So, I would like to expound a bit more on my previous argument regarding the Rune Metal. Particularly, why we should pursue it diligently and achieve the goals it promises.
In this argument, I hope to express, explain, and, hopefully, share my passion and enthusiasm for this branch of research. So, without further ado, let's begin.
Snorri Gift-Giver is an inspirational figure to many Dwarves around him. Where he walks, assistance arrives. What he crafts is fit for Kings and can even crown them. His apprentices have become masters in their own right and his legacy is as enduring as Kraka Drakk. Also, none of that was expected of him. Snorri comes from a clan with a distant relation to Thungni, he had a blisteringly short apprenticeship before beginning his journeying, and every scrap of knowledge, every coin of wealth, every recognizable deed was gathered with hands of skill and a will of iron. He is a runelord that every apprentice from any clan can point to and say "I can do that." He may be odd, he may be strange, he may be a bit off, but he is inspiring and it is known.
Bara is working to the bone to achieve the same metal that Snorri unveiled.
Valma initiated a trade of Runic knowledge for the insight needed to delve deeper in to the Deep Magic.
Lorna took it upon herself to begin training apprentices and working on the Rune of Transcription.
The Brotherhood of Dron now has a new method of generating Adamant, the metal they seek after with all they have.
All of these were results of Snorri Gift-Giver working on becoming the peak of his craft, of studying the mysteries of the world and understanding them. He has never settled for not striving to be the best that he can be. Not because it is the challenge that drives him, although it may be something to look forward to. Not because of the prestige it grants, he has more than he ever dreamed of. Not because of the individuals it allows him to meet, he has met the Ancestor Gods and has worked at their sufferance. I think it is because it allows him to be the most useful to the most amount of people. No matter how many pickaxes he crafts, how many hammers he forges, how many breastplates he measures, how many holds he lays the foundations of there are more ways he can be useful.
He can inspire all around him to ever greater heights, to show every Dwarf that the limits are not where one might imagine them to be. That with sufficient will and sufficient skill craftsmanship that was thought to only belong to the Gods can be grasped by the hands of a mortal. And that is a wonderous thing. It is one thing to look at the Ancestor Gods and say "I can not reach those heights" and another thing to look at a fellow Dwarf who had no inherent advantage by dint of birth or training and say "I can not reach those heights."
Breaking into the realm thought only to be the domain of the Gods challenges every other Dwarf who learns of the feat, not just runesmiths, to aspire to be better than what they thought possible. That the limitations there are to mortal craftsmanship and skill are not barriers, but challenges to be overcome in an eternal process of betterment. What works the Ancestor's Gods produced were not to delineate the line between mortal and divine but to provoke and challenge the mortals to reach ever further.
There are, admittedly, many things that Snorri could do to help inspire others. Researching Deep Magic ever further and expanding that field. Inventing whole new avenues of prosthetics to improve the lives of the average dwarf. Crafting wonders beyond the imagination of young runesmith apprentices. But, I think, the clearest and most potent avenue towards this level of inspiration is to seek the Rune Metal. To seek the ultimate expression of the metal held most dear by Dwarves and seek the craftsmanship with that metal thought exclusive to that of the Gods.
And that is why I want to diligently pursue this avenue of research. So that Snorri can climb the highest peaks of skill he can see, and stand before a vista of towering mountains capped in the whitest snow. Then turn around, grasp the forearm of the next dwarf and haul them up to the same place he is before moving forward to the next height. And the Rune Metal is one of the heights peaks that I can see in our branch of research that we can inspire others to reach as well.
