On Thread Etiquette:
I'm not going to weigh in on the logic of either side's arguments, but I will ask that everyone read over what they write and really consider if the words they used are polite and won't be inflammatory intentionally or not. You cant account for people's tolerances perfectly but at least try to say your piece without saying things that can be easily construed as overly dismissive of the other side of the argument, thank you.
I think the threads parasocial obsession with one guy we've never met, and we only suspect that we align in goals and taught our master, is getting out of hand.
Lots of people were big deals. This isn't even about this specific instance of doing it, its about the wider trend of pegging a dead person who we never mets name onto everything controversial we do.
There goes a point where we've gone from honouring him to clout farming off of a corpse.
It would depend because we never even knew the guy personally, so it would be bit much for us to name a rune after him. Yorri is going to be so unbelievable happy at the fact with we even solved DC. The old man has been at this ever since Durin became the lost. Also i don't know if a MR of Durin exist already? One might already exist created by the guy himself.
I think just solving DC is even more than enough for both Durin and Yorri.
Durin did not invent the rune, and naming the rune after a person has implications.
If you really want to hat tip durin, find a way that doesn't have those implications.
Preferably something less awful than "rune of durin's relief"
[X] [Anniversary:] The Gates below open at His order. By Rune be called, by Rune be strengthened. Spectres, Spirits, Ancestors. [The Mouth of the Underearth is just a bit more literal.]
[X] [Number:] 3
[X] [Apprentice:] Svina Brunasdottir of Clan Bolgisson, starting turn 62
[X] [Apprentice:] Alma Almasdottir of Clan Winterhearth, starting turn 61
[X] [Apprentice:] Yorri Oldorsson of Clan Winterhearth, starting turn 60
[X] Plan: Knock Knock Monoliths and Learning. (Turn 59) General --[X] The Road to Anoqeyån Pt. 2 [1 Snorri AP] ✓
Crafting
--[X] [Difficult] Build Brynbar pt 2 [2 Karstah AP] This is for her own use. Rest in spoiler in this post.
— [X] Brynbar: Combo, Deep Gate+: [Master Rune of Thungni's Presence [T4 Adamant and T4 Ancient Greedy Troll's Heart], Rune of Thungni [T4 Adamant], Rune of Siphoning [T4 Ancient Greedy Troll's Heart].]
--[X] [Simple] Once more with Smelting #2 [1 Snorri AP + 3 KKR + 1 Peerless] Wear BA/Skarren ✓
--[X] [Simple] The Brotherhood Calls [1 Snorri AP + 3 KKR ] ✓
--[X] [Difficult] Skaudardrengi pt 2 [1 Snorri AP + 2 Karaz-Kazak-Rhun + 1 Peerless] This does not finish the Dragon. This is prep for turn 60 and is meant to develop the Rune we chose by Going All Out. this post.✓
— [X] Choose: Combo, Empowered Awakening+: [Master Rune of Waking [x2 T4 Ancient Greedy Troll's Heart], Rune of Empowerment [x2 T4 Dragon Ogre Shaggoth Heart], Rune of Siphoning [x2 T4 Ancient Greedy Troll's Heart].]
Retainers ✓
--[X] Expedition, Grom [1 Retainer AP + 1 Industry of the North]
--[X] Training Regime Pt. 2 [3 Retainer AP]
Khazagar
--[X] Khazagar [2 Karstah AP = 3 Khaz AP] —[X] Change Curriculum: Switch Prosthetics with Dum-Denial. [1 Khaz AP.] ✓
—[X] Learning Rune of Spellburning. [2 Khaz AP + [T2 White Lion's Heart].]
Orders ✓
--[X] Order: [T4] Elder Storm Wyrm's Gas Sac
--[X] Royal Authority Order: [T4] Elder Storm Wyrm Wing Tendons [-15 Far North Favor]
--[X] Royal Authority Order: [T4] Great Eagle Feather [-15 Karak Ungor Favor]
--[X] Royal Authority Order: [T4] Elder Storm Wyrm's Heart [-15 Far North Favor]
--[X] Order finally available! [T4] Voidstone
[X] Whitebeard's Letter:
Through elvish contacts, we know that some elves of Tor Vernath are asking for Bel'Shannar's assistance, putting Malekith and his allies under time pressure. The Mages Malekith visited were suppressed by Bel'Shannar, since he could not ally with them and do not have much incentive to care about magical backlash to the people living here - only that their patron succeeds and spites Bel'Shannar and that the Waystone network in the Far North is not totally destroyed. Prince Gimli is friends with Prince Laequalys of Tor Vernath and the elf and his own mages may have a useful additional perspective.
[X] [Social:] Izgrom, putting another rock by Karstah's door. ✓
[X] [Social:] Joll brings his apprentice, Snorri Jollsson, to Khazagar. [X] [Letters:] Knowledge about the other Thungni-Chosen [Limited] ✓
[X] [Thungni:] Rune of Thungni's Endurance
[QM OVERRIDE] [X] [Wordly Warding:] Rune of Aethyric Warding Rune of Otherworldly Warding
Peerless Production,: 15, 43, 48, DC 40
Voidstone Availability: 105, 29 (overflow), DC 80
Voidstone Order: 1 turn
Thungni's Brilliance: 30 (Once More with Smelting), DC 80
━<><><>< 495 A.P. ><><><>━
The ringing of her hammer fills Karstah's ears, the heat of the forge and the glow of the metal casting an orange glow over her face and the quiet grin plastered across it.
