(no subject)

[sythyry]

And Some Parts of the Gathering were Devoted to Business [8 Hispis 4385]

We were eating snails and drinking brandy, of course. What other food and drink are suitable for discussions of commerce and treason?

Saza:"I remember that flock of flaming geese you sent against us in ... 4338, was it?"

Me:"4335. I remember the year acutely; the war distracted me from my Smith's Guild studies."

La Hish:"Very nice work, I must say. I tried to destroy them with jets of water, but they didn't mind it a bit."

Me:"Which is the point of fire geese, instead of something more natural like fire cats."

La Hish:"But of course! And when they landed on the skybridge deck, they left a proper goose-mark of scorch."

Me:"And a plum pudding, of course."

La Hish:"Delicious pastry products do seem to be your signature in battle, O mighty wizard of Vheshrame."

Me:"It's how I was introduced to the art of wizard-wars, when the duke commanded me to get Vae here to teleport a breakfast box to everyone outside the city walls."

Otresto:"Ahem. Oorah Thrassen's retaliation was not a masterpiece of the art. It was due to an uninspired and now-departed colleague, who did not appreciate the subtleties of battle."

Saza:"Ah... those were good wars."

Otresto:"They were indeed. Very profitable."

Phaniet:"I'm not entirely sure that they deserve the name of 'war'."

Otresto:"How could they not? There is diplomatic discord; soon, there are mighty acts of sorcery, and then one city (generally Oorah Thrassen) has won and the other (generally Vheshrame) has lost. If that is not a war, what does it lack?"

Phaniet:"Blood, for one thing."

Otresto:"Pah, don't be ridiculous. What point is there in assembling heroes to fight and sometimes die? The age is past in Ketheria where a half-dozen warriors, no matter how mighty, could storm a city and destroy or conquer it. Now is the age of great magic. A flight of fire geese, carrying perdition rather than pudding, would wreck the sky-bridge. And if Sythyry can manage the one, zie can manage the other. So we must respond with ... with ..."

La Hish:"We turned all the bees in Vheshrame Mene into glass for the space of two minutes."

Me:"A good deal more devastating than providing pudding."

Phaniet:"Why?" She is technically clever, but sometimes not as devious as she might be.

Me:"If they can turn them into glass -- a rather challenging substance to manipulate -- they can also turn them into fire -- and thereby burn up all the crops and orchards and forests in Vheshrame Mene in a moment. Plus, of course, it would kill all the bees, so even if we did rescue the crops, they'd be hard to pollinate."

Phaniet:"... oh ..."

Saza:"Those were good wars. We should have another war, and sooner rather than later."

Me:"With Vheshrame?"

Saza:"With Vheshrame, or with any other suitable partner. I am not in a position to be fussy."

La Hish:"Ah, more gambling debts?"

Saza:"I have achieve a great mastery of the art of indebtedness. I no longer need to gamble to find myself greatly in need of money. Nor, even, do I need to spend a terch to do so. And that's the last I shall say of the matter, save that I do need money."

Me:"I'm afraid that Vheshrame is not in a position to oblige you at the moment. The city is neither as rich nor as powerful as it once was, and our concerns are closer to home."

Saza:"Except for your concerns, which seem directed at vacation on Srineia."

Me:"I am not Vheshrame. I am simply from Vheshrame."

Saza:"You and the honorable nendrai... [interrupted]"

La Hish:"The mighty nendrai."

Saza:"Is that the proper title?"

Vae:"The better title for us it is, truly. Not always are we honorable."

Saza:"I'm sure you are more honorable than most!"

Vae: turned the air around her into a shower of fluttering pink semicolons, by way of blushing.

Saza:"Now that's a fetching emotive gesture!"

Vae:"Not am I to be fetched though!"

Saza:"A mere pleasantry. In any case, you and the honorable Sythyry ... zie is honorable, isn't zie?"

Me:"As honorable as anyone of our lineage can be!" (Which certainly sounds like we share certain obscure and doubtless occult secrets. In fact, we do share one: our lineage likes to make obscure pronouncements that make it seem that we share occult secrets.)

Saza:"Well, we mustn't talk about that today." (See? Zie knew exactly what I was talking about.) "In any case, once the two of you return from your vacation, couldn't you manage to talk the Duke of Vheshrame into another sorcerous assault upon my poor, misguided, and utterly vicious country?"

Me:"I will, at least, mention your interest in the topic to Hezimikkinen."

Saza:"No, no! Better that it comes entirely from you!"

