Fortress Mechanotus

The decoy

Ak’Anon thought it knew where its enemy lived: "For several decades Meldrath has been known to inhabit the mines in Steamfont." SOE then revealed the truth. "The gnome that has been running the mines for so long is only an apprentice", made to pose as Meldrath "to keep suspicion away from his other activities." Source [1]

What Meldrath was building was "a massive fortress ringed with gnomish siege devices, built on a plateau in the heart of the Steamfont Mountains." It took "more than twenty years", and it was meant to rise "into the air to begin its assault on Ak’Anon". SOE described the inside in one image: "a giant cuckoo clock of gears, sprockets, geysers and steam driven machines." Source [1]

Steamworks and slaves

The fortress swarms with what Meldrath calls steamworks. A steamwork is "a modified clockwork": he added a steam source that "supplants the wind-up power source (which is used as a backup system)." The result was faster and stronger machines that were also "a lot less reliable." Source [4]

Minotaurs handle Meldrath’s slaves, which "now include a tribe of unfortunate brownies that have adapted to life inside the massive metallic fortress." Source [1]

The Gyrospires

Meldrath built the Gyrospires "specifically to guard his keep and serve as a flanking force in attacks". Beza "was the second Gyrospire created" and is now the oldest, so it acts as the lead tower. Meldrath found that clockwork alone was not enough ("some times a more creative brain is required"), so Beza also holds gnomes, brownies and minotaurs. Source [2]

Zeka is the newest tower and came after "many failures and many tower designs" that "all failed spectacularly." On top is "a large steam and magic powered catapult". SOE calls the catapult "a bit cumbersome", so Zeka ends up "best used as a siege weapon." Source [2]

Zeka’s captain, a steamwork, "took it upon itself to remove all living creatures from its tower", killing "everything from Meldrath’s gnomes to the rats in the walls." The only living being it spares is Meldrath, because its programming not to harm him "is so deep it has not been able to alter it". Meldrath lets this happen because his living servants are "just tools to use and discard." Source [2]

The workshop and the factory

The S.H.I.P. Workshop is the "Somewhat Hazardous Industrial Prototype Workshop", a research tower built away from Mechanotus "as a preventative measure". After "an experiment gone awry" left it "somewhat immobile", the workshop "is now towed with a large linked chain attached to Mechanotus." Head Administrative Grigano runs it, and each experimental pod has its own head scientist. SOE’s verdict: "for some reason the tower never seems to produce much more than the occasional ill-fated explosion." Source [3]

Beneath the fortress lay "a vast network of tunnels, mines, and caverns", some running under land the gnomes knew well, and nobody found them "until the fortress rose into the air". Most tunnels were left behind at lift-off, and many collapsed, "crushing those unfortunate enough to have been left there." Source [3]

What went up with the fortress were the power stations "to keep the fortress aloft", the main factory and the foundry. In the Steam Factory, gnomes run operations, steamworks mine and patrol, minotaurs handle slaves, and brownies get "the most hazardous duties". A small group of brownies works "day and night to thwart the operations of the Steam Factory and the entire fortress." Source [3]

Meldrath’s Majestic Mansion

Meldrath’s Majestic Mansion "sits atop" the fortress. SOE calls it "a marvel of metal, beautiful yet harsh and hard". Pipes act as pillars, the walls show gears and rivets, and "everything echoes with the sound of metal meeting metal". SOE adds that even "the most conservative Koada’Dal" would see its beauty. Part 4 calls it "Meldrath’s Magnificent Mansion" in its last paragraph. Source [4]

It is said that Meldrath built the mansion "to be a terrible walking steamwork in its own right", planning to crush Ak’Anon "and then rest his own mansion on the bones of the city where he was born." The mansion stood on "two splayed feet" for several minutes, then collapsed "under its own weight." The building was unharmed, but many died. The few who escaped claim that Meldrath "eliminated any living servants and slaves that witnessed his failure". Source [4]

Meldrath has enslaved "several generations of brownies" for jobs steamworks can’t do, such as climbing inside machinery. Many brownies now believe this life "is the life they were meant for". The brownies keep their tribal markings "but use grease to paint themselves rather than berry juice." A rebel faction hides in the steam tunnels, hunted by clockworks sent into the small passages. SOE says death comes to visitors with "glowing red eyes and a feeling of heat mixed with the smell of oil and grease." Source [4]

The Guardian

The Guardian, "a massive steamwork, nearly one hundred feet tall", was built to guard Meldrath and the mansion. It helped lift girders during the final stage of construction, but it was strong enough "to crush dwarven-built castle walls or sweep away brigades of armed knights". Source [5]

The first flight went wrong. "Explosions in one of the power rooms" made the "massive slab of mountain" lurch, dropping gnomes and steamworks to the ground. The Guardian fell on top of many of them. Source [5]

The Guardian has a crew living inside it, in boiler rooms, control rooms and workshops. Its senior operators died in the fall, and the survivors lack "the keys and information needed to regain control." The Guardian now roams the Dragonscale Hills, flinging locals "hundreds of feet" with its boots, and one boot "holds a doorway to danger and reward." Source [5]