Anti-Serum Crop Duster
The anti-serum crop duster was a spraying apparatus fitted to the airship the Liliana in The Fight for Rislandia to spread Rhys's counter-serum over the Wyranth army.
Origin
Rhys proposed the method, based on an agricultural technique he had seen: making a low pass to spread a treatment over a large number of crops in a short time. Harkerpal said he could assemble a spraying mechanism for the bottom of the Liliana's hull. The serum needed a thickening agent so that it would spread rather than fall as a plain liquid. Baron Theodore von Monocle called the adapted Liliana a "crop duster."
Design
Harkerpal designed the device and Rhys conceived it. It consisted of a tapped line running from a large barrel crate of liquid anti-serum, with:
- an automatic crank powered by a small steam motor, whose exhaust ran out through the side of the hull;
- a small lever handle on one of the pipes to start it ("It will be fully automatic. All we have to do is flip this lever.");
- a small grate at the end that dispersed the liquid evenly;
- a conveyor that drew from the barrels of anti-serum.
Rhys operated it below decks, and orders reached him through the communications funnel. There was only enough anti-serum for one major battle.
Use in battle
During the Second Battle of Rislandia City, the Liliana made low passes over the Wyranth forces, spraying the counter-serum. A Wyranth artillery round then blew open the rear of the ship. The tube shattered and most of the device was blown out with the wall, but the container of anti-serum survived. The crew later poured the remaining liquid directly onto the walking giant (see Project Walking Monster).
In A History of Rislandia
According to A History of Rislandia, Harkerpal is credited as a developer of anti-serum delivery systems in a broader sense, with the sourcebook treating his contributions in this area as part of his wider engineering legacy rather than focusing solely on the airship-mounted apparatus described in the novels.
More notably, A History of Rislandia records a distinct but related device: an anti-serum production device created by Rhys and Harkerpal together, which was used to rig the Wyranth iron mine facility. According to the sourcebook, that mine was subsequently destroyed. The page for the Mine Serum Machine covers this device in detail; it is mentioned here because the sourcebook groups it under the broader subject of anti-serum delivery systems alongside Harkerpal's airship work, implying the two efforts are treated as related engineering endeavours within the historical record.
The sourcebook does not describe the crop duster mechanism itself in technical detail, nor does it name the Liliana in this context.