WhatGravitas
Explorer
Unless, however, your ritual casters develop an addiction to residuum presence due to their frequent contact.
Then developing bigger and bigger rituals is your only way to keep your boss feeding you with it.
Cheers, LT.
Setting Idea: The Residuum Economy
Then developing bigger and bigger rituals is your only way to keep your boss feeding you with it.
Cheers, LT.
Also, it's easy for an overseer to monitor menial laborers, but it's hard to tell how hard an engineer or artist is working.
At any rate, if this one raw material, residuum, is so universally useful, I suspect that kingdoms will clash over it, even more than they clashed over fertile land or productive mines. If, on the other hand, it is so difficult to extract that it's barely worth the effort, it could be a non-issue.
Again, it's all going to depend on how Residuum is obtained in the first place. In the 4E rules-as-written, you get Residuum by disenchanting magic items you don't want/can't use. Does it work the same way in this world? Is this the ONLY way to get it? The source of Residuum has a huge impact on all the economic ramifications that follow.
On another tangent, I don't think you'd ever see ritualists who can create their own rituals get treated as slaves. A ritualist powerful enough to Fabricate a castle, could do all kinds of horrible things instead. "Here, pitiful slave, take this 100 lbs of Residuum and build me a palace" "OK, boss" says the slave, as he begins the ritual that will open a portal to the abyss, engulfing his masters' entire city in unquenchable flames for 1000 years. Or something like that.
You may see poorly-treated acolytes, just starting out and fabricating cheap textiles in magical sweat-shops, but a ritualist would outgrow that treatment pretty quickly.
Unless the "masters" command absolute control over access to rituals, it would be too dangerous to try to exploit these people.
On another tangent, I don't think you'd ever see ritualists who can create their own rituals get treated as slaves. A ritualist powerful enough to Fabricate a castle, could do all kinds of horrible things instead. "Here, pitiful slave, take this 100 lbs of Residuum and build me a palace" "OK, boss" says the slave, as he begins the ritual that will open a portal to the abyss, engulfing his masters' entire city in unquenchable flames for 1000 years. Or something like that.
You may see poorly-treated acolytes, just starting out and fabricating cheap textiles in magical sweat-shops, but a ritualist would outgrow that treatment pretty quickly.
Unless the "masters" command absolute control over access to rituals, it would be too dangerous to try to exploit these people.
Jonathan Drain
First Post
Between magic item crafting and the fabricate spell, D&D's had something similar for a while now. It's interesting though to consider the effect on society.
I think there's still going to be room for common crafters and artisans. A wizard can make a tower in a day for 100,000 gold pieces, but unless you're in a hurry (military uses, emergency) you could build it in two months the mundane way for a fraction of the cost. A wizard can duplicate a statue or painting, but it's a worthless copy - where's the artistic value of that?
What we may see is this:
I think there's still going to be room for common crafters and artisans. A wizard can make a tower in a day for 100,000 gold pieces, but unless you're in a hurry (military uses, emergency) you could build it in two months the mundane way for a fraction of the cost. A wizard can duplicate a statue or painting, but it's a worthless copy - where's the artistic value of that?
What we may see is this:
- Wizards casting anti-duplicating abjurations on the "original" of an item, like DRM
- Formulas for certain items as closely guarded secrets enforced by law
- Mages hired to create border keeps in a hurry at great expense
- Mass-production of magical weapons and armour, money allowing
Back in June I was grappling this notion of residuum as a basis for an setting's economy. See The Residuum Must Flow, a Dune concept setting, if you care to. The way 4E sets up spellbooks absolutely certainly makes for "intellectual property" and the use of residuum as a basis for the economy is pretty central to the setting.
My way of handling some of the issues:
1. residuum use is addictive, but not taboo. ritualists become hooked rapidly.
2. Residuum collects in very specific locations and is a precious commodity.
3. Some cultures emphasize residuum use in rituals, others in disposable magic (ala sun-rods, and warforged 'eating' the stuff).
My way of handling some of the issues:
1. residuum use is addictive, but not taboo. ritualists become hooked rapidly.
2. Residuum collects in very specific locations and is a precious commodity.
3. Some cultures emphasize residuum use in rituals, others in disposable magic (ala sun-rods, and warforged 'eating' the stuff).
