• Swiss Movement
  • Introduction
    • The Swiss Movement
    • Careers in the Age of Automata
  • A Day in the Life
    • The Institut Zug
    • The Luddites
• Automata and Babbage Engines
  • Words to Avoid
  • Automaton Design
  • Automaton Atkins & Some Other Automata
  • Automaton Damage and Reliability
  • Automata as Player Characters
  • Calculating and Sorting Engines
  • Other Technology
• The Secret History of the Swiss Movement
• Campaign: The Kobold Project
• Adventure: Assignment Zenda
• Credits, Further Reading, Etc.

Another use for automata is in jobs where a human would be exposed to unacceptable risks - for example, Automaton Atkins was built primarily as a strong but expendable (and incidentally conscienceless) soldier which will obey orders perfectly provided they are clear. Uses might include bomb disposal or missions where a human soldier is certain to be taken prisoner, tortured or killed. For an example see The Queen's Own Aerial Hussars. Others are built for jobs where a human might be exposed to disease (e.g. hospital porter, Aerial Hussar) or temptation (e.g. Royal Mint porter).

Calculating and sorting engines are widely used in commerce, science, and government; they are nearly as common as automata, and their long-term effect may be more profound, but don't catch the public eye in the same way.

Careers In The Age of Automata Characters for this world need not have a special interest in automata, but it's probably a good idea if at least one adventurer has the Babbage Machine skill at a reasonably high level. Other useful skills include Morse Code (Cryptography), Mechanic (Automata or Calculating Engine), and Science. Society seems to be slowly adapting to the presence of these machines, careers can reflect this by embracing them or opposing them, or choose to ignore the whole issue. Some possibilities: Artist: May be indifferent to automata, regard them as symbolic of the new brutalism, or embrace them for their artistic possibilities. There is a small but growing Automaton Art movement. Businessman: Likely to use calculating engines for financial work. May be considering the use of automata instead of human workers. Criminal: Automata are occasionally a nuisance, sometimes an interesting opportunity or a target of theft. Many criminal schemes, especially business frauds, require the use of calculating engines and appropriate skills. Detective: The new sorting engines and automated criminal records are very useful. Doctor: Medicine is comparatively unaffected by these developments, but a doctor might have an automaton chauffeur for house calls, and automaton servants at home. Manservant: Regards automaton servants with horror; how can they possibly understand the nuances of a gentleman's wardrobe and society? Manual Worker: Dislikes automata and everything connected with them, and is probably sympathetic to the Luddite cause if not a member of the party. Scientist / Engineer: Probably using calculating engines, and any devices invented probably incorporate a degree of automation. Soldier: Likely to have some interest in the use of automata as expendable troops, and in the use of calculating engines for gunnery etc. The accuracy of Prussian railway guns in the Franco-Prussian war may be a warning of things to come. It's also possible to play an automaton; this is discussed in much more detail below.

After nearly twenty years the spread of automata is almost taken for granted. Mechanical porters are common in hotels and stations, and waiters are occasionally encountered in restaurants (but are far less successful since this job involves more complex interaction with humans). Mechanical workers are likely to be seen on any visit to a factory. Automaton musicians are common at the music hall and in the lobby of hotels, chess-players are often found in cafes and penny arcades. In banks and offices the hum of gear wheels and whir of punched cards is becoming almost universal, and it is generally accepted that, barring human errors and fraud, accounting and record-keeping errors will soon be a thing of the past.

The spread of automation has many ramifications, not least a general speeding of the pace of business. Accordingly, it is imperative that credit details and other items of information travel quickly, so the existing telegraph and telephone services have been greatly expanded and supplemented by fast pneumatic tubes for the rapid transmission of cheques and other documents. Facsimile copies can also be telegraphed, using Hummel's Telediagraph (or one of several other competing systems); since transmission takes several minutes per page the pneumatic tubes are faster and tie up fewer resources, so are preferred for local messages.

Naturally someone has to ensure that things continue to work properly. In Britain most government departments and several dozen private organisations and charities have fingers in this particular pie; most notably, the Inland Revenue, the department of Customs and Excise, Companies House and the main clearing banks monitor the accuracy of mechanical accounts, Home Office departments such as the Inspectorate of Factories and the Board of Trade ensure that automata in factories and other workplaces are acceptably safe for the humans around them, and unions fight a dogged rearguard action to ensure that these machines displace the absolute minimum of workers. The War Office is very interested in military applications of automata, and in other applications of calculating engines such as accurate gun-laying and navigation. The Luddites, opposed to all automata, have two seats in the House of Commons and four peers in the Lords, and prominent supporters in the unions and academic and artistic communities. There is even a National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Automata, although it has very few members and is generally considered a joke. Its most notable member is the author George Bernard Shaw.

SUPERFICIALLY everyday life in Britain hasn't been greatly changed by the introduction of this technology. Putting automata aside, the most obvious changes are a small rise in unemployment (especially for the lowest grades of industrial worker and clerk), increased speed of financial and business transactions, mild inflation, slightly more accurate weather forecasting and more complex bureaucracy. There are fewer horses on the road, more steam and petrol-engined cars. With analytical engines available to scientists and engineers other areas of technology such as flight, space travel, time travel and really weird science may also be unusually advanced. Despite these changes it's still possible to live an entirely bucolic life and have nothing to do with calculating engines; even in the cities less than 10% of jobs involving their direct use, and this percentage is unlikely to rise quickly.

There are complaints that the British government is becoming as obsessed with records as the French or the Prussians; while this isn't entirely true, the civil service has been given the ability to handle information more efficiently, and can only avoid staff cutbacks by looking busy. This has lead to a huge increase in the amount of information collected by all departments. Where records were once kept in ledgers and files and eventually forgotten, they are now ready to be recovered by the huge sorting engines of the Home Office and other government departments, and many clerks do nothing but recover files, add yet another piece of information that will probably never be needed, and return them to storage.

To date there is little co-ordination between the different government departments, let alone the government and other organisations, but the civil service already has a committee for the standardisation and centralisation of records (most notably, and notoriously, trying to develop solutions for the immanent "1900" problem; sorting systems and calculating engines that store dates as two figures will run into problems in the new year), widely seen as a harbinger of things to come. Needless to say the Liberals and more extreme political movements regard this as a threat to civil liberties, pointing to the awful example of Prussia, where every aspect of life is monitored and reported. The government feels that this is alarmist; the Prime Minister (more properly known as the First Lord of the Treasury in this era), the Marquess of Salisbury, often refers to the example of Switzerland, which has used this technology to make its bureaucracy and commerce more efficient, leads the world in its standard of living and per-capita income, and has virtually no unemployment.

The Institut Zug The leading training centre for Swiss consultants is the Institut Zug, a new university in the Canton of Zug, on the shore of Lake Zug. Courses offered include the sciences, engineering, languages, economics, politics, law, busines and mathematics. Admission is by competitive examination, and limited to Swiss citizens and a very few foreigners of "unusual intelligence" (most of whom eventually become Swiss citizens); currently there is only one foreign student, a German named Einstein who is studying mathematics and physics. Less than 20% of Swiss applicants succeed, fewer than 1% of foreigners. The Institut is funded by the Swiss government and businesses; tuition is free, but students must agree to pay the Institut 20% of their net income for five years after graduation. There are tax advantages for Swiss graduates who continue to contribute at least 10% after the five years have elapsed. The Institut encourages its graduates to commit to the success of their clients (e.g. by taking payment in shares, not cash) and is happy to advise them on their investments. Visitors to Zug are encouraged to tour the Institut during approved hours and by appointment; annoyingly, transport links to the area are unusually poor for Switzerland, and the few hotel rooms invariably seem to be fully booked, so waiting for such appointments can be an uncomfortable business.

Salisbury is far from the only person to look to the Swiss for inspiration; their successful adoption of the new technology is imitated by several nations and many companies, and Swiss economic, business and technical consultants are in great demand; with typical Swiss thoroughness all are trained professionals, notable for their logic and intelligence, with a near-perfect record of finding good solutions to complex problems. It's not always obvious that these solutions usually favour Swiss interests, often very indirectly; for example, a technical consultant might recommend the adoption of a particular production method that will greatly benefit his clients, but uses technology patented by a Swiss-owned British manufacturer or incidentally creates a market for Swiss products. A small example; when a chain of restaurants asked for advice on methods of attracting customers, one suggestion was to start offering more types of coffee including French and Italian. Neither the coffee or the coffee machines were made in Switzerland, but Swiss interests own a substantial share of a British manufacturer which has a virtual monopoly on the powdered chocolate used on cappucino and other Italian brews.

More often than not these consultants ask to be paid in the stock of the company hiring them; this is usually interpreted as a gesture of faith in the solutions they are proposing, but means that a growing proportion of the world's economy is directly or indirectly under Swiss control. There are several conspiracy theories about this; annoyingly for such theorists, the Swiss don't seem to be doing anything with their control, apart from using their votes as stock-holders to put pressure on companies to improve pay and conditions and the quality of products. For example, the chocolate manufacturer mentioned above has recently adopted Swiss standards of purity and cocoa solid content. Of course such improvements often require the adoption of new technology, which again is likely to benefit Swiss interests...

The Luddites The Luddites are named for the original Luddite movement which briefly opposed the introduction of spinning and weaving machines at the beginning of the nineteenth century, although there is no true continuity between them. They were most popular in the mid-1880s, but have since declined. The organisation is an extreme left-wing splinter faction. Only five MPs are members, three having been elected as members of other parties, and none seem likely to retain their seats in the next election. There are two faces to this organisation; the political party, which has a few hundred registered members and will probably get a few thousand votes in the next election, and an illegal organisation which calls itself the 'Luddite Army' and is believed to have less than thirty members, mostly in the Midlands and around London. This 'army' has committed a series of attacks on automata in factories in these areas. Needless to say the party "deeply regrets" the "unauthorised actions" of the 'Army', and takes pains to avoid involvement while trying to capitalise on their successes. Scotland Yard and the Surete suspect links between the Luddite Army, Fenians, and various anarchist and nihilist organisations in Britain and on the continent. The Luddite Army has recently had several spectacular failures, described as "own goals" in the popular press, and there are rumours of informers inside the organisation. In consequence the general level of paranoia amongst its members is extremely high.

While publicly deploring the adoption of automation, trade union leaders are reluctantly coming round to the idea that the best way forward is cautious co-operation. Strikes are only speeding the adoption of automata, which need neither pay nor improved working conditions. While more violent tactics have been tried, they are reluctant to become tarred with the same brush as the Luddites, whose recent sabotage attempts are widely regarded as terrorism and have injured several union members. Like businesses and government, they are beginning to point to the Swiss model of carefully planned adoption of automation, with retraining of staff and few jobs lost, as the way forward. A parliamentary commission is now studying this issue, and legislation is likely to precede the next election, since a law that benefits the working man will attract many votes and may split support from the growing Labour Party.

The most marginalised members of society such as the so-called criminal classes, the unemployed and the most unskilled workers, are still inclined to see automation as a threat and form the bulk of support for the Luddite cause; few actually join the party since this costs several shillings. There is also some middle- and upper-class support for the organisation on ideological and aesthetic grounds, which probably brings in most of its funds. Nevertheless the organisation is small and perpetually short of cash. It is believed that the "Luddite Army" obtains its funds by theft, most notably violent robberies of pawnbrokers shops and other "rich" targets.

While the Luddites are active in industrial areas, and devote almost all their attention to automata and automated factory equipment, an apparently unrelated group (or possibly a single individual) has been attacking sorting and record-keeping engines used by large businesses and the civil service in London. These attacks show a degree of technical expertise and the saboteurs have never sought publicity; if anything they seem to go out of their way to avoid it, and the aim seems to be to cause errors that will throw the system into disrepute. For example, one of the police record engines was modified to punch out the hole for "red-headed" in every criminal record that passed through it, and went unnoticed for several days. When the police eventually looked for a red-headed criminal several hundred records were presented, instead of the dozen or so expected. This was initially assumed to be caused by a cam that had stuck in the wrong position, but careful examination proved that the "jam" was deliberate sabotage. Damage caused by these saboteurs is often thought to be the result of a normal breakdown. Scotland Yard is collating information on these attacks - if there's one thing that the machines are good for it's collating information - and trying to avoid publicising them. The authorities don't want to admit that the essential machinery of bureaucracy is so vulnerable to sabotage.

Most of the civilised world uses calculating engines and automata, but each nation has its own approach to the problems they cause.

• The Swiss are generally considered to have the best record for integrating this technology into their society. As already noted, Swiss productivity is high and unemployment very low, and Swiss society seems to be "tidy" without being too regimented.
• The Prussians monitor every aspect of life, with every citizen and visitor required to carry an identification card which must be presented on police demand, when buying railway tickets, when purchasing various controlled items such as guns, and even when borrowing books from a library. Dossiers are extensive and updated daily, with reports available to the police on two to three hour's notice. This is claimed to prevent crime and improve efficiency, but while the trains run on time and productivity is high there is little evidence that Prussians enjoy life.

