The Dragonlance Nexus

Printed From:
http://www.dlnexus.com/lexicon/21008.aspx

Steam Cannon

Article written by Uziel


The Steam Cannon is an invention of the Gnomes of the Spire Mountains, that is the primary mounted weapons of all the ships of the Fire Fleet. The cannon is made of lava-resistant alloys and mounted on a pivot, and has a water line that enters from the rear. The water sits in the barrel basin of the cannon, and the exterior of the basin is placed in direct contact with the lava of the Burning Sea.

Large balls of cast slag are loaded into the cannon, and the cannon is sighted and ranged through use of the handles and pulleys along the barrel. When the cannon is in place, the barrel is flooded with water, which instantly turns into steam on contact with the lava-heated metal. The pressure then fires the ball with great force towards a target.

The steam cannons require a trained gun crew to maintain and operate, as margin for error is high. If a cannon is not operated correctly, then it is highly likely it will explode and could possibly injure or even kill the gnomes operating it. A steam cannon requires at least 5 gnomes to operate it, and can fire a ball as far as 500 yards away.

References

Article Tools

Report An Error or Add to this Article | Submit a new Article

Categories | Gnomish Inventions

This article has been viewed 41 times. It was added on October 10, 2008, and was last modified on October 10, 2008.

Information presented in the Dragonlance Lexicon has been independently researched by a team of volunteers, and original sources have been cited for each article. This and any other Lexicon articles are intended for personal use only and may NOT be posted on any other web site or otherwise distributed.