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Aphonion Tales: The Archducal Council -- Unedited notes; later posts are edited transcripts (posts MWF, update 3/1/23)
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<blockquote data-quote="CPaladin" data-source="post: 8919353" data-attributes="member: 7030144"><p>[Session 147, cont'd]</p><p>As with many days, they have a public court to attend to various official matters. The Minister of the Mind rarely attends except when called to, but he is there this day, and asks for a moment. After the public court, they meet with him in a private audience.</p><p></p><p>"I have more information about the stone masons who have been recruited away. The builders were brought to the Barrier Mountains, almost to the far side, and then nothing."</p><p></p><p>"What's there?" asks Kit.</p><p></p><p>"I would have told you before doing this tracking, as most educated people would have, that there was nothing there. But obviously, most educated people were wrong. There must be something there. I see three possibilities. The first is that when they reach their destination, they're killed. But why? It makes no sense. And specifically why, if they need to sacrifice people for some dark ritual, would they use only skilled stone workers? My understanding is that a typical sacrifice, if you'll excuse the idea, could use anyone. Therefore, I think that is the least likely possibility.</p><p></p><p>"The second possibility is that there is a hidden dimensional gateway there, and they're being taken elsewhere. But that makes little sense to me as well, although more than that they're taking them that far to kill them. Again, why would you take them into another plane? Surely that other plane has its own stone masons?"</p><p></p><p>"One would think."</p><p></p><p>"The third possibility, then is I think the most likely and in some ways very simple. It is that someone has found a large, near-surface deposit with a great deal of frisia, and they do not wish to bring the Drow in on it. I don't know why they would not wish Drow involvement, but instead they are gathering other stoneworkers to do the work. But this is the point: I've talked to my colleagues in other places. It is not only our stone masons and stoneworkers. Indeed, the only places that have not seen a drain of their trained stoneworkers are Tang and Thar Ingmath. The level of the drain varies, but regardless of the faith of the kingdom, the drain is from everywhere on Drucien. The blandishments and offerings of coin are the same, and questions are being asked in several different kingdoms and archbaronies and the like. Your pardon, Your Majesty and Counselors, that I obviously revealed that we know that it's happening in order to get my counterparts from other nations to admit that they know it's happening. It is being held secretly by most nations, and if I've done wrong in sharing our information in order to get information from other nations, then I beg your pardon."</p><p></p><p>"That's not a concern right now," replies Alistair, "although in general you should communicate to a representative of the Body to assist in making those judgments."</p><p></p><p>"Yes, Majesty."</p><p></p><p>"But no matter. There must be a truly huge number of masons, then, if it's drawing from the entire continent."</p><p></p><p>"Thousands, Majesty. More likely tens of thousands."</p><p></p><p>"How long has this been going on?"</p><p></p><p>"I know that you have some understanding of the Gift. From the decay of the trails of travel, the earliest may have been taken there three years ago."</p><p></p><p>"I'm very curious about those two exceptions," says Kit. "Dwarves as well?"</p><p></p><p>"We have no counterparts among the dwarven kingdoms--they do not have Ministries of the Mind. I have no method of finding out."</p><p></p><p>"We know who we can ask. Those two kingdoms that were not affected--Tang and Thar Ingmath--those are the two countries of the Threes. That's the key distinction between them and all of the other human realms. When you say that you've reached out, then, to nations all over Drucien, you're referring essentially exclusively to human nations."</p><p></p><p>"Largely, though I did check with the elves. They have few stone masons anyway, but I also think it is unlikely that if someone were deliberately avoiding the Drow that they would recruit elves aligned with either of the great factions, either. But I did check with gnomes as well, and there has been no outreach there at all. Only among humans and the occasional halfling."</p><p></p><p>"I wonder," asks Kit, "are there any humans or halflings that they didn't want? Any that got turned down?"</p><p></p><p>"There were surely some that were not approached."</p><p></p><p>"That's not what I mean. Surely some people heard about the opportunity from friends or colleagues and approached them."</p><p></p><p>"That's an oddity. It does not appear that at any time anyone who approached their emissaries was taken. Only those that they approached directly."</p><p></p><p>"So they were looking for a specific kind of person."</p><p></p><p>"It is noteworthy that in at least two cases I was able to verify that master stone masons who turned them down after being approached were subsequently killed violently. I cannot be certain it was they who killed them, but it seems a reasonable assumption."