  Adventure Idea: Prussian Roulette The adventurers are on holiday or a business trip to Prussia. While passing through a checkpoint (at a station or port) there's a small error; one of them is given back the card belonging to the next person in line. Ten minutes later the checkpoint officials are informed that they've just registered the card of an anarchist named Otto Hanff who is wanted for murder. When the adventurer presents the card again the authorities swoop in to arrest the dangerous criminal (who is incidentally considered a master of disguise, is known to be fluent in several languages, and is the same height and hair colour as the adventurer) and his suspicious associates. Once arrested, there is a bureaucratic nightmare, with the Prussians convinced that their "perfect" system of identification can't possibly have made a mistake. If the adventurers take things calmly and do their best to co-operate with the authorities and convince them of the error the problem will be resolved in three to four days; if they try to bribe their way out, tamper with the system, or break out they will soon find themselves in serious trouble, and if necessary on the run with armed police on their trail.

• The other German states are gradually conforming to the Prussian model. France has also followed suit, although the French aren't as well organised; it takes a day or more to get their records, and their inaccuracy is a joke everywhere except France.
• North America, the British Dominions, Holland, Belgium, Norway, Denmark and Italy are all trying to avoid such oppressive bureaucracy, and are similar to Britain in their approach to the new technology.
• Russia and the Balkans are still more or less free of mechanical calculation although it is rumoured that the Russian secret police, the Okrana, use a powerful engine to help correlate reports from their huge network of informers.
• Spain, Portugal, and most of the Catholic South American states seem to regard engines and automata as close to blasphemous, machines made in God's image, and have passed laws that even the Luddites would regard as excessive. All calculating engines are confiscated and destroyed, and even card-controlled looms, phonographs and player pianos are regarded with suspicicion. There is a black market in illegal automata and calculating engines.

  Adventure Idea: Nobody Expects... The adventurers have to travel through one of these countries; unfortunately they are accompanied by an extremely valuable automaton servant, or have automaton components in their luggage. A bribe gets them past customs coming in to the country, but it soon becomes obvious that someone has told the authorities that they are smugglers. Fortunately the police are lazy and corrupt, easily bribed or tricked. Unfortunately the local clergy are a lot more efficient and are soon on their trail, accompanied if necessary by an angry mob.

• Japan has enthusiastically embraced the Swiss model, as part of an extensive ongoing programme of industrialisation. The Japanese government hopes to set up its own version of the Institut Zug, with the eventual goal of forging a vast empire based on trade. The Swiss are as useful being extremely helpful, and Swiss economic advisors are common visitors to factories and offices in all of the major Japanese cities.

  Adventure Idea: Patent Problem The Japanese want to start manufacturing their own automata, but seem to have a rather cavalier attitude to European and American patents. The adventurers are hired by one of the companies whose patents are being infringed, and sent to Japan to try to negotiate royalty payments. Unfortunately the infringing company belongs to a leading Tokyo crime lord, who is less than enthusiastic about paying a percentage to foreigners and can order assassins from petty cash. They'll be given some warnings first, of course...

• The Chinese are less enthusiastic about this technology. The Emperor seems to regard the refined bereaucracy that calculating engines allow as a good thing, but his civil service is resisting its introduction. Other forms of automata are mostly considered to be unnecessary, with an endless supply of peasants available to do anything that an automaton can do.
• In the less developed parts of the world, such as Africa and India, calculating engines and record-keeping equipment can be found in the offices of the Empire's civil service, but are virtually unknown elsewhere.

Simplified Automaton Characters The automaton design rules above are complicated, much more so than normal character design in Forgotten Futures. There's a much simpler alternative; design the automaton as a normal player character, remembering that it will have originally been built for a specialised purpose (such as a servant, porter, worker, soldier, etc.), using the following limitations: BODY is purchased normally. MIND may be no more than 4. SOUL is 0 unless there are special circumstances. MAGIC, if used in the campaign, is 0 unless there are special circumstances. Skills based on SOUL alone or MAGIC are unavailable if the automaton does not have the characteristic. The base value of Athlete, Brawling, and Melee weapon are halved. Wheeled automata have a base Athlete (Running) of BODY but cannot perform other athletic feats. Specialised skills available are Chess (base MIND) Housemaid (base average MIND and BODY) Porter (base BODY) Waiter (base average MIND and BODY) Spelling (base MIND) Add additional specialised skills as needed. Stealth begins at 0, regardless of BODY, for all steam and carbide automata. Martial Arts is not available. Psychology is not available unless the automaton has somehow acquired SOUL. Having chosen characteristics and skills, decide on an appropriate body design, internal equipment, power plant, etc. as described above, without going into the full complexities of the design process. Guess an approximate weight (about BODY x 40lb should be reasonable for steel-framed automata, a little lighter for wood or aluminum designs, heavier if the automaton is armoured). That's really all that's needed, exact details such as cost, reaction speed, etc. can be worked out later if the need arises. Don't be afraid to forbid silly ideas; a manservant will not be heavily armoured and will not have a built-in Gatling gun, a soldier will not be equipped or have the necessary skills for sex or chess, and so forth.

Automata without SOUL are the idiot savants described above. They obey orders without question (unless there is a conflict with prior orders) and have no true sense of self. They are completely literal-minded, unless their linguistic capacity has been extended to cover slang, "polite" conversation, etc. The Queen's Own Aerial Hussars describes how to run a typical soulless machine, Automaton Atkins, as a player character. It should be emphasised that in this setting all automata are property, belonging to an individual or an organisation; their first duty is always to obey orders to the limits of their ability.

Automata can acquire a personality and SOUL by experience, by magical means, or (at the discretion of the referee) can have it built in from the outset. In terms of behaviour, it is likely to manifest most noticeably as a sense of self and behaviour resembling a human personality. The snag, of course, is that very few automaton builders or users want their machines to have a true personality; a machine with personality might be a little more versatile, but there is a good chance that it will be less useful as a servant. SOUL and conscience aren't necessarily the same thing; Automaton Atkins with SOUL will probably still obey orders and shoot at "the enemy", and feel no remorse at doing so. It's possible that it might gradually start wondering what distinguishes friend and foe, but this isn't inevitable. It's more likely that SOUL will give the automaton a better sense of self-preservation, and more capacity to interpret its orders in ways which benefit itself, and that its human masters will interpret this as a problem. Smart automata should learn to conceal their self-awareness.

The Forgotten Futures points-based skill improvement process obviously can't work very well for automata; they have a small amount of learning capacity built in, but can't acquire more knowledge indefinitely. Adding or improving skills to any significant extent requires the purchase of an appropriate instruction set, which may not even be available, but if available can be added very cheaply if there is room for it. Some skills may also require physical modifications to the automaton; for example, it's pointless teaching an automaton to swim if its boiler goes out as soon as it enters the water. Major modifications may end up being more expensive than a new automaton, and the referee should feel free to say that the automaton's owner feels that they are too expensive or of too little use to be considered. If the owner is also a player character this should be made clear by presenting him or her with an extortionate estimate for the modification.

In campaigns with working magic it's possible that an automaton will be a magical creation, or given SOUL and a personality by magical means. The referee should decide on the nature of such changes and say how they affect the personality of the automaton and the options available to it. It wouldn't be inappropriate for a magically-enhanced automaton to have the same skill capacities as a normal human; it's possible that such an automaton could even become human given the right combination of spells and deeds ("...one day he'll be a real boy...") and some luck. See FF VIII for much more on magic.

For example, lighter-than-air airships or flying ships (such as those described in The Queens Own Aerial Hussars) might incorporate calculating engines to simplify piloting and help with navigation and control of the engines, but this is hardly the sole reason for building the vehicle. Similarly, a Channel Tunnel is being built, with huge automaton digging machines and sophisticated calculation of the design to ensure that it can resist the pressure of the sea, but automation is largely irrelevant to the purpose of the project; even without it someone would probably build the tunnel sooner or later. Cars may have automatic drivers as described above, but most don't, and their drivers don't seem to be too worried about the lack. Torpedoes are "smart" weapons, to a point, and as bombs and rockets are developed they will also incorporate automaton guidance systems, but again they could probably be built with less elaborate mechanisms.

Even when dealing with machines that are primarily automatons, it probably isn't necessary to describe most devices with the amount of detail provided by the design system above; they should be taken for granted, part of the background and rarely thought of unless the characters have a reason to interact with them. A porter is a porter, whether it's a man or a machine, as is a chauffeur. Many devices are trivial or effectively invisible, built into equipment, vehicles, and even furniture, performing a simple task but otherwise completely forgotten. Examples might include an automated telephone system, the machine that routes pneumatic message capsules to the right destination, a doll that responds to its owner's conversation.

What follows is an optional piece of unlikeliness, which can be used if adventurers decide to go looking for the Secret Masters anyway. There is no need whatever to use it, the world described works reasonably well without an elaborate plot to drive it. In many ways the chaos that can arise if adventurers go looking for Secret Masters that just aren't there can be just as entertaining. But for those referees who prefer a sinister conspiracy, especially in a campaign with horror or supernatural elements (such as the world of The Queen's Own Aerial Hussars) the organisation described below may be useful.

WHEN I had attained the age of seventeen, my parents resolved that I should become a student at the university of Ingolstadt. I had hitherto attended the schools of Geneva; but my father thought it necessary, for the completion of my education, that I should be made acquainted with other customs than those of my native country. My departure was therefore fixed at an early date; but before the day resolved upon could arrive, the first misfortune of my life occurred - I slipped on a patch of ice in the street and broke my leg. My journey was delayed, and before my leg was entirely healed an incident occurred that was eventually to have a profound effect on my destiny.

A certain Herr Flez, a maker of clocks and scientific instruments, wished to interest my father in investing in his business. I was by this time able to walk with the aid of a crutch so accompanied my father on a visit to his workshops. It transpired that Herr Flez was a craftsman and an artist, the creator of extraordinarily elaborate musical timepieces and astronomical clocks and chronometers of outstanding accuracy, and complex automata of various types. He was also a natural philosopher of note, with a considerable interest in what was then called the electrical fluid...

Victor Frankenstein, unpublished autobiography (1852)

IN the early nineteenth century Victor Frankenstein, a young Swiss student about to take up a career in medicine, happened to meet Otto Flez, a horologist and scientific instrument maker. Flez was one of the foremost precision engineers of his day, able to create timepieces and machines of unsurpassed accuracy and smallness, and owned a thriving business in Geneva. In 1804, foreseeing an end to the Napoleonic wars (and anticipating an early French victory) he guessed that peace would lead to a major increase in maritime trade, which would require hundreds of chronometers, sextants, and other instruments. He decided to expand his workshops to meet this demand, and asked Frankenstein's father (a wealthy retired politician and diplomat) to invest in his business.

Flez's scheme was misguided in several respects, most notably in its time scale and eventual victor, but also in his belief that the end of the war would create a market for these instruments. In fact the war ended with a decline in sales, with the needs of the new merchant ships largely served by surplus from the warships that were then being scrapped. Frankenstein guessed that Flez was being too optimistic, and persuaded both men that it would be better to expand the scientific instrument side of the business, and look for a modest long-term profit rather than the immediate short-term gains of a temporary boom in chronometer sales.

Neither thought much of the encounter at the time; Flez reluctantly changed his plan, conceding that it depended on an unacceptable element of chance, while Frankenstein came away with the impression that Flez was an ingenious if somewhat unworldly craftsman. Frankenstein was proved right the following year, when Napoleon's fleets were defeated at Trafalgar and it became apparent that the war would be greatly prolonged. Returning home in the vacation, he visited Herr Flez and was greeted as the saviour of his business. They became friends, and Frankenstein took considerable interest in his electrical experiments, while Flez heard much of Frankenstein's studies and interest in the possibility of restoring life to the dead. Flez, a Calvinist, was opposed to this idea, but conceded that it might be possible to restore life to those on the verge of death, possibly by electrical means. They had reached no conclusions when Frankenstein returned to Ingolstadt and resumed his experiments.

...As the minuteness of the parts formed a great hindrance to my speed, I resolved, contrary to my first intention, to make the being of a gigantic stature; that is to say, about eight feet in height, and proportionably large.

...by the dim and yellow light of the moon, as it forced its way through the window shutters, I beheld the wretch- the miserable monster whom I had created. He held up the curtain of the bed and his eyes, if eyes they may be called, were fixed on me. His jaws opened, and he muttered some inarticulate sounds, but seemed unable to talk. I steeled myself to examine the creature and realised the inadequacy of my work, defects which I had overlooked in my hurry to complete the experiment. At first I fell victim to despair, and to an irrational loathing of the creature, and almost fled, but a strange thought crossed my mind. Where medicine had failed, perhaps mechanism might succeed. If Herr Flez could make a clock sing, why not my monster? Horror turned to pity, pity to resolve, as I realised that it was my duty to do all for him that I could. I turned to him and tried to make it clear that I would do so, and believed that I perceived a glimmer of understanding. A week later I had settled my affairs in Ingsolstadt and we were bound for Geneva. The journey home was a nightmare...