—Will guides it
Trying to decide the final form of the array for Thane Skarridum's hammer had been an exercise in frustration.
Until it wasn't.
There was no moment of clarity, no single point of inspiration that finally sparked it, just pieces in concert that she had finally put into place.
The initial selection of Runes wasn't bad, but it was missing something. The Runes felt to her as if they worked well as the axle to their own arrays, but not as the spokes.
Funny that she found her answer in the past, just not among the innumerable other Star inspired hammers that filled history.
Let song remind you
But to something closer to home.
Trollslayer.
But rather than heat, she would focus on light.
Jewels and stars, the association between the two was as old as the first dwarf who looked up at the night sky, hell an example of their entwined symbolism was in the heart of Khazagar itself.
But the stars were distant, brilliant and plentiful.
What would happen if a star fell?
Let mind shape it
Her hammer rises, and in Karstah's mind she can see it as clear as day; a great ball of scintillating light, growing closer and closer as it descends from the heavens.
One of the multitude of glinting lights suspended in the night sky would grow, slowly at first, but faster and faster as time passed.
Until the world at last took note, when the light grew large enough to be noticeable. When it grew bright enough to appear even in the morning, a speck that would grow to match then outshine the sun. When night ceased to be and all was endless day, the land bathed in the ageless light of a heavenly body.
Sing the song of creation
The roar of the sky breaking, so loud as to deafen even from kilometers away, a great gemstone mined from the walls of the Void crashing into the world with power to vaporize rock and flatten forest equal to any great meteor.
All would die in its wake, but more so the evil of night and things of darkness. Shrill screams and agonized wails as the unblemished purity of the heavens fell to the world and banished night.
After all—
—what could survive the power of a star?
The work of eternity
━<><><><==><><><>━
You're heading down to meet with Rudil and discuss the last few preparations that need to be made before the trip to the Anvil when you hear the pitter patter of boots slamming against stone.
"Gruncle! Gruncle!" a familiar voice calls, growing louder each time as the speaker gets closer and closer. You wonder why your retainers allowed her in, but you put that thought out of mind and sigh.
Valaya grant you patience. Making that Smelter was less work.
You turn to stare at a rapidly approaching Svina, her boots eating up the distance with the energy only a young Dawi was foolish enough to waste on speed, stumbling to a stop just before crashing into you. The veins of her soul are brighter from when you last saw her, not too-too much, but discernibly so.
"Svina," you grumble down at Skarri's panting daughter, watching passively as she catches her breath.
"Where's Elder Karstah? Have you seen her?" she asks, recovering like only a child can, staring up at you.
"Karstah's preoccupied lass," you answer, grumbling down at her.
"Oh, do you know when she won't be busy then Gruncle?"
Oh you'll be considerate of her time will you? You grouse internally before shaking your head.
"Hard to say, Runecraft is a mysterious thing," you answer cryptically, even as you dearly hope for your heir to finish her work faster and take the hammer obsessed plaitling off your hands.
"But you would know right? You've made so many Runes after all, Gruncle!" she reasons, straightening up as she recovers fully.
"It's because I know so many that I can say that child," you explain, starting back towards your original destination. Knowing the scamp behind you is following suit.
"That doesn't make sense, but that probably means I don't know something important right? Gruncle, tell me how that makes sense!"
"You'll learn if you become a Runesmith's apprentice plaitling," you answer, continuing your walk and quietly wondering how your life came to this.
"Oh oh! Granda Dolgi always talks about taking me on as his apprentice if I have the Gift, do you know if I have the Gift Gruncle? Oh! Wait wait! I know this! We use a hammer to find out right? Do you have the Gift finding hammer with you Gruncle?"
"No plaitling I don't possess that hammer." You have the one they're based off of.
"Wait, you have the even better hammer right?" she prods, hands clasped behind her and pigtails swinging as she skips along behind you.
"Aye I do, and no you can't touch Karaz-Kazak-Rhun," you confirm then answer the obvious next question.
Svina is behind you, but you can see the pout in your mind's eye with crystal clarity.
━<><><><==><><><>━
The commission is done, a Pure Gromril head on a Wutroth shaft as tall as Thane Morglum, but barely twice the weight of the hammer she used to forge it. Normally that sort of weight would be a poor trait for a hammer to have when most of its power came from its mass, but—
She twirls the weapon in hand, smiling slightly as the head makes a continuous buzzing sound as it moves through the air, glowing brighter with each rotation.
—it's mitigated by the Runes carved into it.
Perhaps the name Starslayer is a bit uninspired, but it was a fitting tie to the work that ultimately helped it get made in the first place.
Storing it away in an appropriately ornate chest for Thane Morglum, Karstah then turns to look back at her forge. The Adamant sitting there, her mind already bursting with ideas—
Master Snorri would have need of her when the time came to begin Skaudardrengi but that was years away, and she had already told Yorri's parents to wait for her to visit at some point before deciding the boy's Master, which was a big enough clue for anyone with a bit of a brain in her head…
—she walks towards the forge and reaches for the tongs hanging from her belt.
Still work to be done.
"Best get to it," she murmurs.
━<><><><==><><><>━
You do not let Svina hold Karaz-Kazak-Rhun.
But she does get to see it.
What? Trusting a child to walk around your Workshop unsupervised? Ridiculous. Foolish! Besides, you were planning to do this before she showed up anyway. Thungni taught His apprentices while using it, so clearly it was safe enough.
