Waylength Grastus

Overview

Waylength Johnstone Grastus (1242 - 1313) was an extremely important [[Airships | Airship]] pioneer who almost single-handedly brought fast, safe, and efficient airship technology to the world, despite only working in the field for 16 years. Waylength was a mathematician who, while employed as a surveyor, visited the eastern nation of [[Ziran | Ziran]] and saw firsthand their [[Ziran Airships | primitive airships]]. When Corsian engineers began applying steam power to airship technology, Waylength was inspired to take on a new career as an aeronautical engineer, despite his then advanced age. His constant innovations and audacity lead him to become a hero to Corsia and his legacy as the father of Corsian aeronautics is laid in stone.

Early Life

Waylength was born in 1242 in the town of Redbrook in south Westhaven. His father was a cobbler and his mother a fisherwoman, and his childhood was relatively easy. [[Steam Power]] took a long time to reach the town, and Waylength's youth was paced slowly and methodologically. He excelled at his studies and was sent by his family to study at the Cranswick academy. While in Cranswick he was exposed to the innovations being wrought by steam power, and became interested in the technology. Once again, he excelled at his studies in mathematics and physics, and was quickly given a position as a junior professor upon his graduation. He made a series of friends that later became important contacts and collaborators while in this position, but his youthful desire to see the world meant he jumped at the first opportunity to leave the city.

Mathematical Career

In 1269, at the age of 27, Waylength took on a job as a surveyor and cartographer for [[Wendleson's Shipping Company]], a local Cranswick merchant company. He spent the next few years in their employ, touring the [[Corsian outlands]] before signing on for a voyage to the Ziran Islands. In 1276 Waylength visited Akiad where he spent a year and a half collecting maps and surveying the major islands. While there he became fascinated by their airships;

I have today again seen the remarkable method by which the Ziranians traverse their homeland. A small craft, made of wood and wicker, floating gently above the waters and townsfolk below. By means of these boats of the sky, the people of Ziran may travel vertically into the air and thence horizontally about to reach their targets. In a place such as this, where the only solid ground are sheer cliffs, these craft are a godsend to the people here. I asked about town to find out the history of these magnificent vehicles, but only found out the great reverence with which the Ziranians regard them. I have also learnt, most heart-rendingly, that only local born men may ride in these device, and so I constrain my interest to observation. //-Waylength Grastus, 1276//

Waylength made many sketches and calculations while present however, and provided detailed notes on the ships when he returned to Corsia in 1279. Waylength was the first to determine how the ships worked and by which means, but once he returned to Corsia he gradually lost interest in the craft. In 1282, at the age of 40, he left Wendleson's and returned to become a full professor at the Cranswick academy. In 1286 Innovation (airship) was launched in Irongate, and Waylength took the month off to visit the launch. He took detailed notes, and began to skew his mathematical studies towards fluid dynamics and buoyancy.

Early Aeronautical Career

By 1294 Waylength was once again infatuated by airships. He continued teaching mathematics at Cranswick, but spent his free time and research allowance on investigating airship technology. He left his teaching position in 1296 and founded ''[[Airship Manufacturers#Imperial Skysailing | Imperial Skysailing]]'' in Irongate, where he moved to with his family. Waylength used all his previous notes and research to construct the first rigid airship ever, Sunset, in 1297. His airship was a success, attracting investment into his company, but Waylength himself was unimpressed by the ship noting that:

...unless some medium is found that is more buoyant in air then heated air, these transports are woefully constrained in size, and therefore use.

His frustration over the limitations of the buoyancy of air led him to invest heavily in chemical engineering firms; with the hope that some new substance might be developed that might prove useful. In a stroke of luck and genius, engineer Arnold Luffzich developed Luffzich Gas in 1301. Waylength bought the patent filed for the gas and immediately nulled it, stating that

All mankind must be permitted the benefits of this miracle substance and the potential it has to offer us all a world which was once merely a dream.

Personal Life

Waylength married childhood sweetheart Aidriana Lay in 1270, but he had no children. He was known as a humorous, kind-spirited man, who took joy in hard work and in his country.

Later Life

The years 1302 through to 1310 were a boon to Corsia and to Waylength. While initially Waylength was in charge of designing and overseeing the construction of his company's airships, soon the work became too much for one man, and he became designer only. In this decade airship technology evolved in leaps and bounds, and Corsian skies were soon abuzz with the sounds of commerce and adventure. Waylength was always interested in constructing larger and larger airships, spurred on by his belief that the economic point where size was maximally efficient hadn't been reached yet. In 1311 Waylength was appointed chief engineer in the CAF Airforce. He oversaw the construction of many of Corsia's military airships, and designed many many more that wouldn't be produced for years after his death. Waylength's most ambitious plan came in 1312, when he imagined an [[Vaeles | entire city]], floating above the ground. He spent the last year of his life obsessively calculating the requirements and sketching blueprints for his city, but never saw the foundations laid.

Death and Legacy

In 1313, while taking a holiday near his hometown in Westhaven, Waylength suffered a heart attack. He passed away that same day, at the age of 71. He left in his will his estate to his family, and his unfinished blueprints and plans to the [[Imperial Industrial Company | IIC]]. His company remained in family hands, and continues to operate as airshipwrights. Waylength was given a full state burial in Irongate at the union cathedral, with Gregory IV in attendance. The Cranswick Academy was renamed 'Waylength Mathematical Academy', and a statue of Waylength was erected outside the Irongate Aerodrome. Vaeles was constructed, faithful to Waylength's plans, and now flys above Corsia - a sight he would have been proud to see.

Today Waylength is remembered as a hero of Corsia, who elevated an industry and a nation though his hard work and vision.