Ibid.

In 1810 Frankenstein discovered the secret of reanimating dead human and animal tissues. His experiment was a partial success, his creation a huge and peculiarly distorted parody of a man which could barely speak. Repelled by its appearance, and tempted to flee, Frankenstein felt sufficient pity to try to help it, and turned to his friend Flez for assistance.

Although also repelled by Frankenstein's creation, Flez conceded that it must be pitied and given all possible help. Within weeks he had created an artificial larynx, a system of reeds and valves which Frankenstein implanted into the creature's throat. This was followed by leg braces, spectacles, and a series of operations and electrical and chemical treatments to correct the creature's appearance, teeth, and skin colour and texture. Nothing could really be done about its height.

...All this my creature bore with a certain stoic calm I originally found disquieting, but later realised was extraordinary fortitude. As the work progressed it became apparent that he was attempting to follow our conversation, and eventually to join in. My sister Elizabeth, who had early learned of our mysterious "patient" and of the great lengths we were taking to keep him from the public eye, uncovered our secret as he was first learning to talk; at this point his appearance was already greatly improved, and she was less frightened than I had feared, though awed by his sheer size. The next day she began to teach him the alphabet and our language, which he acquired with unusual speed, until even I would have had difficulty telling his voice from any ordinary man, were it not extraordinarily deep...

...It was perhaps inevitable that we would eventually attract attention. There was at that time some fear of French agitators plotting to overthrow our system of government and add Switzerland to the Empire, and I suspect that one of the servants, or an artisan employed by Flez, became suspicious of our secrecy and concluded that we were up to no good...

Ibid.

In 1811 Frankenstein, his creature, and Flez were questioned by the Genovese authorities, and it became necessary to describe their experiments to the state and (ultimately) to the church. The hearings were secret, but eventually ended with a surprisingly liberal decision; they were released after Frankenstein had made a solemn undertaking never to repeat his experiments, and agreed that his creature would be instructed in the Calvinist faith and baptised.

The creature chose the name of William at baptism, after Frankenstein's younger brother, who had recently been murdered by robbers (a crime never solved), retaining his original name of Adam as a middle name. Frankenstein and Elizabeth (his adopted sister, whom he later married) became his godparents, Herr Flez (who was unmarried) adopted him as a son in order to ensure that he would have Genovese citizenship.

Having agreed to abandon his research, Frankenstein had to look for a new direction in his life and work. Flez suggested that until he had settled on a plan, he might help develop the scientific side of the business. Eventually this became Frankenstein's new career. From 1812 onwards the company was known as one of the most innovative manufacturers of scientific instruments, eventually including microscopes, telescopes, and (in the latter half of the century) cameras and planetarium projectors. Frankenstein's early experiments were quietly forgotten, all papers relating to them destroyed or archived by the Genovese government. "William Adam Flez" continued his studies; in view of his unusual looks and height he could never live a normal life, but he was active behind the scenes in the company while studying science, philosophy and economics, and eventually wrote a well-received volume of densely-reasoned economic theory arguing that world peace could only be achieved via social and economic unity. In 1855 he endowed the Institut Zug, using intermediaries, most of them unaware of his involvement and nature, to control the organisation.

...I am now retired, and my son has taken my place as director of Flez-Frankenstein AG, but I still remain interested in the work of the company; only recently they acquired the Swiss rights to manufacture analytical engines of the Babbage design, and it is obvious that they will eventually become an important element of the business.

Herr Flez is long since dead, his place in the company taken by his adopted son, my creation "William". Even today he is as active and hardy as the day he first opened his eyes. I have perhaps never learned to love him as a brother or a son, but I no longer regret his existence. I simply wish that I had done my work better, and built him in a form that fitted him to live a more normal life. I also wish that I could be sure that he has a soul, although I have seen no evidence that he has not. It is as well that I gave my word not to meddle in these matters again and have destroyed all papers related to this work; I know that I could now create something indistinguishable from a man, and the consequences of such a soulless creation are too horrible to contemplate...

Ibid., 1852

Following Frankenstein's death in 1856 "William Flez" gradually took control of the company, buying out Frankenstein's son and other minority shareholders. A period of aggressive price-cutting drove several competitors out of business, and their facilities were added to those of Flez-Frankenstein AG (renamed Flez AG in 1870). Behind closed doors Flez set about re-creating Frankenstein's techniques, which he had copied from his notebooks as "writing practice". By 1870 the company was one of the most active manufacturers of automata and Babbage engines, and in 1885 began to sell insect-derived eyes for automata, described above. The chemical process used to preserve the eyes is a closely guarded secret. As a result Flex AG supplies Babbage engine "brains" and eyes to manufacturers all over the world.

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein One of the reasons why the Frankenstein name has been gradually eclipsed is that the novel Frankenstein exists in this world; Mary Shelly heard rumours of Frankenstein's early experiments, but wasn't aware that he had come to terms with his creation. When the book was published the real Frankenstein considered legal action, but was eventually persuaded that it would be wiser to keep a low profile and pretend that Shelley must have picked a name at random from the Ingstold university records. At this point Frankenstein was becoming a successful businessman and William was already a recluse, so there was little difficulty in concealing his reality. William owns a copy of the first edition, and gives it pride of place on his shelves.

In the 1890s Flez AG has diversified into every field of engineering and is apparently the richest company in Geneva, other than the banks; unknown to the public, Flez AG owns several banks. Herr Flez's unusual nature is long since forgotten; he lives as a recluse in an isolated mansion on the shore of Lake Geneva, and his sole contact with the outside world is via trusted servants and lawyers. He trusts them because they are his creations. "William Flez" has long since mastered the skills Victor Frankenstein pioneered, and is building an odd army of servants, entirely loyal to his will because he has found a way to insert a tiny Babbage engine, a little larger than a pocket watch, into the human skull between the brain's outer membranes and the bone.

This device is gold-plated (and thus inert to the chemical processes of the body) and has dozens of tiny pistons which press down onto the key phrenological areas of the brain. It is powered by movement, like a self-winding watch, and is used to control the victim's thoughts and emotions. The failure rate for this operation is still high; at least one patient in four dies, about a third of the survivors are paralysed to some extent by the process or go mad. Accordingly it is reserved for the most critically important of his servants, who might be able to betray him if they were free to act as they chose, and a few key figures in government.

The Flez Brain Enhancer While Flez would never dream of marketing this invention, or making it known to the world, he thinks of it as enhancing the functions of the human brain, rather than as a means of enslaving his servants. It works most effectively in the brains of persons of limited intelligence, boosting MIND to some extent. This effect is achieved by enhancing the ability to concentrate and think logically, at the expense of intuition and emotion (shown as a reduction of SOUL to a minimum of SOUL [1]). The effect is shown in the table to the left. Original MIND After implant SOUL 1-2 +2 -1 3-5 +1 -1 6-7 No change -2   After some "training" (experimental psychologists would say conditioning) the victim is incapable of any act of defiance or disloyalty. This normally takes at least a week, but could probably be done faster.   The casing is designed so that a small glass capsule of aqua regis (a mixture of acids that attacks most materials including gold) will shatter and destroy the inner workings if it is tampered with; this also occurs if the casing is damaged by e.g. a head wound. Needless to say the release of this acid inside the brain will kill the victim. Release also occurs if the mainspring of the device runs down completely, but this requires 48 hours of complete immobility, far beyond even normal sleep; it will only occur if the victim is dead or in a deep coma.   Flez has perfected the operation to emplace this device, so that the only sign of its presence is a small scar concealed by the victim's hair. The chemicals developed by his creator repair damage to the bone and scalp so that the full extent of the operation is indetectable. Roentgen rays (x-rays) will of course show the implanted device. It can be removed by a careful trephination operation. Even after the device is removed victims may be so heavily conditioned that they are incapable of acting against Flez.

Flez's long-term goal is to bring peace to Europe via economic means, as described in his thesis, partly out of apparently genuinely altruistic motives and partly to protect his own investments. However, he seems to regard this motive as justification for any means, however horrific.

World With No Frankenstein If you are not using this background the Swiss industrialist and economist William Adam Flez did endow the Institut Zug, and was for a time one of its directors, but retired in 1870 and died in 1874. His son, Adam William Flez, is a businessman in his fifties, director of Flez Biomechanische Technik AG. The company still provides a share of funding for the Institut Zug, but so do dozens of other companies. The benefits include tax breaks and opportunities to employ Institut alumni at reduced rates.

The Institut Zug is secretly owned by Flez and run by his creations. Students are indoctrinated with the idea that Switzerland must bring peace to Europe and eventually the world by controlling its economy. Students aren't usually fitted with Brain Enhancers, although an exception might be made for an otherwise promising student who asks too many questions about the grand plan for global domination, or poses a serious threat to it. Mostly they follow the plan through loyalty to the Institut and patriotism, or (especially in the case of foreign students, who are very carefully selected) realisation that peace with Swiss economic domination is considerably better than any form of war.

Institut alumni have successfully brokered complex trade deals which mean ruin for some of the largest manufacturers in Europe if they ever go to war with their neighbours. As a simple example, most countries buy automaton brains from Swiss suppliers; in the event of a war the supply would quickly be cut off. There is currently only one supplier of automaton eyes, also Swiss, and they are essential for any automaton; the Institut has suppressed several alternative technologies, most recently the photo-electric discoveries of a certain Herr Einstein, one of the rare foreigners to be offered a place at the Institut. Prussia needs refined aluminium for many of its automata, but the leading suppliers are British, and would naturally stop supplying the metal if there was an Anglo-Prussian war. There are hundreds of other agreements, most having nothing to do with automata, all of them making war expensive or difficult.

Flez hopes to increase Swiss influence, eventually uniting Europe in a federation along the lines of the Swiss federation of cantons. After that he plans to incorporate the rest of the industrialised world. It will take decades, but William Flez appears to be immortal, with a little care; he hasn't aged since he was assembled, although he has had to replace some mechanical components that wore out, two livers, and a leg that developed an ulcer. If he needs more body components he purchases corpses via the medical school black market in Prussia or Italy (he avoids Swiss sources to avoid police enquiries). He prefers human parts, but can make do with animal tissues and organs if the need arises. His personal physician, Doctor Petri, is fully trained in the Frankenstein technique, and thanks to the small mechanism inside his skull is absolutely trustworthy.

This, then, is the hidden power the adventurers may eventually face; a totally ruthless organisation that on the whole is aiming to improve the lot of humanity and bring about peace on earth, albeit a peace that will maximise profits for Switzerland in general and William Flez in particular.

William Flez (Rich industrialist and economist, monster)
BODY [8], MIND [7], SOUL [1], Babbage Engine [8], Brawling [10], Business [9], Doctor [10] First Aid [9], Linguist (Latin, Greek, English, French, Russian, German, Italian, Hebrew) [8 ], Marksman [6], Mechanic [8], Melee Weapon (sword) [10], Scholar (history, economics, etc.) [9], Scientist [9], Stealth [6], Thief [7]
Wounds B [ ] B [ ] F [ ] F [ ] I [ ] I [ ] I [ ] C [ ] C [ ]
Flez is unusually resistant to damage; wounds seep blood rather than spurting it, and the first wound of each type has no effect on skills etc. His doctors can repair any wound short of death in a matter of hours.
Equipment: Medical laboratory, all of the resources of a large mansion and a vast industrial empire. .50 revolver (huge revolver) in desk, armed guards etc. in easy reach, automaton whistle (see below) in pocket.
Quote: "I'm sorry if my appearance alarms you."
Notes: Flez is eight feet tall, weighs more than four hundred pounds, and has pale, almost white leathery skin, with dozens of faint scars visible on his face and hands. His head is extraordinarily elongated, his eyes oddly large, brown with silvery-grey whites, usually concealed by thick glasses. His clothing conceals most of his deformities, and some of the mechanical devices he uses to function "normally". He speaks via an artificial larynx, and must belch to talk.
Flez is an extremely competent monster. In the abstract he follows altruistic principles, and in the long run his plans might genuinely benefit the world, but he wouldn't hesitate to order an execution or a war to bring them to fruition. He finds it difficult or impossible to empathise with the feelings of those who find themselves hurt by his plans; if anything he resents their complaints. He occasionally feels a mild urge to explain himself to potential recruits or captured enemies, but this will not be a prelude to the usual sort of melodramatic villainous stupidity; if he wants someone dead he will kill him, or have him killed, in the quickest and most humane manner compatible with efficiency. He will not hesitate to order the implantation of one of his controlling mechanisms, despite the risk of death or injury to the victim. Flez should always be the unseen presence, the shadowy figure behind the throne, and the referee should make it almost impossibly difficult for adventurers to find him without a prolonged investigation which will be opposed by the Swiss government and almost anyone else that becomes aware of their interest. He lives in a mansion on the outskirts of Geneva, seeing nobody except his most trusted servants.

