07.01g: The Seventh Winter (Fireside Table)

[Ruben]

"Some would find that an acceptable risk -- among the sportsmen in my world, there is a saying: If you go through life and succeed only once out of every three tries, you're a Hall of Famer ... One of the all-time greats," Ruben paused a moment to try and assess the table's reaction. He thought most would get the joke, but was curious to see if any recoiled from his apparent callousness.

"I can assure you my record is somewhat stronger than that -- and Renny, I hope, can testify on my behalf. But life is not without risks, and one business I'm not in is trying to decide what constitutes an acceptable risk to others. It would be up to you and your peers to decide just how dire are your needs ... And how ambitious are your goals."

[Brian C]

"My experience with the pattern is limited. I believe however that paths through shadow can become worn with enough travel. With more research I may be able to work with a sorceror to make trump gates linking these places. With that perhaps some of the shadow walkers who don't have the pattern could lead you from place to place.With enough time and energy more may be possible but you'd want to talk with a pattern user for that."

"For short term travel for negotiations, I may be able to help you out by taking you somewhere to set up a shadow to only deal with you. This would force some of the larger trade houses to include you in order to get access. Consider asking for the help you want and yo may get some of it or be able to pay for it. Or continue to insinuate that we need to earn our place and watch it go to others. The choice is yours. Also if you are willing to risk the pattern, I'd be willing to get you some time with Dworkin."

[Wyvern]

"You will have to pardon my skepticism," Alys says, "But none of those 'short term' options sound like good ideas to me. If walking the pattern were simply one chance out of three... well, that might be worth it to some. But from what I've seen, it appears to be a... more ordered Power than that. I would be honestly surprised if there were anything random about who is or is not able to survive walking it - and all of those who've survived have been... rather exceptional individuals to start with."

"As for the notion of an exclusive deal... well, that would certainly solve any financial problems the Orr family has, but at some cost to the city's economy - and would likely make their 'ruffian' issues rather worse. Besides, wasn't he just complaining about privilege that was granted rather than earned? I'm sure he'd prefer not to have such an advantage granted simply for the asking of it."

At which point, having momentarily directed everyone's attention back to Nathaniel, Alys takes the opportunity to slip her plate of vegetables under the table, in case Osmund wants seconds.

[Brian C]

"Your observation depends on how the exclusive deals work. We could help all of the smaller houses work out similar deals. This will help then gain enough power and money that the larger houses will not be able to hit them all."


"The paths through Shadow would be the best long term solution as it would put them on equal footing with the larger houses. The point would be to have these paths connected. Large trump gates could do that. As for the pattern and that we are extraordinary because we survived it. I believe people in shadow are real and can be extraordinary. I do not share Dworkin's view of the people here. I think with tutelage some of the people here could survive. Perhaps the lack of survival is because we are looking for people who could already survive instead of teaching someone physically and mentally to be what they need to be to survive."

[Wyvern]

"That would also multiply the drawbacks of such deals, though; I'd think it better to pursue a long-term solution directly. Still, you've had far more time than I to study the local economics, so I would certainly not gainsay such a project if you think it's worth your time."

"As for the pattern - that is an interesting notion, and likely merits serious investigation."

[Joshua]

Nathaniel nods, "It would be interesting to see. We really have no idea how you gained such abilities. Pattern? was it?"

From under the table comes a muffled, "Maybe we can watch one of you walk it?"

[colomon]

Renny has been silently thoughtful during this discussion, and it seems like she might have a thought bubbling up on the trade issue, but is distracted by the Pattern question. "I don't think we know that, do we?" She looks around at the others. "If Alys is right that only certain people can survive the Pattern, is it possible that those people could be trained to travel in Shadow without having taken the Pattern? As far as I know that has never been tried."

[Wyvern]

"That's not quite what I said; who can survive it might just as easily be a matter of, oh, current mental stability, or physical endurance, or whether you happen to be wearing the color blue, or any number of other transient factors. Not random does not necessarily imply some fixed group of people that will always survive if you can but identify them."

"As for training people to travel without access to such a Power - I've heard we have a few of those already; people who can follow paths blazed by someone else. Also, the mage's guild is proof of another form of trainable travel, though sorcery functions on somewhat different principles. As for other options... I doubt Odin would be interested in sharing whatever Power he has access to. And Osmund's powers are... flawed, in ways I would not want to see in large scale use. The rest of the methods I'm aware of are neither trainable nor well suited to trade; although..." She trails off, looking first thoughtful, and then gets a sour expression as if she didn't like whatever it was she'd been thinking of.

[colomon]

Renny nods. "Sure." She turns to look straight at Nathaniel. "Anyway, my real question is, are we looking on the wrong side of your problem? If I'm understanding you correctly, mages are capable of getting the job done for you, they just eat uncomfortably into your profit, right?"

[Joshua]

"Well, there's only so many, and the big merchants and this castle take most of them. We have to offer a better deal to have them work with us instead. Low supply, high demand..."