Kingdom of Aragon – Upper Ebro Valley
Spring, 1795
Prince Lancelot stood on the wooden scaffolding overlooking the churning gorge, the wind pulling at his navy-blue overcoat. Below, the River Ebro thundered through a natural bottleneck, its waters diverted through newly carved channels that fed into the heart of the Aragonian Hydroelectric Complex—the first of its kind in the kingdom, and perhaps in all of Europe.
The sound was immense, like a thousand furnaces exhaling in unison. Mist sprayed upward, casting soft halos around the brass lanterns suspended from the incomplete iron gantries. Men shouted over the din, moving in rhythm as wheelbarrows, winches, and cranes all danced to the script of industry.
"Your Highness," said Chief Engineer Arturo Liano, adjusting his leather gloves, "we've completed the third turbine shaft and begun laying the copper conduit lines toward Calvaria."