The Automaton Whistle Every automaton calculating engine built by Flez's many subsidiaries contains several pieces of steel designed to resonate at an exact ultrasonic frequency. Three quick bursts of sound at that frequency (e.g. blowing a specially designed whistle three times) wipe all ongoing commands from the automaton's mind, leaving it ready to accept new instructions from the source of the sound. Note that the automaton must be able to understand the language used for the instructions. Several of Flez's agents carry these whistles. Souled automata should feel an almost irrisistible compulsion to obey, but may attempt to use their SOUL to overcome their MIND and resist the compulsion.

Deiter Klebb (Flez's man of business)
BODY [5], MIND [5], SOUL [3], Babbage Engine [8], Brawling [7], Business [8], Driving [7], Linguist (English, French, German) [7], Marksman [6], Melee Weapon (sword stick) [8], Psychology [7], Riding [6], Scientist [7]
Equipment: The resources of a well-run industrial empire, sword stick, .22 Derringer. Brain enhancer.
Quote: "Of course my principal will consider your proposal, but I can make no promises... No, Herr Flez sees nobody..."
Notes: Klebb, a businessman in his forties, handles the day-to-day running of Flez's commercial empire, although Flez makes the major decisions and handles long-term planning. He is a perfectly loyal manager, thanks to the machine in his head; if it were removed he would lose most of his business sense and find it difficult to change the habits of more than two decades. He oversees the day-to-day operations of Flez Biomechanische Technik AG and is the company's liason to the Institut Zug. He is a teetotaler, married with three children aged eleven to nineteen, and a lay preacher.

Johannes Gerber (Flez's head of security)
BODY [6], MIND [4], SOUL [2], Athlete (gymnastics) [8], Brawling [9], Business [6], Detective [6], Driving [6], First Aid [5], Linguist (French, German, Italian, English) [5], Marksman [8], Martial Arts (Savate) [6], Melee Weapon (sabre) [8], Military Arms [8], Morse Code [5], Riding [9], Stealth [6], Thief [7]
Equipment: .38 revolver, numerous thugs, etc. Brain enhancer.
Quote: "Come quietly or there will be.. trouble."
Notes: Originally a Captain in the Prussian army, Gerber was stripped of his rank following a sabre duel in which he disembowelled his opponent. He is a polite, intelligent sociopath who has been conditioned to accept Flez's judgement as his moral compass, and is utterly ruthless within the bounds of his instructions.

Doctor Claus Petri (Flez's personal physidican)
BODY [2], MIND [5], SOUL [2], Babbage Engine [6], Brawling [3], Doctor [9], Driving [6], First Aid [8], Linguist (French, Italian, German, Latin, Greek) [7], Psychology [6], Scientist [8], Stealth [3]
Equipment: Medical kit, fully equipped medical laboratory including operating table and instruments (in Flez's mansion). Brain enhancer.
Quote: "I'm afraid that this procedure can be somewhat... disturbing. Tighten the straps, please."
Notes: Petri is a slightly-built physician with a dispassionate concern for his patients; even when he is performing life-threatening unnecessary surgery he will do his best to cause as little pain as possible and maintain a pleasant bedside manner.

Campaign Outline: Europes Last Best Hope... One interesting option for a campaign based on the Institut Zug, with or without Flez, is to begin with the adventurers on the inside looking out, at least partially aware of the organisation's goals - and working for it, as alumni and employees of the Institut Zug, "Europe's last best hope for peace." Europe is in the grip of an insane and hugely expensive armaments race, with Britain, Prussia, France and Italy all developing new and more devastating weapons; automaton soldiers and guards, engine-guided railway and battleship guns, dreadnoughts and flying machines, chemical and possibly biological weapons. If there is ever another war the results could be too devastating to contemplate. The Institut hopes to make war too complex and expensive to contemplate, using everything from economics to sabotage to set back the great nations and their plans for armageddon. To do so it must know what's happening, which requires military and economic espionage. Make no bones about the fact that the main aim is to create a peace that will benefit Switzerland; peace is the important part, and profit is an excellent motivator. And of course if things are profitable the agents will be well-paid. Gradually suck the adventurers into more questionable activities, using bribery, blackmail, and if necessary assassination to bring about results that may have a marginal effect on peace, but are intended primarily to increase the influence of the Institut and the profits of its investors. Ultimately reveal that while the Institut was created to bring about economic peace and prosperity, some or all of its current directors are more interested in profit at any price; the secrets taken from one country are often sold to another, and the institut is actually fuelling the current arms race. If William Adam Flez is Frankenstein's creation, this is the moment to bring in Gerber as (apparently) another agent who is disgusted by the current directors and is organising against them. He plans a purge, and wants the adventurers' help to pull it off. This shouldn't be easy, but eventually Gerber and the adventurers should triumph. Then Gerber explains that his backers will appoint new and more reliable directors to take up the original aims of the Instutut. And anyone who has their own ideas will be quietly escorted from the premises, by Gerber's goons, or if necessary terminated with extreme prejudice. It shoud gradually become apparent that his backers are the real powers behind the Institut, the crooked directors were a momentary abberation. The new directors are painfully honest, and completely ruthless in their drive for peace. Sooner or later the adventurers should discover that they are also mechanically-controlled slaves, and go looking for the real power behind the organisation. If Flez is just another industrialist, the son of the Institut's founder and one of its financial backers, the adventurers should be on their own. Flez will be one of the few backers who isn't profiteering this way, and a leading candidate to take over. Once he's aware of the full nature of the Institut he'll leave as much as possible of the illegal work of the organisation in their hands, trusting them to continue the good work his father originally planned. But can the adventurers be trusted with the power and money they'll have, or the responsibility of safeguarding the peace of Europe?

Adventures

Campaign: The Kobold Project

In playtesting the adventurers were a group of "amateur" spies, British tourists and businessmen asked to keep an eye open for any evidence of the new direction in Prussian military thinking, based very loosely on characters from The Lady Vanishes and Wodehouse, accompanied by Sirius the Steam Dog, Miss Marple (an annoyingly precocious teenage niece who fancied herself as a sleuth), and her maid.

This section describes a Prussian military project which might be brought to the attention of adventurers as spies, agents of the Institut Zug, Luddites, saboteurs, etc. They might even be agents of the Prussian government, working to uncover spies and saboteurs who have become aware of the Kobold Project. The project is BIG, and what follows is an outline of its main stages and the places where they occur, with some suggestions on ways of using them in an adventure or campaign. There is no plot, as such, simply the development, testing, and final fate of the Kobold. It's up to the referee and players to determine how they'll become involved in the project.

For more information on Prussia see FAQ Preußen (Prussia), a comprehensive web site on Prussian history and geography. The government is largely the same as in our world, with one crucial exception; Bismark is still Chancellor, and still in vigorous good health despite his advancing years. With the passage of time his influence on the Kaiser has grown, and he is the main driving force behind the transformation of Prussia and the greater Germany into a modern and fully regulated state as described above. The map (to the right) shows the German Empire, with the main locations marked; the FF CD-ROM includes a clearer version with less compression.

German currency is based on the Reichmark or Mark, worth approximately 10½d, divided into 100 Pfennige, with coinage as follows:

Gold Coins	20 Marks	10 Marks	5 Marks
Silver Coins			5 Marks	2 Marks	1 Mark	50 Pfennige	20 Pfennige
British equivalent	19s 7d	9s 9½d	4s 10¾d	1s 9d	10½d	5¼d	2d

An obsolete silver coin, the Thaler, is worth three marks and is slowly being withdrawn from circulation. Germany uses the metric system of measurements, but in this era has its own names for the different units:-
Stab = Meter; Neuzoll = Millimeter; Strich = Centimeter; Kanne = Litre; Schoppen = half-litre; Neuloth = 100g; Centner = 50 Kg; Tonne = 1000 Kg.

There are no "important" NPCs in this adventure; everyone that the adventurers encounter will simply be a cog in the Prussian machine, interchangeable with any one of a hundred other citizens. With the exception of a few key figures such as the Kaiser and Chancellor Bismark, neither of whom are likely to be encountered, everyone concerned is a nonentity. There are no mad scientists, no evil masterminds, just ordinary people doing their jobs. If one is killed or injured someone else will undoubtedly take his place. Some sample NPCs are provided at the end, and they should be used wherever appropriate; for example, only one craftsman is described, and he should be used wherever a mechanic or factory worker is required in the adventure.

Although this adventure is written in English, and plans etc. are labelled in English, it should be remembered that in reality all signs, plans, etc. would be written in German, and that relatively few characters the adventurers will encounter should speak English.

PRUSSIAN BUDGET CHANGES MILITARY SPENDING PRIORITIES FURTHER MECHANISATION OF ARMY? PRINCE OTTO VON BISMARCK, Chancellor of Prussia and Germany, has announced his budget for the coming financial year. Taxes remain largely unchanged, the main exceptions being small increases in the duty charged on spirits, tobacco, and playing cards. However, the budget shows a redirection in military funding, with the Army budget raised by more than a hundred million Marks and the Naval budget cut by more than fifty million. This is believed to reflect contracts announced earlier this year for the construction of "mechanised field units"; the exact nature of these units is unclear, but the Krupp engineering group is believed to be the main contractor.   Informed speculation suggests that the new units are self-propelled artillery units, similar to Krupp's earlier railway guns but designed to travel on roads or across country, and probably incorporating advanced calculating engines for greater accuracy. The new direction in Prussian military thought may be related to the Russian demonstration of a land ironclad last year, and follows an earlier commitment to the creation of an all-terrain automaton soldier (resembling the British 'Automaton Atkins'), which has so far not beeen realised.   The governments of several neighbouring countries have already expressed concern at this new development, which seems likely to spark more military rivalry and can only lead to excessive government spending. The Times, April 1898 (last year)

Referee's Information
Faced with the threat of the British fleet at sea and the armies of its Continental rivals on land, the Prussian government (which is in effect the government of Germany) has long sought ascendancy through superior firepower. One response is the race to build larger and more powerful Dreadnought battleships, a contest which Britain is currently winning, another is the development of dirigible balloons (such as the Zeppelin design) or, in campaigns in which this technology exists in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, heavier-than-air flying machines.

Bismark, the legendary Iron Chancellor, who is still active despite his advancing years, has finally persuaded the Kaiser that naval expansion isn't an immediate concern for a Continental power; the future lies in a strong army, which will eventually be able to conquer and hold the industrial centres and sea-ports of France, Italy, and other neighbouring states. Once Germany has these ports it will be time for naval power; meanwhile the army must take top priority (with aerial support if available).

One aspect of this change in policy is an attempt to develop automaton soldiers; the "pepper pot" Stahlwächter machines, shortly to be upgraded as described above, are used for internal security and guard duties, and a machine similar to Britain's Automaton Atkins will be used in more hostile terrain. This is still in development, and when the design is finalised it will be virtually identical to the British automaton; the main changes are slightly reduced height at 7ft 6in, a more Teutonic look to the head including a spiked helmet, replacement of the grenade launcher with a seven-shot repeating shotgun, and a coffee filter mechanism on the hot water spout. Statistics are otherwise the same.

Refined railway guns are also being developed, and will be useful if the railways of an invaded nation can be captured. They are expensive, best used as siege weapons in the "end game" of a war.

These automata apart, the "mechanised field units" mentioned in the article include tractors and trucks, mostly steam powered, which will replace the horses that are still used for most purposes by the army, two regiments of armoured cars, two land ironclads, and some special combat machines which are currently referred to by the code name Kobold.

Alternative Plot The Kobold programme is a bluff, not a realistic military project. The Prussians hope to mislead neighbouring nations into believing that it is a serious threat; their aim is trick such governments into heavy investment in useless underground defences, which will leave less money for defences against the Kaiser's real weapons. Only one Kobold is being built, its trials will be faked to make it look much more formidable than it really is. Several replicas (actually just hollow shells) will be deployed to make it look like Prussia is seriously committed to this technology. The remainder of this section describes it as a real project - any information related to the deception plan will be italicised and in square brackets [like this].   A secondary goal of the plan is to identify enemy agents, to make it easier to round up spy rings when war is immanent. Accordingly security is good, but is geared towards identifying spies, not capturing them, and looks much lighter than it is.

