-x-x-x- Chapter 7 -x-x-x-

Over breakfast the next morning I said to Tyrion "Tyrion, could you see to settling the Alchemist's that I brought with me into one of the played out deep mines? Set them up with whatever they ask for, just make sure that any disasters won't spread to the rest of the Rock."

"Sure brother, why did you bring them though? Aerys didn't rub off on you, did he?" the dwarf questioned.

I shook my head with a grim smile "No, but in addition to being fully aware of just how potent a weapon wildfire can be, while guarding Aerys I had the very rare privilege of being allowed to see inside the deepest reaches of the Alchemist's Guildhall. It was there that I found out the most amazing secret."

He took the obvious bait and said "Oh? And what would be worth risking association with the Alchemist's?"

"Why nothing more than the simple fact that they can produce some kind of substance that glows with a greenish light. It was illuminating a room that should have been pitch black without giving off any heat or consuming any air. Imagine what access to that little gem would mean for our mines, not to mention on our ships." I explained, using my knowledge of modern chemistry to deduce that it was probably a phosphorous based substance mixed with something that gave off oxygen. 'I wonder if they can manage red phosphorous as well? matches would be quite useful, and worth a fortune. have to check on that one later.'

Tyrion shook his head in disgust "And yet all they are known for is a substance too dangerous to use except in all but the most extreme circumstances. Anything else you want from them?"

I was about to say no when a thought came to me and I shrugged, it couldn't hurt to ask "Yeah, ask them how Wildfire interacts with dragonbone and dragonglass."

He blinked "Ok, any particular reason?"

"None beyond the fact that we know dragonbone has some magical properties and I've never even heard of it melting or otherwise having any issue with fire or heat. You know that the reason that father likes those brandy snifters of his so much is that the dragonbone seems to pull heat right out of whatever is put into them.", combining the memories of my two lives I came to the tentative conclusion that it was some kind of phenomenal insulator.

He gave a nod of understanding "And the dragonglass?"

I shrugged again "It has dragon in the name, figured it can't hurt to ask if that has any relevance."

He muttered a few choice phrases about his brothers intelligence, or lack there of, that I graciously chose to be selectively deaf towards.

After we were done with the food I headed up to the Solar, saying to one of the guards as I entered "Send for one of our master wood carvers, and a blacksmith." before heading in and sitting at the desk as I started to read through the truly stupendous amounts of paperwork that just seemed to always pile up.

I was glad for the interrupting knock on the door ten minutes later and quickly barked out a "Enter."

In came the red cloak, with two well dressed men each about fifty years of age by my guess trailing him. He saluted and said "My lord, Master Hune and Master Drake as you requested."

I gave him a nod and waved a hand towards the side of the door, dismissing him to his post. Not that I actually thought either of the two artisans was the slightest threat to me but security protocols existed for a reason and they were always excessive until the one time in a million that a threat actually materialized.

"I want you two to build two scale model ship hulls, a foot or two in length should be fine. Then I want one hull plated in copper attached to the wooden hull with copper nails and the other hull plated in copper attached to the wooden hull with iron nails. Quality isn't much of a concern, I just want to run a quick test of something." I explained before glancing from one to the other, the confusion they felt at my odd request plain on their faces "Any questions?"

The two glanced at one another before shrugging to each other, turning to face me, and shaking their heads no "No my lord" said Master Hune, the woodcarver.

I gave my own nod "How long will it take you to complete the work? This takes priority over whatever else you are working on."

Master Hune spoke up again "Shouldn't take too long, if all you want it plain hull models then I can have two of those carved out in under an hour."

I turned my head to face Master Drake next, silently asking for his estimate "I'll have to draw the copper nails, no real demand for them, but I can get to work on that while Abe carves the hulls. Once that's done I should have them plated in ten minutes or so."

"Very well, I expect you to have finished within two hours. Send a message if anything unforeseen occurs."