</p><p></p><p>Dame Brionna speaks quietly to Kit. "You need to make sure that your Dad has not been approached."</p><p></p><p>"And if he hasn't been approached, that's interesting in itself. It would suggest that perhaps they don't want someone with his abilities. What do the people who get approached have in common?"</p><p></p><p>"I'm not sure, Councillor."</p><p></p><p>"We have a lot of stone masons currently working on the cathedral, so we can find out what they all have in common."</p><p></p><p>"Are they all male?"</p><p></p><p>"They are. No women have been approached."</p><p></p><p>"So that's one thing they're selecting for, and suggests one of our particular enemies. But I'd like to go back a moment. Why do you assume frisia?"</p><p></p><p>"It's the only logical mineral that they could seek that would shield them from our ability to find them."</p><p></p><p>"Why not a heavy lead deposit?"</p><p></p><p>"Well... that would also work. But who on earth would want to mine lead beyond the quantities one needs for certain items?"</p><p></p><p>"This many masons could build a city in a month. It must be some kind of stone that they're after. If it were lead, they would be taking metal workers and miners."</p><p></p><p>"It is possible, though incredibly dangerous, to work frisia. Now, it could also be that they've been taken into an area where there's a large deposit of lead or frisia, and they are after something else entirely but there has never been a recorded place in this section of the mountains for hundreds of miles."</p><p></p><p>"Let me ask a few additional points. This is nowhere near the extraplanar gate that we know of in the Barrier Mountains?"</p><p></p><p>"Nowhere near, Your Majesty. A good thousand, perhaps two thousand, miles nearly due west of there."</p><p></p><p>"So it's also near the zone where settlements have mysteriously disappeared."</p><p></p><p>"It is. Interesting. I'm incapable of making a connection there."</p><p></p><p>"Are you familiar with the material or the concept of ember?"</p><p></p><p>"No, my lord."</p><p></p><p>"There's detritus of enormous power left over from workings that the great elves were involved in during the First Age, or perhaps just their deities, I'm not entirely certain. Ember is corruptive and dangerous, and is also a mineral that we have some reason to believe that our enemies have been interested in."</p><p></p><p>"That's a possibility I could not consider because I was unaware of the existence of this ember, Your Majesty."</p><p></p><p>"If perchance you ever find anything about ember, you must inform us immediately, because the great elves will handle it. It is not a matter for our people."</p><p></p><p>"Wouldn't such a powerful, corruptive mineral kill?"</p><p></p><p>"That is part of my thought. You could need 10,000 masons for two reasons. First, because you were performing a truly enormous work--building a new city or the greatest castle in the world. Or you could need 10,000 masons because you need only one-hundred masons, but they only live for 30 days. It could be like the way in which in which some benighted places use people in salt mines and the like."</p><p></p><p>"There is that."</p><p></p><p>"And if the people recruited had some sort of resistance to ember, that they would last longer, that could be why they were specifically recruited, or some sort of susceptibility that made them able to sense it better or the like. This is the sort of thing where previously there have been people looking for fey or elven blood. But I think not in this case, especially because usually fey or elven blood would lead people away from the profession of stone masonry to begin with."</p><p></p><p>"And, unfortunately, Lord Silverleaves is still recovering," points out Kit, "so I don't think we can ask him to take on a difficult search and perhaps a physical reconnaissance."</p><p></p><p>"Perhaps we should begin by asking the dwarves whether they know anything of that area, and whether they have been approached, because, of course, per capita, the dwarfs have more stone masons," notes Dame Brionna. "Despite the fact that they are so greatly outnumbered by humans, it wouldn't surprise me if they had as many stone masons as we do on the continent. They also might know if there have been any disturbances in in the stone layers, or unusual quakes, or the like."</p><p></p><p>"There's another odd thing, there, which is you would think that there would be normal flow of skilled artisans seeking dwarven stone masons to replace the missing humans. If that's not happening, that's also indicative of something. Surely there are people in the guild here who have enough contacts with dwarves that when faced with a shortage of skilled labor, they might say 'Hey, do you have some journeymen who could come work for us for a few years?'"</p><p></p><p>"It sounds like they were recruiting strategically, so there would still be enough people left behind that their absence wouldn't be noted until we had a really enormous project like restoring the cathedral."</p><p></p><p>"But 10,000 is so many. We need what, a few dozen to rebuild the cathedral? And my other big question is that you would expect with that many stone masons that you would need hundreds of thousands of laborers, with perhaps some construction scale supervisors."</p><p></p><p>"Are all of these masters?"</p><p></p><p>"No, but all skilled stone masons. Masters, journeyman, and even a few apprentices, but not unskilled laborers."