And, the petty part of you cackles, the idea that a child of thirteen got to see Karaz-Kazak-Rhun before those stuffy shirts calling themselves Runelords down south in Izril was incredibly funny.
It was also a research opportunity, and more importantly, the chance for some peace and quiet. Watching as Svina's developing Stilling Field comes into range with Thungni's Hammer.
Nothing of note. Touch contact? Bah. Not in a million years.
"It's got more than three!" Svina murmurs obviously, eyes wide.
"Aye," you agree, chuffing internally as childish comprehension.
"Da always said Three was where a Runesmith had to stop…" she mutters.
"Aye," For now, "But not Thungni."
"Is 'why' a Runesmith secret?"
"Aye." Even from us.
Svina settles into silence.
You finally get to examining the hammer in peace, Windsight eye glowing as you stare at Karaz-Kazak-Rhun.
Perfection.
There's nothing quite so beautiful as a well made Rune in your opinion, and Thungni's craftsmanship is matched only by His Father's.
Plucking secrets from Karaz-Kazak-Rhun isn't going to be quite so simple as looking, but there's not much else you can do besides using it can you? While the foundational assumptions of what Runecraft could do feel like they were in flux these past few decades it remained an indisputable fact that what made Runecraft better than all other forms of magic was in its stability and replicability. Know the striking, know the reagents and do it right, you'll get the same Rune every time.
That was the rub though wasn't it.
Know the striking, know the reagents. Without either, you were in the dark. There were some workarounds to that of course; a large enough repertoire of similar Runes, knowing a variant or derivative, those could help bridge the gap to find the "original" as it were but that didn't help here.
The Rhuns of Karaz-Kazak-Rhun were an enigma. Oh you all knew the name, and could guess to which parts did what, but that was all.
A guess.
So you don't bother.
Instead you look at it on a more fundamental level; trying to see how Thungni made them, and if that held the answer to how He could break past the one hurdle no Runesmith has been able to overcome. Easier said than done of course. There was a plaitling sitting next to you and your tools were limited. Not like you could hit Thungni's hammer with itself to start understanding its properties, nor could the Eye of the Ancestors help obviously. What flaw did the work of Thungni have? None. Foolish.
The name of the seven Runes on Karaz-Kazak-Rhun were known at the very least. The Master Runes of Precision, Grounding, and Craftsmanship and the Runes of Flamecraft, Metalcraft, Forgecraft and Breaking.
You know how to make 1 of those, maybe, if the Rune of Breaking that Thungni used wasn't some variant He didn't feel the need to name. The Windsight Eye lets you see how the Winds blow in and around the Hammer, how Magic, Chamon especially, is corralled and controlled by the Runes into seamless, well-ordered flows. But that's no different from how any of the arrays you've made work either. There is something else beyond Thungni simply being better at crafting Runes (which He most assuredly is mind,), but you can't see it.
The order? Possible. The variants themselves? Equally likely with how obtuse the entire thing is.
"Gruncle, I'm going to go to the Trogg-khaz now. Can you loan me some brass?"
You absentmindedly pass a few coins to Svina, the pitter patter of her boots fading as you continue to stare.
Whatis different?
The Runes continue to withhold an answer and you sigh. Skaudardrengi would be less frustrating, making that would just be hours of endless hammering, shaping with the aid of Karaz-Kazak-Rhun— Roll, Gnolgrund: 3, Direction A pulse. Blood, flowing. There is instinct a—
—You blink. What was that?
Doesn't matter, can't lose that. You look at the hammer again, think about Skaudardrengi, trying to recreate the moment—
A pulse. Blood, flowing. There is instinct and there is intent. Mind controls the body. Thought leads to motion. Past leads to the future.
Direction.
Humming, you worry over the implications.
You were taught that a Rune was an individual existence. A surface level reading, like that of your Apprentices when you first teach them about the concept, of that statement would make one point to things like Rune arrays, and something like the Rune of Direction that seemingly flew in the face of such a position.
The truth was more complicated—and if you were fair the term could use some work—than that.
By individual existence you meant that while a Rune may need another to work it did not need another Rune to function in the first place. Put it another way, there was no ambiguity about where one Rune ended and where another began, they were bricks stacked atop each other, not pigment mixed for paint or a dye.
A Rune of Direction was effectively useless without another Rune for the wearer to point to aye, but it didn't stop functioning ya see. It just had no output for its effect to visibly manifest. An array in that same vein, was held to the understanding that its greater effect was a positive byproduct of three Runes acting in concert.
Quibbling, aye, and why several others didn't hold that stance. After all, Thungni made no word confirming either way, and if by the eldest theories there was a theoretically infinite amount of Runes that could be devised, why wouldn't there be a Rune that required another Rune to actually function.
Yet no such Rune has ever appeared, to your knowledge at least.
Aye, there are folk like Vragni who can discover variants so specific and niche that they'd be useless without two other variants of to shore up their deficiencies, but they would still work if they didn't have those Runes. It would just be that the effect was, again, piss poor.
Had Thungni discovered differently though? More to the point, would Windsight prove you wrong and them correct? It wasn't even a consideration before...
…but not it may very well be.
Bah.
Figures that Thungni would do this. Using what He left behind to teach His descendants, even if you'd prefer He'd be a bit more direct about it.
━<><><><==><><><>━
Master Snorri had called it Brynbar when he described it to her.
