11 KiB
[RT] Worth the Candle - Chapter 29
-
Author: u/nytelios *
-
URL: http://archiveofourown.org/works/11478249/chapters/27104295
-
Score: 66
-
Created: 2017-09-03T03:01:28
Post:
Comments:
u/nytelios [+15] (13 hours later)
If we read between the lines and assume Arthur-as-Uther, it's likely that Arthur was dream-skewered into Aerb sometime during those 4 years. Poor Isiah in that case. Makes you think about what it's like to live a life just to be replaced by your doppelganger. Also it would be interesting if Joon's current body had a life prior to his "hijack" and somehow did something that got him on that plane. Then Joon meets someone who used to know his predecessor...
Did dwarves not feel the call of the gold? Is it a dwarven genotype thing or just dependent on your mentality towards gold (sacred vs means to an end)? Following that line of thought, can dwarves be gold mages? Or do they feel some inverse effect, like a purge of the gold?
I wonder how many gold mages there are. It seems likely to be a scarce vocation where there'd be a few Smaug-tier titans but no God of Gold. Per the Pareto distribution, most of the gold gets concentrated into a few mages who'd eventually reach an unsustainable rate of growth and suffer whatever degenerative symptoms occur due to the call of gold. How would homeostasis occur? It couldn't just be a bunch of upstarts usurping the tycoons, could it?
u/None [+5] (a day later)
My guess is that, since the call of the gold never fades, homeostasis is impossible. Eventually, every gold mage has to either overreach in an attempt to satisfy the call, or deny it, losing their power. Even without new gold mages trying to rise up, every gold mage inevitably self-destructs once their hoard gets big enough.
u/entropizer [+3] (2 days later)
If power scales subexponentially with amount of gold accrued to one individual, a rotating team of gold mages, summarily killed when their demands become too strong, would have the potential to be an excellent resource for powerful rulers. Just put a skin magic collar on each of them, and you've got the beginnings of a great setup.
They might even volunteer, if the Call is comparable to addiction. This would be an easy source of gold for them: for the short to medium term.
u/entropizer [+7] (2 days later)
Wild speculation, starts off reasonable:
In the context of my last speculative comment on the addictiveness of level ups, Arthur's refusal of the call of the hero and eventual succumbing becomes much more sinister. Ultimately, I think he might have wireheaded himself in divinity like Unsong's Neil Armstrong, or reached a place of torment where he can't level anymore. Or he's hibernating somehow in response to the torment? Although if that were the case I would expect he might have tried to intentionally cultivate a higher population so he could harvest levels from people - though this strategy might not work if you become unable to gain XP off mobs a certain number of levels below you. Supposing that he did reach such a place of helplessness, a natural target would be other sufficiently powerful dreamskewered individuals. In other words, Arthur could be a potential Big Bad Evil Guy, if the main character becomes strong enough to tempt him.
This guess is mostly motivated by tropes and rule of cool, not in-story evidence.
u/None [+17] (2 hours later)
Juniper, genre-savvy you are not. That makes two times The Prince and the Handmaid has been referenced by name in the story, and I imagine the third time will be Juniper realizing that he should have at least skimmed it. The fact that someone gave him something that doesn't sound plot relevant should have been his first clue. Also, I'm not sure what he's hoping to get out of the biography of Uther Penndraig - if Uther had mentioned his imaginary friend Juniper, I'd imagine that would be within the scope of the history Amaryllis has studied. (not that we can exactly rely on her for information at the moment)
From the last chapter:
“Quite eclectic,” said Yasin. “No fiction in there, save for Penndraig’s works?” He clucked his tongue. “I can understand the need to study, but surely some escape from the real world would be welcome, so long as you’re in my shop?”
I laughed at that. “I have to imagine that this is already a bigger sale than you normally get,” I said.
“True, true,” smiled Yasin. “But it’s not just about the sale, it’s for your own fulfillment.” He reached over to his stool and picked the paperback up off it, adding it to my pile. “Free, for you.”
If that isn't mysterious foreshadowing, I'll eat my hat. To be fair, he doesn't get the fourth-wall introduction we get, where it's the only book not on his improvised book list. But when Fenn later brought it up specifically, out of all of the books he bought, that should have been another clue.
Supposedly there was a time when dwarves carved their next of kin out of stone, but a grand racial curse was bestowed upon them that forced them to become a biologically reproducing race, which they could either do with each other, or by themselves.
No matter how flexible your sexuality, the picture of gay bearded dwarf reproduction is probably not your idea of attractive. Thanks for that, /u/cthulhuraejepsen.