</p><p></p><p>"That argues that they need a special quality about the people themselves, not that they have a specific skill. Also, with that many people, you need a great deal of support. Where is the food coming from?"</p><p></p><p>"And the tools?"</p><p></p><p>"Even if they brought their own tools, they need clothes and they need food."</p><p>[cont'd]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="CPaladin, post: 8919353, member: 7030144"] [Session 147, cont'd] As with many days, they have a public court to attend to various official matters. The Minister of the Mind rarely attends except when called to, but he is there this day, and asks for a moment. After the public court, they meet with him in a private audience. "I have more information about the stone masons who have been recruited away. The builders were brought to the Barrier Mountains, almost to the far side, and then nothing." "What's there?" asks Kit. "I would have told you before doing this tracking, as most educated people would have, that there was nothing there. But obviously, most educated people were wrong. There must be something there. I see three possibilities. The first is that when they reach their destination, they're killed. But why? It makes no sense. And specifically why, if they need to sacrifice people for some dark ritual, would they use only skilled stone workers? My understanding is that a typical sacrifice, if you'll excuse the idea, could use anyone. Therefore, I think that is the least likely possibility. "The second possibility is that there is a hidden dimensional gateway there, and they're being taken elsewhere. But that makes little sense to me as well, although more than that they're taking them that far to kill them. Again, why would you take them into another plane? Surely that other plane has its own stone masons?" "One would think." "The third possibility, then is I think the most likely and in some ways very simple. It is that someone has found a large, near-surface deposit with a great deal of frisia, and they do not wish to bring the Drow in on it. I don't know why they would not wish Drow involvement, but instead they are gathering other stoneworkers to do the work. But this is the point: I've talked to my colleagues in other places. It is not only our stone masons and stoneworkers. Indeed, the only places that have not seen a drain of their trained stoneworkers are Tang and Thar Ingmath. The level of the drain varies, but regardless of the faith of the kingdom, the drain is from everywhere on Drucien. The blandishments and offerings of coin are the same, and questions are being asked in several different kingdoms and archbaronies and the like. Your pardon, Your Majesty and Counselors, that I obviously revealed that we know that it's happening in order to get my counterparts from other nations to admit that they know it's happening. It is being held secretly by most nations, and if I've done wrong in sharing our information in order to get information from other nations, then I beg your pardon." "That's not a concern right now," replies Alistair, "although in general you should communicate to a representative of the Body to assist in making those judgments." "Yes, Majesty." "But no matter. There must be a truly huge number of masons, then, if it's drawing from the entire continent." "Thousands, Majesty. More likely tens of thousands." "How long has this been going on?" "I know that you have some understanding of the Gift. From the decay of the trails of travel, the earliest may have been taken there three years ago." "I'm very curious about those two exceptions," says Kit. "Dwarves as well?" "We have no counterparts among the dwarven kingdoms--they do not have Ministries of the Mind. I have no method of finding out." "We know who we can ask. Those two kingdoms that were not affected--Tang and Thar Ingmath--those are the two countries of the Threes. That's the key distinction between them and all of the other human realms. When you say that you've reached out, then, to nations all over Drucien, you're referring essentially exclusively to human nations." "Largely, though I did check with the elves. They have few stone masons anyway, but I also think it is unlikely that if someone were deliberately avoiding the Drow that they would recruit elves aligned with either of the great factions, either. But I did check with gnomes as well, and there has been no outreach there at all. Only among humans and the occasional halfling." "I wonder," asks Kit, "are there any humans or halflings that they didn't want? Any that got turned down?" "There were surely some that were not approached." "That's not what I mean. Surely some people heard about the opportunity from friends or colleagues and approached them." "That's an oddity. It does not appear that at any time anyone who approached their emissaries was taken. Only those that they approached directly." "So they were looking for a specific kind of person." "It is noteworthy that in at least two cases I was able to verify that master stone masons who turned them down after being approached were subsequently killed violently. I cannot be certain it was they who killed them, but it seems a reasonable assumption." Dame Brionna speaks quietly to Kit. "You need to make sure that your Dad has not been approached." "And if he hasn't been approached, that's interesting in itself. It would suggest that