Durin's stated goal for founding the Burudin was to gather the greatest Runesmiths in the Guild together on a regular basis to, in his words, "push the art of Runecraft forward." It was his belief that by having the brightest minds speak in what was essentially an open forum, then the best ideas and innovations would come out of the crucible of frank discussion and fair critique. Whether it would be through cooperation between colleagues or one-upmanship between rivals, the eldest son of Thungni reckoned Runesmithing would benefit from the results regardless. What Durin may have failed to account for, scandalous as the thought may be, was that the best Runesmiths in the realms were usually the oldest and most influential as well. So it was that as time passed, the prestige of those Runesmiths became the prestige of the organization, and soon it was seen that the Burudin were the best of the best because they were in the Burudin and not the Burudin accepting only the best. Not anyone could just join, for it required a majority agreement from the group itself, and because latter members conflated the purpose and prestige of the Burudin, the cycle perpetuated itself. Now only the oldest and most prestigious Runelords and very select Masters may join, for in the minds of the Guild and Burudin that is what it takes to be a member of the group.
Or at least that's what Snorri believes, after having listened to Yorri rant and rave about the Burudin becoming a political creature that has grown to ignore its founding purpose.
I've been told that there may be recency bias with how the Burudin were portrayed by some concerned voters, and upon review, I can see the argument has some merit. I'll add the above blurb, or some form of it to the update though, just as an FYI.
Thanks. :^)
Basically the Burudin is more a social club than anything else. A place to meet with ones peers at the top of the field and exchange ideas (maybe via exchanges of runes, maybe via shouting matches, maybe via showing off, maybe via any of a dozen other methods). I think this undercuts a lot of the arguments both for and against joining the Burudin that I've seen put about by the threat; one the one hand there's a lot less
required of Snorri simply by joining than many are thinking, but on the other there's also a lot less on offer than many might be thinking, both primarily because the Burudin is essentially a situation where you get out what you put in.
Simply put, beyond a background prestige gain across the Karaz Ankor and maybe the occasional farther flung Runelord reaching out to us, it will require actual effort (and actions) to see fruit from joining. We'll need to travel and interact with the Burudin in an active manner in order to reap the greater benefits of accepting.
At the same time this isn't the sort of organization that is going to
demand much of Snorri, it's simply not designed to. It has no set goal beyond advancing Runecraft in some nebulous sense and no underpinning ideology to which Snorri must subscribe.
Basically all the 'danger' of joining is outwardly focused; Snorri won't be going on missions for the Burudin or be required to perform favors for it, it won't demand anymore of his time than his existing correspondence with his peers because all it's fundamentally does is make some introductions a little easier and even the playing field a little bit with the oldest and most accomplished of Runelords. Yorri is mostly worried about what the Burudin will do to Runesmithing as an art rather than what it'll do to Snorri and his advice to stay away from it is based on that.
That said, joining is not without a cost. Joining will lose Snorri some approval in Yorri's eye. Not enough to radically alter their relationship, I would think, at least not in such a way that it would be obvious right away, but it will be yet another way in which the two of them disagree on things. And that disagreement will mean that it will be harder to develop Snorri's relationship with Yorri further. What exactly that entails I can't say for certain (I have some ideas, but they're too speculative to be useful) but I think it should be kept in mind.
What though are the potential consequences of rejecting the offer to join the Burudin? I think an immediate outcome will be a shift in Yorri's demeanor; because rejecting the Burudin will signal to him that even though he and Snorri often disagree the boy does in fact listen when he speaks and can be brought around to reason. At least on some things. There's that big fat '???' on the option for a reason.
I'm still not entirely sure whether rejecting or accepting the Burudin offer is the better choice in my eyes, but that's my thinking on it so far. For whatever it's worth to the thread.
? Because, I think the voting isn't counting the other votes?
