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"There are many who pour scorn on the engineers. They call us madmen, fools, or worse. We have no honour in the Empire, nor in the lands beyond. And yet I foresee a great change coming. When the sword fails and where the spell miscasts, iron and blackpowder will still retain their merit. Our time has not yet come. But as the days grow darker, it surely will. Only when all the emperor's companies are Iron Companies will the future of our race be secured. Then we shall no longer be scorned, but lauded and justly appraised as the mightiest and most learned of men."

—The Notebooks of Leonardo da Miragliano[3a]
Leonardo da Miragliano

The great Tilean inventor and genius, Leonardo da Miragliano

Leonardo da Miragliano (1978 IC to 2027 IC) also spelled Leonardo de Miragliano[2b][6a][8a] and known as Leonardo of Miragliano[9a], is considered the greatest Human genius, natural philosopher, inventor, polymath and master of high alchemy of the Old World. He is most famed for being the inventor of the legendary Steam Tanks of the Empire of Man, and founder and Chief Engineer of the Imperial Engineers School at Altdorf in 2012 IC.[11][12a][14a]

No Men have come close to him in terms of innovation and ingenuity in the field of engineering. Even the Dwarfs, who can usually be relied upon to sneer at the works of Manling engineers, admit to being staggeringly impressed by the complexity and efficiency of his designs.[11]

Leonardo was a devotee of the goddess Myrmidia, often referred to as the patron of the science of war, He devoted his work to her, depicting her likeness and deeds in many artworks, in particular the magnificent imagery of the domed fresco in Wurtbadā€™s temple.[14a]

History[]

"It grieves my heart that the Church of Sigmar distrusts us so. While we remain divided, our enemies muster beyond the mountains, an everlasting tide of darkness that lusts for nothing more than our destruction. What more could we accomplish together! Perhaps the day will come. If the art of the engineer could be allied to the fervour of the noble warrior priesthood, I fervently believe that no force in all the Old World, not even the hordes of Chaos themselves, would be sufficient to stand against us."

—The Notebooks of Leonardo da Miragliano[3c]

Born in 1978 IC,[14a] Leonardo came from very humble beginnings. His genius first came to light when he was a mere apprentice to one of the architects of the Prince, engaged in the task of rebuilding the city on a new plan. Prince Cosimo came to inspect the work and by chance saw the plans drawn by young Leonardo. The Prince saw that Leonardo was the genius he had been looking for and immediately placed him in charge of the grand scheme for the whole city. After many years Leonardo had not only completed the master plan for the new Miragliano, but also devised a new set of ramparts, even more ingenious and impregnable than before.[1b] Leonardo went on to become court inventor to Cosimo and his house. Leonardo soon found his talents in demand from every Prince and city in Tilea and he set his intellect to many varied problems and served as advisor with several mercenary generals. His fame eventually reached as far as the Empire. This led to Leonardo's most famous achievement which was to found the Imperial Engineers School. Leonardo presided over this establishment and created many new war machines while he was there, most notable of all being the dreaded Imperial steam tanks.[1a]

Project of the Steam Tank[]

Leonardo sketch steam tank

Leonardo's sketch of the first Steam Tank.[9a]

Created to help the Reikland Prince Stephan Franz of Altdorf to fight the legions of Undead that plagued his lands during the Vampire Wars, the infamous Steam Tank is one of the most widely-known inventions of Leonardo. It was an inspired design that has never since been recreated and it is said that its creator was astounded, and inspired when he witnessed one of the creations of the Dwarfs, an ocean-going steam vessel made of solid metal.[9a]

Leonardo filled countless sketchbook with intricate drawings and writings that evolved around the arcane machine, and his thoughts on how he could recreate such wonder.[9a] His early attempts to create a steam-powered vehicle were disastrous affairs. On his second attempt, during the launch of the aptly named steam-powered boat Anchor of Solidity, he barely escaped with his life as it sank beneath the sea within seconds, steam hissing and spitting violently.[9a]

The half drowned Leonardo lost none his ambition or passion, however, though he tansferred his ideas onto land. Thus the Steam Tank was born, for he took the basic designs for his ironclad steamship and modified them to make his famed steam powered landship.[9a]

The Steam Tank is a monstrous armoured creation, belching smoke as it powers towards the enemy, cannon-fire echoing from within its thick, steel hull. The advance of this near unstoppable behemoth is terrifying to behold, as arrows ricochet harmlessly from its armoured sides and weapons barely scratch its surface as it crushes its enemies beneath its armoured bulk.[9a]

