Gery

Biodata

Power Progression

Background / History

Recruitment and Appointment

Gery was the first to step forward during Su Qin’s Dragon God ceremony. After receiving a craftsman enhancement, he became chief artisan officer at sixteen, with the middle-aged Downton serving as his left deputy. Their first assignment was to study the construction methods and structural principles of a level-two smithy 18 26.

By the first weekly council meeting of April, Gery sat alongside Gulltown’s senior officials as its master craftsman. He was the youngest official overseeing manufacturing 22 23.

Recognition and Ministerial Work

After successful mortar tests, Gery worked through the night to prepare a detailed smithy estimate. Su Qin rewarded him by raising his salary to twenty gold coins per month, twice the newly announced rate for the four senior officials, and instructed him not to tell the others 23.

Gery subsequently took responsibility for smithy expansion, irrigation planning, refugee housing, and construction research. He and Downton became important members of the emerging noble faction associated with Su Qin, though the passages do not identify a specific noble title for Gery 26 31 32 34.

By October, he was explicitly listed as minister of craftsmanship. He remained in office as minister of manufacturing at the year-end meeting 36 49.

Personality

Gery is an enthusiastic, persistent researcher. He repeatedly tests masonry by having workers strike it with iron hammers, continues experimenting after disappointing results, and resumes work immediately when Su Qin suggests adding sand. His successful follow-up tests and overnight budgeting leave him visibly sleep-deprived 22 23.

He credits the Dragon God’s miracle with helping him discover pleasure in technical knowledge. He also develops a strong preference for Han characters, praising how much meaning a single character can convey and using them to write his smithy estimate 23 26.

Gery is candid about technical limitations. When an experimental lift fails, he acknowledges that their smithing is not yet adequate. Although discouraged, he sets the project aside when instructed and turns to the next assignment 43.

Abilities & Skills

Masonry and Materials Research

Gery develops building materials through repeated destructive testing rather than relying solely on inherited knowledge 22 23.

• Mortar formulation: Experiments with earth-to-lime ratios; Su Qin advises him to add river sand and adjust the proportions 22.
• Strength testing: Reports that a double-layer stone-brick wall made with the improved mixture withstands thousands of hammer blows 23.
• Brick firing: Knows how to operate a chamber kiln, estimating an output of approximately 30,000 bricks per firing, with each firing taking about one month 40.
• Kiln planning: Is ordered to draw chamber-kiln plans so Su Qin can examine ways to reduce dependence on purchased bricks 40.

Construction Planning and Workforce Management

Gery calculates costs, assigns craftsmen and laborers, and evaluates whether construction capacity can meet refugee demand 23 34 36.

• Warns Su Qin that purchasing construction materials is becoming too expensive 36.
• Studies the walls of Su Qin’s 400-square-meter Arrow Tower Fortress, expecting to finish working them out by the end of December 40.
• By the war preparations, directs forty men across Smithies No. 1 and No. 2 in research and weapons production 43.

Smithing and Weapons Production

Gery oversees the craftsmen producing Su Qin’s early weapons and armor. Their work includes redwood spears, hundred-fold-forged iron weapons, bows, crossbows, and iron armor; Su Qin orders the manufacturing techniques kept secret 26.

• Spear production: Estimates that twenty craftsmen, organized under himself and Downton, can produce thirty redwood spears per day at fifty copper coins each, including materials and labor 26.
• Workshop expansion: Receives fifty gold coins to direct construction of another large smithy after the first weapons inspection 26.
• Horn-bow manufacture: Explains that a redwood horn bow requires roughly two weeks to make and test, partly because its glued components need time to set. One hundred craftsmen could produce about two hundred bows per month 43.
• Arrowhead manufacture: Estimates approximately fifty hundred-forged arrowheads per craftsman per day, with apprentices and polishers supporting finishing work 43.
• Wartime orders: Assesses Su Qin’s initial request for three hundred horn bows and nine thousand arrows. The immediate priority is reduced to fifty bows and three thousand arrows by year’s end 43.
• Budgeting authority: Calculates approximately fifty gold in materials for the reduced order. Su Qin gives him one hundred gold and leaves him discretion over the remainder 43.

Mechanical Engineering

Gery attempts to build a manually powered lift for the Arrow Tower Fortress, using iron pulleys, gears, a chain, and a stone-loaded iron cage attached to a twenty-meter-high platform 43.

• Test failure: The chain snaps and the cage falls during a demonstration 43.
• Technical limit: Gery attributes the failure to insufficient smithing capability 43.
• Project suspension: Su Qin orders him to postpone the mechanism, accepting stairs as a temporary alternative for the fortress 43.

Relationships

• Su Qin — Lord, patron, and technical collaborator. Grants Gery his craftsman enhancement, appoints him to office, supplies research suggestions, and rewards his work with increased pay and responsibility. Gery’s loyalty exceeds 95 during the first weapons inspection 18 22 23 26.
• Downton — Left deputy artisan officer and principal collaborator. Shares leadership of the craftsmen, organizes spear production with Gery, and helps evaluate the irrigation design 18 26 32.
• Unnamed younger sister — Studies at Su Qin’s temporarily established Seagull Academy 43.

Notable Quotes

“The Dragon God’s miracle allowed me to discover the pleasure in this knowledge.” 26

“My lord, it seems our smithing skills aren’t quite up to the task.” 43