I have been thinking about it and wanted to get a few other opinions, but is making gromril chain mail the best thing we can do for as many dwarfs as possible? We have research in our backlog that has the potential to restore sight and hearing to other dwarfs, who will no doubt be able to take more apprentices and contribute to the greater whole than a single dwarf can. As great as the prestige that comes from gromril chain may give, is going for it for the prestige and a commission that may or may not need it really important? It doesn't really seem to fit Snorri, not to me at least. Thoughts?
Yes, making Gromril chain is the best thing we can do for as many dwarves as possible.
Out of all of our research, I think Gromril Chain is the one that has the greatest potential to impact the greatest number of dwarves in the greatest variety of ways. I've talked about it a little bit before, but I'll do my best to explain why I think this in a more grounded manner.
Dwarves are creatures of narratives, and as such narratives play a powerful role in their society. We can see this in how they praise their ancestors, how they point to the deeds of the past and tell stories of how their clan came to be. It is not the deeds themselves which bind the dwarven community, for often the effects of those deeds of valor are washed away by other needs and other trials, but the stories of those deeds which bond the society. They tell the deeds of their ancestors to their children, who tell it to their children. Of impossibly beautiful craftsmanship, and of incredible feats of martial prowess. And upon hearing them, the dwarves are inspired to live up to those deeds and to be as good as their ancestors were.
There is only one problem with this. Some deeds, some feats, some works of art, are so beyond what dwarves expect to be possible that they look at them as a mountain that can never be climbed. As a ceiling that will forever be out of their reach, let alone breached. Specifically the work of their ancestor gods. Of the divine killing power in Grimnir, of the divine craftsmanship of Grungni, of the divine healing of Valaya. Their feats and accomplishments laid the foundation of the entire Dwarven empire, but it also, for many dwarves, established the sky as well. Skill in a chosen craft can be excellent, almost miraculous to other dwarves, but it can not even meet the skill displayed by the divine. And such a belief, if left to fossilize amongst a race known for their stubbornness, can limit the heights that the Dwarves will be willing to try and reach. Especially since those limits can only be broken with sufficient effort and the will to break them.
Gromril chain is a way to break that narrative and shatter the chains of belief that many dwarves have. For a mortal to create something that was once the purview of the divine creates two possibilities. Either the mortal is elevated to the status of the divine so that the deed still remains within the realm of divinity or the deed is removed from the sole purview of the divine and can now be done by mortals. And Snorri, as every dwarf who knows him will tell you, is not divine. He is not on the level of the ancestor gods, and he will whack you if you try and elevate him to such a position. Which leaves only one option. That the feat of making Gromril chain no longer belongs solely to the divine, but can also be accomplished by mortals. With sufficient effort, skill, and will of course.
This feat could change how many of the feats of the Ancestor Gods are perceived. Not as limits that can not be reached, but as challenges to strive for. Which, from the lowest janitor of Karaz-a-Karak to those one step removed from Divinity themselves, is inspiring. That the wall they have reached in their skill and ability is not unbreachable, but can be broken or circumvented. That the limits they encounter are not the ceilings imposed upon them by the gods, but simply natural limitations that can be broken by those of strong enough will.
And this message coming from The Gift-Giver is all the more powerful. Yes, he is a runelord. Yes, that means he has a direct connection to the Divine already. But none expected him to reach this far, ever. He is of a distant connection to Thungni, and his apprenticeship was a measly 20 years. He started with barely anything but an unusual training in runesmithing and goat-herding. Now look at him, Eldest Runelord of the North, Earth Mover, Hold Warder, Unyielding Breaker of Darkness, Shadow Killer. All of this not achieved because of who he was born as, but because he had the will to do it. And the message that the deeds of the ancestor gods are not an unbreachable ceiling imposed upon Dwarves but rather challenges to be reached becomes all the more potent when coming from someone who everyone expected so little of.
That is why I am such a fan of Gromril chain. Not because of the material we get to play with, not because of the prestige and standing we would get from it, not because of the ephemeral chance to meet the last ancestor god, not because of the deeper understanding of the world we would develop along the way, and not because of the skill we would gain from working towards the goal. No, none of those things get me as excited as I am about working on Gromril chain. What gets me excited, is the potential to upend the narratives that Dwarves have built regarding the deeds of their gods. That it is a ceiling that can never be reached rather than a ladder to climb to greater heights.