A circular clasp inscribed with an array designed to more rapidly disrupt enemy Zhufcraft by mixing tried and true methods that the Runesmiths had honed from the earliest days of the Guild, and a strange phenomenon he encountered when wizards tried to manipulate Deep Magic.
Then he made Aethyrbinder.
So the task, the materials needed and the resulting creation (once it was made), were offered to her. Gemstone eyes flicker.
Of course she took it.
Rhun zhufen
She begins to hammer the Adamant.
━<><><>< 496 A.P. ><><><>━
You stare out at the three dozen or so stone columns, double checking with the map in your hands to make sure they were placed and angled at exactly the right order. Your eye aids greatly here, being able to watch how the arrays inscribed on each one gently buffet the ambient Winds.
Master Yorri's two recommended methods of making a Waystone safer to use weren't too off the mark; the Winds of Magic, if left to stagnate, had the tendency to curdle and transform into Dhar. The specifics of his methodology though, especially concerning why it was better to move magic, were just a bit off. For one thing, aside from movement, you could maintain higher magical densities in an environment if the energy was composed of a single Wind. Far less likely to curdle, though it limited the possibilities.
Remembering the story of Rugni Diamondback with that knowledge in mind, well it makes you wonder how he hadn't fumbled sooner. An enclosed cavern, and an incorrect activation sequence that sounded like it dumped Dhar rather than any one or combination of the Winds…
Never believe you have mastered these stones… never treat them with anything less than the respect and caution you have when you're experimenting with Master Runes, anything less will damn you and all you love.
Master Yorri put it best.
Shaking your head lightly, you glance at the Waystone at the center of the spiraling formation.
In theory the moment you activated the Waystone the Runes you had laid out would rebuff any magic in such a way that they would spin in a vortex around the Waystone. But with a few activations, you could open one or more of eight gateway channels, directing the magic to spiral outward towards a final plinth that could in theory act as a release valve. Now, you didn't have a way of ensuring those channels would be composed of a single Wind beyond hopes and prayers, but it was built with that hopeful future in mind.
All you had to do now was go through the activation sequence and see. Aethyrbinder and Barak Azamar awaken at your command, and you see multi-hued fissures erupt around your feet. Deep Magic, but to your eye it looks no different from the trace amounts of Winds within the dirt and roots.
You put the question out of your mind.
…anything less will damn you and all you love…
Nothing but absolute focus.
━<><><><==><><><>━
You survived.
Swirling torrents of power that begin spinning outwards from the pillar, eight distinct trails that grow in scope as they rebound against the Runes you set up, spinning like the reverse of a vortex. The frantic jog away so that your equipment and Stilling Field do not disrupt the exacting geometry of fields you set up.
The process was not without hiccups though.
The telltale curdle of Dhar flickering into existence at points where the bounding fields of the Runes is off by just a hair and actually creates an eddy that slows just enough to let the torrent settle. A speck of that telltale putrid radiating green your folk have seen near raw Gromril. A smooth sequence that shuts off the torrent, and the quiet work of ensuring the dissipating corruption is dealt with—
"What's that Gruncle?" Svina asks from beside you, sitting in a chair she had scrounged up from somewhere.
Right.
"Letters." you reply, unconcerned. Not like the girl could read through the cipher. She wasn't Snerra after all.
"To who?"
"Colleagues." You had made a set of letters for the Brotherhood before your excursion to the Waystone. Just in case. But as you're hale and whole, better to remove the farewells and update what you've written with the discoveries there.
"You have colleagues you write to?—"
You side eye Svina, unamused. What's worse is that you know she's entirely serious.
"—but wait a second…Runesmiths don't write! Granda Dolgi said so!" she carries on, having not noticed or ignoring it purposefully.
"We don't write down certain things, true, but we most certainly can and do still write, plaitling. One of the things we can write are letters to young parents about letting a child run amok in a Runelord's workshop…" you grumble. Nevermind that Skarri was in the latter half of his 300s. Honestly, forcing you to keep an eye on a child.
"Like what?"
"Guild Secrets," you answer unhelpfully.
"But if it's secrets then why would you write it down?"
"Because walking all the way to where this letter is going to tell the secret isn't worth my time…"
"So there's a hierarchy of secrets?"
You sigh.
Karstah had better be making fine work.
━<><><><Grumblings and Goings ><><><>━
The Realm
- [Late 494] An explosion of some great size was reported to have occurred out east in the depths of Gazul's Haunt. The Dawi of that place are tight-lipped about what occurred, though it is said the strangeness of the sky above is partly to do with it. The Thungni-chosen Runelord, Thorgard Traitorsbane, was reported to be in the area at the time.
- [Late 495] Strange things come from the Citadel of Creation. Through some mysterious working, Lord Vragni Silverbrand has done something to his creation akin to Lord Klausson's Khazagar. Now every item of Runecraft that henceforth created on the Citadel's grounds now permanently glows with brilliant orange light.
- [Late 495] Thungni's Tongs have been found, buried beneath a Volcano in the Northern World's Edge, and now held by Vragni Silverbrand of Kraka Ornsmotek. Though not as revered or famed as Karaz-Kazak-Rhun, they are still the work of Wondermaking Thungni. While Karaz-Kazak-Rhun gave Him the means to shape the immaterial and material to His desire, it was with the Tongs and Gormwand that Thungni could drag the material and immaterial to his forge with such ease.