Me:"I think that the ducal budget for extravagant gestures at distant nations is rather low. Especially distant nations who have, on the whole, sent us home with our tails tied in knots."

La Hish:"Now, now, I wouldn't say you've done that badly. The plum pudding was excellent."

(Which is a tacit acknowledgment that Vheshrame's display of power was actually beneficial -- or at least delicious -- to Oorah Thrassen, while theirs was wholly menacing to us. While we didn't win the exchange, we were ahead for style.)

Otresto:"Well, if we can't start a war with Vheshrame -- and while their wizard and their nendrai are on vacation, we can't -- and if you're in such a Flokin-petted hurry to have a war -- who should we start one with?"

Me:"Maybe one of the Aradrueian cities? Lenkasia would probably make quite an excellent competitor."

Saza, who was about to sip zir brandy, choked and sputtered. La Hish stopped in mid-snail. Otresto looked distinctly, even incandescently, unpersuaded. Lenkasia has one of the best magic academies anywhere, with a dozen wizards -- several of whom far exceed anyone in the gazebo. Oorah Thrassen has the Temple of the Dark Trinity, a mighty center of priestly power; but Lenkasia has an actual goddess.

Me:"Ah! You don't simply wish to indulge in a wizard-war; you wish to win!"

La Hish:"Well, yes."

Otresto:"It's not strictly necessary of course."

Saza:"But we generally get paid a bonus if we win."

La Hish:"And of course we're less likely to get hired for the next one if we lose."

Otresto:"For some reason, duel-wars are still quite popular."

Saza:"And the Gormoror hill tribes produce some superb champions for duel-wars."

Me:"They do indeed." The Gormoror hill tribes allied with Oorah Thrassen are mighty and frequently-victorious. The Gormoror themselves are fierce and courageous, and the wizards of Oorah Thrassen have given them many mighty talismans over the years. They are rarely defeated in duel wars. Which, like wizard wars, don't quite deserve the name "war"; they are, in many cases, more of a bloody sporting event with consequences for international diplomacy.

La Hish:"Still, once you return, please do talk your Duke into declaring war on us. It's as much for your benefit as ours."

Me:"I'm sure it is." Which she can take as a 'yes' if she likes, but I don't mean it as one.

It may be callous of me to abandon my cousin in such a financial doom -- and my associate Grinwipey being responsible for that doom -- but I don't think that wizard-wars happening entirely for the benefit of the wizards are really appropriate. If we're going to expend vast amounts of time, money, skill, and cley on some spectacular workings of magic, why not on things that do some actual good?

(To which the standard answer is "What are city walls, water systems, and skyboats, if not things that do some actual good?" But there are surely other things too ... but the tricky part is to find something new to work on that won't step on the tail of some guild or other.)

Or, for a different dimension of callousness: Enchantment provides me a constant income. If the wealthiest people in Vheshrame aren't buying magic items, then I can (and do) make cheaper items for less wealthy people. I have made lightcasters, water-movers, fireproofers, salt-strainers, bread-speeders, and all manner of assorted tools and utilitaria. It is, on the whole, less dramatic and less imposing (and less expensive) than ritual magic. The effects of a complexity-5 [unimpressive] enchantment are no greater than my customers could achieve on their own with a spell they bought at the neighborhood store -- the difference being that an enchantment doesn't cost cley and a spell does. Which is a serious difference: being able to create five gallons of water at the cost of one cley is useful to save someone a trip to the well or fountain; being able to create five gallons of water every two seconds all day long can have a rather greater cumulative effect. But it is still the same spell that the housemaid can cast.

Ritual magic can do much more than other magic of the same complexity. It takes only a few minutes or hours to perform, rather than the weeks for enchantment. But nobody is going to go to a karcist to buy something cheap and practical. Ritual magic is for emergencies, for wizard-wars, for producing slow catastrophes like Lithia. A karcist charges hundreds or thousands of lozens per cley -- and sometimes it's worth it.

If Saza were willing to get up before dawn every day, money wouldn't be a problem for zir.

For that matter, zie could probably do a respectable business with bound spells, except that is beneath a wizard's dignity, since bound spells are sold in country fairs and market squares these years.

Or, for a third dimension of callousness: I don't like being called upon to help my cousin in ways I can't talk about even once, and starting a wizard-war would be a second variety.

Ah, well. The snails and brandy were superb, in any case.

