Non-magical fantasy subways

[Paul Farquhar]

Could you do a chain drive that uses water power rather than steam power ?

In theory. Or you could use wind power, animal power, slave power etc.

The thing is, in the real world, if you have the engineering knowhow to design and build it, you would also know how to build a steam engine.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

So, if you want cool water power, you ought to talk about the massive, deep lake that's right nearby.

Lancashire cotton mills relied on being adjacent to hilly regions of very high rainfall. I'm not sure how the power requirement for a cotton mill would compare to a transport network though.

They eventually went over to steam though, as I'm sure you know.

 

[The Soloist]

Underground roller coaster style using gravity and rotating gears activated by animal power for the inclines.

 

[Theory of Games]

Hm.

No magic, no slaves?

Electric locomotive - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Is the subway from the fallen era, or newer?

It's from the last gasp of the prior industrial age.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

So, if you want cool water power, you ought to talk about the massive, deep lake that's right nearby.

Since this is Zork-inspired, the big underworld dam is a prominent feature. This now just gives it more purpose.

 

[Voadam]

Former Purple Worm tunnels for the appropriately sized tunnels. Worm pulled train cars is an option.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Former Purple Worm tunnels for the appropriately sized tunnels. Worm pulled train cars is an option.

I like that.

 

[MNblockhead]

These are all excellent concepts!

Another possible non-magical but still fantasy-like power source is actually burden animals. Maybe a couple of enslaved giant creatures can pull the subway. That of course will carry the complications of possible moral judgment over those who chose to operate the system this way.

Yeah, I thought of that, but thought for the fantasy mystery feel that seemed implied that this was not in the spirit of the question. There are actual example from history where this was done. Derinkuyu had stables and very likely used animals to move goods around.

Znojmo Catacombs (iin what is now the Czech Republic, labyrinth of 27 kilometers of under city tunnels) and Chelm Chalk (poland) while mainly used for refuges and goods during sieges likely used animals. But since not primiarly for transportation, they don't really fit the "subway" comparison.

Secret tunnels under Lyon, France were uses by merchants to move goods more efficiently, protected from the weather.

Horse or oxen powered capstans and funicular railways may be a better example. There are example of such systems used to lift heavy loads and power cable systems. Often these are gravity "railroads" with animal power used for the return.

For a fantasy system built by dwarfs just up the complexity and expand the areas covered and use cases. It might not be practical in real world applications but technically advanced, subterranean people with centuries or millennia living and mining mostly underground would have more incentives to do more with such technology than real-life humans ever needed (especially if you take slavery out of the equation).

But I also think that steam power and more anachronistic technology, would work. In the real world we have examples of marvels of civil engineer accomplished in the ancient world that were either forgotten or abandoned due to a variety of social causes (roman concrete, greek fire, the Antikythera Mechanism, damascus steel, Peruvian hydraulic engineering, Roman aqueduct technology, etc.

One fun thing I came accross was Vitrum Flexile (flexible glass). While just a legend or at best an exaggeration. I mean, we didn't have anything close to this until the 2000s. Willow glass comes the closest and the chemical strengthening, ion-exchange process wouldn't have been possible in Roman times. But I've always liked the legend and have though of building an adventure around it. But I would have some transmutation magic involved. A mix of pure physical science with scientific application of magic.

 

[MNblockhead]

Former Purple Worm tunnels for the appropriately sized tunnels. Worm pulled train cars is an option.

That opens up some neat options. Like could you have it near an ocean, start with lava tubes, make use of tidal flows, expand with both human and fantastic animal labor. That would allow the creation of some cool new monsters that continue to live on and create a new habitat after the fall of the civilation that originally bred and used them. Some wild monster ideas come to mind.

• Giant clams based on the bioluminescent stone boring Piddock clams
  
  
• rock-boring urchins that have specialized, self-sharpening teeth that scrape and excavate limestone (think what a giant-sized one could do to platemail! -‑ in real life it would be very hard for them to bite defensively, but fantasy versions need not adhere to IRL biology, then again, perhaps toxic spines are defense enough!)
  
  
• rock-boring mussels, secreting acidic acids (the acid is slow acting and not good for defense IRL, but, in fantasy...)
  
  
• giant parrot fish. Yeah, they do it to corral, but a giant one could feasibly grind out limestone. Maybe the dwarves would smear algae in the size and shape of the tunnel and keep adding to it, slowly building a tunnel. Cool fact: parrot fish poop white sand. Uncool IRL fact, but would be cool in D&D, I've seen someone get a small chunk bit out of their leg. It wasn't being aggressive, it was a tourist the let out all the fish food in a snorkling area at once, which surrounded her in the water. The fish bit by accident when going after the food. Hopefully it didn't take a liking to the taste of human flesh and tell its many friends.

D&D has a number of non-aquatic rock boring monsters, but having part of the complex underwater to take advantage of tidal forces would be a fun change. Examples from real life to expand upon are ancient and medieval tidal mills, using tidal water to turn a water wheel to grind grain).