Science & Technology of Dynamo Island
Science and technology play a central role in Dynamoan education at both second and third level and in Dynamoan industry. In view of its lack of oil and coal resources and of the national policy to use green energy as far as possible, Dynamo Island has depended for its industrial development on sophisticated and energy-efficient technologies in particular in relation to communications, transport (electric trains, trams, small electric vehicles, bicycles) and power generation (hydro-electricity, wave and wind-generated power). The island’s rich and productive agriculture has led to the development of many associated industries (brewing, canning, freezing, milling, refining) and the production of a wide range of natural foodstuffs. Education in Dynamo, as in Germany, offers students from the age of 16 a choice of either preparation for university or a place in a technical college in which a wide range of skills – commercial, creative and industrial – is provided. As its general ethos would suggest, Dynamo is a world-leader in bicycle, tram and train design and technology, as also in creative as well as general recycling. In Spokane, entire towns and villages have been constructed using recycled materials.
Sparta is the largest province of Dynamo Island and the most intensively industrialised. The region between Rugby, on the River Pitch, and Top March, Upper March and Lower March on the River Wicket, is the most densely populated part of the country with a wide range of manufacturing and processing industries. The existence of large iron ore deposits, and some coal, in the limestone escarpments and of lead, zinc, copper and gold in the Handlebar Mountains, led from the late 18th century to an important metallurgical industry, one that with modernisation and refinement has continued to thrive today. Rugby’s city centre is still an attractive jumble of late 18th and early 19th century metal workshops, many of which are still active, and is criss-crossed by an old narrow-gauge railway that continues to provide essential transport for raw materials and finished products between the various workshops and depots of the city. While Rugby from the beginning of the railway age in the early 19th century became the country’s leading producer of steel rails, bridging, cranes and dockland winches, nearly two hundred years later, Lower March, at the confluence of the Crease and the Rafter, is the centre of engineering (machine tools, factory robotics, electric motors) and is famous for its Dynamo Institute of Technology (DIT). Upper March is famous for its ceramic and glass industries, using local clay and sand, while Top March specializes in high quality clockwork, camera and other optical equipment. ‘Wicket’ watches are prized throughout the country, while ‘Top March’ digital cameras are an important export. Significant dying and chemical industries are established at Lower March, using the abundant waters of the converging tributaries of the Crease and the local potash deposits. Hydroelectric stations towards the headwaters of these tributaries provide the energy to power not only the region’s industry but also the bulk of the country’s electric train system. The more recent development of wind- and wave-power is centred at Philadelpho and New Dublin on the north coast of Sparta, which is itself the choice site of these energy-producing installations as it is exposed to Atlantic winds and tides. Philadelpho is also an important port for coal and other raw material imports and for export of Spartan industrial goods.