"Because, frankly, most earthbenders suck at doing anything other than chucking boulders. The Earth Army's standard manual of arms has it that each soldiers makes their own armor, but making armor is a skill. Just soaking rock onto your body can leave you with a piece of shit suit that limits your range of motion. Most people don't even bother to make something that lets them turn their head! And even if they do, their armor will probably have tons of internal fractures that a firebender can blow through with one blast. Asking earthbenders to learn how to craft armor, fight in armor, and chuck rocks is asking for the impossible.
"Which is why we're going to make it so they don't have to bother learning."
* * *
Toph leads her project group down to the base of the Outer Wall. What she shows them there sends their jaws to the floor. "Yes, that is a Fire Nation ship. Yes, it is buried inside the Outer Wall. No, your eyes are not devicing you. Forty years back, a hurricane shipwrecked this baby on our coast. The army salvaged the wreck and moved it in here for study. Everyone pretty much forgot about it until I started asking around for some quality steel to make coat my rock armor.
"When I first toured that ship, I realized something amazing. It's probably the greatest thing the Fire Nation has ever invented." Toph flashes her best show-woman's grin and pulls a modern marvel out of her uniform's pocket. "Don't you agree?"
One of the peons asks, "Is that a bolt?"
"It gets better," Toph promises. She sets her cane against the railing overlooking the drydock, pulls out something else from her pocket, and holds it up for everyone to see.
"But... that's just another bolt."
"Just another bolt? Just another bolt?! Are you sure I'm the blind one here? These bolts are exactly the same. Anywhere that a bolt screws in on that ship, I can put one of these babies. The same goes for every screw, rivet, door hinge and lighting fixture. Any piece can swap places with the same sort of piece because they were all build exactly alike. The firebenders have a word for it. They call them interchangeable parts."
Toph tosses the bolts up into the air, then excitedly snatched them on their way back down. It is a trick that never fails to impress people who are stupid enough to be amazed a blind woman can dress herself without help. "You all want to know what our project's goal is? These bolts show it. We're going to design a standard set of rock armor for the Earth Army, sized for various heights and builds. If one piece breaks or wears down -- like, say, a helmet or a boot -- it'll be replaceable with an identical part. This will make training in how to fight in rock armor a shitload easier because everyone will be working with the same equipment. Yours truly will be checking for product quality, but the rest of you bastards will be designing it so that even a drunk hogmonkey can put it on. And once we have the prototypes ready..."
"Ma'am?"
"That brings up another lovely Fire Nation term." She grins wolfishly. "Have any of you ever heard about something called 'mass production'?"
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branchandroot
But Teach a Man to Fish... [2/2]
Date: 2010-11-22 06:05 pm (UTC)"Which is why we're going to make it so they don't have to bother learning."
* * *
Toph leads her project group down to the base of the Outer Wall. What she shows them there sends their jaws to the floor. "Yes, that is a Fire Nation ship. Yes, it is buried inside the Outer Wall. No, your eyes are not devicing you. Forty years back, a hurricane shipwrecked this baby on our coast. The army salvaged the wreck and moved it in here for study. Everyone pretty much forgot about it until I started asking around for some quality steel to make coat my rock armor.
"When I first toured that ship, I realized something amazing. It's probably the greatest thing the Fire Nation has ever invented." Toph flashes her best show-woman's grin and pulls a modern marvel out of her uniform's pocket. "Don't you agree?"
One of the peons asks, "Is that a bolt?"
"It gets better," Toph promises. She sets her cane against the railing overlooking the drydock, pulls out something else from her pocket, and holds it up for everyone to see.
"But... that's just another bolt."
"Just another bolt? Just another bolt?! Are you sure I'm the blind one here? These bolts are exactly the same. Anywhere that a bolt screws in on that ship, I can put one of these babies. The same goes for every screw, rivet, door hinge and lighting fixture. Any piece can swap places with the same sort of piece because they were all build exactly alike. The firebenders have a word for it. They call them interchangeable parts."
Toph tosses the bolts up into the air, then excitedly snatched them on their way back down. It is a trick that never fails to impress people who are stupid enough to be amazed a blind woman can dress herself without help. "You all want to know what our project's goal is? These bolts show it. We're going to design a standard set of rock armor for the Earth Army, sized for various heights and builds. If one piece breaks or wears down -- like, say, a helmet or a boot -- it'll be replaceable with an identical part. This will make training in how to fight in rock armor a shitload easier because everyone will be working with the same equipment. Yours truly will be checking for product quality, but the rest of you bastards will be designing it so that even a drunk hogmonkey can put it on. And once we have the prototypes ready..."
"Ma'am?"
"That brings up another lovely Fire Nation term." She grins wolfishly. "Have any of you ever heard about something called 'mass production'?"