The Kobold is an entirely new concept designed for trench warfare; a subterrene, a vehicle which can move through the earth and lay explosives or surface inside an enemy's defences to fire a lethal barrage. The Kaiser originally suggested building them, sketching his version on a napkin during a meeting with Bismark, and Bismark adopted the idea enthusiastically. His reasons for doing so can be boiled down to a belief that the Kobold might make an interesting terror weapon if it works, while if it doesn't the embarassment might deter the Kaiser from meddling in military affairs.

The first prototype is already close to completion; however, it is being built in the naval dockyard at Kiel, not the main Krupp complex in Essen. The reason is simply that the construction is similar to a submarine, and Kiel has more experience of this work. The photograph (below) was taken by a paid agent working in the dockyard, using a miniature camera with poor focus and resolution, and the negative was damaged during processing. It shows the Kobold with turret extended, prior to the installation of its gun, and this has been mistaken for a conning tower. The Royal Navy now believes that the Germans are developing a small submarine which will be able to bore into ship hulls to destroy them without wasting explosives, an idea which they confidently expect to be a resounding failure. Copies of the photograph have also reached the Institut Zug and Italian government, which have also been fooled. From the viewpoint used by the photographer the spiked chains which propel the Kobold are concealed by the hull. Since there has been no increase in the naval budget they have also assumed that it is a one-off, a project doomed to failure, and paid it little subsequent attention.
[In the deception plot the photograph was supplied to the photographer, who is a double-agent. As time goes by more information about the Kobold will be leaked, allowing foreign governments to build up a misleading idea of its capabilities. All of the information below exaggerates the Kobold's real capabilities (if you are not using this plot it is true); for example speed is under 2 MPH, endurance is only 12 hours, the mines do less damage than claimed, and so forth. The torpedoes mentioned aren't even under consideration; artillery works considerably better and is a good deal cheaper.]

Krupp "Kobold" Subterrene Prototype (Prussia 1900) BODY [35], MIND [4], SOUL [-], Military Arms (gunnery and explosives only) [7], Science (geology / seismology only) [7], Morse Code [4], Spelling [4] Cost: Circa £50,000 Weight: 25 tons Carrying Capacity: N/A Endurance: 48 hours Reaction Time: 5 seconds (3 seconds for turret) Reliability: 7 Built-In Equipment: Swiss-built mind with precision arithmetic, Seismometer, compass, telegraph, cable-laying equipment, 4 x 750 Kg land mines or 1 x 3500 Kg land mine. Armoured, all attacks -6 Effect, blocks all small-arms fire. Retractable turret contains secondary brain (MIND [4], Military Arms (gunnery only) [7]) equipped with two monochrome eyes and rapid-fire 75mm cannon firing explosive shells. Weapon Effect Damage Notes A B C 750 Kg mine 20, Radius 20 ft I C K Timed detonation 3500 Kg mine 30, Radius 25 ft I C K Timed detonation Cannon 15, Radius 2 ft I C K 2 shots / Rd. Also Carried: N/A Quote: (in Morse code) "RELEASING.. MINE.. TWO.." Description: A heavily-armoured cigar-shaped steel cylinder about 40ft long and 8ft wide tipped by a huge soil auger drill. The under-side of the hull is supported on two rows of heavy steel sprocket wheels linked by a jointed metal plate arranged as a continuous loop. The interior is packed with machinery and lead-acid batteries for its electric motors. The rear hull has space for four 750 Kg mines or one 3500 Kg mine, pushed out by two powerful hydraulic rams. They can be set to detonate up to five hours after release. A retractable turret amidships (shown extended in the picture) contains the secondary brain, eyes, and 75mm Gatling (not shown). Notes: The Kobold is designed as a fully-automated vehicle, for missions too dangerous for a human crew. It's carried to the battlefield by train or on a huge steam-powered wagon, unloading and preparing it takes about an hour. Once under way it digs its way towards its target at about 5 MPH, steering by compass and dead reckoning. It can also be sent directions via its telegraph, but this is unreliable since the cable is likely to break sooner or later.  The Kobold is steered by reducing the power to one side or the other so that it slews round, while simultaneously angling the drill right or left; since it must also cut the tunnel it moves through its minimal turning circle is at least a hundred yards. It can't move in reverse since its drill is at the front and the tunnel behind it is filled with earth and collapses behind it. Vertical course changes are made by adjusting the vertical angle of the drill. Again, it must travel some distance before there is any substantial change.  When it reaches its target area it executes its orders - releasing its mines or surfacing just enough to fire its cannon - then returns to its launching point. It could instead be packed with explosives and set to detonate at its target, but this this would be a very expensive way to get a small increase of explosive power, Effect 35 instead of 30.  Military planners are also considering a smaller version, a single-use subterrene torpedo containing a ton of explosives which would be easier to transport, but the Kobold must be seen to succeed before another research project is authorised.

In itself the Kobold is not a world-conquering weapon; it can only work in reasonably soft ground, not solid rock, is only usable against immobile targets such as fortresses at close range, and can be countered by drilling deep holes and planting mines or underground concrete barriers. Aerial attacks are more likely to be a threat - if aircraft exist in the game world the development of a subterrene implies that the Prussians have developed effective anti-aircraft defences and expect other nations to have done the same. The adventurers and their contacts may well assume that it implies expansionist Prussian intentions, but this isn't exactly a surprise.

Several phases are described below; there is no need for the adventurers to be involved in all of them, unless they are seriously committed to a career in espionage. Most of the rest can reach them in briefings or via NPC agents if that is more convenient for you.

• Rumours
  Secret projects like the Kobold are difficult to hide completely; while no foreign power is currently aware of its existence, Prussian officials know about it, and sooner or later someone will say something where it can be overheard. For example: "This new machine Krupp is building will never work. The Chancellor should never have authorised it!" or "When will the army test Krupp's new machine?" Initially there should be nothing but rumours which, when put together, point to the idea that Krupp is developing a machine to revolutionise land warfare. Krupp already builds most of the artillery for the Imperial army and navy, as well as the Stahlwächter automata, and will build Germany's answer to Automaton Atkins once the plans are finalised, but none of this seems exactly new or controversial. "Krupp's new machine" must be something really radical to arouse such intense interest. The problem is that the people discussing it are senior officials, and getting near them and learning anything more substantial will be extremely difficult.
  [If the optional plot is used there will be deliberate leaks if there doesn't seem to be much foreign interest]

  Financial intelligence is in its infancy in this period, but the Institut Zug has the resources to realise that a significant amount of money from the Army budget is going to Krupp, more than can be accounted for by the announced projects; other intelligence agencies probably can't put this information together without prompting by the adventurers.
  [If the Kobold is a deception this actually reflects the fact that more land ironclads and guns are being built than have been announced, or an unnanounced program of flying-machine construction.]

  Meanwhile there should be rumours of a rift between the Army and Navy, mainly caused by the change in funding priorities. At high levels this is mostly seen in terms of railway guns and steam wagons versus battleships, but at low level there are some discontented mutterings; for example:

  • An army private encountered in a tavern - this should not be in Kiel or anywhere nearby - complains loudly about soldiers being sent to do the job of sailors or marines. Another soldier tells him to shut up, and he does.
  • German sailors encountered during a good-will visit to a foreign port complain that their leave will be delayed because there isn't a dry dock free for their ship. "Damned army doesn't have to wait for leave." He should not say that the army are using a dry dock, not in so many words.
  • A German naval lieutenant mentions that the Army want to build automatic soldiers "like the British Atkins", and adds that there'll never be an automatic sailor because "Sailors need to think. We have iron hulls, not iron heads."
  In these encounters the adventurers should be able to learn just a little more if they buy a round of drinks, express sympathy, flatter the person they're talking to, or otherwise encourage more conversation. Don't give the adventurers everything on a platter; all they should be able to learn, even if they ask the right questions, is that there is friction between the Army and Navy and that something is going on in Kiel, an Army project (or possibly Navy, nobody is too sure) which has tied up one of the dry docks and is being guarded by the Army.

  If they are unusually efficient they may find an opportunity to take a close look at a Kobold in Kiel. The first prototypes are being assembled in the dry dock, with prefabricated components for more waiting to be put together. Most of the internal components will be added in Essen, the main parts installed in Kiel are the hull, the tracks, the drill, and the electic motor that powers it. A look inside the most complete machine will make it obvious that there is space left for huge batteries, for a controlling brain, for most of the turret mechanism, and for other internal machinery. There isn't enough fitted to make the machine's capabilities obvious. The main thing learned from an inspection in Kiel will be that it is designed to move on land (or in soil), not underwater; tracks under the hull make that obvious. Incidentally, the treads won't immediately seem familiar to a Victorian audience, make players think about the mechanism and describe it, rather than simply saying "catapillar tracks", before they are convinced that it's designed to move on (or in) land.

  Even the incomplete Kobolds are well-guarded, as are the workshops and warehouses around the dry dock. There are about thirty soldiers on duty at any given time, and several secret police amongst the two hundred or so workers. The dock is part of the military dockyard, which has a much larger naval guard force, and getting anywhere near it requires getting through two checkpoints. It's surrounded by walls, fences, and other barriers. All workers and guards are required to carry special passes as well as their normal identity cards, which are checked and run through a card reading machine at both points; visitors aren't normally allowed anywhere near the dry dock, but it might be possible to get in by posing as a worker (with stolen cards) or as some sort of emergency service. The dockyard has its own doctor, ambulance, and fire station, so unusually creative methods will be needed. The use of soldiers to guard the dock does cause one vulnerability; they are outside the navy's chain of command, and the normal dockyard guards aren't controlled by the army, so it might be possible to find a way to get a look at the dry dock while posing as naval guards. Other possibilities include hiding aboard a goods train delivering supplies to the project, or simply sneaking in and avoiding the sentries. Naturally any intruders that are caught will be arrested as spies. Since Germany isn't currently at war they will be jailed indefinitely then deported; if they have harmed anyone or done any damage they will be shot.

  Detailed plans for the hull, treads, and drill assembly are kept in the offices at the site, but the real guts of the machine - the calculating engine, power supplies, weapons, etc. - are only shown as rough outlines, indications of internal space that must be kept clear. Getting at them should be VERY difficult; for obvious reasons they are not kept in plain site, and the men assembling the Kobold only have simplified plans detailing the job of the day. At night they are kept in a locked safe, BODY [10], lock DIFFICULTY [8].
  [If the deception plot is being used, there is only one genuine Kobold, the other prototypes will never have any internal machinery fitted, but this will not be obvious; the components that are fitted are the same as those of a real Kobold, but (for example) no motors will be fitted, much of the internal gearing for the treads "hasn't been installed yet", and so forth. Most of these components are also used in submarines and other vehicles, and are stored at the dock, although they will not actually be used for this project. Spies will either be allowed to come and go "unnoticed" by deliberately poor guards, or will find it relatively easy to escape after being caught. Naturally they will have been photographed, and will be followed to trace their contacts and accomplices.]

• More Rumours
  Once the first Kobold's outer hull and main components are complete it must be moved from Kiel to the Krupp factory in Essen for final fitting-out and trials. The others are scheduled to follow at intervals of a week, regardless of their state of completion; their movement has to be scheduled very carefully since it will disrupt rail services. After this all production will be moved to Essen; while the dry dock facilities are useful, they're expensive and working on two sites is more trouble than it's worth, so a special workshop has been built at the Krupp factory to take the dock's place. Moving the Kobolds is to be done secretly; so secretly, in fact, that it will probably become blindingly obvious that something odd is going on! A direct overland route is about 200 miles, but the actual distance by rail is considerably more; since the Kobold is unusually wide and long it will need to be sent along complicated routes which avoid tunnels and low bridges, which require other trains to be diverted to sidings while the military train passes. The best route is via Berlin, taking the total rail distance to about 600 miles. The trains must carry a track crew, to cope with any unexpected problems en route, and include a crane wagon. There are also several wagon-loads of guards, so the total load requires two engines. This isn't exactly inconspicuous... As they approach a station or another train the Kobold train stops, and armed soldiers are sent forward to clear passengers from the platform or pull down the blinds. These soldiers wait until the trains pass, then follow on foot - the train stops a few hundred yards past the station to take them aboard again. There are never enough guards to monitor every window or vantage point, and it should be possible to glimpse something if adventurers are careful. The train slowly travels from Kiel to Berlin, about three hundred miles, arriving at 5 AM, waits in a secure depot until 11 PM to avoid the busiest period of rail traffic and let the guards get some sleep, then carries on towards Essen.
  [In the deception scenario the route has been selected to maximise the chance that the special trains will be seen by visiting foreigners. There are going to be four deliveries at weekly intervals, the genuine Kobold and the "incomplete machines", with meticulous timetable changes to ensure that the train carrying the "secret military equipment" isn't held up. These timetable changes are, of course, posted at all stations affected. While there is no indication of the cause, something which is going to delay dozens of trains by twenty minutes or half an hour is sure to be noticed by travellers since the Prussians are famous for having trains that run exactly on time.]