- (*New*)[Late 496] One hundred and sixty three years and a few days since being asked, the Engineers Guild of Kraka Drakk have revealed their newest creation. Utilizing Wyrrenduraz, the Chapter has determined the winner of some internal competition. A new Icebox, jointly designed by Frokki Firebeard and Mendin Copperbones, has been approved by the Guild's leadership for general release. Meant for long term use in hotter climes. Not much benefit for a Hold so full of Runes and so far up north as Drakk, but in middling southern Holds that aren't Karak Zorn or Izril? Or even a sufficiently wealthy Thane? Radical they may be, a reliable and effective means of cold storage that needs a single block of WyrrenDuraz every few years isn't such a bad deal. [You quietly inform them that simply keeping the Wyrren Duraz in a sufficiently powerful storm should manage the power draw, and they take another year to finagle the details. Nonsense about Zhuf aside, that makes it even easier for them to sell.]
Burudin
- [Burudin] —ruined my view down the length of Peak Pass is all that damn mess of a vanity project has done! The depiction of the axe isn't even right. How do you bungle that when Whitebeard is but a league span and change away, cracking skulls and securing the realm?
- [Burudin] None have heard from Angkra?
- [Burudin] You ought not to expect any. Her last letter was rather clear wasn't it?
- [Burudin] Peace in her final days. It is better she be feasting with her kin when this tomfoolery that Kraka Drakk started finally finishes cooking. Four Holds partaking in this, I've half a mind to raise a Hall of Dunderheads in Everpeak and make it the envy of the realm just to shut up their crowing! Golden Runes this, Orange Runes that, I'm already hearing rumblings that the Jewelbrains down south are thinking of Diamond Necklaces for those who learn from their council. What's Brynduraz doing as their shtick eh? Cooking up some way to make their Gromril sing and dance? bah! At least the Brewers make their vintages taste different. A Rune is a Rune!
- [Burudin] What has Thungni left Clan Thungnisson, the Ancestral socks?
- [Burudin] Nai, He left them Ancestral wheel of Cheese which every Chuf of Clan Thungnisson is hewn from.
- [Burudin] Izril shall ban the northerners at this rate. Two radical dafties? Ancestors preserve, if another one like those two gets Gormwand...
- [Burudin] Tell me Gormwand is in your vaults Alric, tell me truly.
- [Burudin] By all that is good, He would do this wouldn't He? The beardlings are going to be running around like headless pheasants, overturning every rock that's so much as a shade different from its surrounding.
- [Burudin] Clan Thungnisson retains possession of Father's works.
- [Burudin] Clan Thungnisson retains possession of some of the Ancestor's works more like.
- [Burudin] Hammerspite, get looking. Zero for two now!
- [Burudin] Oh he'll regret that.
- [Burudin] Next Conclave will be a right pain in my dongliz.
Khazagar
- [Early 494] This year's challenge among the Engineers Guild has produced a mighty Grudge Thrower the "Unbowed Yodeller." Clearly Dwalin inspired, as the Engineer and Runesmith were later seen singing along in that Hall of his in Khazid Okraz
- [Mid 494] The Metalsmiths Guildmaster and his eldest associates contract seven Runesmiths from Clan Stoneplate after they impressed many with six sets of armour with arrays that look (and ONLY look) like they work in tandem. A fun bit of visual obfuscation, the effect is actually a result of overlapping fields of effect, but still. Enough to impress.
- [Mid 496] You have begun teaching the Rune of Dum-Denial, sure in the knowledge that the propagation of the Prosthetic Runes no longer requires your work.
━<><><>< Khazalid Trivia ><><><>━
━<><><><Gain ><><><>━
(*Updated*)General
- +4 Progress to Understand Runecraft, new totals: [6/??? actions]
-- The Gift is present within the souls of Young Dawi very early in life. Though Snorri has yet to see a Dwarf be born, Skarri Dolgisson's newest children were barely one and Snorri could see the golden veins in their souls when he first saw them. The lustre of the veins themselves is seemingly random, but from what he has seen, grows with age. The veins stop growing drastically at thirty, but not completely. This opens up questions.
-- In a related matter, the replicas of Karaz-Kazak-Rhun that Runesmith Clans use to determine the worthiness of the gift seem to have a set threshold to which a Dwarf is deemed sufficiently capable of being a proper Runesmith. The ones without the Gift at all are one thing, but you wonder about those who do have the Gift, but not at the sufficient strength. Why the cut off? Can something be done? Would the cost be too ruinous? Every answer seems to open up new questions.
-- (*Updated*)[Monolith Mastery] Deep Magic looks no different from the Eight Winds, and the appearance seems dependent on the environmental Winds of Magic than the magic itself. Why?
--(*Updated*)[Monolith Mastery] Dhar is Warpstone green (duh), and you have now seen it curdle into existence. Terrifyingly, if you have a sufficiently large number of or strong enough anti-magic Runes, then control the geometry of that Rune's repelling field just right, and then buffet the Winds of Magic against that barrier. Well it can actually speed up the generation of Dhar.
-- (*Updated*)[Once More with Smelting] More observations for the creation of Master Runes. Need more examples before anything concrete can be made.
