Its definitely some kind of unusual structure. I'd hesitate to actually call it matter at all like a sword or ore or such. It was never real to begin with and its unreality is fighting with reality after crossing the Snake Bridge. This is also in large part why I think and suppose it wouldn't give a single wit about pressure or temperature changes since its not actually real enough for those to matter.
Well, degenerate matter in that its easier to visualize how the Winds interact as pseudomatter than whatever they really are.
Previous experience had convinced me that mystery boxes were catnip for questers. The learning process truly never ends.
Its mostly missing the forest for the trees to be honest.
Voting priority almost invariably is based on:
1) Utility to allegiance. Community/organization > Friends > Self > Allies
SV in general is extremely loyal to their parent organization. In Divided Loyalties this factor led to the whole debate last vote where the debate revolved around whether it was better to be loyal to our present primary employer's best interests as we see it, his orders as he said it, what our friend would want, what our deceased friend would want, whether we could harm the cause, etc.
2) Timeline of benefit. Long term tends to win over short term, even when you REALLY need a short term win right now.
3) Uniqueness of benefit. If something is unique or at least very rare, it has an immediate interest in it. If something is likely to be achievable later its less likely to win even if its good.
4) Costs incurred. Costs particularly is balanced against resource scarcity. Note that costs are weighed more lightly at quest start than significantly into a quest, players at chapter 1 are more than twice as willing to gamble everything than players at chapter 3. And at Chapter 100 they're no longer willing to spend anything at all.
Risk and mystery are perpendicular metrics, because they work by gambling items of the above.
Its easier to illustrate here than to explain:
[ ] Dragonbone.
-Utility to allegiance: Unknown(Low to Medium). While there is some talk of what Kragg might be able to do with dragonbone, there is very little actual plan here.
-Timeline of benefit: Long. It'd give out results late, if ever, but the results are expected to last our entire career if we ever get around to figuring out what. Snake box timescale expected
-Uniqueness of benefit: Middling. There is an expectation of being able to find dragonbone later, deliberately if we actually want to, though it won't be easy.
-Costs incurred: Time costs when we're permanently in a time crunch.
[ ] Gold and jewels.
-Utility to allegiance: Minor. Not to our boss, not to ourselves.
-Timeline of benefit: Short term
-Uniqueness of benefit: Common.
-Costs incurred: None
[ ] Proof of the 'College of Necromancy'.
-Utility to allegiance: High. It directly furthers Belegar's orders to show the flag by amplifying the importance of what she achieved by his command. It directly furthers OUR benefit, and it might further the Colleges' ability to detect future such attempts.
-Timeline of benefit: Long. It would have a long lasting effect and be a good story to boot.
-Uniqueness of benefit: Unique. Impossible to acquire the like deliberately.
-Costs incurred: None
[ ] Detailed trade ledgers.
-Utility to allegiance: Originally this was Unknown(Low to High), however the clarification made this immediately Medium, then boosted by utility to the EIC, Stirland, Roswita and Wilhelmina, to High
-Timeline of benefit: Medium. It isn't the sort of thing to actually cause a permanent sea change, but it has immediate impact and is unlikely to just stop impacting.
-Uniqueness of benefit: Low. We already have mechanism to obtain similar benefits.
-Costs incurred: None expected.
[ ] Books on Necromancy and the Undead.
-Utility to allegiance: Unknown(Zero to High), may be of utility to College, boosting it up a step.
-Timeline of benefit: Long
-Uniqueness of benefit: Low. We already have a great book, so unless it explicitly rivals the Liber Mortis its not going to be a factor.
-Costs incurred: Unknown(Medium to High). It is unknown how many actions would be involved, but it is likely to generate at least one research topic unless its useless(in which case its useless).
[ ] Books on Vampires and
Dhar.
-Utility to allegiance: Unknown(Zero to High), may be of utility to College, boosting it up a step.
-Timeline of benefit: Long
-Uniqueness of benefit: High. Its not impossible to get by other means but this is probably the most potent vampire researcher we could expect to encounter for a long while.
-Costs incurred: Unknown(Medium to High). It is unknown how many actions would be involved, but it is likely to generate at least one research topic unless its useless(in which case its useless).
[ ] Books on
Shyish and death gods.
-Utility to allegiance: Unknown(Zero to High), may be of utility to College, boosting it up a step.
-Timeline of benefit: Long
-Uniqueness of benefit: Medium. Shyish lore is available from the College, and Death Lore is available from the cults. We just need to find someone willing to talk about cult secrets.
-Costs incurred: Unknown(Medium to High). It is unknown how many actions would be involved, but it is likely to generate at least one research topic unless its useless(in which case its useless).
As you can see the mystery in this case resolved strongly in favor of the Ledgers, which would normally have a debate focused around how big an impact they can have(and whether famously reclusive Necrarches trade, and whether any other vampires are involved), and thus bring their full allegiance benefits to bear by invoking all our allies that would be confirmed to benefit AND by stretching a bit, to extend the benefits to the whole Empire.
This along with an anticipated zero future cost, put it into a decisive lead.
Basically as soon as the Ledgers can be confirmed to be of significant utility, Benefits Five Allies/Organizations versus Benefits Mathilde And Colleges is likely going to win.
You'd need to establish very high uniqueness /rarity values in the others to even compete.
As an OOC note, I've tried researching abiotic hydrocarbon formation but as far as I can tell it's a spillover battlefield from creationist debates and Soviet science and I can't find reliable answers. Any local chemistry buffs able to weigh in?
I think the main crux factor for creating significant hydrocarbon reserves should be when the Slaan literally rearranged the map, and possibly whatever Old One tectonic rearrangement would have each instantaneously stored vast amounts of energy as it caused extinction events on anything not a magically powered apex predator.
That has to have quite literally crushed massive amounts of forests(and associated denizens) into coal and other fossil materials, as well as trapping and compressing a lot of miscelleny together.
However, I don't think it'd make recognizable coal exactly, and since the land reshaping was artificially done theres just plain not going to be any predictable way to prospect for them.
Practically speaking the future is in magic.
Like, the dwarves already have runes to create heat, the Bright College has the ability to make a given fire last a year without additional fuel without a whole lot of effort invested per fire.
Everything you need to develop industrial technologies on an artisanal level exists, and some of these can already generate enough conventional energy to operate, but not recursively expand, at industrialization levels, if you can only get these elite artisans to repetitively perform a task rather than focus on high prestige projects.
I wouldn't be surprised if the elves, with their high level of general magic availability, are effectively industrialized already. It'd certainly explain how they can simply mobilize so hard and remain functioning as a society.
you, I'll to this.