"Is there anything which embodies the might of the Empire of man more than the cannonry it can bring to bear? What other nation of the world has mastered such dread science? What other race can deploy the lines of death-dealing iron as we can? With every passing year, our metallurgists discover more, and our alchemists distil purer and more potent strains of the blackpowder. Though the lost souls of Chaos may sweep down from the Northern Wastes, and the savage greenskins assail us from their foul holes in the mountains, we have nothing to fear as long as we remain true to the sacred lore of the machine. In it lies our salvation, our redemption, and our one true hope."
- —Address given by Solomon Grusswalder, Master of the College of Engineers, Nuln[8a]
Banner of the Engineer's School.
The Imperial Engineers School of Altdorf, also known as the Imperial School of Engineers, is the most prestigious organisation of engineers and master engineers in the Empire. Founded by the Tilean genius Leonardo da Miragliano, it is responsible for many of the Empire's technological innovations over the past few centuries.[1a][3a]
Over it's long history, the school has been rebuilt on no less than a dozen separate occasions, following misguided experiments and catastrophic malfunctions.[4b]
The Imperial School of Engineers is careful to position itself as a secular institution, with a moderate Sigmarite bias (such attitudes being deemed as fit and proper for any major institution in Altdorf). But as a divinity with a particular association with the science of war, Myrmidia has many admirers within the school. Soldiers of the rank and file may well deem Myrmidia an officer’s deity, but she has some of her most fervent admirers within the ranks of the engineers.[10a]
The Imperial Engineers’ Guild is among the wealthiest institutions in the Empire, providing gunpowder and firearms to every province in the land, as well as exporting cannons and handguns to places as far removed as Praag in Kislev and Remas in Tilea.[11a]
History[]
"What are the origins of the Engineers? None know for sure. It is true that the great Leonardo came from Tilea, as have many of the finest minds in our field. There are numerous others who could lay reasonable claim to founding the new science. But my judgement is that all of these are wide of the mark. There is little under the sun that men have truly created. We have learned our arts of magic from the elves. We have learned our ways of battle from our ancient enemies, the greenskins and the beastmen. If you ask me where the roots of our engineering lie, you must look under the mountains themselves. For the fathers of our art, there can be little doubt, are the dwarfs."
- —Some Principles of Battlefield Gunnery, as Observed by a Practitioner, Ludwig von Meinkopt[8b]
The Imperial Engineers School was founded more than five hundred years ago in 2012 IC by the Tilean genius Leonardo da Miragliano, with the name of Stephan Franz School,[9a] thanks to the funding from the Prince of Altdorf. Those were difficult times riven with discord and war, notably due to the Vampire Count Vlad von Carstein. Leonardo founded the school so that his legacy might live on in the heart of the Empire.[1a][3a][6a]
The Empire as a nation had effectively ceased to exist in that period, with several of the crown princes of the various provinces declaring themselves Emperor, though none had the strength of arms to claim the position outright. With the Vampire Wars raging, Leonardo da Miragliano was employed by the Reikland Prince Stephan Franz of Altdorf to found an Engineering School to bolster his attempts to gain the Imperial Throne and stave off the legions of Undead that plagued his lands. Leonardo presided over-this establishment and created many new war machines while he was there, most notable of all being the dreaded imperial steam tank, twelve of these armoured behemoths were created, though only eight now survive, mantained and developed by the engineers still.[9a]
This institution attracted many young, forward thinking individuals eager to develop new and exciting technologies. Over the years, the Engineer School grew larger, even attracting renegade Dwarf engineers cast out of their halls for dangerous ideas; such as trying to "improve" on tried and tested Dwarf tecnology. Leonardo eventually vanished without trace and there are many fantasticai tales surrounding his disappearance, including that a a rival of the Prince of Altdorf had him murdered, that he had departed on one of his insane undersea/havier than air machines, or even that he had blown himself up in an ill-advided attempt to perfect the infamous Herstel-Wenckler Pigeon Bomb and mistakenly used a homing pigeon.[9a]
Whatever happened to Leonardo, his sketchbooks were lost with him and have become much sought after. Many of the deviced sketched in them cannot yet be made with the technology available in the Old World, but even so, such plans change hands for vast amounts of gold and are eagerly sought by the Merchant Princes of Tilea.[9a]
Recognition Under Magnus the Pious[]
Until the time of Magnus the Pious, the Engineers School remained under the patronage of the Reikland Princes of Altdorf, working to devise even more ingenious machines of war. When the forces of the Dark Gods surged south from the Northern Wastes in 2302, the lands of the Empire were in danger of being completely destroyed until Magnus the Pious was able to unite the leaders of the disperate provinces under his banner to march north to meet the hordes of Chaos on the field of battle. The prince of Altdorf answered the call and many of the most lethal contraptions of the Engineering School went north with Magnus's army. The armies of Chaos were defeated outside the walls of Kislev and, with Magnus's subsequent crowning as Emperor, a dark time in the Empire's history was ended and the nation united under a single leader.[9a]
