History of the Solspires

The Shining Mountains: First Contact and Current Relations with the Solspirians

By Prixton Smerrs

Ironcrux Historical Society

189 AT

I remember my grandfather telling me about the first time Ferrocrux ships spotted the Solspirian peaks. Said the morning sun hit all their brass collectors and nearly blinded the crew. Must've been quite a sight - three mountains wrapped in metal that caught the light like a mirror. Course, we didn't know what all that brass was for back then. Just knew we'd found something mighty interesting.

 Making Contact

That first meeting's worth telling proper. After the successful contact with Sylarch (them being closest and all), our explorers headed east, following the rising sun. Took them four days to reach Solspirian territory. Captain Steelter wrote in her log that they first thought the peaks were on fire, what with all the steam rising from them.

They approached Light Bowl first, being the smallest peak and looking the least imposing. Had a bit of trouble finding somewhere to land, seems Solspirians hadn't ever thought about needing places for ships to sit. Finally put down on what turned out to be a solar collector maintenance platform. Caused quite a stir among the locals.

 How They Took To Us

Now here's something interesting - while other nations either feared our ships or got excited about trade possibilities, the Solspirians just wanted to know how everything worked. Their Scholar-King (Helios IV at the time) came down personally to examine our levium tanks. Had to explain three times that no, we couldn't show him exactly how they were made (its complicated) but he was welcome to study the outside all he liked.

 Their Way of Ruling

Speaking of Scholar-Kings, that's about the strangest way of running a nation I've ever heard tell of. You got to be born royal, sure, but that's just the start. Then you've got to study harder than a mining apprentice trying to make master in half the usual time. If you can't prove you're smart enough to run their solar collectors and water systems, they'll give the crown to some cousin who is.

Makes a kind of sense though, when you think about it. Their whole nation runs on captured sunlight and carefully managed water. Can't have some fool in charge who doesn't understand how it all works.

Those brass collectors we saw from a distance? They're just the shiny outside of something mighty clever. Whole system works like this:

- Brass collectors catch sunlight

- Light heats up water in pipes

- Steam drives all sorts of machinery

- Condensed water gets used for farming

- Everything gets used at least twice

Whole setup's more complicated than a mining clan's family tree, but it works. They power everything from water pumps to grain mills with sun-heated steam. Even found a way to store heat in big insulated caves for nighttime use.

 The Crystal Business

Every three years, something peculiar happens in their mountains. Certain crystals - got to be just the right size and type - start humming and shaking. Solspirians made a whole festival out of it, call it the Speaking of the Crystals. Been going on for thousands of years, they say.

Funny thing is, they know it's tied to something artificial passing overhead, but they don't make a big fuss about not knowing exactly what it is. Just keep studying it, writing everything down, and throwing their festival. Different approach than we'd take in Ferrocrux - we'd probably have built something to try and catch whatever it is by now.

 How They Build

Their cities are something to see. Everything's laid out to catch maximum sunlight. Buildings have brass fittings everywhere, all connected to their steam system. They build up and out in terraces, each level catching light and passing heat down to the ones below.

Most impressive thing is how they manage water. Every drop gets used about five different ways before it ends up in their farming terraces. Then they collect it, clean it, and start the whole process over again.

 Smart But Soft

One thing about Solspirians - they're probably the cleverest folks you'll meet, but they're not what you'd call hardy. They don't much like getting their hands dirty. Got machines for everything. Even their farmers work more with valves and gauges than actual dirt.

Their guards wear fancy uniforms with lots of brass and copper decoration, but you can tell they don't train like our soldiers do. Course, they don't need to - their peaks are natural fortresses, and they control enough water and food production to wait out any siege.

 Trading

Trading with Solspirians is interesting. They're not much interested in gold or precious stones - got plenty of crystals of their own that they like better. What they want is:

- New ideas

- Technical knowledge

- Unusual materials

- Scientific instruments

- Weather records

They pay well, especially for anything they can study or analyze. Lot of our metalworkers have made good money selling them samples of different alloys.

 The Festival Time

Been to one of their Crystal Speaking festivals. Quite something to see. Whole peaks light up with brass reflectors, crystals start humming, and everyone gathers to watch and listen. They've got these big observation platforms where their scientists make measurements and take notes.

Regular folks treat it like a holiday - lots of music (some using the crystal harmonics), special foods, and demonstrations of new inventions. Scholars come from all over to study it. Even the Scholar-King gets involved, though mostly on the technical side.

 Records

Never seen folks who write so much down. Everything gets recorded, measured, and filed away. Got whole caverns just for storing records. They say every Scholar-King has to add to their knowledge, so they're always working on discovering or inventing something new.

Different from us - we keep records too, but we focus on the practical stuff. They'll spend years studying something just because it's interesting, never mind if it's useful or not.

Airship travel changed them less than most nations. They were already curious about the outside world, just hadn't had a way to reach it. Once we showed up, they just added air currents and weather patterns to their list of things to study. Some of them took off for other nations to see how they did things.

They did start building proper landing platforms though, after that first awkward meeting. Now they've got some of the best airship facilities anywhere - all powered by their steam systems, of course.

Over the years, we've found ways to work together that suit both our peoples:

- We supply metals they can't get in their peaks

- They help us understand weather patterns

- We provide transport expertise

- They share their steam power knowledge

- Everyone benefits

 Their Young Folks

Interesting watching how they raise their children. Every kid learns science from the time they can talk. They've got these special schools where everything's hands-on - little steam engines, mini solar collectors, water flow systems. Makes our apprentice system look simple.

Royal children have it hardest. Imagine having to learn all that plus how to run a nation. Saw a young prince once, couldn't have been more than twelve, giving a lecture on steam pressure to a room full of engineers. Handled himself well, too.

 The Peaks

Their three peaks each has its own character:

- Sun Crown: Tallest peak, where the royal family lives. Most of their crystal caverns are here.

- Dawn Spear: Main research peak, covered in brass collectors and steam pipes.

- Light Bowl: Mostly farming terraces and water management systems.

All connected by steam-powered cable cars running on towers between the peaks. Quite a sight when the sun hits them.

 Looking Ahead

Way I see it, Solspirians will keep doing what they've always done - studying, measuring, and trying to understand everything they can about our world. They've been at it for thousands of years, and it seems to work for them.

Might seem odd to some folks, having kings who have to prove they're smart enough to rule. But look at what they've built - three peaks that catch sunlight and turn it into power, water systems that keep everyone fed, and some of the most advanced machines in the known world. Can't say it hasn't worked out for them.

Easy to think of Solspirians as just a bunch of scholars with their heads in the clouds (literally, given how tall their peaks are). But they're worth understanding. They've found their own way of doing things, different from ours but just as valid.

Sure, they might spend ten years studying why crystals hum when we'd just try to find a use for the humming. And maybe they write everything down in fancier language than needed. But they've kept their people fed, safe, and prospering for thousands of years. Hard to argue with that kind of success.

Note: This account combines personal observations, family stories, and official records from both Ferrocrux and Solspirian archives. Any errors are mine, though I've tried to tell it straight and true.