Player: Hi
Junkar: Welcome, Haishen! You are lucky that the service is running right now. Save your coal for the days to come though!
Player: Job
Junkar: I run this steamboat of course. As long as there is enough coal left, that is. Are you looking for a passage?
Player: Coal
Junkar: Ah, the black gold, dropped by many beasts.
Player: Beasts
Junkar: Oh there are so many beasts that swallow coal in their ravenousness, unable to digest it. The carrion worms are the first that come to my mind. ...
Junkar: Other monsters pick up coal for different reasons. Cyclopes who are famous for their ironwork often carry some coal with them.
Player: Dwarf
Junkar: My people are hardly understood by you humans. Only due to my constant contacts with humans I recognised the differences in our thought processes. ...
Junkar: Even if we can communicate and some motivation might be understood, there are things that cannot be grasped by the other race. ...
Junkar: For most things our communication is fine but when it comes to philosophy and outlook on life, there are differences that cannot be easily bridged.
Player: Technomancers
Junkar: I'm somewhat of a loner among the techmomancers. Given that we are all rather reclusive, it means that I'm always following my own ideas and plans of which many are practical rather than experimental.
Player: Practical
Junkar: Unless we can prove to the other dwarfs how useful our inventions are, they will always treat us like kids. This is happening since centuries and won't change anytime soon but we have to work on it nonetheless.
Player: routes
Junkar: Most of the tunnels I explored were not navigable. Sometimes the water was too shallow, the ceiling too low, the water too wild. ...
Junkar: When I had the feeling that it might continue after such a point I put my knowledge into use and used earth magic and technomantic devices to pass such points. It often took years only to reach some dead end. ...
Junkar: Sometimes I discovered a mineral vein which earned me some meagre profit to finance my expeditions. When my geomantic scrying revealed to me that I had reached caves beneath Thais, I wondered if I could dig my way up somehow. ...
Junkar: I loaned some rotworms from a business partner that owed me a favour and drove them upwards. I was somewhat nervous I might hit the royal treasury or something and get arrested but as you can see I was lucky. ...
Junkar: I would have preferred some more central spot in Thais but that was not meant to be and I guess the Thaians like it better the way it is. Still my service is somewhat unknown and underused. ...
Junkar: So tell your friends about it!
Player: routes
Player: experimental
Junkar: Most technomancers have some ultimate goal but lack any idea how to get there. That is why they are experimenting. They try and try again and again. ...
Junkar: Eventually they will discover something useful, although admittedly rarely what they originally pursued. ...
Junkar: In theory, every technomancer is supposed to keep note of his experiments but usually the notes are at best useful for himself. So there is little shared wisdom beyond the apprenticeship we have.
Player: Wisdom
Junkar: Sometimes technomancers keep contact via letters to a colleague. And then there are the great meetings of course. Once every few years, we meet in Kazordoon to discuss our inventions and share what we've found out. ...
Junkar: Most are remarkably reluctant though to pass any knowledge that could give another one an edge or help someone to surpass him. ...
Junkar: Those, the randomness of our results and the danger of some of our inventions, keep the other dwarfs from accepting us.
Player: Service
Junkar: Oh, well. I know it's not such a big deal to travel from Thais to Kazordoon and I won't get rich or something but if there are more dwarfs visiting Thais and humans visiting Kazordoon, then I have changed something. ...
Junkar: If enough coal is donated I can keep the service running for a while. ...
Junkar: The price I can charge for a trip barely covers the repairs on the ship, but if I ask for more, people will probably travel to Kazordoon on their own.
Player: Steamship
Junkar: My steamship was once used on the regular routes until it was replaced by a newer version. I bought it, repaired it and improved most of it and started my explorations. ...
Junkar: Admittedly this is not typical for a technomancer but I'm more interested in the practical use of our inventions and their improvement than in inventing something completely new.
Player: Farewell/Bye
Junkar: See you next time!
Player: Passage
Junkar: Where do you want me to take you? To Kazordoon, Thais or to Robsons Isle?
Player: Kazordoon/Thais/Robsons Isle
Junkar: So you wish for a trip to Kazordoon? 10 gold?
Player: No
Junkar: Well, then you stay here, simple as that.