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Warhammer Fantasy: Divided Loyalties - an Advisor's Quest

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shepsquared said:
He'd be going to the foremost runesmith from Karaz-a-Karak to do so. You really think Kragg wouldn't rebuke him for doing that?
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Very possibly, I suppose. Though it seems like protocol should at least entitle him to ask. "Yo, saw this. Can't find any reference to it. Ever heard of it?" Because you can't have a system that revolves heavily around the idea that everything is the sacred intellectual property of the master craftsman who knows how to make it if you can't keep track of which thing is the sacred property of who because no one dares to ask.

Of course, Kragg's so abrasive he'd insult Thorek anyway, whether it was a proper question to ask. So "desire to avoid interacting with Kragg at all" would explain a lot here.

Sort of like my theory that the real reason Kragg's lived so long is because of the obvious conflict of interest Gazul faces. If Kragg ever dies, Gazul has to live with the jackass under his roof!
 
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Thorek: So about that waystone rune...
Kragg: Finally come to your senses and seeking my secrets, eh? Fine. Given your degree of talent I estimate the apprenticeship to last but a mere two centuries...
:V
 
ReImagined said:
Thorek: So about that waystone rune...
Kragg: Finally come to your senses and seeking my secrets, eh? Fine. Given your degree of talent I estimate the apprenticeship to last but a mere two centuries...
:V
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Wow Kragg saying someone could be an somewhat acceptable apprentice if given enough time? What a complement!
 
Simon_Jester said:
I would think that as one of the foremost runesmiths in the Karaz Ankor, he'd at least have enough standing to go to Karaz-a-Karak, grunt "hey, that giant rune scratched on the side of a mountain that's visible for miles, any of y'all know what's up with that, yes or no, just asking" to determine if anyone in Karaz-a-Karak actually does know what it's doing or what it's for.

Not to pry for that information, but just to ascertain, yes or no, whether or not anyone actually possesses it.

Because if nothing else, there's surely precedent for a rune being proprietary to some legendary smith, and other runesmiths just not knowing the rune even exists and having to ask "hey, does this belong to you or anyone you know of?"

Or is even that forbidden by the sheer passive-aggressive self-destructive tendencies of the runesmiths' code?
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This isn't a one-off thing that exists only here that might have been forgotten. It's the basic component of the Dwarven Waystone network. Chains of them extend in pretty much every direction from Karaz-a-Karak.
 
Boney said:
This isn't a one-off thing that exists only here that might have been forgotten. It's the basic component of the Dwarven Waystone network. Chains of them extend in pretty much every direction from Karaz-a-Karak.
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Noted.

It still seems like there should be some institutionally acceptable way for a runesmith (especially one who's been a bit cut off from wider society, as Karak Azul was) to ask "is this rune the business of some other runesmith" without prying into the actual secret itself. Because again, you can't have rigorous disciplined copyrighting of everyone's secret lore without being able to track whose secret lore is whose.

But I really don't want to be annoying about this, and even if I were right the obvious explanation of "this really isn't worth the aggro from having to talk to Kragg about it" handles everything admirably.
 
It might feel weird but honestly... consider that its not so secret.

As far as i can see (which is not far, given we know nothing else about it than that it exists), the rune isn´t really protected by anything but its sheer, nearly cartographical scale and the amount of secrecy.

Gives chaos less angles to suss it out through supernatural means and disrupt it though some bullshit.
 
Simon_Jester said:
Noted.

It still seems like there should be some institutionally acceptable way for a runesmith (especially one who's been a bit cut off from wider society, as Karak Azul was) to ask "is this rune the business of some other runesmith" without prying into the actual secret itself. Because again, you can't have rigorous disciplined copyrighting of everyone's secret lore without being able to track whose secret lore is whose.

But I really don't want to be annoying about this, and even if I were right the obvious explanation of "this really isn't worth the aggro from having to talk to Kragg about it" handles everything admirably.
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I mean, it's possible the Dwarfen system is that you're just expected to know everything that is your secret lore, and if you don't already know it then clearly you aren't supposed to. So even needing to ask the question is a disqualification from it being your business.
 
Simon_Jester said:
Noted.

It still seems like there should be some institutionally acceptable way for a runesmith (especially one who's been a bit cut off from wider society, as Karak Azul was) to ask "is this rune the business of some other runesmith" without prying into the actual secret itself. Because again, you can't have rigorous disciplined copyrighting of everyone's secret lore without being able to track whose secret lore is whose.

