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Tumunzahar makes Menegroth look like a contract project. Which, the Dwarves assure her, it was. The stonework is astonishingly careful and beautiful, silky to the touch up close while from a distance it gives the impression of stretching on forever above, a sky of stone with crystals for stars. Vast natural cave systems are connected by dozens of perfectly smooth, gently sloped broad stone pathways from which the fall, if she fell, would be several miles down. There are handrails. "We use those to move materials carts," someone explains to her, "we're not going to be reckless."
There's an amphitheater, a place where a hundred of the stone walkways twine around to create space for a hundred thousand people to sit in close proximity, and someone is giving a lecture or a demonstration at the base of it, the seats closest to him filled with eager, tiny, bearded Dwarf-children.
And they spiral down, and down, and down, past waterfalls and egg-sized gemstones left half in the rock and halls of crystal. Everything grows gradually more ornate and more perfectly maintained and the clang of hammers fades behind them. "People say," her guide says, "that we only have a council instead of a single King because there were nine winners of the competition to design the throne so we couldn't just select one person to sit it." And they push open the doors to reveal, indeed, nine thrones so elaborate it would be hard to choose between them, and nine squat bearded people sitting them.
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No, of course not. Everyone knows what I can do, and I don't mind if they hum it under their breath either. It's reproducing someone else's artwork in full without their consent - if, in Asgard, I had a duplicator, and someone finished a painting or something and I took it, put it in the duplicator, and then started selling it on the street, would I have committed an offense?
purposeful_glory
Yes, but the offense would be couched entirely in terms of money and credit, maybe control of the artistic experience. No money was in play, I'd tell anyone who asked who composed the song, and there's no artistic value to the short versions, either, I squish them as far as they go before they stop working - so I didn't think it through.
I'm not annoyed. My reference class for people much more powerful than I who can do as they please contains entirely people far, far worse than you, and that was true an hour ago as well. I am happy and surprised my cousins had qualms. I'll happily share future song ideas.
purposeful_glory
I was actually wondering if you'd have more luck with the idea I gave Findekáno than he's likely to. If I had a retroactive eidetic memory I would be much less limited in what sorts of information I can dispense and I can probably just explain the concepts behind how to build something with which to level Angband.
Well.
I don't think so but I'll try. That's actually one to run by my father - music skips the computation but is subject to the same constraints on how much information you can actually get the song of Creation to cough up, and he might blink and say 'impossible' instantly even if he'd take forever to explain to me why. Or he'll say 'technically that doesn't violate any tenets of information theory but there's absolutely no precedent' which means 'I'll be disappointed if you don't have it in a month" and I'll have to drop everything else. He sighs.
I don't think so but I'll try. That's actually one to run by my father - music skips the computation but is subject to the same constraints on how much information you can actually get the song of Creation to cough up, and he might blink and say 'impossible' instantly even if he'd take forever to explain to me why. Or he'll say 'technically that doesn't violate any tenets of information theory but there's absolutely no precedent' which means 'I'll be disappointed if you don't have it in a month" and I'll have to drop everything else. He sighs.
purposeful_glory
Oh dear. Complicating factor: based on Melian's explanation of the nature of the universe I am probably from another dimension separated by something a bit less trivial than merely quintillions of miles or something like that. If it is necessary to consult the reality that contributed to my memories, it may be far away, not run on music, etcetera.
Hmm.
Way harder and less exciting than making stone flow into a castle around me, but you did say 'level Angband' so I will pursue every avenue that seems available.
Way harder and less exciting than making stone flow into a castle around me, but you did say 'level Angband' so I will pursue every avenue that seems available.
purposeful_glory
Findekáno says that the sorts of metal that radiate poisonousness don't do that thing around Silmarils, which might interfere with some of the things I'm thinking of, but probably not all of them.
The Silmarils prevent decay, and the poisonousness of metals is actually a form of decay.
purposeful_glory
Ah, that explains it. I don't remember how essential that property is to the functioning of the explosion, but I am sure I have ever looked at a book saying one way or the other.
It'd also be reasonably useful to be able to level Angband even if Morgoth came out of it still standing. At that point perhaps we could just fight him. I mean, casualties would be horrifying, but - if we get the ability to end the sources of orcs, it'd be very hard to wait another century for the ability to take him personally.
If we help you remember everything from your world and build a weapon that levels Angband and then fight him and win, Maitimo's going to be so irritated with me. He'll insist that the real Macalaurë would not have signed his name to such a ridiculous, straightforward, happy story, not when we were all fated to horrible suffering.
And the irony is that that will be the only flaw in the straightforward happy story, at that point.
And the irony is that that will be the only flaw in the straightforward happy story, at that point.
purposeful_glory
You're doomed, I have free will, if I take point on everything just enough maybe fate will ignore anybody standing in the shadow of my ability to do whatever I want. And then you will all be freed up to invent some ridiculous number of centuries' worth of things and develop the world to the point where Maitimo's reactions to it would be strategically worthless and then maybe he can be actually properly rescued. I have never improperly rescued someone before and I don't like it very much.
I am fairly sure it won't even take two centuries. And as far as improper rescues - none of us even got that far.
purposeful_glory
It would have been silly for you to. It was likely silly for me to, it just - looked easy. For me. I mean, Maitimo's the one who told me that it was silly and I don't think he's currently objective on the value of his life, but still.
I mean, if nothing else, if you hadn't Findekáno would have attempted it.
purposeful_glory
Oh dear. Yes, he'd be wandering around looking for a project and - I can see it.
Not while he still had obligations to his people, they really never were each others' primary loyalty, but the minute he could justify it to himself he'd have been off. So objectively it was worth the risk just to prevent that. Though he might have succeeded, I suppose. The Valar like him.
Why haven't they killed you? I'm genuinely not sure. I do not understand them well at all. I think they're quicker to token aid than righteous vengeance, but I do worry about it.
purposeful_glory
I was actually thinking, if they like Findekáno and are paying that much attention and would have somehow rendered him able to succeed - in what I'm assuming would be a lone approximately suicide mission, because how could he justify bringing any of his people along - why didn't they just fetch Maitimo, perhaps before he was condemned to believe that everything is a hallucination for way too damn long.
...they don't like us. 'and on the house of Fëanor the wrath of the Valar lies from the west to the uttermost East,,,', you did hear it, right? Findekáno showing admirable mercy to someone who he ought to feel wronged by is a thing they'd help with. None of it would be for Maitimo.
purposeful_glory
I'm not sure I have it written down. But if the Valar were paying attention they wouldn't have to wait for Findekáno to go in person to know it would be a nice thing to do for him.
It's not 'Findekáno is good and therefore ought not to suffer loss', it's 'Findekáno rescuing Maitimo would be doing something heroic and therefore ought to be caused to succeed in the heroism'.