07.01g: The Seventh Winter (Fireside Table)

[Wyvern]

"If it's that valuable a skill, why not learn sorcery yourself?"

[Joshua]

"Assuming I could get an apprenticeship and I had any talent for spells, it would still take a good 5 - 10 years. I'd be almost middle aged." He pauses... "I mean... 35 used to be middle aged... we have much better medicine here than my hometown. Regardless, it would be too late to help my father's business."

[colomon]

"Your problem is that transportation is expensive relative to value of your imports, right? So far we've been focusing on reducing the cost of transportation. But increasing the value of the imports would work just as well, no?" There is a gleam of excitement in Renny's eyes.

[Wyvern]

Alys shrugs. "Well, you've got enough potential that the question seemed reasonable. The issue of time is troubling, though; that has... interesting implications."

"I'll have to look into the notion of subsidizing such training, then - or perhaps pass the matter on to Benabik or Morgana; having more mages available might be worth the cost. Or it might not; hard to say without putting in some actual research - and, as I noted, I am not a sorcerer myself. Perhaps now would be a good time to start learning."

"But that's not an immediate solution for anything; for the short term," Alys turns to Renny, "I must admit I'm curious what direction you're thinking."

[colomon]

"There are a lot of worlds out there," Renny says. "If someone who really knows the current trade situation here --" she nods at Nathaniel -- "teamed up with someone good at finding those worlds --" with a shrug she indicates herself or Ruben -- "I bet it wouldn't take more than a few weeks to find some new, valuable trade opportunities."

[Ruben]

Ruben smiles at Renny. "Always the entrepreneur, eh, my friend?"

Turning back to Nathaniel, he notes: "Well, you've certainly fueled the creativity of my friends here at the table, and I have to confess that my own sense of drive and adventure is tingling, but one thing concerns me a bit: It seems as though our enthusiasm exceeds yours. That's not a fatal problem: I've worked with plenty of partners and clients who had been oppressed, for lack of a better word, and it's completely understandable that you might be slow to recognize that your lot can indeed be changed for the better."

"On the other hand, you do know this world, it's factions, and your family's conditions better than do we. What else do we need to know? Is it just a lack of skill and knowledge of sorcery that has prevented you from reaching your full potential until now, or are there other forces at work here?"

"And do they have anything to do with Dworkin's surprise guest?"

[Joshua]

Nathaniel is clearly overwhelmed by the offers. There's a bit of panic growing but he's doing a very good job of keeping it from showing. (although, you all dwarf him psyche-wise.) He takes a breath to calm himself.
"I fought to keep my father's business safe and worked more towards the security side. Spellcasting was never my thing, and very expensive and slow to learn. As for my potential, I have not had a chance to speak to the members of court until now. It took a lot to get this invitation."

He pauses and swallows, clearly afraid his answer might invalidate one of the other offers. "I have never seen Odin before."

[colomon]

"Well, you've certainly fueled the creativity of my friends here at the table, and I have to confess that my own sense of drive and adventure is tingling, but one thing concerns me a bit: It seems as though our enthusiasm exceeds yours."

Hearing this, Renny flashes Ruben a look which does her best to say in a glance, This is why I proposed a solution that required his direct involvement.

[Brian C]

Turning to Renny:
"Other than the solutions I offered to Nathaniel that involved some personal risk on his part I was looking for solutions that might benefit many of the citizens. Perhaps our ideas could be combined. If we could get the trump gates working we could get them connected to shadows you've discovered with new trading opportunities. We could offer the keys first to the families that are not part of the bigger trading houses. This would give them a home field advantage on those shadows while keeping the more local shadows for the big houses. It would provide them all with unique advantages."

Turning to Nataniel:
"Since you put forth the guts to come to this party and try to better your house, I will leave orders with the court at Tir-na Nog'th that you are to be admitted to see me. It will be a standing invitation once only for a private meeting to discuss anything you please. You may even sell it to any family native to Amber and send word to my court if you please. I am willing to apprentice you or one of your descendants and teach them what i feel necessary to walk the pattern. I cannot guarantee that Dworkin will allow you to walk it. I also imagine that it would take some time so it is not immediate. If you sell the invitation you lose that offer. The person you sell it to would need to earn that for themselves. think about it."

"My apologies. I need to concentrate now. It was a pleasure to meet you all."

[Wyvern]

"Honestly, I'm not convinced we ought to consider any course of action explicitly to aid Nathaniel's family. I brought up the topic with the intent that it might highlight some larger problems that were important to address - which it did."

Alys ticks off points on her fingers.
"First, that we may need a better city watch. I'll look into that tomorrow."

"And second, that our current trade relations have issues in terms of scale. Need to raise an army? Well, if all you've got are a hundred sorcerers and the personal efforts of us royalty, you're not going to get much - at least, not in any reasonable amount of time. Need bulk stone for a building project? Again, the cost and time required would be prohibitive at best. That was why I made the suggestion I did; permanent trade routes, usable by anyone, would provide a massive expansion to the available scope of almost any effort. The fact that such routes would benefit Nathaniel's family is of marginal relevance, compared to the potential benefit to Amber as a whole."

"That said, if Trina's hypothesis about paths through shadow getting burned in via use is correct, then I'd rather concern myself with questions of how to defend such routes; in that case, they'll exist soon enough on their own, and - barring an immediate crisis of some sort - there's no particular need to worry about how to hurry the process along."