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"They create machines and constructions both useful and bizarre, and often downright deadly."

—Description of engineers in Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4th Edition.[4a]
EngineerProfile4th

An Imperial Dwarf engineer

An engineer is a mechanically gifted individual who designs, builds and invents the many mechanical devices or structures such as bridges, canals, or fortifications which dot many of the Old World's more modern cities. It was the Dwarfs who first introduced the science of engineering to the Old World. Among their kingdoms of the Karaz Ankor, the Engineers Guild is deeply respected and its works are held in high esteem, so long as it upholds traditional Dwarf methods and values.[1a]

Mankind took what the Dwarfs had to offer and ran with it, especially in regards to blackpowder and other devices suitable for use as weapons. The Imperial Engineers School in Altdorf is famed for its bizarre inventions, which can be most useful if they manage to function correctly. Outside the Empire, Tileans have a reputation for being progressive free-thinkers, a dangerous trait in the minds of most Imperial folk. The school also welcomes Dwarf engineers shunned by their own kind for meddling with or innovating upon traditional Dwarf workmanship and methods.[1a]

Role[]

"Now, if I simply adjust the targeting ratchet by one degree...oops! Thank Sigmar they were only mercenaries!"

—Anonymous engineer[2a]
EngineerProfile

An engineer often makes use of the weapons they design and create for themselves.

Most engineers of the Old World are highly educated, with Dwarfs learning the profession from the hide-bound Dwarf Engineers Guild, and Men at forward-thinking establishments such as the Imperial Engineers School at Altdorf, though self-taught prodigies are not unknown. Human engineers value innovation and discovery, whereas Dwarfs favour traditional, tried-and-tested designs passed down for generations.[4a]

Mining company engineers are well-paid; less so the State Army engineers who maintain the Imperial war machines and act as sappers and bridge-builders. Master engineers often find themselves leading teams on ambitious construction projects. Chartered engineers are the most trusted in the Empire, called upon to design, test, and build such prestigious Imperial commissions as the complex Steam Wheel Locks, which have revolutionised the speed of travel in the canals of the Vorbergland.[4a]

Some engineers are drawn to investigate ancient Dwarf holds, most now abandoned, for entombed within are the secrets of the master builders of old. Those who dare their depths may find millennia-old marvels, many of which are repurposed by Goblins and Skaven for their own nefarious purposes. Equally enticing are the stone sky bridges soaring above the holds, some stretching for many miles, true wonders of bygone engineering that once connected thriving Dwarf settlements, forts, and farmlands of the Karaz Ankor.[4a]

Engineer's Workshop[]

"Master engineers are eccentrics, their workshops home to crazy inventions and devastating weapons."

—Description of an engineer's workshop[11a]
Tilean scientists engineering the Riccardo Barolo, a new prototype of Steam Tank

Tilean engineers working on the Ricardo Barolo, a new prototype of Steam Tank, in their workshop.

Human engineers toil sleeplessly in their workshops to develop deadlier weapons, or to improve existing ones. An engineer's workshop is a treasure trove of failed experiments and bizarre inventions. The vast majority of these are liable to cause more harm than good on the battlefield. Occasionally, though, a master engineer will develop something that can even rival the artifice of the Dwarfs.[2a][11a]

Leonardo da Miragliano's Steam Tank is one such example, clanking iron behemoths which spit cannonballs and crush the emperor's enemies beneath their wheels -- the greatest puzzle for an engineer. The secret of their manufacture died with their creator and of his original twelve tanks, only eight remain for use by the Imperial military.[2a][11a]

Such disorganisation as is found in their workshops is endemic among engineers. Suspicious of plagiarism, they scribble notes in indecipherable code. Blueprints are often lost in the explosions that frequently gut their workshops, or are discarded when a new idea obsesses them. The pursuit to rediscover lost inventions can be as much of a drive as the creation of new ones.[2a]

Wall Wardens[]

Wall Warden

A Wall Warden

"Finished? I’ll have you defending this bit of wall when the Beastmen come... There are a few things you want to check again, are there? Well, well."

—Anonymous Wall Warden[2b]

Wall Wardens are the peasant-born craftsmen who care for and design the fortifications of Bretonnian nobles, the massive castles that protect their power. They are also responsible for the construction and care of Bretonnian siege engines. Most nobles know nothing about building or engineering and thus need to place a great deal of trust in their Wall Wardens. As a result, a peasant is only given such a post after proving themselves.[2b]

As Wall Wardens often have both the ear and the trust of their lords, such a post is usually a stepping stone to a more important position in the lord's administration. On the other hand, Wall Wardens are sometimes approached by outside forces to report on the state of their lord's defences. The loyal ones naturally refuse.[2b]

Wall Wardens normally have effective command of the fortifications when a castle comes under siege. The troops guarding the wall understand the wardens know what they are doing, and often distrust the lord's judgement. Of course, the lord is never allowed to realise that his orders are being ignored, and in the chaos of battle this is easier done than one might think.[2b]

Warlock Engineers[]

"Skryre's most powerful engineers meld sorcery and science until the two are indivisible. These individuals are called Warlock Engineers, and they are more akin to walking arsenals than to Skaven. Warp energy crackles from the blades that emerge from the flesh of their arms, and their rat-like bodies are covered in all manner of bizarre artifice. Tubes and wires pulse and buzz with unholy life as they connect the Engineer to his harness and its fantastic apparatus. Fearful and horrible, indeed, is Skryre’s technology, if it allows such an unholy alliance of flesh and machine."