They both gave nods and said "Aye, my lord." before I waved a hand in dismissal.

Assuming that chemistry and physics functioned on Planetos in a broadly similar fashion to how they worked on Earth, my little experiment should result in the iron nails corroding fairly rapidly when the model in put in a salt water tank while the pure copper version shouldn't suffer the same fate. Sure, salt water would corrode copper over time - a copper bottomed hull would have to be replaced every eighteen to twenty four months - but in the interim it would keep the hull clean of the barnacles and borers that forced wooden hulled ships into dry dock every six months or so for a scraping and the reapplication of a false hull. Besides allowing for longer times between dry dock visits, the copper sheathed hulls would also maintain the speed of a clean hull for the entire time.

The only real issue was how to nail the wooden hull together, using iron would just cause the iron to corrode while copper didn't really have the strength. Not to mention the cost.

'Hmm, maybe try weirwood nails? that wood is harder than steel and nigh totally immune to rot or anything else sea water could do to it. or I could ask the Alchemists if they know of any kind of sealant or lacquer that could protect the iron. Can't really coat the copper unless the lacquer also stops the sea life because copper sheathing only works from the poison produced as the copper corrodes. But if I could lacquer the nails... another thing to add to the list I suppose. worst case I just use weirwood fasteners, they are small enough that even a full boats worth would be a relatively small amount of weirwood and since they don't degrade I could always pull them for reuse when ships head to the breakers.

ugh, I want this to work but once it does I'm going to have to design a fucking galleon while working off of nothing but crude memories. fuck it, even a crude galleon would blow any of the galleys or cogs out of the water. at least they have carrack's so I wouldn't be starting completely from scratch. still, copper sheathed trade galleons would allow me to dominate the carrying trade.'

Wrapping up my thoughts on my future fleet I was about to return to my paperwork when another thought hit my mind.

'the pyro's store wildfire in sealed ceramic jars. I wonder if you could make a hollow ceramic arrow work? perhaps a metal pipe that the ceramic vial slides into, have the tip be something like a plunger so that on impact it will jam backwards down the interior of the shaft and break the ceramic, releasing a small wildfire payload. I mean against a ship it's not like you need more than a few drops for a fatal dose. and no one but the king, us, and perhaps the Starks could even get their hands on the substance. yes, if I can make it work then the greyjoys are going to be in for a truly nasty surprise come their rebellion. sigh, I guess I need to go and see the pyro's once they get settled in. and draw up the design for holding the fire arrows.

'perhaps a steel drum around a wooden frame that will hold each arrow perfectly vertical, padded with silk at the junction points, and then with sand filling all the empty spaces. that should be cushioned enough for even quite a hard knock to not break the interior ceramic vial.'

Having finished prototyping a game changing weapon in my mind, it was time to get back to the boring work of ruling what was effectively a kingdom for all practical purposes. Still, I was mostly done by the time my two artisans returned. Each carrying a model boat.

"Good work. Set them down over there.", I said as I indicated a large table off to the Solar's right wing. Once they were done I waved a hand in dismissal before leaving the Solar myself and heading down one floor, there should be at least one room not being used by a guard at the moment. Finding one I nodded and pulled the rope that would ring a bell to alert the servants stationed one floor down that someone needed them.

Moments later a young women, twenty or so at my guess with reddish brown hair and chocolate eyes. Her eyes went wide at seeing me but she quickly bowed "You rang, my lord?"

I gave a nod "Yes, I need two tubs brought up to this room and filled with sea water. I'll be in the Solar, notify me when its done."

She gave a nod "Right away, my lord", and when she said right away she meant right away. My orders had been successfully carried out barely fifteen minutes later. After dropping the two test models into their tubs I decided it was time for some physical entertainment and headed down to the practice yard, sending a red cloak that I passed to find my six personal armsmen and pass on the message that I wanted them in the practice yard. I might as well see how good they were with a blade.

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