I think you primarily need a better, more satisfying definition of "What is residuum?" before you can adequately tackle the larger issues to the point where you're basing a whole setting around it. Saying that it's raw magical material is insufficient in terms of describing its origin, scarcity, accessibility, renewable or expendable nature, cost, and so on, if you're basing a whole setting around it.
I'd also possibly consider amending your concept so that residuum is used to make durable goods, leaving things like candles and parchment to be made in the usual way. This creates a somewhat more diverse economy while still leaving everything dependent on this magic-based technology. It just seems odd to me that you'd have this material that you can use to make +6 Vorpal Broadswords and you're using it to make soap. Why not just make soap in the usual way, leaving more of the special material to make special things?
It would seem a bit weird to be using up the material that can make amazing magical items on something you use to blow your nose or wipe your ass. If Joe the Peasant (pause for horrific election season recollections) uses stuff made of raw magical material to pick the wax out of his ears or the gruel from between his teeth, what have you done to the wonder of this magical material in this setting?
If that is the effect you're going for, the sociological effects might be that nothing is considered sacred or special. Using another analogy, if you were to throw out the good china after using it once the same way you would your paper plates, it kind of loses it's "good" aspect, doesn't it? You could wind up with a very jaded, cynical society where the most amazing things in other campaign worlds elicit yawns. The very thing that allows for displays of wealth is now moot (that some things are made of special materials.) If the King of Wachovia has golden bedpans as a sign of his power and excess, but everything is made of the same material, why wouldn't everyone want golden bedpans? Just ask the ritualist to make them gold? Things like fashion and specialty items, and luxuries, are suddenly not so out of reach for virtually anyone. The result is that everything looks rich, but nothing truly is. Diamonds and gold attract attention because they are shiny and rare. But if the whole world was shiny, as most people would want it initially if they had the choice, then the whole world loses its luster.
Another question then that remains is, if you have everything durable made of a magical substance, and made via rituals, why wouldn't you make everything durable have magical properties? It's a bit like the old joke about the plastic doll being the only thing that survives a plane crash intact (why not make everything on the plane like the doll?) If the same stuff you use to make a spoon can be used to make a Spoon of Wonders! which allows you to flavor and heat anything you stick it in, and magical material scarcity is not an issue, why is every spoon not a Spoon of Wonders! ?
I think that perhaps there is an interesting idea here, but that using it for all goods or even just non-durable goods goes a bit too far.
I'd also possibly consider amending your concept so that residuum is used to make durable goods, leaving things like candles and parchment to be made in the usual way. This creates a somewhat more diverse economy while still leaving everything dependent on this magic-based technology. It just seems odd to me that you'd have this material that you can use to make +6 Vorpal Broadswords and you're using it to make soap. Why not just make soap in the usual way, leaving more of the special material to make special things?
It would seem a bit weird to be using up the material that can make amazing magical items on something you use to blow your nose or wipe your ass. If Joe the Peasant (pause for horrific election season recollections) uses stuff made of raw magical material to pick the wax out of his ears or the gruel from between his teeth, what have you done to the wonder of this magical material in this setting?
If that is the effect you're going for, the sociological effects might be that nothing is considered sacred or special. Using another analogy, if you were to throw out the good china after using it once the same way you would your paper plates, it kind of loses it's "good" aspect, doesn't it? You could wind up with a very jaded, cynical society where the most amazing things in other campaign worlds elicit yawns. The very thing that allows for displays of wealth is now moot (that some things are made of special materials.) If the King of Wachovia has golden bedpans as a sign of his power and excess, but everything is made of the same material, why wouldn't everyone want golden bedpans? Just ask the ritualist to make them gold? Things like fashion and specialty items, and luxuries, are suddenly not so out of reach for virtually anyone. The result is that everything looks rich, but nothing truly is. Diamonds and gold attract attention because they are shiny and rare. But if the whole world was shiny, as most people would want it initially if they had the choice, then the whole world loses its luster.
Another question then that remains is, if you have everything durable made of a magical substance, and made via rituals, why wouldn't you make everything durable have magical properties? It's a bit like the old joke about the plastic doll being the only thing that survives a plane crash intact (why not make everything on the plane like the doll?) If the same stuff you use to make a spoon can be used to make a Spoon of Wonders! which allows you to flavor and heat anything you stick it in, and magical material scarcity is not an issue, why is every spoon not a Spoon of Wonders! ?
I think that perhaps there is an interesting idea here, but that using it for all goods or even just non-durable goods goes a bit too far.
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