Several fortunes from the nation's wealthiest residents get put to building a school, one meant for the greatest of scholars and the very greatest artisans in the finest of trades: jewelers, goldsmiths, gunsmiths and watchmakers, all drawn in and inspired by the impossible perfection of the obelisk. They quickly create small workshops, stunning the world, as their talents and the visions emanating from the obelisk as they work let them put together masterworks to be renowned for centuries. Apprentices who hear of these legendary artisans flock to them, quickly racing to join them, learning from them and spreading their mastery across a growing workforce of brilliant artisans in Amsterdam.

Curious and outcast scholars, more than before, gather in the city and from ever-widening swathes of Europe, quickly growing the city's scientific prominence to ever greater heights. Some even get allowed to study at the new university, where the obelisk's visions let them see the pages of a book as if it were in front of them, and a growing team of scribes can easily write their every thought, freeing them to think. In Britain, an inventor has found a method for turning fire into motion, being given a monopoly on the invention by the parliament itself; this invention would seem poised to vastly reshape the world, and many thoughts within the New University go to the promise and power of this new invention...

Merchants and sea captains, who value knowledge than anyone else, make a miraculous discovery: within the forests near the obelisks, several new kinds of creature have emerged: a bird with enormous wings, blue as the sky or black as the night, and a new race of chickens perfect for the sea or the farm: plump, hardy, quiet, and a prodigious layer of eggs. The new breed of bird, perfectly hidden by the sky or the night, would let them send priceless letters vast distances from foreign trade posts and outposts, or see enemy ships and forces from the skies, giving them an enormous advantage in the battlefields of trade or war.

Quickly, the animals join the farms, ships, and menageries, where their impressive abilities let Dutch farmers feed more, as the country's merchants use the new breed of birds to construct a vast information network, putting together more of the world's knowledge of prices, shortages and booms to bring their trade empires to even greater profits and prosperity.