- +1 Progress to The Road to Anoqeyån Pt. 2, new totals: [Cost: (6 -2) = 4 actions]
-- Anoqeyån is a language that is both metaphysical and physical. Speaking verbally is only part of proper Anoqeyån. Menlinwen was trying to teach you the mental states to produce the intended metaphysical aspect but—
- +1 auto Progress to Understand Runecraft, The Stilling Field, new totals: [Cost: (4 -2) = 2 actions]
-- —The Stilling Field does something strange to Anoqeyan or vice versa. Which is in itself even stranger. You knew from the get-go that magic would have no effect, did several early lessons without Menlinwen mentioning anything strange happening, but since getting your eye something has changed. Confound it.
-- A child with the Gift has a weak Stilling Field. But regardless of the strength of the veins running through their soul, the Stilling Field's radius is never less than thirty centimeters.
- +3 Progress to Drakk Rearing, new totals: [24/??? Actions]
- The physical differences between the triplets is now undeniable. Grimgal is the closest to the traditional Shardwyrm look, with Izgrom sprouting thinner spines, while Zharrok seems to be the most stocky of the three. Not a cause for concern it seems.
- Behaviourally speaking they're about as quirky as any Longbeard gets. Of course they're not dwarfs, but they can socially interact with no unintended issue. Which is to say Grimgal knows, but does not care. Izgrom knows but thinks it is silly, and Zharrok knows and agrees.
Grimgal, length: 37.5m by 503 A.P.
-- Her growth is still terrifying to behold. 40 meters is all but a certainty, three decades at current estimates.
-- Working to improve her mastery, war is a means of training, but a show of supremacy.
Another report of her trading barbs. This time I'm told she ended up calling an Elgi Princeling a "Willow-boned Waif" and his Drakk a "sad single-minded existence of a living carriage."
Damn it all I owe Thurgal five Brass now.
- Nogrim
Zharrok, length 32m by 493 A.P.
- Spines lengthen the most by proportion, and unevenly so, especially around the chin. When angered, several around his face heat up to the point that they warp and bend downwards.
- His slower growth is curious, but Zharrok doesn't seem to mind. Moderately more bulky and visible than his siblings, no doubt from his more sedentary lifestyle. Not fat, at least entirely, but muscle and flame.
Finding an Elgi smith to challenge is proving difficult for him, though it's a problem entirely of his own making. He knows where they are, he just doesn't want to go find them. Too busy, and to his credit he is, but if that pincushion wasn't busy he'd come up with some excuse. I ought to sicc Izgrom on him.
- Karstah
Izgrom length 32.5m by 493 A.P.
- Izgrom's existence is a simple one, but a life he clearly finds contentment with. Bother or investigate people and things that pique his curiosity, spend months underground, claim finds, foist off their management, rinse and repeat.
- Like a proper miner, he's developed a respectable layer of dust and grime covering his already dull scales. Much to Grimgal's annoyance. If ever he visits her lair, he always leaves clean.
- Has mentioned exploring the Underway at some point in the future, or at least tagging along with Karstah if she leaves the Hold.
Caretaker,
Whatever you hear, It was not me that started it!
- Izgrom.
(*Updated*)Crafting
- Once more with Smelting complete! +1 Greater Dragonblood Smelter.
-- +1 Progress to Understand Runecraft, new totals: (calculated in General)
-- +6 [T4] Adamant per Turn, new totals: +22 Bars every Turn (starting turn 60)
-- +1 Progress to Peerless Production [12/?], new totals: (calculated below)
-The Brotherhood Calls complete!
-- +1 Standing with the Brotherhood of Dron, new totals: (calculated below)
-- +1 Progress to Peerless Production [12/?], new totals: (calculated below)
- Starhammer pt. 2 complete!
-- Karstah's Legendary Creation of Note, Starslayer: A greathammer as long as a Dwarf is tall, its cylindrical head terminates in a buttspike made of two wire wrapped lengths of metal. Lighter than it appears, whatever loss of impact is compensated for by the Runes on its surface. Over the course of a battle, the weapon will begin to glow brighter and brighter, with every hit releasing increasingly powerful burst of blinding light, force and Hysh. [Appears your heir was inspired to choose Hysh over Azyr as so many other star inspired hammers like this end up trying.]
— Combo, Lightfall+: [Rune of Lightspite [T3 Frost Wyrm's Blood], Rune of Might [T2 Geometric Gypsum], Rune of Impact [T2 Geometric Gypsum].] Blows cause an eruption of light, Hysh and force proportional to the speed of the weapon upon contact. Continued attacks build the amount Hysh and force released for the duration of the battle until blows burn daemons and land with the force of a Grudgethrower shot. (Windsight: The variant Runes appear to gather Hysh more efficiently, upgrading the unintended effect of the base combo into a tangible boon.)
— Master of Metal
— Beastbane
— Master of the Odd
— Khazagar-made
-- +1 Progress to Wisdom with Weapons [1/6], new totals: (calculated below)
(*Updated*)Research
- Monolith Mastery Pt. 1 complete! Monolith Mastery Pt. 2 unlocked!
-- By knowing the general properties of the Winds, and Runecraft, you have devised a way to roughly direct the torrent of energy released when activating a Waystone. Crude, overengineered and not without error, you know that it at least works. Where to go from here is a bit open-ended, but the front runners are improving the system itself and/or making Runes that scan better split the Winds from each other and prevent the conditions for Dhar to form. Frustratingly this system is so precise that you need to skedaddle out of the way after tapping the Waystone, lest your Stilling Field bungle the geometry. Not a serious issue, since you can direct the energy with a few more pillars, but it's unbecoming of a fellow your age to run like a beardling playing tag ya see.
