Harkerpal's Electrical Field
Inventor: Harkerpal Power: Ship's power, or a mobile transformer in the field Appears in: Baron Von Monocle and the Island of the Fae
Harkerpal's electrical field is an invisible barrier of electrical current that "will repel invaders". Harkerpal created it because "ever since we had issues with the Zenwey people boarding our airship, I wanted to find a way to secure the engine room." The story calls it an electrical field, an energy field and an electricity field.
Design
The device is a pair of metal rods, one fixed to each side of a door frame, with globes that spark. When it is switched on, "there is now a field between the two" that cannot be seen. Anything entering it sparks and is stopped: a coin flicked into it drops to the floor.
Demonstration and rejection
Harkerpal demonstrated the field across the mess-hall doors to an awed crew. Baron Theodore von Monocle praised it as brilliant but turned it down: "if one of your engineers or the crew accidentally walked into this? There's no warning. A person could get burnt to a crisp." After the Fae broke into the unguarded engine room, Theodore admitted, "Perhaps we should have implemented Harkerpal's energy field after all."
The larger field
On the Fae island, Harkerpal rigged field generators from the ship's spare motor parts, leaving the ship with no backups. They were lowered to the beach on cargo pallets with a mobile transformer. Harkerpal could not cover the whole island but could cover an area "less than the size of the mess hall". He drew a line in the sand and set up rods and two large central poles. When he threw the transformer's heavy lever, the device whirred and smoked through its porous metal casing, and a net of energy surrounded the Fae. A copper coin Theodore flicked into it was charred beyond recognition.
Fate
The Fae accepted the field in trade for their "lifesblood", a well of aether fuel. Harkerpal had worried about "the future repercussions" of giving the creatures advanced technology. Theodore dismissed the concern.
Related devices
The field is similar in principle to other electrical weapons in the series, such as Dr. von Breech's aether-fueled auto-electrocuter.
In A History of Rislandia
According to A History of Rislandia, the device is referred to by the formal designation electrical field defense system, rather than the informal names used in the novel.
The sourcebook records that Baron Theodore von Monocle traded the electrical field defense system to the Fae in exchange for aether fuel, consistent with the novel's account. However, A History of Rislandia adds a detail not present in the novel-based account on this page: Theodore himself acknowledged that "the field wouldn't have held forever" against the Fae, suggesting he viewed the trade as pragmatic rather than merely generous. The novel does not record this qualification; Theodore's in-novel admission is limited to regretting he had not deployed the field earlier, with no stated doubt about its long-term effectiveness against the Fae specifically.