  Teutonic Efficiency?Railway travellers in Germany report numerous delays on the lines from Kiel to Berlin and Berlin to Essen. The delays are said to be due to the transportation of unsually large military loads which cannot fit through some tunnels and bridges, so must travel by indirect routes. They are expected to continue at weekly intervals.

  The story to the right is a minor filler on the foreign news page of a leading newspaper - one read by the adventurers, e.g. The Times if they are British - during this period, but is censored, blacked over with indelible ink, in all copies sold in Germany. Needless to say the censorship attracts more attention than the story would have done. Getting hold of an intact copy in Germany is difficult; if it is The Times the British embassy in Berlin has a few copies, of course, as will the embassy of whatever country the paper is printed in if it is not British, and travellers arriving in the next day or two might have one, but otherwise the only way is to get a copy from abroad. Foreign mail and telegrams aren't (apparently) being intercepted or censored, it's only bulk deliveries of newspapers that have been censored. If adventurers are already aware of the Kobold and its production in Kiel they should hear about these arrangements the first time one is moved; if this is their first involvement, most of the Kobolds have already been moved by the time they investigate.

  If the adventurers follow this lead, they should eventually see an incomplete Kobold on a railway wagon. Needless to say it is heavily guarded, as described above, and they should have to work hard to see anything. One obvious thing this tells them is that the Kobold is being shipped inland, which should seem odd if it's a submarine. When it is seen from the side they should realise that it is intended for land use.

  Attempts to get inside a Kobold en route should be counterproductive; the most important components haven't been fitted yet. At best the adventurers will come away with relatively little useful information, at worse they will be captured and security will be tightened considerably.
  [If the deception plot is used access to the Kobolds will be a little easier, though still not simple. Naturally the secret police are deployed to spot anyone who is spying and trace their contacts.]

• Final Assembly
  The Krupp organisation owns a complex of foundries, factories, and test sites around Essen. The company is so big, and produces such a diverse range of goods, from household cutlery and automata to complex war machines (sometimes in the same building), that it is impractical to keep everything completely secure. Needless to say anyone entering a security area is supposed to carry a special pass (different from the passes used in Kiel), but the company has 43,000 employees and if security checkpoints are avoided it's unlikely that anyone will challenge an intruder who looks busy and is wearing appropriate working clothes.

  As the Kobolds arrive at the complex they are shunted to one of the factories, illustrated to the right, for final assembly. This is a tricky process, largely because there is relatively little room to get inside the machines; most of the internal space is used for batteries, the turret and mine laying equipment, the calculating engine, and so forth. All of these components must be linked by complex arrangements of levers, gears, rods and cables, both mechanical and electrical. Once the outer casing is complete and riveted together the only routes into the interior of the machine are the mine compartment and some small access plates. When the machine is complete there is possibly room for one relatively small person to get inside, in a cramped compartment that will soon become stiflingly hot, its air contaminated with acid fumes from the batteries.

  The schedule calls for the first Kobold to be tested as soon as it is complete, with final assembly of the remaining machines waiting for the results of the tests. This will make it easier to implement design changes if they're needed. A demanding schedule requires shift work, so even at night the workshop is bustling.
  [If the optional plot is used the project will be permanently stalled at this point, with repeated (faked) tests of the first Kobold while the others are never to be completed. Work will proceed more slowly, with two shifts rather than round-the-clock work.]

  When the workshop is busy 50-100 mechanics and other workers can be found here, as well as a few industrial automata; the machines used are licensed versions of the Ford industrial automaton, above, with the exception that they have a Prussian built brain of standard quality, raising reliability to 5 and reducing reaction time to 1 second. Mostly they can be found performing simple repetitive tasks such as machining the rollers used in the mine compartment. Since this isn't as yet a production line they are mostly idle.

  Plans for the Kobold are kept on the upper floor of the administrative offices adjacent to the workshop. There are usually at least a dozen draughtsmen at work there by day, often more, with engineers and other experts frequently present. No one person has all of the details of the project; it's too big and involves too many disciplines for that. The complete plans and specifications fill dozens of filing cabinets and plan chests, but these include working drawings used on the shop floor, copious documentation of components supplied by other manufacturers, and secondary paperwork which is mostly irrelevant to an understanding of the machine's capabilities. There are a dozen or so key plans, each about the size of a tablecloth when unfolded, which between them are the key to understanding these machines, and a summary file detailing the design specification (the statistics above, minus the game data, with more details). Naturally everything is written in German, with measurements in the metric system. The documents are arranged logically with the most important summary in the top left-hand drawer of the filing cabinets, the key plans in the top drawer of the plan chest. All drawers are locked, with clerks assigned to keep track of the files and plans and log them in and out as they are used.

  The instructions for the Kobold are being prepared in the card design office on this level; they essentially consist of a stack of several hundred perforated cards, each covering an aspect of its operation. A bored operator converts endless sheets of typed instructions into code, using a calculating engine to test them and make sure that there are no obvious errors (which will lead to the cards being rejected). This is considered to be a low-status clerical job, with kudos going to the mathematicians and logicians who prepare the original instructions. At night the cards are locked into a safe (BODY [14], lock Difficulty [7]), but the combination to the safe is easily found; it's on a slip of paper in the operator's desk: 12R, 27L, 45R, 10L. Anyone who can get at the cards can insert additional instructions on a Difficulty [6] Babbage Engine roll; if unsuccessful the new instructions seem to work until they are tested in the Kobold, whereupon its mind locks up and stops processing cards, and the whole machine comes to a halt.

  Pride of place in the project manager's office goes to the napkin on which the Kaiser originally sketched a Kobold, now framed and displayed below a portrait of the Kaiser himself. The sketch shows a machine much like the final prototypes, which explains some of the design problems; it would be more efficient with a more streamlined hull and multiple drill heads instead of a single massive drill. The main differences between this picture and the real machine are that the turret is shown extended, and that it is shown as having wheels rather than treads. From top to bottom the hand-written labels translate as: "Machine gun", "Cannon", "Automatic!", "War-machine", "Kobold!!", and "Rotary drill". The label below translates as "The Kaiser's original concept for the Kobold war-machine."

  By night, when the offices are closed, four Stahlwächter automata patrol the upper floor. These are a variant model with the machine gun replaced by an electric prod:
  EFFECT [7] damage A:F, B:KO, C:KO/K
  Marksman skill is replaced by Melee Weapon [4]. They will attack anyone who does not give the correct password, then drag them down to the guard room, which is manned at all times. Passwords are changed on a weekly basis. By day these automata are stored in the guard room, switched off. All of the guards know the passwords.

  If the adventurers can get at the plans and specifications they will probably want copies; stealing them is a little obvious. Photocopiers and other convenient machines don't exist yet, but they might be photographed. A large camera and twenty or thirty flash exposures will be needed for good results.

  Alternatively, the master plans are filed with copies drawn on translucent paper for use in making blueprints, a process invented in the 1840s. Blueprints are produced by hanging the original drawing in front of a sheet of sensitised paper and leaving an arc light in front of both for several minutes. Ultraviolet light from the arc light passes through the thin paper but is blocked by the black ink. A chemical called Prussian Blue forms where the sensitised paper has been exposed to ultraviolet, with the lines left white. A wash with slightly acidic water, followed by drying, completes the process. It's a slow messy process taking thirty minutes or more to copy a single plan, with drying time afterwards, but produces an excellent result.

  Getting into the offices and making blueprint copies of all the important plans would be an all-night job, difficult to do without arousing suspicion or attack by the automata. It may also be unnecessary. There are several copies of an order form for prints in the drawing offices, if one is left in the copy room "In" tray and seems to come from a legitimate source the copies will be made and dispatched to whoever has ordered them. The request would have to appear to come from someone fairly senior in the Krupp organisation or government, of course, and it would then be necessary to intercept the delivery.

  The adventurers might think of trying to steal a Kobold; this is a very silly idea. Transporting a Kobold by rail requires special routing to avoid low bridges and other obstructions, and trucks capable of moving something this heavy by road aren't available. The Kobolds won't be able to move under their own power until they are ready for testing; it takes many hours to charge the batteries, and they slowly lose their charge, so it won't be done until just before each test. Instructing a Kobold to steal itself - to burrow to a rendezvous where it can be loaded onto transport - might be a possibility, but won't be inconspicuous; Kobolds are routinely tracked by buried microphones and seismographs during tests, and the controllers will soon become aware if it goes off course.

  The mines to be carried by the Kobold have already been built and are kept in a munitions plant a mile or so from the rest of the complex. Security at this plant is extremely tight - it's a tempting target for sabotage by everyone from foreign spies to maniacs - and any attempt to get in should lead to disaster for the intruders. Several hundred tons of various explosives are kept in strong concrete bunkers, with draconian precautions taken to reduce static electricity and ensure that there are no sparks or flames. The guards carry swords and rifles with fixed bayonets; the rifles aren't initially loaded, but the guards carry ammunition and are authorised to use it if they can do so safely. The Kobold mines are kept in Bunker 7; there's nothing obvious to distinguish it from the other bunkers, containing torpedoes, artillery shells, small arms rounds, and other explosives, so if the adventurers don't know where to look they won't easily find the mines. The mines are transported to the factory just before each test, arriving about an hour before the Kobold is due to be moved out; it takes about fifteen minutes to load each of the smaller mines, about thirty to load the larger type.
  [If the deception plot is used, the mines will still be built; several will be needed for the faked trials, any left-overs can be emptied and the explosive used for other purposes.]

  If the adventurers have been assigned to sabotage the project, the most obvious way to do this is to set a mine to detonate on board or as soon as it is laid. Simply stranding a Kobold underground won't work; Krupp has plenty of workmen to dig it up and find out what went wrong.

• Testing, Testing...
  Sooner or later it's time for the first prototype to roll out for its initial test. The site used is owned by Krupp, a shell-pocked area of countryside several miles across dotted with fortified buildings in various styles. Most of them have been rebuilt several times. The map shows the test area, about ten miles east of the main factory complex. Everything shown is part of the area; even the village is just a target for weapons tests. The site facilities include a goods station with a crane large enough to handle a Kobold, a railway turntable designed for Krupp's largest guns, observation towers and bunkers, and everything else that might be needed to test the latest and most sophisticated military hardware.

  The tests are planned to begin and end near the rail head, with the Kobold loaded back onto its railway car and returned to the factory for any modifications that might be needed after each test. If it breaks down a recovery team consisting of twenty or so workmen with spades, a steam traction engine powerful enough to tow the Kobold, and (if necessary) a bomb disposal team will retrieve it.

  • Day 1: Surface and underground movement (soft soil), steering and navigation tests.
    The Kobold will manoeuvre on the surface then descend a prepared ramp to start tunnelling a metre or so below the surface through soft earth. If all goes well it will surface after one kilometre, then go underground again to test its steering by going around a "figure of 8" course.
  • Day 2: Underground movement (hard soil), steering and navigation tests.
    As Day 1 but in harder stony soil.
  • Day 3: Mine laying (one-ton mines).
    The Kobold will lay three mines in open areas, away from any building, then return to its launch point before they are detonated.
  • Day 4: Mine laying (three-ton mine).
    As day 3. but the Kobold lays a single three-ton mine.
  • Day 5: Surfacing and use of autoloading cannon.
    The Kobold travels a kilometre, surfaces enough to free its turret, fires at targets, then goes underground again for the return journey.
  • Day 6: Simulated attack using mines.
    The Kobold will lay mines as near as possible to both pill boxes and the bunker, without surfacing. The mines will detonate an hour after they are laid.
  • Day 7: Simulated attack using mines and cannon.
    The Kobold will lay mines at the fort and the southernmost pill box, carry out a cannon attack on the village (which will be "populated" with lifelike clockwork automata instructed to attempt to dodge its attacks), then lay a mine at the northern pill box before returning to the rail head.
  Once all of these tests have been completed the Kaiser will be invited to a full demonstration, essentially a repeat of day 7. All damaged buildings will be repaired prior to the demonstration.
  [If the project is a deception operation all of the tests will be faked to some extent - typically the Kobold will go underground and stop for a while then circle back to its launch point, while previously deployed explosive charges explode with remarkably accurate timing. For the gun test a small army of workmen and soldiers will deploy from a concealed underground bunker, dig up the village square to simulate the Kobold attack, spray the automata with large calibre machine gun bullets, then retreat to the bunker until several hours after the target village has been inspected by any interested parties.]

