When it
became perfectly clear to the Geyans that air power was something to
fear, they took a rather different approach to the problem than either
Grunburg or Alexander. Rather than spend their resources on airships
or sky fortresses, the Geyon council decided to take a more practical,
traditional approach.
Geyon
is the hub of mass production for things magical. Volumages number
in the hundreds, spending long days enchanting the stuff of magitech.
Through the use of focal
amulets, they can cast a very large amount of spells per day.
The council decided that they could more wisely spend their surplus
of revenue, regardless of how obscene an amount that had grown to
of late, on more focal amulets and training the volumages that the
city already had in offensive combat spells. The council set up classes
at the Geyon College of Industrial Magic for the mages, where they
learned offensive flying with the use of a Ring of the Falcons, which
endows its wearer unlimited time in the air, and the casting of fireballs
and lightning bolts. With the number of spells that the mages could
cast and some magical items given to them to resist missle attacks
and magic, the Geyon council rested well in the knowledge that things
were well in hand, and they were not too far from the mark.
The
only thing that they did not count on was the number of wizards that
simply vanished following their training to seek their fortune adventuring,
now that they had the tools to resist most enemies now. The council
accepted their losses, still happy with the progress that they had
made. The factory owners were more than pleased with the arrangement,
since it meant that they could have the mages use the city-supplied
mages to eek out a few extra spells each day, meaning more revenue
for them.
The
one thing that the Geyon Guard did do to increase their air presence
was to begin breeding hippogriffs for use in aerial battle. The council
secured land for the ranches in the badlands to the east of town,
where the creatures were trained almost from the time they hatched
in the art of offensive battle in the air. The riders, known simply
as the "skyknights," became renowned for their use of the mounted
lances that were their primary weapon. Many trained extensively in
the use of the shortbow as well, which they became quite proficient
in.
Geyon
is unlikely to ever become an air power. The city concerns itself
far more with the day-to-day profitmaking of the busy industrial
town.