—Steffan Paulus Adelhof, scholar of Wolfenburg.[3a]
PaintingWarlockEngineer

A Skaven Warlock Engineer of Clan Skryre

With their goggles, harnesses that seemingly beep, whir, and click of their own accord, and the warp-blades that protrude from the flesh of their arms, the Skaven Warlock Engineers of Clan Skryre are an intimidating sight. Individually, they are capable of decimating entire enemy columns with a few short bursts of highly-focused warp energy. So long as their technological components function normally, they bring terror and death to any battle or skirmish in which they participate.[3a]

Warlock Engineers are the pinnacle of Skaven technomancy. They combine well-known weapons, such as warp-blades, with heavy armour and experimental devices. Each ratman engineer equips his own harness with the devices that he prefers. These machines do not always function flawlessly, however, and many Warlock Engineers have met their doom as the result of an exploding warp power accumulator.[3a]

Notable Engineers[]

  • Clempo Buttleburr – Clempo was once a Halfling engineer's assistant with a penchant to see the world beyond the Moot. He saw far more than he ever counted on. The terrors of war and the hordes of the north unhinged Clempo's mind. After seeing one too many creatures of Chaos set to flame, he came to understand that all foul things had to be burned away, as that was the only true way to cleanse them. He also lost the ability to distinguish fair from foul. Clempo has an intimate understanding of fire, and a number of his naphtha concoctions are particularly volatile.[9a]
  • Murtok Fabor – Famed throughout the Old World, the exquisite works of the master artificer Murtok Fabor are much sought after. His clockwork contraptions, mechanical eggs, and lifelike automatons have delighted children and adults the length and breadth of the Old World. The secrets of their construction have baffled the most gifted members of Altdorf's Imperial Engineers School as to their workings, some even going as far as to say that such things are impossible without the use of magic, which no self-respecting engineer would ever countenance.[8a]
  • Hargin, Son of Thorgrim – Hargin, son of Thorgrim of Clan Baldursson started life as a miner in his clan's lead mines near the Manling town of Übersreik. Seeing his natural intelligence and talent, the clan apprenticed him to the Dwarf Engineers Guild, where he learned more of underground construction and advanced weaponry. After many years working the mines and fighting the things that only live underground, he was elected by his fellow masters as Guild Master of the Guild of Miners and Engineers of the southern Grey Mountains, a position of great respect and responsibility.[10a]
  • Leonardo da Miragliano - Considered one of the most ingenious minds of Mankind, the Tilean genius Leonardo was credited for the creation of many wondrous inventions, his most famous being the Steam Tank, produced in the Empire for the Prince of Altdorf, Stephan Franz.[1]
  • Josef Bazalgette – Although an ingenious engineer of the Empire, Bazalgette is perhaps best known for designing the sewer system in Kislev City, an innovation which has all but eliminated cholera from that city. Finding his plans for similar sewers in Altdorf quashed by the Imperial Engineers School, he later turned his attentions to the art of siege warfare.[6b]
  • Randolf VogtElector Countess Emmanuelle von Liebwitz's Marshall Lord Randolf spearheaded the development of the Magnus, a new cannon, one with a longer range and greater potential for destruction than any previous Imperial cannon before it. Turning to private funding, he coaxed more and more karls from Nuln's aristocracy and even from other provinces. And work did continue, but the countess, always capricious, tired of Randolf's lack of progress and so she replaced him with an ambitious sycophant who had an eye on titles and land grants, and who appealed to her sense of the aesthetic.[7a]
  • Rastus Mickelbach – In his youth, Professor Rastus Mickelbach won esteem for inventions such as Mickelbach's Marvellous Flesh Masticator, and the Ludicrously Lethal Lacerating Liquidator. In later life, Mickelbach has devoted himself to the classroom. His lectures at the Imperial Engineers School in Altdorf attract packed audiences. However, many of his peers believe he is approaching his dotage on account of his recent views.[2a]

Sources[]

  • 1: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay: Core Rulebook (2nd Edition)
    • 1a: pg. 67
  • 2: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay: Career Compendium (2nd Edition)
    • 2a: pg. 66
    • 2b: pg. 221
  • 3: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay: Children of the Horned Rat (2nd Edition)
    • 3a: pg. 72
  • 4: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay: Core Rulebook (4th Edition)
    • 4a: pg. 54
  • 5: Warhammer Armies: The Empire (8th Edition)
    • 5a: pg. 31
  • 6: White Dwarf #296
    • 6a: pg. 53
    • 6b: pg. 54
  • 7: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay: Forges of Nuln (2nd Edition)
    • 7a: pg. 30–31
  • 8: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay: Realm of the Ice Queen (2nd Edition)
    • 8a: pg. 86
  • 9: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay: Realms of Sorcery (2nd Edition)
    • 9a: pg. 243
  • 10: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay: Sigmar's Heirs (2nd Edition)
  • 11: Total War: Warhammer (PC Game)
    • 11a: Empire Faction Buildings
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