perhaps they don't want someone with his abilities. What do the people who get approached have in common?" "I'm not sure, Councillor." "We have a lot of stone masons currently working on the cathedral, so we can find out what they all have in common." "Are they all male?" "They are. No women have been approached." "So that's one thing they're selecting for, and suggests one of our particular enemies. But I'd like to go back a moment. Why do you assume frisia?" "It's the only logical mineral that they could seek that would shield them from our ability to find them." "Why not a heavy lead deposit?" "Well... that would also work. But who on earth would want to mine lead beyond the quantities one needs for certain items?" "This many masons could build a city in a month. It must be some kind of stone that they're after. If it were lead, they would be taking metal workers and miners." "It is possible, though incredibly dangerous, to work frisia. Now, it could also be that they've been taken into an area where there's a large deposit of lead or frisia, and they are after something else entirely but there has never been a recorded place in this section of the mountains for hundreds of miles." "Let me ask a few additional points. This is nowhere near the extraplanar gate that we know of in the Barrier Mountains?" "Nowhere near, Your Majesty. A good thousand, perhaps two thousand, miles nearly due west of there." "So it's also near the zone where settlements have mysteriously disappeared." "It is. Interesting. I'm incapable of making a connection there." "Are you familiar with the material or the concept of ember?" "No, my lord." "There's detritus of enormous power left over from workings that the great elves were involved in during the First Age, or perhaps just their deities, I'm not entirely certain. Ember is corruptive and dangerous, and is also a mineral that we have some reason to believe that our enemies have been interested in." "That's a possibility I could not consider because I was unaware of the existence of this ember, Your Majesty." "If perchance you ever find anything about ember, you must inform us immediately, because the great elves will handle it. It is not a matter for our people." "Wouldn't such a powerful, corruptive mineral kill?" "That is part of my thought. You could need 10,000 masons for two reasons. First, because you were performing a truly enormous work--building a new city or the greatest castle in the world. Or you could need 10,000 masons because you need only one-hundred masons, but they only live for 30 days. It could be like the way in which in which some benighted places use people in salt mines and the like." "There is that." "And if the people recruited had some sort of resistance to ember, that they would last longer, that could be why they were specifically recruited, or some sort of susceptibility that made them able to sense it better or the like. This is the sort of thing where previously there have been people looking for fey or elven blood. But I think not in this case, especially because usually fey or elven blood would lead people away from the profession of stone masonry to begin with." "And, unfortunately, Lord Silverleaves is still recovering," points out Kit, "so I don't think we can ask him to take on a difficult search and perhaps a physical reconnaissance." "Perhaps we should begin by asking the dwarves whether they know anything of that area, and whether they have been approached, because, of course, per capita, the dwarfs have more stone masons," notes Dame Brionna. "Despite the fact that they are so greatly outnumbered by humans, it wouldn't surprise me if they had as many stone masons as we do on the continent. They also might know if there have been any disturbances in in the stone layers, or unusual quakes, or the like." "There's another odd thing, there, which is you would think that there would be normal flow of skilled artisans seeking dwarven stone masons to replace the missing humans. If that's not happening, that's also indicative of something. Surely there are people in the guild here who have enough contacts with dwarves that when faced with a shortage of skilled labor, they might say 'Hey, do you have some journeymen who could come work for us for a few years?'" "It sounds like they were recruiting strategically, so there would still be enough people left behind that their absence wouldn't be noted until we had a really enormous project like restoring the cathedral." "But 10,000 is so many. We need what, a few dozen to rebuild the cathedral? And my other big question is that you would expect with that many stone masons that you would need hundreds of thousands of laborers, with perhaps some construction scale supervisors." "Are all of these masters?" "No, but all skilled stone masons. Masters, journeyman, and even a few apprentices, but not unskilled laborers." "That argues that they need a special quality about the people themselves, not that they have a specific skill. Also, with that many people, you need a great deal of support. Where is the food coming from?" "And the tools?" "Even if they brought their own tools, they need clothes and they need food." [cont'd] [/QUOTE]
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Aphonion Tales: The Archducal Council -- Unedited notes; later posts are edited transcripts (posts MWF, update 3/1/23)
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