A large pressurised boiler that syphons super-heated steam through a series of pipes and pistons powers the Steam Tank. In Leonardo's first Steam Tanks, the Engineer had to gauge how much pressure had built within the boiler by the intensity of the whistling sounds and the ammount of steam that escaped from imperfectly sealed piping around the boiler. Of the Steam Tanks built by Leonardo, which legend later erroneously held numbered only twelve[17], and of which eight still survive in some form or other, all suffered frequent mishaps and malfunctions, and the great inventor himself was almost always seen sporting bandages covering various scalds and burns. In recent times, the Imperial Engineers of Altdorf have devised a series of gauges and whistles that show the pressure within the boiler, although they are still somewhat inaccurate and much relies on the experience and instinct of the individual engineer Commander.[9a]

Even if subjected to many enhancements in the centuries, despite it being attempted countless times, no engineer has thus far succeeded in creating a Steam Tank from scratch.[9a] The secret of the massive war machines had long been lost, and even the most basic aspects of their maintenance had become a dark art in the fraternity. Only the sketches remained, recondite and incomplete.[3e]

Other Projects[]

One of Leonardo's favourite hobbies and intellectual exercises was to devise leaning Towers. He would set himself the problem of designing a tower which would stay up despite the most exaggerated angle of inclination. Soon the Princes of Tilea vied with each other to acquire Leonardo's latest design for the most outrageous and gravity-defying tower![1b] Gossippa Lotta a Tilean strategist wrote in her tratise that the leaning towers of the north gate of the city-state of Remas are the work of Leonardo himself.[1e] In the very same city in 2006 IC, he also directs the reconstruction of the Grand Coliseum. Leonardo builds dozens of innovative devices into the massive structure inspired by conversations with the legendary Ogre gladiator, Brognal Bullsmiter.[6a]

Leonardo also designed an enormous number of strange and potentially very effective war machines. Many of these are doodles on scraps of parchment or on the backs of maps or military messages, which he made to while away the time in camp while on campaign.[1b]

Death[]

Leonardo eventually vanished without trace in 2027 IC,[14a] and there are many fantastical tales surrounding his disappearance, including that 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][13a]

Another rumour say that he was attempting to pioneer heavier-than-air flight. A tragic accident that not only killed the inventor himself, but also destroyed many of the Imperial Engineering School's original buildings.[2a][13a] Some rumors say instead that it was not a fatality but a murder disguised as an accident.[13a]

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.[9a]

The Enlightened Man[]

"I have learned, over long years of study, not to judge the exterior of any object without knowing the full details of its interior. The grandest building may conceal a rotten core, and the meanest-looking pistol may hide the finest rifling workmanship within it. That seems to me a good maxim for any engineer. We have often discovered that the way a device looks is no guarantee of its quality. In fact, though I hesitate to make the comparison directly, the same may too be said of men. Some of us who seem most fearful by reputation may turn out, on closer examination, to be nothing but weaklings and cowards. Conversely, even those who have sunk low, almost to the point of becoming nothing, may carry within them the smouldering spark of greatness, ready at any moment to leap once more into flameā€¦"

—The Notebooks of Leonardo da Miragliano[3d]
Leonardo's sketch

Illustrations found in the sketchbooks of Leonardo da Miragliano. The illustration is believed to show a drawing of a Skaven Screaming Bell, based on Leonardo' s observation of the use of such a device during the ratmen's attack on the city of Miragliano in the year 2004 IC. (The archives of the Prince of Miragliano: Ink on vellum)[5a]

Leonardo would give these doodles to the various merchant princes he served, on the off chance that they would actually ask him to make the machine. Usually his patrons were too busy waging war and just stashed the plans for use later on. Many of these devices could not yet be made with the technology available. Even so, the plans, which are now distributed throughout the Old World, change hands for vast amounts of gold and are eagerly sought by merchant princes. Leonardo was able to apply his intellect to any problem and come up with a way of improving things. Of course, mercenary generals found his special talents very useful and would consult with him when making their battle plans, constructing field defences or siege works, planning the order of march or just inspecting the artillery and crossbows before battle.[1b]

Even the famous inventor Daddalo became obsessed with trying to fly like a bird after he acquired some lost manuscripts of Leonardo da Miragliano. Inspired by the ideas these contained, he began experimenting with flying devices. Only later did it emerge that these manuscripts were clever forgeries. However, by then it was far too late; Daddallo's obsession had quite literally taken over his life. He also made a working version of Leonardo's parachute.[1d]

