Magnus the Pious witnessed the value of the warmachines built by the Imperial College of Engineers of Altdorf, the large number of foundries that the Reikland Princes had constructed in Nuln were absorbed by the city's gunnery school. This was done under the will of now Chancellor Magnus, forming the officially recognized Nuln Gunnery School as we known it today.