-- Tapping a Waystone now only has a 60% -10% (Complete Windsight)= 50% chance of something going wrong, increasing +5% per turn the Monolith remains active.
-- +2 Progress [Power] Runes Trait [7/?], new totals: (calculated below)
- Fog Flowers complete!
-- A source of Ulgu, in and of itself more plentiful than Invisible Diamonds, sadly that comes at the cost of being from a field within a thoroughly cleansed but undeniably scarred forest that was once the abode of some unknowable horror that Fjolla had since slain. Bah!
-- +1 [T2] Fog Flower: Can be a replacement to [T2] Invisible Diamonds. Ulgu.
-- +1 Progress to Akazit Pt. 3, new totals: (see later)
-- +1 Progress to Master of the Odd [11/15], new totals: (calculated below)
- Sparking Shrooms complete!
-- A source of Azyr, of roughly the same efficacy as Dronril but with a higher overall storage capacity. More difficult to acquire.
-- +1 [T2] Blid frongol: Specimens can grow to [T3] Blid frongol. Azyr/Shyish
-- +1 Progress to Akazit Pt. 3, new totals: (see later)
-- +1 Progress to Master of the Odd [11/15], new totals: (calculated below)
- Examine Karaz-Kazak-Rhun complete!
-- Questioning the very fundamental pillars of your beliefs and profession is becoming an annoyingly more frequent occurrence. Can't have anything be simple. Bah!
-- +1 Progress to Diction Direction Pt. 2, new totals: [Cost: (7 -6) =1 actions] Research tree altered.
-- +2 Progress to The Mind of Things Pt. 6: [Cost: (8 -6) =2 actions]
-- +1 Progress to The Happening of Things, new totals: [Cost: (7 -4) = 3 actions]
Retainers
- Expedition, Aiding Grom complete!
-- +70 Favours with the Far North, new totals: (calculated below)
- +3 Progress Training Regime Pt. 2, new totals: [Cost: (2 +4 -3) = 3 actions]
- +6 Dum Delvers, new totals: x6
- +6 Longbeard Miners, new totals: x10
181 +12 =193/240
(*Updated*)Khazagar
- Curriculum Change complete! Switched Prosthetic Runes with Rune of Dum-Denial
(*Updated*)Runes
- Rune of Thungni's Endurance [Talismanic], Necessary Ingredients: [T4 Adamant]: Items and Runes inscribed on the same item as this Rune have increased durability and energy efficiency. Moderately lowers the duration and potency of curses and magic targeting the wearer. (Windsight: Emphasizes the Rune's Wind ordering effect; better breaking apart hostile magic at the cost of weaker smoothing and waste reduction.)
- Rune of Otherworldly Warding [Talismanic], Necessary Ingredients: [T4 Ancient Stone Troll Blood]: Magical blows against the wearer cause the struck area to moderately become increasingly resistant against that type of damage. (Windsight: Emphasizes and alters the Rune's resistance effect; reinforcing energy the Rune directs to afflicted areas is faster and attuned to repelling magic.)
- Combo,Lightfall [Weapon]: [Rune of Lightspite, Rune of Might, Rune of Impact.] Blows cause an eruption of light, and force proportional to the speed of the weapon upon contact. Continued attacks build the amount of force released for the duration of the battle until blows land with the force of five Dawi. (Windsight: Trace amounts of Hysh, gather from the amount of light being generated, causing a largely cosmetic effect.)
- Losses
-- -6 [T4] Ancient Greedy Troll's Heart, new totals: x0
-- -1 [T4] Dragon Ogre Shaggoth Heart, new totals: x6
-- -3 [T4] Adamant, new totals: 113
— x192 bars of [T4] Adamant required at End ofTurn 61/Start of Turn 62
-- -1 [T2] White Lion's Heart, new totals: x1
-- -2 [T2] Dronril
(*Updated*)Favour and Standing
- +70 Favours with the Far North, new totals: 355
- +1 Standing with the Brotherhood of Dron, new totals: Standing 8
(*Updated*)Trait(s) Gained/Upgraded
Snorri
- +2 Progress to [Power] Runes Trait[7/?], new totals: [9/?]
- +2 Progress to Master of the Odd [11/15], new totals: [13/15]
- +1 Progress to Peerless Production [12/?], new totals: [14/?]
Karstah
- +1 Progress to Wisdom with Weapons [1/6], new totals: [2/6]
We did it! Runehenge is (sorta) complete. It has the slight-negligible chance of creating warpstone but surely that won't be a problem as long as it's maintained properly and no rats move in.
Lightfall is a cool combo, and I kinda want to borrow-steal Trollslayer so we can fix-upgrade it. Maybe near the monolith.
There was no moment of clarity, no single point of inspiration that finally sparked it, just pisces in concert that she had finally put into place.
The initial selection of Runes wasn't bad, but it was missing something. The Runes felt to her as if they worked well as the axle to their own arrays, but not as the spokes.
Funny that she found her answer in the past, just not among the innumerable other Star inspired hammers that filled history.
Let song remind you
But to something closer to home.
Trollslayer.
But rather than heat, she would focus on light.
Jewels and stars, the association between the two was as old as the first dwarf who looked up at the night sky, hell an example of their entwined symbology was in the heart of Khazagar itself.
But the stars were distant, brilliant and plentiful.
