PISTON CLOUDBOIL
ElementalsFactory Foreman and Steam-Engine Operator
"Pressure builds. That is what it does. The question is not whether it builds, but whether you have built something strong enough to use it. I have.""
Identity
- Residence
- Steamhaven Industrial Quarter, Confluence Village between Inferno Spire and Aquari Palace
- Civilization
- Elementals
Appearance
• Physical: A stocky, dense figure of compressed steam and superheated vapor, standing four feet ten inches tall but nearly as wide. His body is a roiling mass of white and gray steam held in a roughly barrel-shaped humanoid form, with visible pressure building and releasing in rhythmic pulses like a heartbeat. His features are blunt and sturdy, occasionally obscured when he vents excess steam from his ears and nostrils. • Clothing: Wears a brass-fitted leather vest with valve attachments that help him regulate his pressure, covered in grease and soot. • Distinguishing Marks: A large pressure gauge is embedded in his chest (installed by a Gnome surgeon), its needle twitching to reflect his emotional state; when it enters the red zone, everyone nearby knows to step back.
Relationships
- Family - His workforce, whom he calls "my pipes"; he remembers every worker's birthday and maintains a fund for injured workers' families
- Allies - Gnome engineers who designed his pressure gauge and consult on factory improvements, Kettel Geyserspout (#35) whom he considers a kindred steam-spirit
- Rivals - The factory owner's son, who wants to replace workers with cheaper automated systems and considers Piston an obstacle to modernization
Backstory
Piston formed spontaneously in the boiler room of Steamhaven's first factory when a ley-line leak combined residual fire and water energies with the industrial steam already present. He was not born at a proper Nexus Cradle, which marks him as a Minor Elemental despite his considerable capability. The factory owner nearly had him dispersed before realizing that Piston could operate the steam engines more efficiently than any hired worker. He has run the factory floor ever since, earning a Middle-class status unusual for a Minor Elemental through sheer indispensability.
Daily Life
Piston manages the largest steam-powered factory in Steamhaven, overseeing a workforce of thirty and maintaining six industrial boilers that he can regulate by touch. He starts before dawn with boiler inspections, runs the production floor through the day, advocates for worker safety in afternoon management meetings, and spends evenings maintaining equipment. He takes a single break each day to sit by the cooling tower and watch the sunset through the steam.
Story Hooks
- 1 Piston needs help smuggling his automaton prototypes to a trusted Gnome engineer before the owner's son discovers the sealed basement during a planned factory renovation.
- 2 A catastrophic boiler failure is imminent, and Piston realizes it has been sabotaged; he needs help finding the saboteur before the factory explodes with thirty workers inside.
Narrative Value
Piston provides industrial-era storylines, labor politics, and technological ethics within a fantasy setting. His connection to Kettel (#35) creates a steam-elemental micro-community, and his automaton designs offer a morally complex technology subplot. ═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════