While some Imperial scholars, not afraid of talking about the accursed ratmen, as Wilhelm Leiber, theorized that the Warpfire Throwers and the Ratling Guns used by the Skaven could be based on the fantastical sketches from the workbooks of Leonardo da Miragliano.[5b]

The Deliverance[]

Deliverance

The Deliverance, still in service after nearly 500 years

The steam tank Deliverance was handcrafted by the creative genius Leonardo da Miragliano in the year 2035. The famous inventor, said by many to be mad and deranged, entered the Emperor's service some twenty-two years earlier, conducting studies into mechanical locomotion and acceleration. The Deliverance was fitted with a prototype steam-powered cannon, which proved notoriously unpredictable and prone to unexpected detonation, though was particularly powerful when it worked.[8a]

With much expectation, the Deliverance was first tested in a combat situation at the Battle of Kalmur Hill, situated just south of Nuln in Averland, against a foul tribe of marauding Orcs. The Deliverance malfunctioned in spectacular fashion, billowing clouds of steam erupting from its ruptured boiler. The Orcs were nevertheless defeated, and the steam tank towed back to Altdorf for repairs.[8a]

Over the next twenty years, the control and regulation of the boiler system within the steam tanks were refined by Leonardo, who worked incessantly towards improving his potent yet still unpredictable creations. The Deliverance proved exceptional in a battle to the north of the Empire against a war party of savages from the Northern Wastes, although its weapons system was again unreliable. Its steam cannon misfired, but the scalded Engineer Commander, Heinrich Woolendurst, a favoured student of Leonardo's, used the steam tank as a battering ram against the enemy formations to considerable effect. (This tactic was re-enacted with great success against raiding marauders in recent times by the commander of steam tank Sigmar's Hammer, as described in the notes of the Engineer-Journeyman Marcus Freidscof on Chapter MXIV.[8a]

With the disappearance of Leonardo and the subsequent loss of his detailed steam tank designs, the twelve steam tanks he created were looked upon as precious scientific models requiring further research. To our great chagrin, the secret of the steam tanks creation remains elusively just out of reach. The Deliverance was returned to the Imperial School of Engineering in Altdorf for continued study, the master engineers deeming it too important to be lost in battle. Already, two of Leonardo's creations had been lost or damaged beyond possible repair, and so the master engineer's resolve strengthened, refusing requests for the Deliverance to take part in battle.[8a]

Eventually, the engineers decree was overruled by the Emperor himself, and the Deliverance was ordered back into duty. During this time of study, the weapon systems of the steam tank were improved, making the steam powered cannon more effective and reliable. A new innovation was added to the Deliverance: the first of the steam guns. This drew steam away from the boiler, releasing it in an explosive burst over enemies in close proximity, and proved highly successful in the field.[8a]

In the year 2253, a time of increasing Chaos infiltration and incursion, the Deliverance was fitted with an experimental weapon, a precursor to the now commonplace Helblaster volley gun. The steam tank was all but destroyed in a catastrophic explosion, but extensively rebuilt with no long-term detriment and the Helblaster prototype was disabled pending further research.[8a]

The steam gun has proven to be a popular and reliable outfitting for the steam tanks since its inception. Experiments replacing it with newly designed long-range annaments and repeater handguns have met with mixed response, although the results have been encouraging of late (of particular note is the recent creation of von Schrepp's so called 'multi-distributing micro-explosive shell projectile prototype', which has been met with unanimous support, and could prove to be a popular replacement for the traditional steam gun).[8a]

During the Great Chaos Incursion of 2301, the Deliverance was hurriedly outfitted with increased armour plating and a large, tremendously powerful steam cannon with which to repel the foulness that was vomited from the north. It was acknowledged that this larger weapon could prove overtly dangerous to the steam tank itself, but that such a risk was well worth taking. To power this large cannon, the Deliverance was fitted with a secondary caniage containing another boiler used solely to power the cannon. This weapon proved exceptionally destructive to the Chaos forces, although the secondary carriage was particularly vulnerable to attack, and easily damaged.[8a]

After the Chaos hordes were eventually repelled by the forces of Magnus the Pious, the secondary boiler and cannon were removed from the Deliverance, having been deemed too dangerous.[8a]

In recent years, under the reign of his Imperial Highness Karl Franz, the engineers have continued to experiment with the weapon systems of the Deliverance, testing out a weapon designed to shoot great bursts of flaming liquid over the enemy. This weapon was inspired by a Dwarf war machine, although at present the 'liquid-flame projector prototype' is rather unsafe, and requires continued research and experimentation before it will be truly effective on the battlefield.[8a]