But I really don't want to be annoying about this, and even if I were right the obvious explanation of "this really isn't worth the aggro from having to talk to Kragg about it" handles everything admirably.
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General Dwarven wisdom takes it as self-evident that any Runesmith with the chops to even think about reverse engineering anything would already know by sight every single Rune still known to the Karaz Ankor. While Runesmiths would absolutely keep the process of creating Runes extremely secret, their existence and general properties are things they'd announce extremely publicly because these are things they want people to know about and want to commission. There are Runesmiths Conclaves about once a generation for everyone to compare notes and update each other on what they've discovered or lost, and even though Karak Azul Runesmiths probably would have missed at least some of them until the invention of gyrocopters, they would have had the information sent to them via expedition eventually.
 
Boney said:
General Dwarven wisdom takes it as self-evident that any Runesmith with the chops to even think about reverse engineering anything would already know by sight every single Rune still known to the Karaz Ankor. While Runesmiths would absolutely keep the process of creating Runes extremely secret, their existence and general properties are things they'd announce extremely publicly because these are things they want people to know about and want to commission. There are Runesmiths Conclaves about once a generation for everyone to compare notes and update each other on what they've discovered or lost, and even though Karak Azul Runesmiths probably would have missed at least some of them until the invention of gyrocopters, they would have had the information sent to them via expedition eventually.
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Is there some kind of official Copyright Office in the Karaz Ankor? Someone keeping track of who invented what, or is it on a per-guild basis?
 
Shane_357 said:
Is there some kind of official Copyright Office in the Karaz Ankor? Someone keeping track of who invented what, or is it on a per-guild basis?
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Probably not. Copyright is a relatively new concept in law, and was only established in the 17th century and largely becasue the English government of teh time was annoyed and people publishing mean things about them.

Meanwhile the Karaz Ankor doesn't have a printing press, doesn't really seem to agitate against the government in the same way, and general Dwarfen rules seem to be "everyone in a Guild should know all major discoveries/inventions of that Guild". Plus, the main reason for the rise of copyright wasn't originally for technical processes (because you could largely track those by the product, ie. if someone invents a new steam engine you can tell if someone steals it because it'll use the ideas) but instead for literature. Now the Karaz Ankor has what seems to be a fair amount of literature, but I'm not sure they have the "popular books keep getting nicked by other publishers" problem, because presumably one Guild handles all the publishing, and therefore there's no publishing competition.
 
On the topic of DL related dreams: I dreamt Boney had posted a big (2k words or so) sidestory or omake, and I (in the dream) was like "Boney, why would you do this to me, I can't read this much in a dream, why must you torment me so". I got as far as "this is a dream", but not quite as far as "so it's not real, actually".
 
BurnNote said:
On the topic of DL related dreams: I dreamt Boney had posted a big (2k words or so) sidestory or omake, and I (in the dream) was like "Boney, why would you do this to me, I can't read this much in a dream, why must you torment me so". I got as far as "this is a dream", but not quite as far as "so it's not real, actually".
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Dream be like that. You can recognise it's a dream, but it don't actually matter in the "story"
 
Boney said:
General Dwarven wisdom takes it as self-evident that any Runesmith with the chops to even think about reverse engineering anything would already know by sight every single Rune still known to the Karaz Ankor. While Runesmiths would absolutely keep the process of creating Runes extremely secret, their existence and general properties are things they'd announce extremely publicly because these are things they want people to know about and want to commission. There are Runesmiths Conclaves about once a generation for everyone to compare notes and update each other on what they've discovered or lost, and even though Karak Azul Runesmiths probably would have missed at least some of them until the invention of gyrocopters, they would have had the information sent to them via expedition eventually.
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Now see, that's exactly the kind of thing I'd have been expecting or even a little better, and it'd address the general issue I was poking at. Sorry to trouble you. Thank you.

Dragonofelder said:
RP#1: "I have lost... my favourite chisel."
RP#2: "Dammit Thungison thats not what they meant and you know it."
RP#1: "It was my favourite chisel..."
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"It was a bloody good chisel, though..."

Somewhere, a random dwarven stonecutter picks up a chisel he found dropped in a corridor. He's made inquiries of everyone he can imagine it having been lost by. Unsure what else to do and not wanting to waste a very good chisel, he sets it to a stone face he's working on.

*TINK*

Enormous complex traceries and curlicues of carving erupt all across the stone face.

"GAAAAH!"

[random stonecutter recoils]

"I... I need a drink... gaah..."
 
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pucflek said:
Mathilde gathering suitable materials. :V

You already have the pertinent information about the author, @Boney .

Alternate title: How to address taller people.
Edit: https://www.deviantart.com/kartstudiodigi adding link to author for clarity.
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Damn that looks epic and probably surprised the forest monster thing, since Mathilde has a tendency to have her sword just pop into existence. Meaning it probably thought she only had her pistol until SUDDEN CANNON SWORD!!
 
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