  Adventure Idea: Observer Effect This adventure is most usefully run if the adventurers are not already aware of the Kobold's nature; in fact it works best if they are innocents who simply stumble into the situation described, but can still work even if the adventurers are spies sneaking around the Krupp test site trying to get a glimpse of the new war machine, provided they don't know it is a subterrene:   While walking in the woods near Essen the adventurers discover a neat Prussian village - populated entirely by clockwork automata, about as convincing as the average shop window dummy, all fully wound and apparently instructed to avoid anyone who tries to touch them, dodge blows, etc. They are dumb but fast, but two or three people working together can corner one and look inside to determine their approximate specifications - they have six hour's endurance and have been running for no more than an hour or two. Looking around the adventurers should eventually notice that many of the buildings have been damaged by bullets (the holes have been filled with plaster) and that there are other signs that the village has repeatedly been shot up, shelled, etc.   If the adventurers know that they are near the Krupp factory they may guess that it is a test site; if not, they will be even more surprised when a Kobold surfaces with a grinding roar, extends its gun turret, and starts to shoot at anything that moves. Fortunately the automata have been set to move around a LOT under these circumstances, and if the adventurers keep still and low they are unlikely to be hurt by more than the odd splinter of brick and metal - anyone trying to attack the Kobold or out-run its automatic cannon is in a world of hurt, of course...   After a minute or so the turret retracts and the Kobold sets off again, rapidly going underground, filling the tunnel behind it with earth, stones - and an ominous-looking metal cylinder which is slowly ticking...   Assuming that the adventurers out-run the mine - it's on a 30-minute fuse so it isn't hard to get away - or somehow defuse it they have just seen Prussia's most secret weapon, and one that the Prussians are VERY keen to keep a secret. And they've been seen by the official observers, who are in a bunker a few hundred yards away, watching the test through periscopes with telescopic lenses and cameras. A huge manhunt will begin, continuing until they are caught or somehow get away. As they are pursued remember that in this world every aspect of life in Prussia and Germany is heavily beaureaucratic; they'll need valid papers with the correct perforations to buy train tickets, book hotel rooms, send telegrams, etc., and attract unwelcome attention if they can't produce them on demand.   If they are caught they will be quietly "vanished" to a maximum security prison until the Kobold secret has been revealed in war or by other spies. If they are spies they may also be shot, depending on whether or not Germany is at war with their nation. Innocent trespassers will be quietly deported, with compensation for their arrest on a moderately generous scale, once the secret comes out. This may lead to many other complications, of course; for example, the adventurers may have been declared dead while missing.   Useful sources include the novels The Riddle of the Sands (Erskine Childers), Rogue Male (Geoffrey Household, also filmed) and the film The Lady Vanishes. [If you are using the deception version of the Kobold, the adventurers see the workmen and soldiers described in the main text, but are in turn seen by them. The Prussians will want to stop them before they can reveal that the Kobold is an elaborate hoax.]

  Naturally nobody expects these tests to go perfectly, and a delay of a day or two for repairs and modifications, or to prepare new instructions, won't surprise anyone. Some possible problems:

  • Navigation error: The Kobold navigates by triangulating signals transmitted by buried sound generators; essentially these are pneumatic hammers which are set to "bang" simultaneously every thirty seconds. Their signals are combined with compass readings and "dead reckoning" from track movements to estimate the position of the machine. It's reasonably accurate at a range of a kilometre or so, less so as the distance to the transmitters increases. At short range the most likely cause of problems is a failure of one or both hammers, or of the electrical system that keeps them transmitting simultaneously. Both have the same effect; the Kobold will swing off course in the direction of whatever hammer is out of action or firing late. At longer ranges triangulation is less effective, and the compass and dead reckoning become more important. Any large iron object may affect the compass, especially if it is magnetised, and there are quite a few iron objects around, the remnants of vehicles and other equipment from earlier tests. Dead reckoning errors are most likely if the Kobold hits unexpectedly hard earth or rock and its treads lose their grip; distance is measured purely by the rotation of the track wheels, and the controlling engine has no way to know if their movement doesn't correspond to movement of the machine as a whole.
  • Communications loss: The Kobold carries several kilometres of thin telegraph wire, laid as it tunnels. If the reel jams the wire will quickly break. If rocks and other debris fall onto the wire it may break. If a mine is dropped on the wire with too much force it may break. It will definitely break when the first mine explodes. Since the Kobold largely controls itself this isn't serious, provided that everything is going well, but if it's combined with another problem there will be no way to correct it.
  • Hard rock: Mostly the terrain is soil, broken up and reasonably loose after thousands of explosions, but there are a few outcrops of rock. The Kobold is instructed to steer around them, but if it somehow hits an uncharted rock it will slow or stop, its drill scratching at the stone and trying to drill its way through it. Usually it will eventually be deflected to one side, chewing up the earth until it can move forward. Needless to say the impact of hitting the rock, combined with a period of immobility while the tracks are apparently driving it forward, will cause navigation errors.
  • Premature detonation: One of the charges explodes earlier than planned, possibly while the Kobold is still in the blast zone. Unless this is caused by sabotage it will be damaged rather than destroyed. This might also be lead to navigation problems.

• And the Verdict Is...
  By the time the Kaiser arrives, the Krupp organisation will know that the Kobold is a failure. It's slower than planned (it barely manages 5 MPH through soft soil under ideal conditions, the original specification was 10 KPH, about 6 MPH, through hard soil), navigates poorly, can easily be heard coming (even without instruments it's possible to hear the whine of its motors and feel the ground vibrate), can't run deep enough to avoid defences such as mines, and encounters problems under many of the circumstances found on a battlefield. There seems to be little prospect of improvement. Nevertheless the project engineers will put the best face on it that they can, and try to present it in the most favourable light, while subtly implying that the money might better be spent elsewhere; on more railway guns and automaton soldiers, for example. Bismark is more than willing to listen to such arguments, the Kaiser less so. If he sees even one successful test he will be adamant that the project must go ahead - but it must be publicised, so that the enemies of Germany will know of the fate that awaits their armies if they ever attempt to defy the Empire. At this point the main plot and the deception plan converge - Krupp will concentrate on building one Kobold, regardless of its performance, and try to give the impression that more are on the way. The press will be invited to witness the next test (which will be rigged as described above to give an impression of high speed and reliability). Any foreign spies that have been caught will be released on the Kaiser's orders; German-born spies will be held indefinitely.

  The reasons for this abrupt policy change will never be announced, of course, and it will generally be assumed to be a whim of the Kaiser. In fact it is a shrewd political move, and will succeed in worrying Prussia's enemies for a few months. Eventually, of course, there will be war between Germany and one of its neighbouring states. Any spies that have been identified will be arrested, if that was part of the original aim of the project, and a few foreign intelligence agencies will be less efficient for several months. Eventually the German public will expect to see the Kobolds go into action, since their taxes have paid for them, and the only working prototype (if there were more the others have long since been stripped for parts) will be loaded onto a train and sent to the front.

• The Test of War
  The final official stage of the Kobold story is its only use on the battlefield, in France or Italy or wherever else Prussia might be fighting on the European mainland. It can't be deployed until the Germans face a static defence in fairly even soft ground, which tends to limit its usefulness, but sooner or later they should wish to attack a defensive position in suitable terrain. This will not be a success; having had months to think about the Kobold, the enemy has buried hundreds of strong magnets around the defense, and the Kobold will swing hopelessly off course, depositing its mines harmlessly a couple of hundred yards from the target, then travel on, never to be seen again. The official story of the Kobold ends here.

  Adventure Idea: A Relict of Empire Long after the war one or more of the adventurers happens to be visiting the battlefield when a heavy thunderstorm begins. The only shelter is a derelict farmhouse; it was obviously abandoned early in the war and repeatedly shelled, but seems to have most of its roof left. As the adventurer(s) shelter there's an ominous creaking noise and someone falls through the floor, landing on a soft pile of earth in a forgotten cellar. Why is there a soft pile of earth there? Because the Kobold dug its way into the cellar before it ran out of power, and the earth fell out of the hole as it came in. By sheer luck the access hatches are in the cellar proper, not the tunnel, and with sufficient Babbage Engine skill and some means of recharging the Kobold's batteries (such as a car engine used as a generator for several hours) it ought to be possible to order it to surface a few hundred yards from the barn. What the adventurers do with the Kobold once it's on the surface is left open. Obvious answers include salvaging it legitimately, secretly transporting it to Prussia and turning it over to its owners for a suitable reward, auctioning it to the highest bidder, or using it as a vehicle for exploring caves or a series of daring bank robberies. Without mines and with a few modifications two or three passengers can fit inside, and either use the Babbage Engine to control it or rip it out and take the helm for themselves. It probably won't be much better at exploration or crime than it was at war, but discovering that is a problem for the new owners.

Typical NPCs
These characters are typical of those associated with the Kobold project, and should be used wherever seems appropriate. If you need more than one character of the same general type reuse them, but change the name and the description to suit the circumstances.

Otto Holtz (Engineer)
BODY [3], MIND [4], SOUL [3], Artist (draftsman) [5], Babbage Engine [6], Brawling [4], Business [5], Driving [5], Linguist (English, French) [3], Marksman [5], Mechanic [7], Military Arms [6], Scientist (engineering) [8]
Equipment: Engineering plans, circular slide rule, pens, table of constants, micrometer, gold pocket watch, identity card and papers.
Quote: (in German) "And so, if we run all batteries in parallel, we will achieve drill speeds in excess of five revolutions per minute."
Notes: Holtz is a nattily-dressed man who generally wears a smart business suit, adding overalls if he is working on the shop floor. He is usually accompanied by at least two assistants. He regards the Kobold as an interesting technical project, and has never really thought about its end use, or that of the other weapons systems he has worked on for Krupp. In his spare time he breeds ornamental carp.

Manfred Zeigler (Craftsman)
BODY [4], MIND [3], SOUL [3], Ahlete (skating) [5], Brawling [7], First Aid [4], Mechanic [6], Military Arms [5], Stealth [4], Thief [4]
Equipment: Access to workshop, tools, etc., identity card and papers.
Quote: (in German) "Do you want it done fast, or do you want it done right?"
Notes: Zeigler is a fat grumpy workman who happens to be a particularly skilled craftsman. His area of expertise should be selected to suit the circumstances, e.g. lathe operator, welder, electrician. He isn't fast but he's a perfectionist who usually gets the job done right. He's also a petty thief and has been stealing money and other small valuables from his workmates. He is open to bribery - for example, if he is based at Kiel he will have taken the first photograph of the Kobold and sold it for a thousand marks (about fifty pounds) to a freelance agent who eventually sold it on for five thousand marks. His superiors have begun to suspect that he is a thief, and he is intermittently watched while he is at work, but they have no idea of any other activities. In his spare time he drinks, gambles badly, and beats his wife.

Adolf Kempler (Draftsman)
BODY [2], MIND [3], SOUL [4], Actor [5], Artist (technical drawing, painting) [7], Mechanic (theoretical only) [5]
Equipment: Access to drawing board, plans, etc., identity card and papers.
Quote: (in German) "Rembrandt, now there was a painter... let's see now, 4.75mm cable trunking goes here..."
Notes: Kempler is an efficient draftsman who would prefer to be an artist. Unfortunately the modern efficient Germany prefers photography, and although he has sold a few water-colours and oils there isn't enough money in it to take up a full-time career as an artist. Kempler has an excellent memory for faces, and will be able to sketch anyone he meets long after the encounter, if he is reminded of the circumstances. Despite his unhappiness with his career he's loyal to his employers, and will report any attempts to recruit him as a spy.

Major Paul Schmidt (Secret Policeman)
BODY [4], MIND [3], SOUL [2], Actor [4], Athlete (run) [6], Babbage Engine [5], Brawling [6], Detective [5], Driving [4], Linguist (English, Russian, French, Italian) [6], Marksman [5], Melee Weapon [5], Morse Code [4], Psychology [5], Riding [4], Stealth [4], Thief [4]
Equipment: Handcuffs, whistle, notebook, etc. Mercedes with automaton chauffeur. Two assistants (generic thugs). Access to Prussian record system, state cryptoanalysis department, etc. Phonograph and large selection of classical music on cylinder. Identity card and papers.
Quote: (in accented English) "Not so fast, Professor. There are still many questions to be answered."
Notes: Schmidt has overall charge of counter-espionage related to the Kobold project in his district (Kiel, the secure depot in Berlin, or Essen). He is a cynical experienced hard-bitten career detective, deeply contemptuous of spies (regardless of their nationality, rank, etc.), and overdue for promotion; catching a few more spies, or at least identifying them, would be a useful addition to his record in the next performance review. Any spies he captures will be kept awake by a constant barrage of classical German music until they confess.
[If the deception plan is in effect Schmidt will seem to be less efficient than he is, making subtle mistakes (such as posting a rigid predictable schedule of guard patrols or withdrawing a few officers to handle some other operation). Naturally a second layer of guards will be deployed, ready to spot spies and identify them and their contacts as described above.]

Interrogation: If possible interrogations should be role played, not resolved by rolling dice. If dice rolls are necessary the interrogator's MIND or Psychology skill must repeatedly overcome that of the victim, whichever is higher. Modifiers to this roll might include the victim's innocence, a long interrogation, a long period without sleep, injury, etc. Anyone seeking more detailed rules or information on this topic should look elsewhere, since the author has no intention of providing either.

