-1

Buildup:

There are a bunch of various dwarven clans that live in biomes of varying degrees of realism. Each specializes in getting materials in a certain way, such as mining, glassblowing, or panning.

The Actual Question:

How can I have clans get materials such as precious metals or gems, fossils, or petrified wood in novel ways? Please don't have one gigantic handwave.

Community
  • 1
detrivore
  • 368
  • 1
  • 6
  • 3
    The alternative is probably a bunch of little handwaves. – WhatRoughBeast Feb 05 '17 at 05:37
  • which kind of new way? their technological level? Open hearth furnace is a new way or not? – MolbOrg Feb 05 '17 at 05:39
  • 3
    This seems broad: asking for alternative ways to do things in general could be answered a million different ways, but perhaps we can help if you specify what they have to work with and what exactly they need. – Zxyrra Feb 05 '17 at 06:23
  • Technology roughly Victorian, portals to other planets can be opened – detrivore Feb 05 '17 at 06:23
  • 2
    This could be a good question, but right now it's kinda too broad, like idea generation. You need to specify exactly what they have. So roughly Victorian. What's different than Victorian? They plant portals, that's not very victorian at all. How do they work? What do they cost? What do the dwarves need to mine? What techniques are not "novel"?

    Going out on a limb here, I'm guessing your best choice will be to have the dwarves mine normally, but using the special technology you've given them (planet portals would really change the mining business).

     – DonyorM Feb 05 '17 at 12:26
  • If I added limits on the technology, that would prevent some idea generation, wouldn't it? – detrivore Feb 05 '17 at 18:03

2 Answers2

2

Like described in this earlier answer: dragons tunnel through the mountain and poop out gems.

Community
  • 1
JDługosz
  • 69,440
  • 13
  • 130
  • 310
2

-Metabolism: The dwarves eat the ore and distill the mineral from the urine. Works for water-soluble crystals.

-Portaling asteroids: They open a portal on the side of a mountain, and place the other end in the way of a smaller asteroid. The asteroid erupts from the mountain, decelerates in the atmosphere, and collides in the ground. The dwarves then collect the rare metals, which are dispersed near the crater. Works better if the portals can compensate the relative velocity, so the boom is smaller.

b.Lorenz
  • 6,391
  • 23
  • 39