Even in recent days, the Deliverance is being refitted with its traditional armament, the steam cannon, in conjunction with the steam gun. Both of these weapons have been refined to a level unseen before. The boiler itself has been extensively reworked, and the inner cabin of the steam tank fitted with a range of devices to aid its commander in the control and regulation of the pressure and steam. These modifications preceded the Deliverance s journey to the northern forests of the Empire, where a disturbing upsurge of Chaos activity has been noted.[8a]

Modern Medicine[]

Soon after came the Tilean renaissance, and the works of Leonardo of Miragliano brought a new appreciation for engineering. From this arose a new paradigm of thought, one in conflict with Gaelenā€™s theories and the practices that stemmed from them. Where Gaelen saw the body as sacred and inviolate, to be nurtured as a whole, never cut apart, the ā€˜Mechanicalsā€™ saw the body as nothing more than a giant machine made of many cogs; to throw open such a machine was as natural as examining the workings of a clock or millwheel, and to cut and amputate as natural as tightening a screw. Of course, many doctors could see elements of truth in both sides, and today there are very few that will never perform amputations, or refuse to see the value in holistic theories. There remain some, however, for whom the question is one of morality and even faith, and every student inherits one or the other stance from his tutor or college. As a result, the Gaelenic/ Mechanical split continues to characterise modern medicine.[7a]

The Miragliano Model[]

Seen as a rectangle/triangle combination, the ā€œMiragliano Model,ā€ is a key to the fundamental principles of engineering (though most engineers fail to understand it). A true Academic could realise that the seven connected circles of the model are a Life Rune commonly found on obelisks of the Old Faith. Similar patterns are still used in natural sciences to diagram taxonomy (species classification). The model has been adopted by naturalist philosophers to explain structures of logic and rhetoric.[15d]

Leonardo da Miragliano lent his support to the Fellowship of the Shroud with the use of this scheme as this model is needed to open the Miragliano Puzzle Box that is hidden in the Temple of Myrmidia of Wurtbad, inside a fresco. The temple was completed in 2011 IC as a place for the Tilean mercenaries to worship, the domed ceiling where the paint, named Myrmidia at the Tree of Hope is placed was Miragliano's last commissioned work before entering the Emperor's service.[15a][15c]

This ingenious little box, made of brass and steel, was crafted by Miragliano to safeguard the secret of the Siegfriedhof druids. Miragliano understood Lanfranchi had wrongly persecuted the druids, but Miragliano withheld his revelations until the Vampire hysteria subsided. Miraglianoā€™s puzzle box has remained untouched for 500 years and bears only a tinge of rust.[15b]

Opening the box requires a deep knowledge of the Miragliano Model. Someone might recall the model as the pattern of triangles set within a druidic Life Rune. The box has many moving parts, which can be configured into different shapes. If solved, the box becomes a cube with a pyramid lid on one face. The box may be forced open with some effort, but doing so releases an acid that dissolves the scroll hidden within in little time.[15b]

Inside the box there is a tiny scroll with six words forming a circle of Classical script. Clockwise from the top, the words are: Portal, Man, Blood, Earth, Life, and Mother.[15b]

Leonardoā€™s Sunbox[]

"Beware, little mortal. I have already told you more than is perhaps wise for either of us. Still, you interest me, and it has been too long since I met any mortal who has done that. I believe the last mortal I enjoyed such stimulating conversation with was the great Leonardo da Miragliano."

Lady Khemalla to Zavant Konniger.[16]

Leonardoā€™s Sunbox is just one of the many wondrous inventions devised or dreamed of by the Tilean genius. An instrument devised to generate perpetual, mechanically-created sunlight.[16]

Scholars and engineers had long thought it lost, another of the great inventorā€™s creations which had probably existed only as a meticulous design on a long-lost parchment or some scribbled idea in one of the great inventorā€™s now priceless notebooks. It was built around a clockwork mechanism, full of a complex series of cunningly placed moving lenses and prisms, each designed to trap and amplify beams of light. At the heart of the device was an elf sunstone, the soft golden glow given off by the magical stone magnified by the lens arrangement to produce something akin to natural sunlight.[16]

The sage-investigator, Zavant Konniger had the only known working model of this project, it had taken him several years, a small fortune and all his personal ingenuity to restore it to anything resembling proper working order. Konniger intentions were quite different from those of Leonardo's original invention. By altering the arrangement of lenses, and by using prisms of a different size to those of Leonardoā€™s original design, he radically changed the nature of the device. And, most significant of all, instead of an elf sunstone, Konniger had placed at the centre of the mechanism a harshly glowing piece of the rare and forbidden substance known as Warpstone.[16]