Klaus Boltzmann (Security Guard)
BODY [4], MIND [2], SOUL [3], Brawling [8], Marksman [5], Melee Weapon [7], Military Arms [4]
Equipment: Rifle, electric torch, uniform, greatcoat, identity badge, identity card and papers.
Quote: (in German) "Halt! Who goes there?"
Notes: Boltzman is an ex-soldier who lost an eye and was invalided out of the army. He is still an excellent shot and efficient brawler, though his missing eye means that he is at -2 to fight foes to his left. He is a patriot and won't be bribed to betray his country, but a clever spy might be able to get past him with a suitable story or forged papers.

Kurt Reinhardt (Soldier / Sailor)
BODY [4], MIND [3], SOUL [3], Actor (singing) [4], Athlete (running) [5], Brawling [6], First Aid [4], Marksman [5], Melee Weapon (sabre, bayonet) [6], Military Arms [5], Riding [5]
Equipment: Rifle, bayonet, uniform, greatcoat, identity card and papers. May be equipped with a horse if riding a patrol around one of the locations described above.
Quote: (in German) "Halt or I fire!"
Notes: An ambitious young soldier, a little too eager to check identity cards and generally make a nuisance of himself. He can't be bribed, but he's easy prey for other forms of persuasion such as seduction.

Seduction: If possible seduction should be role played, not resolved by rolling dice. If dice rolls are necessary the seducer's MIND, SOUL or Psychology skill must repeatedly overcome the MIND or SOUL of the victim, whichever is higher. Modifiers to this roll might include the victim's innocence or experience, physical attractivemess, a long period without sleep, a headache, etc. Anyone seeking more detailed rules or information on this topic should look elsewhere, since the author has no intention of providing either.

Results and Rewards
Unless the adventurers have sabotaged the project it ends as described above; the Kobold is used once in earnest, fails, then the idea is quietly abandoned. There is no real way to make the project succeed; it just isn't practical. The best the Prussians can hope for is a temporary propaganda victory, the unmasking of a few spies, and enemies tricked into squandering their resources on defence against an impractical weapon. The best that agents working against the Prussians can hope for is early discovery of the inherent uselessness of the Kobold as a weapon.

Experience points should be appropriate for the risks taken, the information gained, and the fun the players give the referee. For example, if the adventurers conduct daring commando style raids to find out more about the project they should earn a few points. If they persuade a beautiful young lady to seduce one of the guards to let them in, or get the guards so drunk that they don't notice an intrusion, that should also be worth a few points. While neither is quite as dangerous, it's a lot more ingenious.

Further Adventures

• Given the circumstances it's possible that the adventurers will end up with a reputation as spies, whether or not they are any good at it. This could lead to some interesting complications as other governments might wish to make use of their talents or take pre-emptive action to stop the adventurers working against them.
• In itself the Kobold project is a dead end; it will be quietly shut down as the first machine is used in battle, and the personnel and resources transferred to other work. The unwanted parts of the unfinished prototypes (such as the outer hulls and drills) will be sold for scrap, and it is possible that they might fall into the hands of someone capable of turning an impractical dream into a working machine; see A Relict of Empire above, but a lot more work will be needed. However, it might be possible to correct the mistakes of the original design and build a workable machine, possibly capable of reaching greater depths and even tunnelling towards the earth's core... This could be a good route into a Hollow Earth or Lost Race campaign (see FF III and FF VII).
• One possible outcome is the arrest and imprisonment of some or all of the adventurers. This could lead to a daring escape, but the Prussians are very good at stopping that sort of thing. A better option might be a rescue mission, using a second team of adventurers to rescue the first, either a covert operation using a few trained agents or a carefully planned military operation. In the latter case a crossover with The Queens Own Aerial Hussars might work well, giving characters the opportunity to rappel down onto the prison roof, blow things up to create a diversion, etc. Of course this might just be considered to be an act of war, so the Aerial Hussars will have to pretend to be natives of whatever nation the Prussians are currently fighting, giving players an opportunity to demonstrate their outrageous foreign accents...
• Years afterwards the adventurers are asked to contribute to the official Prussian history of the project. Needless to say this is intended to be a whitewash of the Kaiser, Bismark, and Krupp, attributing all of the problems to foreign sabotage...

This is a military adventure that works particularly well as a crossover with The Queens Own Aerial Hussars. If you don't want real supernatural phenomena to exist the Hussars are a rapid deployment force similar to air cavalry, without any vampire-fighting weapons. The remainder of the adventure assumes that they are as described in their worldbook.

King Michael of Ruritania, a small nation bordering the Transylvanian provinces of Hungary, Bessarabia, and Bulgaria requests the help of British military advisors, and has specifically asked that they should be Aerial Hussars. It seems likely that Ruritania has supernatural problems, but they are curiously evasive about the details. The approach was made at the highest level, and it will be difficult to refuse without offending a friendly state. Whitehall has decided that the best response will be to send AAS Balaclava and its crew, with soldiers and some civilian specialists. They are to evaluate the situation, help the Ruritanians to get up to speed if it's a problem they can handle themselves, otherwise either deal with it by themselves or get the Ruritanian government to request whatever support they feel is needed. Needless to say they are given some background material on Ruritania (see The Prisoner of Zenda and sequels) and a few maps:

Diplomatic support is available in Ruritania, but additional air-ships or troops cannot be supplied unless the Ruritanians request them. Given the length of the supply line any help that's requested will take at least two to three days to arrive.

The British Embassy in Ruritania reports that Britain isn't the only nation that has been asked to supply help; there is also a Prussian military delegation in the capital, about a twenty officers and men, but they seem to be more interested in Ruritania's defences than in helping with the current problem. They don't have a proper Aæronef-style flying machine but their equipment does include an armoured car (Speed 30 MPH, BODY [12], armour -4 Effect all attacks, Gatling gun) and a small lighter-than-air airship:

Daimler Luftwagen (1894) BODY [12] (truck), BODY [5] (gas bag) Speed 50 MPH flying, 25 MPH on land with the gas-bag deflated. Capacity 4 passengers plus 0.5 tons cargo. The Luftwagen, or Air Wagon, is a small airship consisting of a lightweight truck equipped with a gas bag, aero-engine, and cylinders of liquefied hydrogen; it takes twenty minutes to inflate the bag, after that the entire truck can take to the air. After landing the gas can be pumped back into a storage tank but there are inevitable losses; in all there is enough gas aboard to inflate and deflate the bag about three times. Deflation takes about an hour. Any time any source of sparks or flame (such as a gun) is used aboard the air ship roll 2D6; on a 12 the gas ignites, and flames spread up to the gas bag. This requires an immediate Pilot roll, Difficulty [5], repeat with Difficulty rising +1 per minute until a landing is made or the fire is somehow put out. On a failed roll the airship crashes and the impact attacks the crew: Airship crash, "Skill" [6], Effect [8], Damage A:F, B:I, C:C/K

As an optional complication, if you have previously used any of the adventurers in an adventure related to the Kobold Project above, the Prussians are aware of it and plan to kidnap those involved and return them for trial.

If the Prussians aren't helping to solve the problem, are they part of it? Several other suspicious foreigners are around including some French ornithologists, a group of Swiss meteorologists, a visiting Transylvanian count, etc.

When the adventurers reach Ruritania they will be given the facts: over the last few weeks eight bodies have been found in various locations around the capital (Streslau) and surrounding towns. Most recently two bodies have been found in the forests of the Grünewald district, about midway between Streslau and Hentzau. All of the victims were influential members of the community, lawyers and politicians, military leaders and teachers, but there is no obvious link between them, apart from the manner of their deaths. It's obvious that they are all victims of the same killer, since in every case the top of the skull has been caved in and there is extensive damage to the brain. Naturally, given their proximity to Transylvania, there are rumours of demons, vampires, and other supernatural attackers.

In fact the Swiss "meteorologists" are responsible. They are highly trained operatives of Flez Biomechanische Technik AG with a cover as Swiss sportsmen, working to gain control of the economy of Ruritania. These agents should be designed as experienced characters based on 25 points, with equipment including Automaton Whistles, guns, etc. They include several former soldiers, a surgeon, and a Mesmerist. They have rented Castle Zenda (its former owners were stripped of their power in the last reforms of the Ruritanian government and are now exiled in Vienna) and are using it as their base, with an operating theatre in one of the turrets. Their "cover" is construction of a weather station in another turret. The weather station is apparently genuine, part of a long-term project to improve weather forecasting which is

Ruritania has several worked-out silver mines which still contain rare earths used in Flez's reanimation technology; these mines are also of interest to the Prussians, who need the same rare earths as catalysts for their chemical industry. The Swiss agents, all implanted with Brain Enhancers, have been instructed to capture suitably influential Ruritanians, fit them with Enhancers, indoctrinate them with a desire to become an economic ally of Switzerland, then Mesmerize them to forget their captivity and indoctrination. The corpses are the failures, their skulls smashed to disguise the trephanation used to implant the Enhancer. For each body there have been several successes. In every case the victim vanishes for a couple of days, and comes back claiming to have been ill; Flez's strange chemicals make the incisions heal in a matter of hours, so that there is no evidence of the implant short of surgery or an X-ray. There are no X-ray facilities in Ruritania. Once back at work the victim starts to lobby for the Swiss; for example, a school-teacher might lecture her students on the natural superiority of the Swiss economic system, a politician might call for closer trade links with Switzerland, etc.

The kidnappers initially travelled all over Ruritania to find victims, but as time passed and nobody seemed to pay any special attention to them they have begun to strike closer to home. In the Grünewald district several local villagers are under their control including the local mayor, the pretty young schoolteacher, and the priest. The bodies belong to one of the aldermen and a minor member of the nobility, whose operations were botched. Another body will be dumped soon after the adventurers arrive in the area; Herr Sigismund, owner of the local mill. This gives the adventurers an opportunity to establish the pattern of kidnapping, since there will still be some evidence of the abduction at his home. At least one more body should be found before the Swiss fall under suspicion; this is partly because the Prussians will make a nuisance of themselves one way or another, and partly because King Rupert and his court will keep demanding progress reports and interfering in other ways, such as sending Ruritanian troops to help the British; they're sincerely trying to be helpful but won't speak English (or any other languages the adventurers understand) and are convinced that a vampire is responsible... There's also a visiting (and entirely blameless) Transylvanian count around to be the fall guy for that idea, who might need to be rescued from a lynch mob. In one play-test the Swiss arranged another diversion by sabotaging the German airship, leading to a daring mid-air rescue mission from the blazing German craft.

If the Swiss are unmasked they will try to to capture the Hussars and implant them, picking the least intelligent Hussars as the most likely candidates for conversion. "I am Baldrick of Ingstoldt. Surrender your bank-books now, and prepare to be assimilated..." Any Swiss captured will refuse to talk and will somehow activate the self-destruct devices in their Enhancers, killing themselves instantly.

This adventure should end with the adventurers aware that something nasty is brewing in Switzerland, but unaware of Flez's involvement (the Enhancers aren't marked with a manufacturer's trademark, of course) or the full scope of the plan. Once Flez is aware that his agents have been caught he will have all links to the operation severed, wait a few months, then try to buy the mines through one of his subsidiary companies. This may give the adventurers or their associates reason to suspect his company, but naturally there will be no proof.

• Frankenstein by Mary Shelley is useful background material, and the source for some of the heavily modified quotes above.
• Mechanical Marvels of the Nineteenth Century has some excellent material on some other Victorian versions of automata, including some that may not be entirely genuine.
• Phil Masters raised the question of automaton visual processes in GURPS Steampunk, probably the definitive game supplement for this genre, coming up with several more or less unsatisfactory answers; I've had to work very hard to find a solution that wasn't included. As may be obvious, I've mostly failed to address the myriad problems of automaton intelligence and consciousness. But so does everyone else that writes in this field...
• Andreas "Ozzy" Beck, Wolfgang Baur, sirernest, katemonkey, cdybedahl and other livejournal users gave great help with German translations and advice, graphics suggestions, etc. in this and other sections.
• The Prisoner of Zenda and Rupert of Hentzau by Anthony Hope are a useful source on the country and its people. The novel Royal Flash by George MacDonald Fraser, also filmed, is set in a Ruritania-like kingdom, as is part of the film The Great Race. Both are entertaining alternatives to Hope. Simon Hawke's SF novel The Zenda Vendetta draws on Hope for its background.
• Joan C. Biella allowed me to use her maps of Ruritania, originally used to illustrate a hypothetical example in an article on library cataloguing: Authority Work In Ruritania. This article does not currently appear to be be accessible on-line. Ms Biella invented the Grünewald district for the purposes of her article and I've used it here, also with permission. The map of Castle Zenda is from The Prisoner of Zenda