"Gruncle! Gruncle!" a familiar voice calls, growing louder each time as the speaker gets closer and closer. You wonder why your retainers allowed her in, but you put that thought out of mind and sigh.
Valaya grant you patience. Making that Smelter was less work.
"Oh oh! Granda Dolgi always talks about taking me on as his apprentice if I have the Gift, do you know if I have the Gift Gruncle? Oh! Wait wait! I know this! We use a hammer to find out right? Do you have the Gift finding hammer with you Gruncle?"
"No plaitling I don't possess that hammer." You have the one they're based off of.
"Wait, you have the even better hammer right?" she prods, hands clasped behind her and pigtails swinging as she skips along behind you.
"Aye I do, and no you can't touch Karaz-Kazak-Rhun," you confirm then answer the obvious next question.
Svina is behind you, but you can see the pout in your mind's eye with crystal clarity.
What? Trusting a child to walk around your Workshop unsupervised? Ridiculous. Foolish! Besides, you were planning to do this before she showed up anyway. Thungni taught His apprentices while using it, so clearly it was safe enough.
And, the petty part of you cackles, the idea that a child of thirteen got to see Karaz-Kazak-Rhun before those stuffy shirts calling themselves Runelords down south in Izril was incredibly funny.
Master Snorri had called it Brynbar when he described it to her.
A circular clasp inscribed with an array designed to more rapidly disrupt enemy Zhufcraft by mixing tried and true methods that the Runesmiths had honed from the earliest days of the Guild, and a strange phenomenon he encountered when wizards tried to manipulate Deep Magic.
Then he made Aethyrbinder.
So the task, the materials needed and the resulting creation (once it was made), were offered to her. Gemstone eyes flicker.
Of course she took it.
Master Yorri's two recommended methods of making a Waystone safer to use weren't too off the mark; the Winds of Magic, if left to stagnate, has the tendency to curdle and transform into Dhar. The specifics of his methodology though, especially concerning why it was better to move magic, were just a bit off. For one thing, aside from movement, you could maintain higher magical densities in an environment if the energy was composed of a single Wind. Far less likely to curdle, though it limited the possibilities.
Remembering the story of Rugni Diamondback with that knowledge in mind, well it makes you wonder how he hadn't fumbled sooner. An enclosed cavern, and an incorrect activation sequence that sounded like it dumped Dhar rather than any one or combination of the Winds…
Never believe you have mastered these stones… never treat them with anything less than the respect and caution you have when you're experimenting with Master Runes, anything less will damn you and all you love.
Swirling torrents of power that begin spinning outwards from the pillar, eight distinct trails that grow in scope as they rebound against the Runes you set up, spinning like the reverse of a vortex. The frantic jog away so that your equipment and Stilling Field do not disrupt the exacting geometry of fields you set up.
The process was not without hiccups though.
The telltale curdle of Dhar flickering into existence at points where the bounding fields of the Runes is off by just a hair and actually creates an eddy that slows just enough to let the torrent settle. A speck of that telltale putrid radiating green your folk have seen near raw Gromril. A smooth sequence that shuts off the torrent, and the quiet work of ensuring the dissipating corruption is dealt with—
-- (*Updated*)[Monolith Mastery] Deep Magic looks no different from the Eight Winds, and the appearance seems dependent on the environmental Winds of Magic than the magic itself. Why?
--(*Updated*)[Monolith Mastery] Dhar is Warpstone green (duh), and you have now seen it curdle into existence. Terrifyingly, if you have a sufficiently large number of or strong enough anti-magic Runes, then control the geometry of that Rune's repelling field just right, and then buffet the Winds of Magic against that barrier. Well it can actually speed up the generation of Dhar.
-- (*Updated*)[Once More with Smelting] More observations for the creation of Master Runes. Need more examples before anything concrete can be made.
- Monolith Mastery Pt. 1 complete! Monolith Mastery Pt. 2 unlocked!
-- By knowing the general properties of the Winds, and Runecraft, you have devised a way to roughly direct the torrent of energy released when activating a Waystone. Crude, overengineered and not without error, you know that it at least works. Where to go from here is a bit open-ended, but the front runners are improving the system itself and/or making Runes that scan better split the Winds from each other and prevent the conditions for Dhar to form. Frustratingly this system is so precise that you need to skedaddle out of the way after tapping the Waystone, lest your Stilling Field bungle the geometry. Not a serious issue, since you can direct the energy with a few more pillars, but it's unbecoming of a fellow your age to run like a beardling playing tag ya see.
-- Tapping a Waystone now only has a 60% -10% (Complete Windsight)= 50% chance of something going wrong, increasing +5% per turn the Monolith remains active.
-- +2 Progress [Power] Runes Trait [7/?], new totals: (calculated below)
- [Late 495] Strange things come from the Citadel of Creation. Through some mysterious working, Lord Vragni Silverbrand has done something to his creation akin to Lord Klausson's Khazagar. Now every item of Runecraft that henceforth created on the Citadel's grounds now permanently glows with brilliant orange light.
- [Late 495] Thungni's Tongs have been found, buried beneath a Volcano in the Northern World's Edge, and now held by Vragni Silverbrand of Kraka Ornsmotek. Though not as revered or famed as Karaz-Kazak-Rhun, they are still the work of Wondermaking Thungni. While Karaz-Kazak-Rhun gave Him the means to shape the immaterial and material to His desire, it was with the Tongs and Gormwand that Thungni could drag the material and immaterial to his forge with such ease.