The Judgment

I am displeased with:

1. My seamstress;
2. My cousin;
3. My fellow wizards

Though I don't see that complaining at any of them is going to do any good.

Comments

[stormydragon.livejournal.com]

You should ask Vae if she can summon a copy of Adam Smith's An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations from our universe. It seems your fellow wizards could learn much from it.

[gavinfox.livejournal.com]

I agree completely!

[mmsword.livejournal.com]

Strangely enough, out of the three groups you're displeased with... I'm fairly sure the seamstress has the morale high ground, in a relative way of speaking. Which is even more awkward really.

[yotogi.livejournal.com]

That might be a Khtsoyis first.

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

I'm afraid you're right. I don't think I can dismiss Grinwipey at the moment in any case, but that high ground would make it even more awkward if I were to try.

[terrycloth.livejournal.com]

If you complained vehemently enough, they might start a war over it.

[cowboy-r.livejournal.com]

Calling a snail escargot doesn't stop it from tasting like a salty loogie.

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

cowboy_r: Calling a snail escargot doesn't stop it from
tasting like a salty loogie.

That was very hard to translate. Sythyry's form of Ketherian is the
high-class language for food: it's already effectively French.

Bard: "Calling a snail 'snail-in-Mrasteian' doesn't stop it from
tasting like a salty loogie." The words sound nearly the same, like
'snail' and 'snale', so I had to say "in Mrasteian".

Sythyry: "Yes, it does. If it's prepared by a Mrasteian chef, a
snail tastes like a salty loogie containing an incendiary combat
spell."

Bard: No, that's the wrong shade of meaning. Perhaps
'snail-in-the-Nice-Language? At least the words are more different.

Sythyry: Then it would taste like a salty loogie prepared in the
Umtangeian style, would it not? I do not specifically know how they cook
snails. Plum vinegar perhaps?

Bard: "No, that's getting more wrong. "Calling a
'snail-in-Umtangeian' a 'snail-in-Ketherian'" might be more accurate."

Sythyry: "Is it supposed to taste like a familiar and comforting
salty loogie?"

Bard:"No, that's not what he's getting at."

Sythyry:"Actually, I have had Mrasteian snails. They
don't seem nearly as mucus-like after they've been deep-fried in spicy
batter. Though I daresay the same would go for actual mucus as
well."

Bard:"No, he's speaking metaphorically. He's saying, 'Even if you
call an unpleasant food by a fancier name, it is still an unpleasant
food'."

Sythyry:"That makes no sense. He's obviously
talking about snails, since I was talking about snails. And snails aren't
an unpleasant food."

Bard:"I don't believe he likes to eat insects either."

Sythyry:"Tell your friend with the refined sensibilities that he
should try them deep-fried in spicy batter."

Bard:"He's not asking for recipes. I think he's making a point
about fancy language not covering up an underlying noxious reality.
Probably related to the various dancing that the wizards were doing avoid
using some unpleasant and accurate words about the wars they were
planning to start."

Sythyry:"Which is all very well, and I certainly appreciate the
sentiment, but why is he insulting snails in particular?"

Bard:"..."

[cowboy-r.livejournal.com]

... snails aren't bugs?

[stormydragon.livejournal.com]

I love escargot. And insects too. Dry roasted crickets covered in choclate are awesome.

On the otherhand, thinking of Sythyry as a French dragon does explain much about hir personality. ;>

As for translation, may I recommend: you can call a snail a salad, but it will still make a hethroy sick.

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

[Good translation -- I may steal it!]

[bloofox.livejournal.com]

To Quote

Sythyry:"Actually, I have had Mrasteian snails. They don't seem nearly
as mucus-like after they've been deep-fried in spicy batter. Though I
daresay the same would go for actual mucus as well."

You have just delighted me.

[postrodent.livejournal.com]

Once again I wonder about emigrating to the World Tree. Our leaders seem to expend about as much sober thought and consideration as yours do about starting wars, but wars in my time and place involve dropping large explosives on noncombatants as a matter of course. I would definitely prefer a breakfast box landing on my table to a bomb landing on my house. In any rate, Sythyry, I'm... pleased? that your vacation and diplomatic mission is going... well? :>

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't say that that sort of thing has never happened here, but international conflict is a rather stylized and elegant art form in Ketheria these decades. [Bard notes that it happens routinely, if one considers monsters to be people. Which Sythyry often does, but didn't think of this time. -bb]

I don't know that my vacation has actually started yet, but I'm drifting vacationwards, at least.

