Lorin Hendalcroft

Lorin Hendalcroft is the inventor of steam power and the founder of Hendalcroft Steam Power Co. He is widely seen as the father of the modern age and the people's hero who shifted the power from the wizards of the time to the people through technology.

The Death of his Family and the Birth of the Modern Age
Hendalcroft discovered coal after a particularly twisted Lunari wizard killed Hendalcroft's family in front of him using large balls of lighting. Unwittingly the wizard struck a pocket of coal, then unknown to Hendalcroft, causing a cloud of coat dust to fill the area. With his next attack, the coat dust exploded killing the wizard. Hendalcroft survived and began to mine this new material with the idea he could use it against other wizards.

Hendalcroft quickly realized that it wasn't a practical weapon so he began to explore other uses for the combustable material. Drawing inspiration from a water powered mill in his village he built a new mill using steam created by pulling water from the river and heating it with the coal. This method was much faster than just using the power of the river.

Word quickly spread and he began to sell his steam powered mill to neighboring villages. With the advantages of steam power becoming apparent to him he created Hendalcroft Steam Power Co. and began to come up with new uses for it.

Creating the Cannon
At first the world of magic ignored Hendalcroft however this didn't last very long. Hendalcroft's Steam Power Co. grew expontentially fast and new inventions seem to be coming out of his laboratories every day. While most of his inventions had to do with helping people he also was secretly working on new weapons to fight magic.

At the time, Hendalcroft was using black powder to uncover more coal to power his new machines. However, there was an accident in his mine and the shaft collasped. Before they could remove the rumble, the black powder in the shaft exploded killing all of the miners but also throwing large boulders out of the opening of the mind shaft. After the incident Hendalcroft began to experiment with black powder in the hopes of recreating the same effect at the mine but in a more practical form.

Soon after and two laboratories later, he created his first functional cannon. Wanting to test it, he wheeled it to the outside edge of town and took aim at a nearby wizard's tower. This particular wizard had left the world alone and had no interest in the affairs of men until Hendalcroft shot a canon at his tower. The first cannon only fired once before the back exploded out but it's one shot hit the wizards tower tearing open a giant hole in the side of the tower. The wizard fleed and Hendalcroft, ecstatic at the success of his first cannon, quickly begins to produce as many cannons as he can.

Battle at the Factory
Word spread quickly both in the world of magic and world of steam. Non-magic users didn't have to fear magic users any more. Afraid of losing their power the Lunari, a small group of wizards who had been ruling several villages with an iron fist, came together and summoned a small army of creatures with the intention of killing Hendalcroft and destroying his inventions. They descended upon his main factory and unleashed a magical storm destroying everything and everyone in their path.

Hendalcroft had other plans however and had been planning for this. He had hidden cannons in the hillside next to his factory and unleashed his own firestorm on to the wizards once they entered his factory. Having never faced cannons they were quickly cut down except for one wizard. Summoning the last of his strength the last wizard brought the hillside down on the cannons. Determined to not be defeated by a wizard, Hendalcroft implimented his backup plan. Under his factory there was a large store of black powder for his cannons. He ignited it and blew the remains of his factory up with the last wizard in the middle of it.

Creating the Modern Age
After blowing up his factory and defeating the wizards, Hendalcroft's fame and his company spread rapidily across the country building new factories, mines and laboratories. Hendalcroft was determined to bring an end to the Age of Magic in whatever we he could and he saw technology as the way to do it.

Rumors
Late in his life, it was rumored that Hendalcroft was working on a way to bring back his wife and child. He set up a private laboratory that only he was allowed to enter except for Henry Milton. Hendalcroft spent most of his time in the laboratory until a mysterious green fire burned it to the ground. The only thing that survived the unusally hot fire was half of a mechanical hand. Hendalcroft was not in the lab at the time.