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Cam is out flying. There's a decent cloud of atmosphere around the gold plane, now, millenia of demons making air around themselves for comfort and not sealing it up because why would you bother. There's a small forest, here - the effect is kind of ruined by the lamps it has to grow under, but it's still pretty.
He feels an open summons and lets it grab him -
the Connecticut Yankee summons Demon Cam
from_scratch
connecticut_yankee
"It seems to be able to, but that could be a feature of your abilities or of the travel.
Would you be willing to try equivalent things from my world?
Rudyard Kipling's 'Jungle Book' came out last year, and Well's 'Island of Doctor Moreau' was due to be released in '96. The only difference being whether they have in fact ever existed."
Would you be willing to try equivalent things from my world?
Rudyard Kipling's 'Jungle Book' came out last year, and Well's 'Island of Doctor Moreau' was due to be released in '96. The only difference being whether they have in fact ever existed."
from_scratch
"Uh... I've read both of those. Can you go more obscure? Ideally something so niche that I don't even have it on a list of things I could choose to conjure somewhere."
connecticut_yankee
"You have the same books? I guess that's not more surprising than you having an England. I don't know what ends up being obscure in the future, but try William Morris, 'The Wood Beyond the World' from '94 and 'The Well at World's End' from '96."
connecticut_yankee
"So they definitely both count as having existed. That should be conclusive proof that my world's time didn't just rewind and it must still be advancing somewhere else, right?"
from_scratch
"Not necessarily. Any books that were published in your world may just be part of my history in such a way that I can get at them. The real test would probably be if I were anticipating a release date - so, in four months, I'll see if I can get a copy of Amn nin Ioan."
connecticut_yankee
"Oh. Or if I knew of any books that would definitely not have been written had there been daeva, since I'm pretty sure my world doesn't have those. But that test seems impossible to attempt."
connecticut_yankee
"...I want to be flabbergasted that someone actually managed to keep that a secret for that long, but at least it's a good sign for it staying secret here.
I don't know if this would work, but is there some old book that describes summoning well enough that it wouldn't exist if it were false, and if so can you try to create a version published in my world? Because if that works, and there are daeva there, that seems like a good thing to know."
I don't know if this would work, but is there some old book that describes summoning well enough that it wouldn't exist if it were false, and if so can you try to create a version published in my world? Because if that works, and there are daeva there, that seems like a good thing to know."
from_scratch
"There were economic incentives involved... And demons are somewhat less useful when there's less technology around to tell us to make, angels likewise, fairies can't do much large-scale stuff that people can't do themselves until you know how to keep atmosphere inside a vehicle... And I'm not sure what you mean."
connecticut_yankee
"If there's a book that wouldn't exist without daeva—or if someone hired makers or changers to build a monument or something—then my world wouldn't have that unless daeva are currently secret there.
Then if you successfully make my world's edition of that thing, it means it does exist and therefore we have daeva."
Then if you successfully make my world's edition of that thing, it means it does exist and therefore we have daeva."
from_scratch
"Since I've never previously wandered around between worlds that may be as disconnected as ours could be and experimented with this, I don't know if I can aim for Summoning and Binding and have it only appear if it exists in your world instead of getting a false positive from mine."
connecticut_yankee
"It was kind of a long shot.
Might be testable, though. If we produce an edition of a book from your world here, then you can see if you can aim for a particular world's version.
If so, we check whether you can reliably distinguish books we've printed here from ones we haven't or if the false positives from your world get in the way."
Might be testable, though. If we produce an edition of a book from your world here, then you can see if you can aim for a particular world's version.
If so, we check whether you can reliably distinguish books we've printed here from ones we haven't or if the false positives from your world get in the way."
from_scratch
Cam makes the front cover of Summonings and Bindings. "I can make this. I'd make the whole thing but it covers gagging and uses language we want to eradicate and so on. I don't see how we could figure out for sure if it's not from your world, though."
connecticut_yankee
"Does it work if you try to make this world's version of that? I'm assuming no such book would have been written yet even if it everything were identical to your world.
If you can't, then aiming by universe must be a thing you can do."
If you can't, then aiming by universe must be a thing you can do."
from_scratch
Cam makes a new copy of the front cover. "I do not seem to be able to aim by world, at least not in cases where only one world has the thing at all."
connecticut_yankee
"Figures. And that was when you had been to both wolds. Oh well, it's not like I'd ever be in a position where I need to know whether my world has summoning without also having the ability to test it."
from_scratch
"Yep. I might be able to go home - and if I can, I'm going to want to do this periodically to send some letters - but you I cannot help."
connecticut_yankee
"How long do you have before you need to go home? Since we may not be able to get you back afterward, it'll affect how strictly we have to prioritize on what to build first."
One of the people who had been working on plotting the course of the railroad brings over a conveniently timed completed section. "This ought to take the rails north through Ystrad Clud, as far as the maps went."
One of the people who had been working on plotting the course of the railroad brings over a conveniently timed completed section. "This ought to take the rails north through Ystrad Clud, as far as the maps went."
from_scratch
"There's years before I want to be home. We might or might not find it expedient to see if I can go home before then, because if I can't that puts some constraints on the wisdom of summoning any additional daeva -" Cam takes the map. "Okay. How does blue circles where I want holes dug for columns, yellow lines below where I need any encroaching tall trees cleared for the raised tracks but short things can stay, and red rectangles around the stations that need to be clear but not dug out at ground level, sound?"
connecticut_yankee
"We were just expecting you to say what interval you need for the holes and we'd clear everything along the line. The colored signals sound easier than that."
Hank asks him, "Ask for volunteers, would you, for recruiting the labor? It'll be dangerous, both because they'll be carrying rather a lot of money and because nobody out that way will have heard about the angel yet. Tell them I'll pay sixty cents to anyone who takes the job."
Hank asks him, "Ask for volunteers, would you, for recruiting the labor? It'll be dangerous, both because they'll be carrying rather a lot of money and because nobody out that way will have heard about the angel yet. Tell them I'll pay sixty cents to anyone who takes the job."
from_scratch
"...This is after some inflation? Anyway, this map isn't quite detailed enough for me to do the whole thing from here, I think; is there any reason I shouldn't go out flying under my own power, really high up? ...And why are they going to carry a lot of money?"
connecticut_yankee
"You should have seen it before.
The money is for hiring people; we're hardly going to clear the area with just us. A half of a cent for a day's work ought to draw plenty of people. Hm, and we may need to pay the nobility to let us hire their serfs.
There shouldn't be a reason not to fly if you use a pillar of cloud when going up and down. Telescopes exist but nobody will be looking. Is the aerial view going to help?"
The money is for hiring people; we're hardly going to clear the area with just us. A half of a cent for a day's work ought to draw plenty of people. Hm, and we may need to pay the nobility to let us hire their serfs.
There shouldn't be a reason not to fly if you use a pillar of cloud when going up and down. Telescopes exist but nobody will be looking. Is the aerial view going to help?"
from_scratch
"Clouds to go up and down, can do. The aerial view is faster than walking and lets me look at where I'm painting. I could do something exciting like leave combination-locked boxes of money at intervals along the route, if that would be safer for your workers."
connecticut_yankee
"That is a brilliant idea. But boxes of enough money would probably mess with inflation more than using already extant money. And ordinary bandits will know to back down if they hear a gunshot; it's a torches-and-pitchforks mob that might not."