Leonardoā€™s intent had been to capture sunlight in a box. What Konniger had done instead, in a deliberate perversion of the deviceā€™s intended function, was to imprison a piece of the sun itself inside the lead-lined box. And, as even the most ignorant Empire peasant knew, the light of the sun was deadly to vampires such as that the investigator had to kill.[16]

In tests Konniger had conducted using small animals, the boxā€™s effects had been gratifyingly impressive. When exposed to its searing light, fur had ignited and skin had quickly withered and blackened into charred leather. Against a creature of the undead, whose unnatural substance burned when touched by the lightest kiss of sunlight, the results were sudden and quite spectacular.[16]

The explosion of light caused devastating damage to the vampire despite being a specimen from the millennial age such as Khemalla of Lahmia. Sadly during the process, the device burned itself out in seconds - its unique, priceless mechanism reduced to smouldering, molten slag.[16]

Wargear[]

"These are nice drawings. They are by your children, yes?"

—Reputed remarks of High King Thorgrim Grudgebearer, on being presented with a copy of the Notebooks of Leonardo da Miragliano by the Emperor Karl Franz[3b]

During his career Leonardo went into battle on a warhorse armed just with a simple sword.[1a] He was neither a general nor a wizard. He was a scientist, and his genius was illuminated by the light of reason and method, not superstition! Therefore, Leonardo does not had magic items. Instead, he had scientific items, reflecting his expertise as an inventor and investigator.[1b]

These inventions are still studied and used in modern days by wizards and alchemists of the Old World.[12a]

Sphere of Alchemy[]

Leonardo dabbles in alchemy and has mixed up a powder which he has enclosed in a bronze orb. When thrown, the orb cracks and the powder explodes on contact with the air, creating a small blast.[1b]

This superior blackpowder infused with magical energy is called Leonardoā€™s Alchemical Powder. The powder can be made through High Alchemy and can be used even to create ammo for Handguns or Pistols.[12a]

Prism of Power[]

Leonardo has a specially shaped glass prism which uses pure physical properties of refraction to diffuse any kind of energy flowing over the battlefield. The effect of this is to steal the winds of magic and dissipate the energy, just as if it were rays from the sun.[1b]

Magister Theodor Habermas, third Patriarch of the Gold College, spent years studying the legendary Prism of Power, invented three centuries earlier by the renowned genius of Leonardo. Habermas eventually used aethyric refraction to create Power Stones. However, converting magic into solid matter is a more advanced ritual. Modern Prism of Power can be used to isolate certain Winds of Magic, and even exchange them in the correct circumstances.[12a]

The prism can be used in several ways. In order for it to work the prism must be set up in a location so that the source of any affected Winds of Magic must pass through the prism to reach the spellcaster seeking to benefit.[12a]

A spellcaster may use the prism to isolate a single wind from a nearby source of Dhar. This would have the benefit that the source of Dhar may be used as a source of magical energy without being a corrupting influence.[12a]

This is only useful in circumstances where other Winds of Magic are absent, and the spellcaster would have to remain at some distance from the source of Dhar to benefit from the prism.[12a]

A piece of Warpstone could be used in this way, but if the spellcaster wants to benefit from the Warpstone to gain additional magic power they must be close enough to it so that it counts as a corrupting influence, whether they possess a Prism of Power or not.[12a]

Otherwise, a spellcaster could set up a Prism of Power to refract one wind into another. This could have the effect of creating a wind where it might otherwise be absent, or deny the presence of a wind where it might otherwise be present.[12a]

Compass of Meteoric Silver[]

Leonardo has a special compass with a direction arrow made from meteoric silver. This will point to the greatest concentration of magic like Heavy or Extreme magical saturation, Arcane Fulcrums, gathering Storms of Magic, Warpstone, Leyline Junctions, Magic Items, Leylines, Wizards, Spirits and divine entities, or other magical locations or phenomena.[1b][12a]

Miniatures[]

Trivia[]

Originally Leonardo da Miragliano was also named Leonardo da Miraglio but sinch 4th Edition he's never called like that by any other sources.[2b]

Only people gifted with the Second Sight can operate with High Alchemy, this means that Leonardo possessed this talent or that he worked together with someone with that specific ability.[12a]

The forges used by Leonardo da Miragliano to cast his colossal brass statues in Miragliano are still working nowadays.[1c]

Leonardo da Miragliano was placed as the 23rd most influential character of Warhammer in the ranking of the most important characters in the setting.[13a]

Leonardo da Miragliano is based on Italian polymath Leonardo da Vinci.

Sources[]

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