I is for the Iron Silence

“Three to five times" in a typical week around and in the heart of the Industrialplatz of Nuln, the Silence Bells ring and the district comes to a halt. Wagons and carts halt in place, conversations become whispers, and gunnery practice ceases for a full hour.

The bells ring just as new guns emerge from the forges to cool. These special bells ring in a well known tone and the reaction to the Silence Bells has become a tradition known as the Iron Silence. It is said that a loud noise can cause imperfections in cooling metal. Hairline fractures or “cysts" that become holes, each bringing ruin to the gun and often the crew test firing the gun for the first time.

The period of cooling lasts typically an hour. Many working and living around the Industrialplatz and the Gunnery school are used to the Bells and range testing. To complain about either is to identify yourself as an outsider to be dismissed.

During war the bells may ring several times a day.

Editor's Notes

The idea of an Iron Silence is amusing to me. We have the “Boom Report" on local radio as we live down range of a Naval testing facility. The sounds of the big guns can be heard and there are days where one can hear auto cannons. We call these the “Sounds of Freedom!" Local don't complain. We're of the opinion Outsiders just have to get use to it.


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