Best wishes!
-- Sythyry

[postrodent.livejournal.com]

Oops, how could I have forgotten the Holocaust Wars? The grass is always greener on the other side of the multidimensional soap bubble. :>

[stormydragon.livejournal.com]

Also don't forget you're seeing the World Tree from the viewpoint of someone in the upper class. I'm not sure you'd find being a peasant hetheroy farmer to be a very satisfying lifestyle. And you'd far more likely end up as one of them than as a Zi-ri sorceror.

[zeeth_kyrah]

I occasionally suspect I'd end up Rassimel if I emigrated. And hare off on some ridiculous quest or other for a few years and eventually end up selling reasonably powerful bound spells on a regular basis, or even learning a bit of enchantment and then ...um.

Right.

Let's go back to "war waged as an art form, instead of for the sake of killing people". I think this reality could use more of it.

[kajarainbow.livejournal.com]

I'd end up an Orren. Or monster, and we all know how many rights those have.

Anyway, from what I've seen, every society has their problems. I'm kinda accustomed to the problems of my society, I suppose, even if I'd like to fix them.

[terrycloth.livejournal.com]

I'm holding out for 'wherriweffle'. Or possibly 'Bonstable'.

[kris-schnee.livejournal.com]

Bonstable? We haven't seen any of those in Sythyry's journal... knowingly.

[terrycloth.livejournal.com]

Surprise twist: Glikkonen is a bonstable, and so are (by this point) something like 50% of the zi ri on the world tree. Oops!

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

That would make me a bonstable too, and I'm definitely not.

[stormydragon.livejournal.com]

That's exactly what a bonstable would say!

[rowyn]

Vheshrame's stylized wars with Oorah Thrassen remind me of America's stylized conflicts with Russia, or China, or North Korea. I hadn't thought of them as necessarily mutually exclusive with actual violence, although apparently among primes of this branch they pretty much are.

Still, I don't think I'd trade my lot for a typical prime's. The stratified social castes, the everyday bigotry regarding race and sexuality, the ossified social mores, and the enormous discrepancies in personal power wielded, are all pretty unappealing.

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

[Bard and Sythyry chat a bit.]

There is actual violence, in the generally-recognized form of duel-wars (fights between champions), in sabotage, and occasionally in attacks on primes. There isn't violence against cities this century: perhaps because we are too civilized, or perhaps because city walls are currently stronger than most means of penetrating them.

And, of course, there's plenty of violence against monsters.

[tuftears.livejournal.com]

It's far more fun to read about such things!

[rowyn]

Oh yes! Much more interesting and enjoyable when they're happening to other people. >:)

[ruscumag.livejournal.com]

Most of that depends on where you are I suspect - and there are an awful lot of people out there who are hungry, watching their kids die of various minor diseases, short of drinking water, and desperately unsure. Fundamentally, in many ways, the World Tree is a much happier place than Earth. That's part of what makes it a pleasant environment to set games and stories in.

[rowyn]

If you count sentient non-primes, I think the World Tree (taken as a whole) has substanially more violence and privation-per-capita than the Earth does. I think that's the way the creators intended it, because it's easier to have adventures in a difficult and dangerous world than in a safe and secure one.

But the World Tree as a whole is enormous, and I'm sure there are parts of it where the average person has a significantly better quaity of life than the average person on Earth.

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

There certainly are! Vheshrame, for one.

[Sythyry is a loyal lizard. -bb]

[stormydragon.livejournal.com]

Well, in Birkozen everyone THINKS they enjoy a significantly better quality of life. Does that count? ;>

War Is Heck?

[kris-schnee.livejournal.com]

That's a point that makes it hard to picture most wars being so horrible there. Any competent prime adult can magically generate food, water, and shelter well enough to survive, disease is nearly absent for primes, and biology is so different that being stabbed through the brain stem isn't necessarily fatal. So, the threat of burning another city-state's fields and eliminating their bees doesn't mean nearly as much as it would here. Even an emergency relief effort might come in the form of a few boxed spells (like the proposed CrCoHr "Barrage of Burgers and Buns") rather than tons of food. Yes, a city-state with a nendrai or powerful primes can do exotic nasty things to people. But (to use one of Sythyry's examples) is hitting people with birds that peck through to the bone and turn bones to lightning really much more horrible than plain old mass crucifixion?

There was probably more danger in the days before the invention of pattern magic, when creating basic necessities relied on tricky spontaneous magic or physical effort.

What the primes have against them are gods actively trying to make their lives difficult!