At this time, the capital of the Empire was in Nuln and along with the founding of the Colleges of Magic, Magnus recognised the value of the Altdorf facility. Granted the title of Imperial College of Engineers (or more fully the Imperial College of Engineers and Stephan Franz School of Mechanical Expertises), the school became an officially recognised Imperial establishment. In addition, the large number of foundries that the Reikland Princes had constructed in Nuln became the Imperial Gunnery School. While the Gunnery School was built to refine existing technology and is more of a gigantic industrial complex than a research establishment (better and bigger cannons, more efficient black powder etc), the College of Engineers is a place of invention.[9a]
Modern Days[]
While the College's reputation grows ever more eccentric and fearsome, it continues to develop new, and even more dangerous devices though whether any will ever be as lethal as Leonardo's Steam Tanks remains to be seen. However, what is certain is that the manic geniuses will keep at it until they either succeed or blow themselves up trying.[9a]
Nowadays, the prlncipal work of the College of Engineers is coming up with new ideas to combat threats to the Empire; anti-flyer weapons, tunnelling machines, ice rays, alchemical bombs and other weird devices. Unlike the Colleges of Magic, which are each a separate institution, the College of Engineers mixes alchemists, medics, biologist, astronomers (as opposed to Celestial College astrologers) and all sorts of odier deranged geniuses in a single place. It is a sprawling complex of firing ranges, bunkers for testing explosives, well-equipped laboratories and large open areas where failed experiments have levelled the surrounding buildings. Indeed a great many of the buildings around the structure are new and the Fire Watch of Altdorf maintain a constant vigil over the Engineers for fear they may burn the entire city to the ground. The College is staffed by worried looking porters, harried and sootstained runners, and is a thriving hub of intellectual badinages, with engineers moving from mad project to mad project as their whim and finances takes them. Though some misguided engineers have tried to blend the power of magic and science together, engineers are first and foremost scientists; and the light of reason and method not superstition illuminates their genius! The College of Engineers uses enlightened technology alone, hence the difference between an Alchemist engineer and a Gold College Wizard (in fact, there is a degree of antipathy towards magic and other superstitious nonsense, and enmity between the two institutions).[9a]
Engineers[]
- “‘Master Engineer Volker von Meinkopt found inspiration watching students reloading at the Imperial Gunnery School. He had a revelation: more barrels = more shots = more lethality. He soon produced the first repeating handgun, ‘Von Meinkopt’s Whirling Cavalcade of Death’, and pistol, ‘Von Meinkopt’s Micro-mainspring of Multitudinous Precipitation of Pernicious Lead’. Not content to rest on those laurels, he then created the enormous nine-barrelled cannon, the Helblaster Volley Gun, which is utterly lethal to enemies and, all too often, its crew.”
- —‘Great Engineers of the Empire’, Lady Theodora Holzenauer, Engineer and Journalist.[7a]
A member of the Imperial Engineers School.
The Imperial Engineers School attracts a flock of inventors and enthusiasts, but only the most talented and motivated are accepted.[6a] Usually, only Imperial citizens are admitted. However, in recognition of the school's founder, Leonardo da Miragliano, it also accepts many Tileans into its halls. In fact, this is one of the few Imperial institution welcoming to Tileans, who are often perceived as dangerous freethinkers.[6a] The school also welcomes Dwarf Engineers shunned by their own kind for meddling with traditional Dwarf workmanship, renegades from the dwarf Engineers Guild.[2a][6a]
The Engineers of the school spend much of their time in their disorganised workshops, trying to develop new contraptions or improve existing ones.[6a] Though much of an Engineer's time is spent tinkering with half-finished inventions of whimsy, each recognises that the ultimate purpose of their labours is coming up with new ideas to combat the multifarious threats to the Empire. They are eccentric individuals, muttering incomprehensible gobbledegook and bustling from one machine to another to improve its performance. While they are not soldiers, Engineers are often found on the battlefield, taking advantage of the fighting to field-test their latest inventions or snipe at the enemy with a variety of powerful experimental handguns.[1b][3a] Individuals from the School also attend to the artillery of the Empire forces, baffling the gunners with talk of parabolic arcs and making small, last minute adjustments here and there as the battle rages and ensuring that the Great Cannons and Mortars perform perfectly. Though no self-respecting gunner would ever admit that a bookworm could improve on years of experience behind a gun, the presence of an Engineer actually does make artillery more accurate. Well, most of the time![2a][3a]
Notable Inventions[]
The members of the Imperial Engineers School have devised a variety of experimental weapons, from cold death-dealers to bizarre spectacles.[3a]
- Leon Todmeister's Fantabulously Far-reaching Harquebus Of Unforeseeable And Unperceived Bereavement[9a]
- Ludicrously Lethal Lacerating Liquidator[6a]
- Mickelbach's Marvellous Flesh Masticator[6a]
- Thunder Barrel[3a]
- Von Hugon's Terror Bell.[3a]
Other Notable Engineering Schools[]
Sources[]
- 1: Warhammer Armies: The Empire (4th Edition)
- 2: Warhammer Armies: The Empire (6th Edition)
- 2a: pg. 14
- 3: Warhammer Armies: The Empire (7th Edition)
- 3a: pg. 46
- 4: Warhammer Armies: The Empire (8th Edition)
- 5: The End Times Vol II: Glottkin (8th Edition)
- 6: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2nd Edition: Career Compendium (RPG)
- 6a: pg. 66
- 7: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4th Edition: Core Rulebook (RPG)
- 7a: pg. 54
- 8: The Empire: Iron Comapny (Novel) by Chris Wraight
- 9: White Dwarf 296
- 9a: pp. 52-57
- 10: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4th Edition: Up in Arms (RPG)
- 10a: pp. 67
- 11: Vermintide (Novel) by Bruno Lee
Gallery[]