“The curve can’t be that extreme,” I said. “Aumann has been a gold mage for twelve years now, if the requirements were doubling every month that would be … um, more pounds of gold than there are grains of sand in Aerb. Which is probably not the case. The exponent has to be a little more gentle than that.”
I'm wondering if the name of the character Aumann is a coincidence with the name of the mathematician Aumann, or if it's coordinated on the part of the author. Can I hold out hope for a sudden and surprising diplomatic victory after a long thoughtful talk about personal motivations? Given that nobody's actually made a really solid plan for how to go in and retrieve Amaryllis, or a plan for how to fight a gold mage.
u/ivory12 [+25] (2 hours later)
The gold mage's name seems to just actually be Gold (#79 - Au) Man, at least that's the main reference I see there.
u/cthulhuraejepsen [+21] Fruit flies like a banana (20 hours later)
Much like how Atlas Shrugged was largely a build up to a 60-page speech on Objectivism, Worth the Candle has only been setting things up for a descent into dwarf smut. Prepare to become well-acquainted with the phrase "cloacal kiss". :)
u/josephwdye [+8] I love you (5 days later)
u/cthulhuraejepsen [+8] Fruit flies like a banana (6 days later)
I'm fighting a cold right now, so next chapter is going to be late, probably not until I've had a chance to read it while in a non-sick state so I can make sure I didn't write stupid things while I had a fever.
u/josephwdye [+2] I love you (6 days later)
Take your time and feel better! I guess I just have read some Brandon Sanderson. Woe is me.
u/Alphanos [+9] The Bright Powers (2 hours later)
I'm wondering if the name of the character Aumann is a coincidence with the name of the mathematician Aumann
I had wondered if Aumann was intended as a reference with Au being the periodic table abbreviation for elemental Gold. So Aumann = Goldmann the Gold Mage?
u/None [+3] (15 hours later)
Now that I see it, I can't shake the image. If it's true, the author gets full marks in punny names.
u/nytelios [+7] (14 hours later)
Can I hold out hope for a sudden and surprising diplomatic victory after a long thoughtful talk about personal motivations? Given that nobody's actually made a really solid plan for how to go in and retrieve Amaryllis, or a plan for how to fight a gold mage.
Calling it now: Aumann getting poisoned by an apostle of the God of Romeo and Juliet.
Diplomacy was already tried, so that's out. But it probably will be a sudden and surprising victory (if at all) since I don't see it coming to a dogfight.
u/serge_cell [+5] (a day later)
Something analogous to financial "poison pill"?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shareholder_rights_plany
Dilute Aumann gold by tricking him into capture of large amount of false gold? Reduce value of holding Amaryllis by poisoning her (providing her with poison to poison herself) and buy her back cheap?
u/EliezerYudkowsky [+12] Godric Gryffindor (a day later)
No matter how flexible your sexuality, the picture of gay bearded dwarf reproduction is probably not your idea of attractive.
You don't know very many people with flexible sexualities, I'm guessing? Or at least, you don't know them very well.
u/None [+8] (a day later)
Well it depends. There's a fetish for everything, but you're looking at the intersection between two small groups - people who like yaoi between two unambiguously masculine men, and people who like dwarves. A lot of yaoi suits a female audience because at least one of the characters adheres to feminine gender roles, and girls in general seem to be more attracted to effeminate men. (My sources may be out of date) It also depends on what type of dwarves we're talking about - Hobbit style mini people, or dwarves that are super compressed and stocky. I know some people personally who might enjoy it if it was done with well-established characters, but not anyone who would actively seek it out. I probably wouldn't be to averse to writing dwarf yaoi myself, but what comes out might not exactly resemble their Tolkien roots.
Then again, even with my refined explanation, the original comment is still hyperbole.
u/munkeegutz [+5] (2 days later)
(comment that I should have given a few chapters ago, but I just started reading Worth The Candle)
I really think that Juniper is making a bad decision with focusing on Blades. The big advantage he has over typical in-world characters is learning skills and spells quickly.
Mages have an extremely diverse set of spells available to them with world-breaking potential, but the average citizen lacks the time and ability to learn all of them in one lifetime -- Juniper might be able to learn everything in a /year/! Likewise, doing anything other than taking advantage of the 3-for-2 bonuses seems foolhardy.
Of course, it's not too late to save himself. Juniper would definitely want a bit of PHY anyways, so if he just changes his focus he can still take advantage of his unique traits...